Sensex, Nifty Drop The Most In A Week As IT, Telecom Drag

India's equity benchmarks dropped the most in a week, dragged by software companies and top private sector banks, after a series of record highs set earlier this month. 

The S&P BSE Sensex Index dropped 0.7% to 59,667.60 at close, while the NSE Nifty 50 Index fell 0.7% as well. Bharti Airtel Ltd was the biggest drag on both measures, decreasing 3.6%, followed by Tech Mahindra Ltd. and Bajaj Finance Ltd. Of 30 shares in the Sensex, 20 fell and 10 rose.

Thirteen of the 19 sectoral indexes compiled by BSE Ltd. slipped, led by a measure of realty stocks. The S&P BSE Utilities index was the best performer, up 1.7%.

Indian stocks are expected to move in a “calibrated manner” after the benchmark index more than doubled since March last year, driving up the valuations, according to Girish Pai, head of research at Nirmal Bang Equities Pvt. [catch the interview here]

Sensex index had touched the 60,000 mark for the first time on Friday, driven by optimism for recovery in businesses as Asia’s third-largest economy administers record Covid-19 vaccinations. The index has risen about 25% this year and is one of the best-performing benchmarks among major global markets.

Shares of Godrej Consumer Products Ltd. rose 6.14% in intraday trade to Rs 1,102.45 apiece, after the company said it was on track to post double-digit sales growth in the medium term.

“In FY21, the performance in Indonesia was disappointing. But the business is seeing gradual recovery after the significant second wave [Covid-19] impact,” Akhil Chandra, business head (Asean) at the owner of Good Knight and Cinthol brands, told analysts on a conference call. “Cost inflation and subsequent margin pressure aside, we are confident of growing in double-digits [overall and in Indonesia] with sustenance of margin profile in the medium term.”

Of the 37 analysts tracking the company, 25 maintained 'buy', 11 maintained 'hold' and one maintained 'sell' recommendations. The overall consensus price of analysts tracked by Bloomberg implied an upside off 4.1%. Trading volume was 3.8 times the 30-day average volume for this time of the day.

Over the past three days, the stock has been upgraded by Nomura and Haitong International.

CESC Ltd. has approved the issue of 4,000 redeemable, rated, senior, secured, unlisted non-convertible debentures having a face value of Rs 10 lakh each for a cash aggregating to Rs 400 crore, on a private placement basis.

In an exchange filing, CESC said that the deemed date of allotment will be September 20, 2021 and the final redemption date will be September 30, 2026.

Of the 18 analysts tracking the company, 16 maintained ‘buy’ and two maintained ‘hold’ recommendations. The overall consensus price of analysts tracked by Bloomberg implied an upside of 15.5%.

• Shares of Indian Oil Corporation Ltd. rose 4.42% in intraday trade, the most in 18 weeks, to Rs 123.9 apiece, higher than any close since January 16, 2020.

• Trading volume was 100% above the 20-day average for this time of the day.

• The relative strength index on the stock was above 70, indicating it may be overbought.

• Indian Oil trades at 6.9 times its estimated earnings per share for the coming year.

• Analysts have 31 ‘buy’, four ‘hold’ and one ‘sell’ recommendations on the stock. The overall consensus price of analysts tracked by Bloomberg implied an upside of 9%.

• Speaking at Platts’ APPEC 2021 event on Monday, Chairman of Indian Oil, Shrikant Madhav Vaidya said that India will need an additional 100 million tonnes per year crude oil refining capacity.

Shares of Rail Vikas Nigam Ltd. rose nearly 3% in intraday trade to Rs 30.7 apiece after the company bagged an order worth Rs 381.95 crore from Madhya Pradesh Metro Rail Corporation Ltd.

In an exchange filing, the company said that the contract pertained to the design and construction of seven elevated metro rail stations including viaduct portion within the stations, transition spans, entry-exit structures and E&M works for Indore Metro Rail project.

All the three analysts tracking the company maintained ‘buy’ recommendations. The overall consensus price of analysts tracked by Bloomberg implied an upside of 31.4%.

• Shares of Divi’s Laboratories Ltd. shed over 4%, the steepest decline in nine months, to Rs 4,725 apiece, lower than any close since July 15. Trading volume on the stock was 78% above the 20-day average for this time of the day.

• Divi’s Labs trades at 50 times its estimated earnings per share for the coming year.

