Sensex, Nifty Close At Day's Low Dragged By Energy, Banking, Realty Stocks

India's stock benchmarks declined for the second consecutive session, dragged by losses in banking, energy, realty, telecom and oil & gas stocks. The S&P BSE Sensex and the NSE Nifty 50 index closed at the day's low as they came under pressure in the final hour, after trading flat for the bulk of the session.

The Sensex fell 0.52% to 60,008.33. The NSE Nifty 50 index also declined by similar magnitude to 17,898.65. Reliance Industries Ltd. contributed the most to the index decline, decreasing 2.1%. UPL Ltd. had the largest drop, falling 3.1%. Today, 35 of 50 shares fell, while 15 rose.

The broader markets outperformed their larger peers with the S&P BSE Midcap shedding 0.2% and S&P BSE Smallcap closing little changed. Fourteen of the 19 sectoral indices compiled by BSE Ltd. declined with S&P BSE Energy, Telecom, Oil & Gas and Realty indices shedding over 1%

The market breadth was skewed in the favour of bears. About 1,492 stocks advanced, 1,856 declined and 116 remained unchanged

Shares of Bharat Dynamics Ltd. rose 5.8% in intraday trade, the biggest intraday gain since November 11, to Rs 441 apiece. The company announced that it signed a contract for design, development, manufacture, supply and support of CMDS worth Rs 171 crore.

• With this, the total order book of Bharat Dynamics as on November 17, stood at Rs 8,991 crore. In the current financial year, the company secured new order worth Rs 1,331 crore, the company said in an exchange filing.

• Of the five analysts tracking the company, four maintained 'buy' and one maintained 'hold' recommendations. The overall consensus price of analysts tracked by Bloomberg implied an upside of 30.2%.

Shares of VA Tech Wabag Ltd. rose over 5.4%, to Rs 359.7 apiece. The stock has extended gains for the second consecutive session after Nomura raised target on the stock to Rs 581 from Rs 546 even as the brokerage retained the 'buy' recommendation. Over the last two sessions, VA Tech Wabag has added over 12.5%.

The target price hike came after VA Tech Wabag reported sequential uptick in net profit and revenue in the September quarter.

September Quarter (Consolidated, QoQ)

• Net profit at Rs 26.22 crore vs Rs 15.23 crore

• Revenue at Rs 683.96 crore vs Rs 658 crore

• Total costs at Rs 652.14 crore vs Rs 647.74 crore

• Other income at Rs 3.01 crore vs Rs 14.28 crore

Of the four analysts tracking the company, two maintained 'buy' and two maintained 'hold' recommendations. The overall consensus price of analysts tracked by Bloomberg implied an upside of 27%.

Trading volume on the stock was 5.9 times the 30-day average volume, for this time of the day.

Nomura

• Maintains 'buy' recommendation with the target raised to Rs 581 from Rs 546, an implied upside of 64.57%

• Believe that the execution/ordering outlook remains robust

• ESG-related water capex likely to benefit the company in the long term

• Company well placed to exceed Rs 3,100 crore in sales in FY22.

• Start of execution of international projects in Russia and Malaysia in H2FY22 likely to aid growth.

• Focus on industrial orders likely to improve EBITDA margins.

• Company likely to be awarded the Chennai desalination project with a tender size of Rs 6,100 crore.

• Largely retain sales estimates, but EPC has been slashed by 8%/3% in FY22F/23F to account for the commodity price rise.

• Continue to value the company at 15x FY23F EPS of Rs 34.9.

• Key risks: Slowing domestic capex for water and sharp rise in commodity costs.

Shares of Canara Bank declined for the seventh consecutive session,on track for the longest losing streak since the period ended September 24, 2020.

• Canara Bank shares have shed 9.2% during the streak while the Sensex fell 0.4%.

• The stock is trading at an unusally low 65% discount versus peers compared to 79% average discount over the past two years.

• Of the 16 analysts tracking the company, 14 maintained 'buy' and two maintained 'sell' recommendations. The overall consensus price of analysts tracked by Bloomberg implied an upside of 2%.

Source: Bloomberg

Sugar production in India climbed to 2.09 million tonnes from 1.68 million tonnes YoY in the new season from October 1 to November 15 according to Indian Sugar Mills Association.

