Sensex, Nifty Log Second Worst Day In Eight Months

India's stock benchmarks tumbled in trade to log the second worst day in eight months, as concerns over omicron variant, rating downgrade by Morgan Stanley and RBI's plan to drain liquidity sapped sentiment.

The S&P BSE Sensex shed 2.09% to 55,822.01. The 30-stock gauge fell as much as 3.30% in intraday trade, the steepest decline in eight months. The NSE Nifty 50 index also slipped by similar magnitude to close at 16,614.20. The 50-stock gauge fell 3.39% in intraday trade to slip before 16,500. This is the first time in nearly four months since August 26 the Nifty closed below 16,700. Bharat Petroleum Corp. had the largest drop, falling 6.4%. Today, 47 of 50 shares fell, while 3 rose.

The broader indices underperformed their larger peers with both the S&P BSE MidCap and S&P BSE SmallCap shedding over 3%. All the 19 sectoral indices compiled by BSE Ltd. declined with S&P BSE Realty slipping nearly 5%. S&P BSE Oil and Gas, Metal shed nearly 4%.

The market breadth was skewed in the favour of bears. About 747 stocks advanced, 2,696 declined and 124 remained unchanged.

"The bias was downbeat from the beginning amid rising COVID cases globally due to the new variant. The benchmark remained under pressure in the first half as noticeable selling was witnessed across the board. However, rebound in the select index majors pared some losses in the latter half. The broader indices also traded under pressure and lost nearly 4% each", Ajit Mishra, VP - Reserach, Religare Broking Ltd. wrote in a note and reiterated cautious view on markets and suggested investors to focus more on risk management. "Investors, on the other hand, can start accumulating quality stocks selectively from a long term investment perspective. Nifty has the next major support at 16,300 levels", he added.

"Indian markets were battered on Monday, as sell-off continued across the spectrum on weak global cues. The short term structure of the market is still negative, but due to the oversold situation there is a strong possibility of a meaningful pullback rally. We are of the view that today's intraday low 16,400 would act as an immediate support for the market", Shrikant Chouhan, Head of Equity Research (Retail), Kotak Securities Ltd., wrote in a note. He added "a recovery-based rally could continue till 16,750-17,825. On the flip side, dismissal of 16,400 could possibly open another round of correction wave up to 16,320-16,250".

• Online travel portal Ixigo’s (Le Travenues Technology) IPO approved.

• Proposals of packaged foods maker Keventer Agro and vascular device manufacturer Sahajanand Medical Technologies also approved.

• All three offers to be a combination of offer-for-sale and fresh issue of shares.

Source: SEBI

• Shares of Bharti Airtel declined for the eighth consecutive day, on track for the longest losing streak in over three years since the period ended October 9, 2018.

• Shares of Airtel have slipped nearly 8% during the streak while the Nifty 50 shed around 5%.

• Over the 34 analysts tracking the company, 31 maintained 'buy', two maintained 'hold' and one maintained 'sell' recommendations. The overall consensus price of analysts tracked by Bloomberg implied an upside of 29.5%.

Adani Transmission Ltd. has completed the construction of one of India's longest intra-state transmission lines of 897 circuit km. This feat was achieved in Uttar Pradesh by Ghatampur Transmission Ltd., a subsidiary of Adani Transmission.

In an exchange filing, the company said that the project developed under PPP mode on a build, own, operate and maintain basis, will provide transmission services to long-term transmission customers with 35 years of runway ahead.

• Shares of sugar-related companies declined after government refrained from raising the minimum selling price of the sweetener.

• In an event on Friday, Food Secretary Sudhanshu Panel said that the benchmark rate of sugar should be 'need-based' and there was no necessity to increase the price of sugar right now.

• The sugar mills had asked the government to hike the minimum selling price to Rs 36-37 per kilogram, from Rs 31 at present.

• Shares of Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd. fell over 5.3%, the steepest intraday decline in a year to Rs 1,181.2 apiece

• Trading volume on the stock was 1.9 times the 30-day average volume, for this time of the day.

• The relative strength index on the stock was 27, indicating it may be oversold.

• All six analysts tracking the company maintained 'buy' recommendations. The overall consensus price of analysts tracked by Bloomberg implied an upside of 53.2%.

Source: Bloomberg

• Ramkrishna Forgings Ltd. said it will consider the sub-division of equity shares of face value of Rs 10 each on January 18, 2022, subject to approval of the members.

• In an exchange filing, the company said that it will also considerr the declaration of third interim dividend for the financial year 2021-22 and fix the record date. The company will approve the financial results for the December quarter in the meeting, as well.