• Of the 20 analysts tracking the company, 14 maintained ‘buy’, three maintained ‘hold’ and three maintained ‘sell’ recommendations. The overall consensus price of analysts tracked by Bloomberg implied an upside of 6.5%

Bajaj Finserv Ltd. has incorporate a wholly owned subsidiary of the company, Bajaj Finserv Ventures Ltd. on Monday, the company said in an exchange filing.

The company’s board had approved the incorporation of a subsidiary in its board meeting on August 11. The subsidiary has been incorporated to optimize its long term returns and provide flexibility to invest surplus funds in alternate assets. The subsidiary will focus on alternative investments including investments in start-ups and property, Bajaj Finserv had said in an exchange filing on August 11.

India's stock benchmarks declined, dragged by losses in realty, information technology and telecom stocks.

The S&P BSE Sensex shed 1.06% to 59,440.42. The NSE Nifty 50 declined by a similar magnitude to 17,685.75. Infosys Ltd. contributed the most to the index decline, decreasing 2%. Bharti Airtel Ltd. had the largest drop, falling 3.9%. In midday trading, 36 of 50 shares fell, while 14 rose.

The broader indices almost mirrored their larger peers with the S&P BSE MidCap and S&P BSE SmallCap shedding nearly 1%. Fourteen of the 19 sectoral indices compiled by the BSE Ltd. declined, with S&P BSE Realty index shedding over 4%.

The market breadth was skewed in favour of bears. About 1,316 stocks advanced, 1,794 declined and 174remained unchanged.

Shares of Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd. rose nearly 7%, the most in over three months, to Rs 60.8 apiece after the company was awarded an order by Goa Shipyard for the supply of an upgraded Super Rapid Gun, the main gun used in most warships in Indian Navy.

In an exchange filing, BHEL said that the order pertained to the supply, installation and commissioning of the entire system and will be manufactured by the Haridwar unit of BHEL.

The company also reiterated its committed to the government Atmanirbhar Bharat initiative.

Of the 26 analysts tracking the company, one maintained ‘buy’, four maintained ‘hold’ and 21 analysts maintained ‘sell’ recommendations. The overall consensus price of analysts tracked by Bloomberg implied a downside of 39.1% . Trading volume was 2.7 times the 30-day average volume for this time of the day. Shares of BHEL crossed above the 50-day simple moving average, indicating potential upward price momentum.

Sun Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. announced the launch of novel formulation in cough management – Chericof 12, in India. This is the first prescription cough syrup in India which gives relief for up to 12 hours.

In an exchange filing, Sun Pharma said that the syrup is approved for patients of age group six years and above.

Of the 39 analysts tracking Sun Pharma, 33 maintained ‘buy’ and three maintained ‘hold’ and three maintained ‘sell’ recommendations. The overall consensus price of analysts tracked by Bloomberg implied an upside of 12.7%.

Tata Consultancy Services Ltd. has been selected by NORD/LB, a German commercial bank, as its strategic partner for its I.T. transformation.

NORD/LB has targeted a new business model by 2024, which centers around technology to build a leaner and more agile operating model. TCS will work with the bank to simplify and transforms its applications across multiple business like financial markets, wholesale and retail banking, as part of the five-year partnership.

Of the 51 analysts tracking the company, 32 maintained ‘buy’, 12 maintained ‘hold’ and seven maintained ‘sell’ recommendations. The overall consensus price of analysts tracked by Bloomberg implied a downside of 2.4%

Shares of NTPC Ltd. rose 4.18% to a record Rs 132.15 apiece after the company won 1.9 Giga Watt solar projects in auction of CPSU Scheme-II, Tranche III of 5 Giga Watt.

Trading volume on the stock was 4.8 times the 30-day average volume for this time of the day.

Of the 27 analysts tracking the company, 24 maintained ‘buy’ and 3 maintained ‘hold’ recommendations. The overall consensus price of analysts tracked by Bloomberg implied an upside of 11.2%

• Antony Waste Handling Cell Ltd. has 4.5 million shares change hands in a bunched trade.

• Details of buyers and sellers are not immediately known

Source: Bloomberg

Larsen & Toubro Infotech Ltd. has entered into a strategic partnership with eClinicalHealth Ltd. The deal pertained to digital innovation in R&D Clinical Trials Management process for patient centric drug development, L&T Infotech said in an exchange filing

eClinicalHealth has already lauched a cloud-based patient-centric SaaS solution, Clinpal, to improve patient engagement and prevent delays during clinical trials. L&T Infotech will ensure faster deployment for Clinpal adopters and will bring in exponential technologies like analytics and AI to accelerate clinical studies.

