Sensex, Nifty Close Higher Aided By Gains In Auto, I.T., Banking Stocks

India's stock benchmarks closed higher aided by gains in auto, I.T., banking and consumer discretionary stocks.

The S&P BSE Sensex rose 0.12% to 58,247.09. The 30-stock index hit a intraday high of 58,482.62, slightly below the record high of 58,553.07 reached on September 7. The NSE Nifty 50 advanced by a similar magnitude to 17,380. The 50-stock index hit a record 17,438.55 in intraday trade. Tata Consultancy Services Ltd. contributed the most to the index gain, increasing 1.1%. IndusInd Bank Ltd. had the largest increase, rising 4.0%. Today, 31 of 50 shares rose, while 19 fell.

The broader indices outperformed their larger peers with the S&P BSE MidCap adding over 1% and S&P BSE SmallCap rising 0.6%. Fourteen out of the 19 sectoral indices compiled by the BSE Ltd. advanced, with S&P BSE Teck, S&P BSE Auto, S&P BSE Utilities & S&P BSE Consumer Discretionary indexes gaining over 1%.

The market breadth was skewed in favour of bulls. About 1,945 stocks advanced, 1,301 declined and 150 remained unchanged.

"Nifty Media index gained ~12% mainly led by sharp rally in Zee Entertainment following growing expectations of improvement in corporate governance standard after large investors sought the ouster of select directors of the company", wrote Binod Modi in a note. The Head Strategy at Reliance Securities added "ease of retail inflation at 5.3% for August offers comfort as this should essentially aid RBI to maintain its soft monetary policy stance to support ongoing recovery in economic momentum. Unlike developed markets, faster ramp-up in vaccination process and relatively lower daily caseload offer India an edge over other markets and therefore domestic bourses are resilient despite pressure in global equities."

Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd. and Rolls Royce signed an agreement for Make in India Adour engine parts to support Roll Royce’s international customer base.

The partnership is expected to strengthen the ecosystem of Rolls Royce for Adour engines in India by utilizing the capabilities of HAL in the manufacturing of the engines for Indian customers over several decades, HAL said in an exchange filing.

Earlier during Aero India 2021, HAL and Rolls Royce signed an MoU to establish an Authorised Maintenancce Centre for Adour engines at HAL.

Shares of HAL rose 2.60% to Rs 1,441.75 apiece. The relative strength index on the stock was above 70, suggesting that it may be overbought.

All the five analysts tracking the company maintained ‘buy’ recommendations. The overall consensus price of analysts tracked by Bloomberg implied an upside of 17.2%

Shares of Escorts Ltd. added over 7%, the most in 11 months, to Rs 1,478 apiece.

• In an exchange filing Tuesday, Escorts said it reinforced its relationship with IndusInd Bank with a formal Memorandum of Understanding to provide one of the best financial offerings to the customers.

• The two companies will work together to provide financial programs to enable customers to invest in modern farm machinery to enhance the productivity and farm income.

Trading in the company's call options was triple the average. Trading volume was double the average for this time of the day.

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

Analysts have 16 'buy', five 'hold' and four 'sell' recommendations on the stock.

Shares of BLS International Services Ltd. added nearly 6.4% to Rs 260 apiece after that company got empanelled to process Ayushman Bharat cards under Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (AB-PMJAY) by National Health Authority, Ministry of Health & Family Welfare.

The AB-PMJAY scheme offers financial security against medical treatment costs, medicines, diagnostics and pre-hospitalisation expenses.

In an exchange filing, the company confirmed the development and said it will start processing Ayushman Bharat cards across India for people to avail healthcare services at any of the empanelled hospitals, effective immediately. The cover includes cashless and paperless access to healthcare services for the beneficiary at the point of service.

The relative strength index on the stock was 81, suggesting that it may be overbought.

• Shares of Kaveri Seed Company Ltd. rose 1.03% to Rs 610.90 apiece. The company's shares gained for the eighth straight day, on track for the longest winning streak since the period ended June 6, 2017.

• Kaveri Seed has gained a total of 6.6% during the streak.

• Of the ten analysts tracking the company, eight maintained 'buy' and two maintained 'sell' recommendations. The overall consensus price of analysts tracked by Bloomberg implied an upside of 21.4%

Shares of TeamLease Services Ltd. is higher for the seventh straight day, on track for the longest winning streak since the period ended Jan. 15, 2020.

TeamLease has gained a total of 9.8% during the streak while Sensex rose 0.7%.

The relative strength index on the stock was 71, suggesting it may be overbought.

Shares of Yes Bank Ltd. advanced 15.77%, to Rs 12.95 apiece on the NSE, higher than any other close since July 29.