Source: Exchange Filing

India's stock benchmarks witnessed a free fall as they posted the steepest intraday decline in over three weeks since November 26, dragged by losses in auto, banking, energy, metal, realty and power stocks. Sentiment was sapped amid concerns over the economic impact of omicron strain and rapid tapering of monetary stimulus.

The S&P BSE Sensex shed 2.72% to 55,459.93. The NSE Nifty 50 declined by similar magnitude to 16,504.40. Bajaj Finance Ltd. had the largest drop, falling 5.7%. In midday trading, 48 of 50 shares fell, while 2 rose.

The broader indices underperformed their larger peers with both the S&P BSE MidCap and S&P BSE SmallCap shedding nearly 4%. All the 19 sectoral indices compiled by BSE Ltd. declined, with S&P BSE Realty falling 5.5% while S&P BSE Metal and S&P BSE Finance losing 4%.

The market breadth was skewed in the favour of bears. About 610 stocks advanced, 2,740 declined and 133 remained unchanged.

TVS Motor Company has announced the integration of innovative location technology, what3words to its custommer app - TVS Connect.

Starting from today, TVS Connect users can share and navigate to any location using three simple words. TVS Motor is the first Indian two-wheeler maker to bring this unique addressing system to its customers.

Source: Bloomberg

The Indian rupee gains, along with the Philippine peso, as a slump in oil prices help Asian importers. Local bonds are range bound.

• USD/INR falls 0.1% to 75.990; oil drops as much as 3.9% on Monday trading amid concerns that the omicron spread will hurt the global economy

Source: Bloomberg

• India's cryptocurrency bill is unlikely to be presented in the ongoing session of parliament.

• Government has yet to finalise details of the legislation.

• Government wants wider consultations on cryptocurrency bill before finalising rules to govern digital currencies, reports Bloomberg

• Not enough time to present the bill as current session ends on December 23.

• Cabinet has not yet approved the proposed cryptocurrency legislation.

Source: People with knowledge of the matter

• Axis Bank has announced that it intends to raise funds by issuing senior unsecured taxable redeemable NCDs of Rs 10 lakh each for cash at par with base issue size of Rs 2,000 crore and Greenshoe option to retain oversubscription of Rs 3,000 crore, thereby aggregating upto Rs 5,000 crore.

Source: Exchange Filing

• TVS Motor raised to 'buy' from 'add' at IIFL; price target at Rs 750

• NCC Ltd.: Systematix Shares & Stocks initiated coverage of the company with a recommendation of 'buy'; price target at Rs 132.

• Larsen & Toubro Ltd.: Systematix Shares & Stocks initiated coverage of the company with a recommendation of 'buy'; price target at Rs 2,287.

Source: Bloomberg

• Shorter-term India sovereign securities declined in Monday morning trading.

• The 4-year yield rose 2.6bps to 5.424%

• The 10-year yield fell 0.6bps to 6.404%

• The 20-year yield remained unchanged at 6.872%

• The 4-year-10-year yield spread was 98bps, vs previous close 101.2bps

• The NSE Nifty 50 Index fell 2.4%

Source: Bloomberg

Shares of ITI Ltd. rose 1.81% in intraday trade to Rs 115.2 after the company received a work order from government of Tamil Nadu worth Rs 432.92 crore. The order pertains to plannings, survey, supply, installation, commissioning, testing, end-to-end integration, operation and maintenance of optical fibre network and electronics for broadband connectivity under BharatNet Phase-II.

The project has to be implemented within 360 days followed by operations and maintainance for three years from the date of 'project go-live'

As part of the package, around 15,000 km of fiber cable will be laid.

Shares of Mahindra Logistics Ltd. fell over 4%, the steepest intraday decline in two weeks since December 6, to Rs 632 apiece after Motilal Oswal noted that the slowdown in the Auto sector posed near term challenges for the company.

In its note dated December 17, Motilal Oswal maintained 'neutral' recommendation on the stock and kept the price target unchanged, but flagged challenges such as semiconductor shortages which could adversely impact auto production and requirement for logistics activity. Motilal Oswal said that non-auto verticals like consumer and e-commerce will do well while easing of fuel prices through exist duty cuts is likely to comfort margin.

The brokerage also pointed out that the acquisition of Meru Cabs could boost the company's presence in enterprise mobility and grow the company in shared mobility space.

Further, it identified the company's industry growth, asset light business model, strong parentage as key growth triggers.

Of the 13 analysts tracking the company, seven maintained 'buy', three maintained 'hold' and three maintained 'sell' recommendations. The overall consensus price of analysts tracked by Bloomberg implied an upside of 9%.