Of the 39 analysts tracking the company, 21 maintained ‘buy’, nine maintained ‘hold’ and nine maintained ‘sell’ recommendations. The overall consensus price of analysts tracked by Bloomberg implied a downside of 19.8%

Yields fell across the India sovereign yield curve in Tuesday morning trading.

• The 4-year yield fell 5.4bps to 5.26%

• The 10-year yield fell 2.4bps to 6.185%

• The 14-year yield fell 1.3bps to 6.707%

• The 4-year-10-year yield spread was 92.5bps, vs previous close 89.5bps

Shares of Paisalo Digital Ltd. rose 4.85% in intraday trade to Rs 932 apiece. The company entered into a service level agreement with SBI to provide services of Business Correspondent.

Paisalo Digital will extend its services and reach to under services segments of the market like semi urban and rural parts of the country to promote financial inclusion and improve outreach.

The relative strength index on the stock was 84, suggesting it may be overbought. Trading volume was 2.4 times the 30-day average volume for this time of the day.

Sahajanand Medical Technologies Ltd. seeks Sebi approval to raise as much as Rs 410 crore ($55.6 million) selling new shares in an initial public offering, while its shareholders plan to sell Rs 1,090 crore worth of shares in an offer-for-sale as part of the IPO, according to its draft prospectus.

• Selling shareholders include the company’s founders, and investors Samara Capital and NHPEA Sparkle Holding BV

• The medical device maker is considering a pre-IPO placement of as much as Rs 185 crore; new share sale amount in the IPO will be lower if the pre-IPO sale happens

• Axis Capital, BofA Securities, Edelweiss Financial and UBS Securities India are the banks managing the IPO

Shorter-maturity Indian bonds advanced by the most in a week after the government refrained from increasing its annual borrowings.

• The yield on the 5.63% 2026 bond fell by 3bps to 5.66% after India said it will stick to its plan to borrow 12.05t rupees ($163b) in the current fiscal year to March

• 10-year yield up by 1bp to 6.22%

Shares of Bharat Petroleum Corp Ltd. rose nearly 2%, the most in over two weeks, to Rs 428.6 apiece.

Chairman of BPCL Arun Kumar Singh said that the company planned to invest Rs 1 lakh crore over next five years in raising petrochemical production capacity, gas business, clean fuel and marketing infrastructure. Speaking at a conference, the BPCL chairman also detailed company’s plans to create a 1,000 Mega Watt portfolio of renewable power generation capacity, through acquisitions and investments in biofuels and hydrogen.

Of the 37 analysts tracking the company, 35 maintained ‘buy’, one maintained ‘hold’ and one maintained ‘sell’ recommendations. The overall consensus price of analysts tracked by Bloomberg implied an upside of 24.7%.

• Oil & Natural Gas Corp Ltd. has 4.17 million shares change hands in two bunch trades.

• Details of buyers and sellers not known.

Source: Bloomberg

• Export-Import Bank of India will raise as much as $200m through a three-year bullet loan.

• The lender has mandated a U.K.-based bank and will draw down the facility by Sept. 30

• Loan proceeds will be used for general corporate purpose

Source: Person Familiar With The Matter

Shares of Man Infraconstruction Ltd. rose over 5.57% to Rs 109 apiece after the company informed exchanges that it would consider and declare interim dividend for FY2021-22 and consider and recommend the issue of bonus shares during the meeting of board of directors on October 4 .

The relative strength index on the stock was at 86, indicating that the stock may be overbought.

Shares of Raymond Ltd. rose nearly 5.5% to Rs 472 apiece after the company’s board approved business consolidation to enable monetization for value unlocking for the shareholders.

• In an exchange filing post market hours Monday, Raymond said that auto components and tools & hardware businesses being consolidated into engineering business for improving synergies.

• Real estate business will be subsidiarised into a wholly owned subsidiary of Raymond.

• The company also plans to consolidate Raymond B2C business by transfer of apparel business into Raymond.

All the three analysts tracking the company maintained ‘buy’ recommendations. The overall consensus price of analysts tracked by Bloomberg implied an upside of 26%.

Trading volume was 20 times the 30-day average value for this time of the day.

Shares of Anupam Rasayan India Ltd. rose over 3.5% to Rs 826 apiece after the company signed Letter of Intent worth Rs 145 crore with existing European multinational customer.

In an exchange filing, Anupam Rasayan said that the LoI pertained to the supply of a new life science related active ingredient. Anupam Rasayan will enter into a long-term contract for next three years to supply this speciality chemical product.