Trading volume was 8.9 times the 30-day average volume at-time for this time of the day.

Share price crossed 50-day simple moving average, indicating potential upward price momentum.

Shares of Yes Bank added nearly 14% over the past three trading sessions after rating agency ICRA affirmed a stable outlook on the bank’s various instruments.

Vistara, a joint venture between Tata Sons and Singapore Airlines, has named its Chief Commercial Officer Vinod Kannan as the chief executive officer, effective Jan. 1, the airline said in a statement Tuesday.

Vistara CEO Leslie Thng will take up a senior role with Singapore Airlines, according to the statement.

Shares of HG Infra Engineering Ltd. rose 3.20% to Rs 617.85 apiece after the company was declared as L-1 bidder by Public Works Department, Rajasthan for an infra project.

The project pertains to development and maintenance of Beawar Masuda Goyala section and Laxmipura Dora Dabi Ranaji Gudha section of State Highways through PPP under DBOT Hybrid Annuity Basis.

Rajasthan PWD estimated the project cost to be Rs 394.56 crore while HG Infra Engineering’s bid was Rs 448.11 crore.

All the 13 analysts tracking the company maintained ‘buy’ recommendation. The overall consensus price of analysts tracked by Bloomberg implied an upside of 11.7%.

Shares of Rangoli Tradecomm Ltd. rose 7.1% in intraday trade to Rs 905 apiece after the company’s board will consider the proposal for issue of bonus shares on equity shares on September 23.

In an exchange filing, the company added that it will also consider a proposal to alter the capital clause (increasing the authorized share capital) of the Memorandum of Association of the company.

• Shares of Sun TV Network Ltd. rose 5.36%, the most in six weeks, to Rs 514.85 apiece. Trading in the company's call options was 12 times the average.

• Trading volume was five times the 20-day average for this time of the day.

• Sun TV trades at 13 times its estimated earnings per share for the coming year.

• Analysts have 14 'buy', five 'hold' and three 'sell' recommendations on the stock.

• Shares of Indian Railway Catering & Tourism Corp Ltd. added nearly 9% to Rs 3,738.90 apiece. Trading in the company’s call options was double the average.

• Trading volume was triple the 20-day average of 2.08 million shares for this time of day.

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

• IRCTC trades at 100 times its estimated earnings per share for the coming year.

• Analysts have eight ‘buy’, one ‘hold’ and no ‘sell’ recommendations on the stock.

India's stock benchmarks advanced, aided by auto, banking, power, energy, I.T. and consumer discretionary stocks. Retail inflation cooled off to a four-month low in August easing concerns over the rise in price pressures in the economy.

The S&P BSE Sensex rose 0.35% at 58,381.06. The NSE Nifty 50 also advanced by similar magnitude to 17,415.50. The 50-stock index hit a record 17,438.55 in intraday trade. Reliance Industries Ltd. contributed the most to the index gain, increasing 0.5%. IndusInd Bank Ltd. had the largest increase, rising 2.7%

The broader indices outperformed their larger peers with the S&P BSE MidCap adding over 1% and S&P BSE SmallCap rising 0.6%. Barring S&P BSE Metal index, all the other 18 sectoral indices compiled by the BSE Ltd. advanced, with S&P BSE Utilities, S&P BSE Consumer Discretionary and S&P BSE Auto indexes rising over 1%.

The market breadth was skewed in favour of bulls. About 1,974 stocks advanced, 1,100 declined and 179 remained unchanged.

Shares of Laurus Labs Ltd. advanced 3% to Rs 664.90 apiece after the company announced that it developing the best-in-class second- and third-line medication for HIV treatment in children.

In an exchange filing, Laurus Labs said that it is working with Unitaid and Clinton Health Access Initiative to develop the medication.

While the medication is available in high-income countries for the last 15 years, there has so far been no generic or fixed-dose combination of the medication, which will ensure that Children Living with HIV/AIDS (CLHIV) have access to second- and third- line HIV treatment.

Of the 11 companies tracking the company, 7 maintained ‘buy’ and 4 maintained ‘sell’ recommendations. The overall consensus price of analysts tracked by Bloomberg implied a downside of 2.8%.

An Indian ministerial panel on GST to consider taxing petroleum products under a single national rate, opening the door for a potential major change in consumer prices and government revenue.

Panel headed by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will examine the proposal at the GST council meeting on Friday.

Source: People familiar with the matter.

Spokesperson for the Finance Ministry did not immediately respond to calls for comment.

Shares of Godawari Power and Ispat Ltd. hit 5% upper circuit to Rs 1,270.50 apiece after the company approved the proposal to split equity shares of face value of Rs 10 each to 2 equity shares of Rs 5 each, subject to shareholders’ approval.