The rise comes as more mills started crushing cane in the season. 308 mills have now started operations, compared to 289 mills YoY

India will have another surplus year and would need to export about 6 million tonnes during the 2021-22 season: ISMA

• Israeli fertiliser provider ICL has reached an agreement with Indian Potash Ltd. to hike the selling price of 1,50,000 tonnes of potash to be delivered to India in 2021 to $445 per tonne.

• ICL had announced in April that it made a contract with IPL to supply potash through 2021 at a selling price of $280 per tonne.

Source: Exchange Filing At Tel Aviv Stock Exchange

Shares of ITC Ltd. rose 4.16%, the biggest intraday gain in over a month, to Rs 245.25 apiece after television channel CNBC-Awaaz reported that the company is likely to consider spinning off its information technology business.

• ITC's information technology business is likely to be valued at Rs 20,000 crore-Rs 25,000 crore.

• ITC is exploring options to spin off the business, according to the report, citing people it did not identify.

Shares of Thermax Ltd. extended the post-earnings rally to rise over 5.6% in intraday trade to Rs 1,895 apiece after the company reported sequential growth in net profit and revenue in the second quarter, post market hours Wednesday. Since then, shares have risen over 36%.

September Quarter Results (Consolidated, QoQ)

• Revenue up 39.62% at Rs 1,469.32 crore Vs Rs 1,052.36 crore

• Net profit up 81.4% at Rs 87.92 crore Vs Rs 48.47 crore

• Total costs at Rs 1,391.78 crore vs Rs 1,021.49 crore

• Other income at Rs 36.75 crore vs Rs 25.39 crore

Of the 28 analysts tracking the company, seven maintained 'buy', seven maintained 'hold' and 14 maintained 'sell' recommendations. The overall consensus price of analysts tracked by Bloomberg implied a downside of 21.3%.

• Trading volume on the stock was 5.8 times the 30-day average volume, for this time of the day. The relative strength index on the stock was at 84, suggesting it may be overbought.

• Analyst updates in the past three days include two upgrades and one downgrade.

• The consensus analyst recommendations improving from 'sell' to 'hold' on Monday. Over the past month, 15 of the 28 analysts have raised targets higher.

Mahindra & Mahindra Financial Services Ltd. announced the official launch of its vehicle leasing and subscription business 'Quiklyz'.

• This new-age digital platform intends to provide convenience, flexibility and choice to customers across cities.

• Using Quiklyz, customers can access brand-new car without the hassles of car ownership and the platform will take care of registration, insurance, scheduled and unscheduled maintenance, road-side assistance.

• Quiklyz will initially launch its services in metro cities like Bengaluru, Chennai, Delhi, Gurugram, Hyderabad, Mumbai, Noida and Pune. M&M Financial Services aims to expand the platform to cover 30 locations over the next one year.

• Quiklyz will be available for both corporate and retail customers.

Key Benefits

• Zero down payment and lower monthy outflow versus loan

• No uncertainty on vehicle maintenance costs, resale price with a fixed monthly fee

• White number plate and RC book in customer's name

• No resale or maintenance hassles

• Wide range of option for customer at end of tenure like return/extend/buy/upgrade.

India's stock benchmarks benchmarks declined, after trading little changed for bulk of the session so far, dragged by energy, telecom and oil and gas stocks.

The S&P BSE Sensex fell 0.22% to 60,187.98. The NSE Nifty 50 index also declined by similar magnitude to 17,950.95. Reliance Industries Ltd. contributed the most to the index decline, decreasing 1.3%. UPL Ltd. had the largest drop, falling 2.2%. In midday trading, 32 of 50 shares fell, while 18 rose.

The broader indices outperformed their larger peers with S&P BSE Midcap little changed and S&P BSE Smallcap gaining 0.42%. Eleven of the 19 sectoral indices compiled by BSE Ltd. declined with S&P BSE Energy, S&P BSE Telecom, S&P BSE Oil & Gas and S&P BSE Realty indexes shedding 1%.

The market breadth was skewed neither in the favour of bulls nor bears. About 1,582 stocks advanced, 1,603 stocks declined and 152 remained unchanged.