Of the four analysts tracking the company, two maintained ‘buy’, one maintained ‘hold’ and one maintained ‘sell’ recommendations. The overall consensus price of analysts tracked by Bloomberg implied a downside of 12.3%.

India's stock benchmarks opened little changed, as gains in oil and gas, auto and energy stocks were offset by losses in information technology and realty stocks, amid mixed global cues.

The S&P BSE Sensex shed 0.1% to 60,019.34. The NSE Nifty 50 also declined by similar magnitude to 17,838.85. Infosys Ltd. contributed the most to the index decline, decreasing 1.7%. HCL Technologies Ltd. had the largest drop, falling 2.0%. In early trading, 21 of 50 shares fell, while 28 rose.

The broader indices almost mirrored their larger peers with the S&P BSE MidCap and S&P BSE SmallCap largely unchanged. Ten of the 19 sectoral indices compiled by the BSE Ltd. advanced, with S&P BSE Oil and Gas adding over 0.6%

The market breadth was skewed in favour of bulls. About 1,399 stocks advanced, 858 declined and 129remained unchanged.

• Allcargo Logistics Ltd. is considering selling a stake in its container shipping firm ECU Worldwide.

• The company is working with an adviser on the sale of the stake and seeking a deal that would value ECU at about $1 billion.

• The disposal could be a minority or majority stake. Deliberations are ongoing and the company could decide not to proceed with the sale.

Source: People Familiar With The Matter

Lupin Ltd. is in the process of recruiting a team for the diagnostic business and setting up a laboratory in Mumbai, Business Standardnewspaper reported, citing people it didn’t identify.

• Lupin Diagnostics will be a part of unit Lupin Healthcare

• Lupin is also looking for franchise partners for the new business, according to the report.

Shorter Indian rupee bonds are likely to gain as the government refrained from increasing annual borrowings to compensate states for their revenue shortfall due to the pandemic.

• Govt kept the annual borrowing plan unchanged at Rs 12.05 lakh crore, the finance ministry said late Monday

• Plans to sell Rs 5.03 lakh crore of bonds in the six months to March, compared with an earlier plan of Rs 4.8 lakh crore; first-half borrowings were Rs 7.02 lakh crore, compared with Rs 7.24 lakh crore planned. The second-half borrowing will factor in compensating states for a revenue shortfall caused by the pandemic

• USD/INR rose 0.2% to 73.8425 on Monday

• RBI to hold Rs 2 lakh crore 7-day reverse repo auction Sept. 28

• RBI to sell Rs 2.6 lakh crore of T-bills in Oct.-Dec. quarter

• Global funds sell net Rs 595 crore of India stocks Monday: NSE

  • They sold Rs 55 crore of sovereign bonds under limits available to foreign investors, and withdrew Rs 204 crore of corporate debt

  • State-run banks bought Rs 4,270 crore of sovereign bonds on Sept. 27: CCIL data. Foreign banks sold Rs 1,250 crore of bonds

Asia stocks fell on Tuesday after a jump in Treasury yields as investors priced in the start of Federal Reserve tapering and elevated energy prices. The dollar edged up.

MSCI Inc.’s index of Asia Pacific stocks snapped a three-day advance, with Japan and Australia sliding. Hong Kong opened firmer, while China slipped. U.S. futures declined. Earlier, the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 underperformed. Investors rotated out of growth stocks as the benchmark 10-year U.S. yield briefly topped 1.5% -- a level not seen since June. The S&P 500 dipped.

India’s SGX Nifty 50 Index futures for September delivery rose 0.2% to 17,897.00, while MSCI Asia Pacific Index shed 0.2%. The NSE Nifty 50 Index little changed on Monday at 17,855.10.

The U.S. two-year yield hit an 18-month high as traders increasingly priced in the prospect of the Fed trimming its $120 billion in monthly asset purchases soon. The 10-year yield pared gains. The dollar edged higher.

Oil held onto gains on fears of a global energy crunch. Brent was near the highest in almost three years, while WTI crude hovered above $75 a barrel. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. said Brent could hit $90 by year-end as the market is in a bigger deficit than many realize.

Elsewhere, Bitcoin swung between $42,000 and $43,000 after cryptocurrencies made a swift comeback from the turbulence last week triggered by China’s latest crackdown.

Back home, NTPC, Petronet LNG, Bharat Electronics, Petronet LNG are among companies holding their annual shareholders’ meeting. Foreign investors bought net Rs 570 crore of stocks on Sept. 24, according to NSDL website.