In an exchange filing, the company said that the stock split is intended to improve the liquidity of the company’s share on the stock market and also facilitate small investors to deal in the company’s shares. The stock split will approximately take 2-3 months including the time required to receive the shareholders’ approval.

In order to further improve the liquidity in shares and ensure larger participation, the company decided to reward long term shareholders by issuing bonus shares in the ration of 1:1 by capitalizing the free reserves after the proposal for share split gets shareholders’ nod.

The company also decided to withdraw from the plan to merge with Jagdamba Power & Alloys Ltd. and withdraw the proposal to divest equity stake in GGEL.

Shares of KNR Constructions Ltd. rose over 6.56% to Rs 324 apiece after the company received Letter of Acceptance for Hyderabad Growth Corridor Ltd. (HGCL) to widen existing service roads and BT overlay Bitumen pavement in several areas in Hyderabad.

In an exchange filing post market hours Monday, KNR Constructions said that the order was worth Rs 312.79 crore approximately, excluding GST. The project is scheduled to be completed within a period of 15 months from the date of signing of the agreement.

Of the 27 analysts tracking the company, 24 maintained ‘buy’, 2 maintained ‘hold’ and 1 maintained ‘sell’ recommendations. The overall consensus price of analysts tracked by Bloomberg implied a downside of 0.7%

Yields along the India sovereign yield curve were mixed, with 4-year bonds moving the most in Tuesday morning trading.

• The 3-year yield was little changed at 4.857%

• The 10-year yield remained unchanged at 6.192%

• The 14-year yield was little changed at 6.716%

• The 3-year-10-year yield spread was 133.5bps, vs previous close 133.4bps

Shares of ARSS Infrastructure Projects Ltd. shed 4.36% to Rs 29.60 apiece after the company informed that a petition was filed under Section 7 of IBC by State Bank of India, the financial creditor of the company before NCLT-Cuttack Bench, against ARSS Infra.

In an exchange filing post market hours Monday, ARSS Infra said that SBI’s petition alleged default of payment amount to approximately Rs 2273.12 crore and sought initiation of Corporate Insolvency Resolution Process (CIRP) against ARSS Infra.

ARSS Infra stated that it is seeking appropriate legal advice and will take all the necessary steps to protect its interest.

Shares of ARSS Infra slipped below the 50-day simple moving average, indicating potential downward price momentum.

Indian bonds trade steady after data showed retail inflation eased more-than-expected in August. Traders look forward to a Rs 13,850 crore ($1.9b) state-debt sale later on Tuesday.

• 10-year yields steady at 6.19%; 5-year bond also little changed at 5.63%

• USD/INR down 0.1% to 73.633

Shares of Allcargo Logistics Ltd. declined 6.72% in intraday trade to Rs 220.55 apiece after the company dropped plans to delist its shares after shareholders voted against the offer to take the company private.

Of the 6 analysts tracking the company, 3 maintained ‘buy’ and 3 maintained ‘hold’ recommendations. The overall consensus price of analysts tracked by Bloomberg implied an upside of 1.8%.

Reserve Bank of India and Monetary Authority of Singapore plan a project to link India’s Unified Payments Interface and Singapore’s PayNow to enable faster cross-border payments, according to a statement from the Indian central bank.

• The linkage is aimed to be operationalized by July 2022

• UPI-PayNow linkage will enable users of each of the two fast payment systems to make instant, low-cost fund transfers on a reciprocal basis without a need to get onboarded onto the other payment system, according to the statement

• UPI supports both person-to-person and person-to-merchant payments; PayNow enables peer-to-peer funds transfer service.

• Shares of Ajanta Pharma Ltd. rose 3.36%, the most intraday gain in nearly 7 weeks, to Rs 2,208.85 apiece.

• Trading volume was double the 20-day average for this time of the day.

• Ajanta Pharma trades at 27 times its estimated earnings per share for the coming year.

• Of the 11 analysts tracking the company, 10 maintained 'buy' and one maintained 'hold' recommendations. The overall consensus price of analysts tracked by Bloomberg implied an upside of 22%.

• Ami Organics pre-market discovery price at Rs 902 per share, IPO price: Rs 610

• Vijaya Diagnostic Centre pre-market discovery price at Rs 542.3 per share, IPO price: Rs 531

Source: Bloomberg

• The NSE Nifty 50 Index hit a record high 17,438.55 in intra-day trade.

• The index has clocked record high for the first time since September 7.

India's stock benchmarks opened higher, aided by banking and metal stocks, amid strong global cues. Retail inflation eased to a four-month low in August, providing relief for the Monetary Policy Committee of the RBI that the price pressures in the economy remained stable.