India’s government bonds slipped after a local media report that they’re unlikely to be included in global indexes this financial year. The rupee traded steady. 

• 10-year yields rose by 1bp to 6.37%

• The potential delayed inclusion in global bond indexes is being reflected in the market

• Most market participants expecting a hike in the reverse repo rate in RBI policy next month.

• USD/INR steady at 74.3663

Source: Bloomberg

Indian companies’ September quarter earnings performance was above expectations, mainly led by metals and oil & gas companies, according to Motilal Oswal Financial Services.

• The fiscal second quarter highlighted an improving demand environment, helped by the rising pace of vaccinations. But the quarterly earnings also showed the impact of rising input costs on operating margins on specific sectors such as specialty chemicals, autos, cement and consumer staples.

• For Nifty 50 companies, Q2 sales and Ebitda growth were 31% and 21%, respectively, against the Motilal Oswal's estimate of 25% and 20%; net income rose 36% vs expectation of 25%.

• Most banks demonstrated steady recovery in loan growth, while NBFCs saw sharp improvement in disbursements and collection efficiency.

• High energy and raw material prices continue to be concerns.

• Motilal Oswal remains overweight on BFSI, IT, consumer, metals, cement, and capital goods companies, while the brokerage has a neutral view on autos, telecoms and healthcare; it is underweight on energy and utilities.

Shares of Aban Offshore Ltd. rose 4.9% to Rs 54.45 apiece. The Chennai-based offshore drilling services provider informed that its step-down subsidiary Aban Singapore Pte Ltd. bagged a letter of award from ONGC Ltd. The order pertained to the deployment of jack-up rig Aban VIII for a firm period of three years

Source: Exchange Filing

Alembic Pharmaceuticals Ltd. announced that its joint venture Aleor Dermaceuticals Ltd. received final approval from U.S. FDA for its Abbreviated New Drug Application (ANDA) for Mupirocin Cream USP, 2%.

• The ANDA is therapeutically equivalent to Bactroban Cream, 2% of SmithKline Beecham (Cork) Ltd., Ireland.

• The cream is used to treat secondarily infected traumatic skin lesions caused by specific bacteria and has an estimated market size of $28 million for 12 months ending June 2021, according to IQVIA.

• With this, Alembic Pharma has bagged 13 approvals in 2021 so far and cumulative total of 152 ANDA approvals overall from U.S. FDA.

• Of the 18 analysts tracking the company, seven maintained 'buy', seven maintained 'hold' and four maintained 'sell' recommendations. The overall consensus price of analysts tracked by Bloomberg implied an upside of 9.8%.

• Trading volume on the stock is 2.3 times the 30-day average volume, for this time of the day.

Shares of Birlasoft Ltd. rose over 7.1% , the biggest intraday gain in seven weeks, to Rs 469.95 apiece.

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

All the eight analysts tracking the company maintained 'buy' recommendation. The overall consensus price of analysts tracked by Bloomberg implied an upside of 10.6%.

IndusInd Bank launches Indus Merchant Solutive, a comprehensive mobile application to enable merchants, retailers and professionals to carry out banking transactions digitally, on a single platform.

In an exchange filing, IndusInd Bank said that the app will undertake activities like instant cashless payments on mobile phones, track inventory through dashboards, application for PoS machines and avail small ticket business loans from the bank as well.

The application can be instantly downloaded by any current account holder of the bank.

As of now, the app is available on smartphones with Android OS. IndusInd Bank said that the app will be shortly made available for smartphones with iOS as well.

• Maturities across the India sovereign yield curve were little changed in Wednesday morning trading.

• The 3-year yield remained unchanged at 5.103%

• The 10-year yield rose 0.7bps to 6.371%

• The 30-year yield remained unchanged at 6.898%

• The 3-year-10-year yield spread was 126.8bps, vs previous close 126bps

Source: Bloomberg

• Shares of Ugro Capital Ltd. rose 10% to Rs 197.45 apiece after State Bank of India inducted the company as the first co-lending partner for its Sanjeevani program to finance MSMEs. Through this collaboration, SBI and Ugro Capital aim to disburse upto Rs 500 crore by March 2022.