Shares of Hero MotoCorp Ltd. shed nearly 4%, the steepest intraday decline in almost eight months, to Rs 2,348 apiece.

• Trading volume on the stock was 27% above the 20-day average of 1,48,800 shares for this time of the day.

• The company has launched retail finance carnival which offers zero down payment, zero rate of interest and zero processing fee to customers.

• Analysts have 30 'buy', 15 'hold' and five 'sell' recommendations on the stock. The overall consensus price of analysts tracked by Bloomberg implied an upside of 32.9%.

HeidelBergCement India: JM Financial Institutional Securities initiated coverage on the stock with a recommendation of 'hold'; price target at Rs 225

Source: Bloomberg

Shares of Cipla Ltd. rose 3.23%, the biggest intraday gain in three weeks, to Rs 888, after teh company received final approval for its Lanreotide injection from the U.S. FDA. The drug is indicated for the treatment of patients with acromegaly and gastroenteropancreatic neuroendocrine tumors.

The drug is similar to Somatuline Depot from Ipsen Biopharmaceuticals. According to IQVIA, Somatuline depot had U.S. sales of approximately $867 million for the 12-month period ending October 2021.

Of the 40 analysts tracking the company, 33 maintained 'buy', six maintained 'hold' and one maintained 'sell' recommendations. The overall consensus price of analysts tracked by Bloomberg implied an upside of 22%. Cipla is one of the six stocks on the Nifty 50 index trading with gains.

• World Crest Advisors files a suit against Catalyst Trusteeship and Yes Bank.

• Seeks a declaration that it is the owner of 44,00,54,852 equity shares of Dish TV which are presently held by Yes Bank in its demat account.

Source: Stock Exchange Disclosure

• Shriram Properties pre-market discovery price at Rs 94 vs IPO price of Rs 118.

Source: Bloomberg

India's stock benchmarks opened lower, dragged by auto, banking, metal and realty stocks, amid weak global cues as concerns about the possibility of more curbs to minimise the spread of omicron variant and rapid tightening of monetary policy.

The S&P BSE Sensex shed 1.45% to 56,182.75. The NSE Nifty 50 declined by similar magnitude to 16,730.95. Tata Motors Ltd. had the largest drop, falling 3.5%. In early trading, 45 of 50 shares fell, while 5 rose.

The broader indices almost mirrored their larger peers with both the S&P BSE MidCap and S&P BSE SmallCap shedding over 2%. All the 19 sectoral indices compiled by BSE Ltd. declined with S&P BSE Realty leading the losses.

The market breadth was skewed in the favour of bears. About 634 stocks advanced, 1,939 declined and 83 remained unchanged.

The Indian rupee is expected to fall amid continued outflows from the nation’s stocks. Local bonds may gain amid a drop in U.S. Treasury yields.

• Foreigners have sold $4.1b of stocks so far this quarter, helping to make the rupee Asia’s worst performer.

• USD/INR will likely consolidate around 76 at the moment, according to a Scotiabank note.

• USD/INR little changed at 76.0850 on Friday.

• 10-year yields rose 4bps to 6.41% on Friday.

• Overseas investors sold Rs 2,070 crore of Indian stocks on Friday, according to provisional NSE data.

  • They sold Rs 138 crore of sovereign bonds under limits available to foreign investors, and withdrew Rs 82 crore of corporate debt.

• State-run banks bought Rs 2,700 crore of sovereign bonds on Dec. 17: CCIL data. Foreign banks sold Rs 822 crore of bonds.

Source: Bloomberg

• Aster DM Healthcare has 1.78 million shares change hands pre-market.

• Details of buyers and sellers are not immediately known.

Source: Bloomberg

• India's sugar producers will be in focus as the government refrains from raising the minimum selling price of the sweetener.

• In Focus: Sugar-related stocks like Dwarikesh Sugar Industries, Bajaj Hindusthan Sugar, Shree Renuka Sugar, Triveni Engineering.

• India Cements Ltd: Sushil Finance initiated coverage of the stock, with a recommendation of 'buy'; price target at Rs 225.

• Wipro Ltd. raised to 'buy' from 'accumulate' at Nirmal Bang; price target at Rs 790.

• Tata Consultancy Services Ltd. raised to 'buy' from 'accumulate' at Nirmal Bang; price target at Rs 4,159.

Source: Bloomberg

• FSN E-Commerce Ventures Ltd.: Morgan Stanley initiated coverage of the stock with a recommendation of 'equal-weight'; price target at Rs 2,183.

• PB Fintech Ltd.: Morgan Stanley initiated coverage of the stock with a recommendation of 'equal-weight'; price target at Rs 1,160.

Source: Bloomberg