The S&P BSE Sensex rose 0.35% to 58,381.36. The NSE Nifty 50 also advanced by similar magnitude at 17,408.45. Reliance Industries Ltd. contributed the most to the index gain, increasing 0.9%. Divi's Laboratories Ltd. had the largest increase, rising 2%. In early trading, 41 of 50 shares rose, while 8 fell.

The broader indices outperformed their larger peers with the S&P BSE MidCap largely and S&P BSE SmallCap gaining 0.6%. All the 19 sectoral indices compiled by the BSE Ltd. advanced, with S&P BSE Utilities index adding over 1%.

The market breadth was skewed in favour of bulls. About 1,517 stocks advanced, 500 declined and 81 remained unchanged.

Indian bonds may gain amid a more-than-expected easing in August retail inflation. Traders will await a Rs 13,850 crore state debt sale later Tuesday.

• India’s headline rate of inflation eased in August as food prices cooled, boosting the case for the central bank to keep interest rates lower for longer to support the country’s economic growth

  • Consumer prices rose 5.3% last month from a year earlier, the Statistics Ministry said in a statement on Monday. That was the slowest gain since April’s 4.2% rise; the median of 40 estimates in a Bloomberg survey was for a 5.6% increase

• Deutsche Bank revised India’s FY22 CPI inflation forecast after the print to 5.2%, down from 5.6% earlier, it says in note

  • RBI likely to follow suit with a downward revision to its CPI forecasts in its Oct. policy

  • Liquidity absorption through longer tenor VRRR and tapering of GSAP quantum still likely, irrespective of the country’s inflation path

• USD/INR rose 0.2% to 73.6800 on Monday

• 10-year yields rose 1bps to 6.19% on Monday

• RBI to hold Rs 1 lakh crore 7-day reverse repo auction Tuesday

• Global funds buy net Rs 1,420 crore of India Stocks Monday: NSE

  • They sold Rs 8 crore of sovereign bonds under limits available to foreign investors, and added Rs 391crore of corporate debt

• State-run banks bought Rs 2,240 crore of sovereign bonds on Sept. 13: CCIL data. Foreign banks bought Rs 392 crore of bonds.

HCL Technologies Ltd. signed a strategic partnership with South Korean software firm HANCOM Inc. to share advanced software technology solutions and establish a mutual bridgehead for overseas expansion.

• In an exchange filing before market hours Tuesday, HCL Tech said it will support training for software development at HANCOM’s R&D center in India besides sharing its development studio and providing HR support.

• The two companies also intend to co-operate on global market expansion including HANCOM’s entry into Southeast Asian countries and HCL Tech’s expansion into South Korean market.

• Sanjay Gupta, Corporate Vice President at HCL Tech said that the engagement with HANCOM will help HCL Tech growth and establish itself in the key strategic market of South Korea.

• Pickup in business travel in I.T. companies likely to be a prolonged affair, as enterprises continue to minimise non-urgent travel.

• Commentaries from travel heads of top I.T. firms suggest that strong controls would continue to ensure that business travel is approved for only essential purposes.

• Tepid outlook for business travel could pose a risk to growth in the Travel Vertical of I.T. services companies in FY23.

Source: Motilal Oswal Morning India Report

Asian stocks were steady on Tuesday after the U.S. snapped a five-day drop ahead of inflation data that could impact expectations of the likely timeline for a reduction in Federal Reserve stimulus.

Japan’s Nikkei 225 Stock Average was on track for its highest close since 1990, but Hong Kong and China dipped. U.S. contracts rose after energy firms bolstered the S&P 500 overnight. Treasury yields edged up and the dollar was little changed.

India’s SGX Nifty 50 Index futures for September delivery rose 0.3% to 17,422.50, while MSCI Asia Pacific Index advanced 0.3%. The NSE Nifty 50 Index fell 0.1% on Monday to 17,355.30.

A gauge of commodities has surged to a 10-year high, with materials from aluminum to steel rallying and European gas and power hitting record. The escalating cost pressures come as traders await a report expected to show an annual pace of U.S. inflation of 5% or more for a fourth month.

Elsewhere, oil rose for a third day as investors tracked a storm menacing the Gulf of Mexico just weeks after Hurricane Ida cut local production. Bitcoin was trading at around $45,000.

Back home, Ami Organics and Vijaya Diagnostic will debut after IPO. The government will release wholesale-price inflation for August. Zee, Ceat, PI Industries, Anil Ambani group companies are holding their annual shareholders’ meeting. Foreign investors bought net Rs 1,190 crore of stocks on Sept. 9, according to NSDL website.