• The relative strength index on the stock was 76, suggesting it may be overbought.

• Trading volume on the stock was 3.4 times the 30-day average volume, for this time of the day.

• JK Cement cut to 'reduce' from 'add' at HDFC Securities; price target: Rs 3,210

• Glenmark Pharmaceuticals cut to 'accumulate' from 'buy' at KR Choksey; price target: Rs 547

Source: Bloomberg

Shares of L&T Technology Services Ltd. rose 3%, the biggest intraday gain in over two weeks, to Rs 5,527 apiece after the company was selected as an engineering partner by Mavenir and NVIDIA.

• L&T Tech will support Mavenir with customisation, integration and deployment of Artificial Intelligence applications for deployment on NVIDIA's AI-on-5G platform, the company said in an exchange filing.

• Of the 27 analysts tracking the company, 13 maintained 'buy', seven maintained 'hold' and seven maintained 'sell' recommendations. The overall consensus price of analysts tracked by Bloomberg implied a downside of 17.1%.

• The relative strength index on the stock was at 76, suggesting it may be overbought.

Vodafone Idea Ltd. has clarified to exchanges regarding a news report that suggested that the telecom services provider may get an SBI loan.

Vodafone Idea said that it is in discussions with various funding for its funding requirements, including SBI, but ruled out any such development on receiving a loan from the lender.

Source: Exchange Filing

Shares of Biocon Ltd. rose over 1.25% in intraday trade to Rs 374 after the company's subsidaiary Biocon Biologics launched interchangeable SEMGLEE (insulin glargine-yfgn) injection and Insulin Glargine (insulin glargine-yfgn) injection in U.S., along with Viatris Inc. to help control high blood sugar in adult and pediatric patients with type 1 diabetes and adults with type 2 diabetes.

Of the 22 analysts tracking the company, 12 maintained 'buy', six maintained 'hold' and four maintained 'sell' recommendations. The overall consensus price of analysts tracked by Bloomberg implied an upside of 0.6%.

• TPG Capital's $1 billion investment in Tata Motors EV Unit will halve its EV spending in India through 2026

• Tata Motors has an early mover advantage in EVs, but the company faces challenges in scaling the business.

• Earnings growth on rising car sales with drive Tata Motors' leverage to less than 4x by March 2023 from 9x in March 2021

• Product development and capital spending will leave free cash flow negative and debt elevated unti March 2023

Source: Moody's

Shares of Rajesh Exports Ltd. rose nearly 6% to Rs 730 apiece after the company reported growth in net profit in the September quarter post market hours Monday. Over the last sessions since the results, shares of Rajesh Exports have risen nearly 8.5%.

• Trading volume on the stock was quadruple the 20-day averge volume, for this time of the day.

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

Shares of Asian Paints Ltd. rose over 2.3%, the biggest intraday gain in two weeks, to Rs 3,225 apiece amid reports of the price hike by the company to offset the rising input costs.

Asian Paints is yet to disclose the quantum of price hikes.

Of the 40 analysts tracking the company, 18 maintained 'buy', eight maintained 'hold' and 14 maintained 'sell' recommendations. The overall consensus price of analysts tracked by Bloomberg implied a downside of 3.8%.

Shares of Apollo Hospitals Enterprise Ltd. rose over 7.5% in intraday trade to a record Rs 5,483.95 apiece after analysts raised target on the stock after the company reported net income above average analyst estimate in the September quarter post market hours on Friday.

In the three sessions since the company reported Q2 earnings, shares of Apollo Hospitals jumped over 16.6%.

Nomura

• Maintains 'buy' with the target raised to Rs 5,394 from Rs 4,746 earlier; an implied return of 6.16%

• September quarter results well above estimated, owing to higher than estimated ARPOB, improved case mix, higher outpatient and vaccination revenues.

• Non-Covid patient occupancy has increased sharply.

• Company expects Pharmacy segment growth to normalise in due course.

• Raise adj FY22F EPS by 9% to account for better than expected results.

• Remain positive on the stock, given the sustained growth prospects, improvement in execution, value unlocking in retail and digital initiatives.

Kotak Securities initiated coverage on the stock with a target price of Rs 5,200; implied return of 2.02%.

Of the 23 analysts tracking the company, 21 maintained 'buy', one maintained 'hold' and one maintained 'sell' recommendations. The overall consensus price of analysts tracked by Bloomberg implied a downside of 4.3%.

• Relative strength index on the stock was 83, suggesting it may be overbought.

• Trading volume owas 8.2 times the 30-day average volume, for this time of the day.

• Poonawalla Fincorp has 3.68 million shares change hands in two bunches.

• Details of buyers and sellers are not immediately known

Source: Bloomberg

India’s rupee may track regional peers lower against the dollar. Traders await a Rs 20,000 crore ($2.7b) sale of Treasury bills.

• USD/INR falls 0.15% to 74.3750 on Tuesday

• 10-year yields rose 2bps to 6.36% on Tuesday

• Global funds sold Rs 180 crore of sovereign bonds under limits available to foreign investors, and withdrew Rs 63 crore of corporate debt

• State-run banks bought Rs 834 crore of sovereign bonds on Nov. 16: CCIL data. Foreign banks sold Rs 7.56 crore of bonds.

Source: Bloomberg

India's stock benchmarks declined, dragged by losses in metals, energy and banking stocks, after robust U.S. economic data lifted Wall Street shares, treasury yields and the dollar and prompted more calls for tighter monetary policy.

The S&P BSE Sensex fell nearly 0.3% to 60,160.46. The NSE Nifty 50 index also declined by similar magnitude to 17,930.15. Reliance Industries Ltd. contributed the most to the index decline, and had the largest drop, falling 1.4%. In early trading, 22 of 50 shares fell, while 28 rose.

The broader indices outperformed their larger peers with the S&P BSE Midcap little changed and S&P BSE Smallcap adding 0.3%. Ten of the 19 sectoral indices compiled by BSE Ltd. advanced with S&P BSE Power index rising 0.62%. On the flip side, the S&P BSE Energy index shed nearly 1% and S&P BSE Bankex fell 0.7%.

The market breadth was skewed in favour of bulls. About 1,380 stocks advanced, 869 declined and 83 remained unchanged.

• L&T Technology Services Ltd. has been selected as an engineering partner by Mavenir and NVIDIA.

• L&T Tech will support Mavenir with customisation, integration and deployment of Artificial Intelligence applications for deployment on NVIDIA's AI-on-5G platform.

Source: Exchange Filing

• Ipca Laboratories cut to 'add' from 'buy' at Axis Capital Ltd; price target: Rs 2,300

• JK Cement cut to 'sell' from 'reduce' at Kotak Securities; price target: Rs 2,700

• JK Cement cut to 'hold' from 'buy' at Antique Stock Broking; price target: Rs 3,755

Source: Bloomberg

• Boeing has agreed to provide certain accommodations to SpiceJet

• Boeing to settle the outstanding claims related to the grounding of 737 MAX aircraft and its return to service.

• Move to pave way for the induction of younger MAX aircraft into the company's fleet

• Move to ensure the resumption of new aircraft deliveries from order of 155 MAX aircraft

Source: Exchange Filing

Cipla Ltd. announced the launch of Spirofy, India's first portable, wireless Spirometer, on World COPD day. Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disorder and asthma can be diagnosed with the wireless Spirometer.

COPD is the second most common cause of deaths in India.

Cipla intends to revolutionise OPD diagnosis with this launch and aims to strengthen its position as the leader in lung segment in the country.

Source: Exchange Filing

Shareholders of Coforge Ltd. will sell securities worth $750 million in a proposed American Depositary Shares offering, the Mint newspaper reported, citing a person aware of the development

• Granules India cut to 'accumulate' at KR Choksey; price target: Rs 322

• Sadbhav Eng cut to 'neutral' at Phillip Secs; price target: Rs 52

• Dilip Buildcon cut to 'add' at IIFL; price target: Rs 635

Source: Bloomberg

India may allow private virtual currencies to be treated like investments, The Economic Times reported, citing unidentified people with knowledge of the matter.

The government is finalizing laws for regulation of crypto asset trading while banning the use of virtual currencies for payments and transactions, the newspaper reported

India will also bar active solicitation from crypto exchanges and platforms: ET