Sensex, Nifty Close Lower Dragged By RIL, ICICI Bank

India's stock benchmarks closed lower as losses in banking and energy stocks offset the gains in I.T. and metal stocks. Rising covid cases across the world have led to caution as investors await August retail inflation data to gauge the extent of price pressure in the economy.

The S&P BSE Sensex fell 0.22% to 58,177.76. The NSE Nifty 50 declined nearly 0.1% to 17,355.30. Reliance Industries Ltd. contributed the most to the index decline and had the largest move, decreasing 2.2%. Today, 19 of 50 shares fell, while 31 rose.

The broader indices outperformed their larger peers with the S&P BSE MidCap adding 0.3% and S&P BSE SmallCap gaining 0.8%. Fourteen out of the 19 sectoral indices compiled by the BSE Ltd. advanced, with S&P BSE Metal index adding nearly 1.5%.

The market breadth was skewed in favour of bulls. About 1,720 stocks advanced, 1,544 declined and 204 remained unchanged.

Shares of Balaji Amines Ltd. added over 7.5% to Rs 4,650 apiece.

Trading volume was 1,90,324 shares, 56% above the 20-day average of 1,21,985 shares for this time of day.

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

Balaji Amines trades at 48 times its estimated earnings per share for the coming year.

Analysts have two 'buy', no 'hold' and one 'sell' recommendations on the stock.

Shares of Ashoka Buildcon Ltd advanced 2.34% to Rs 104.90 apiece after the company received Letter of Acceptance from National Highways & Infrastructure Development Corporation Ltd. (NHDCL) for the project to widen/improve 4-lane in Dillai section of National Highways 29 in Assam on EPC mode.

In an exchange filing, Ashoka Buildcon said that the accepted price of the project was Rs 282.11 crore.

Of the 20 analysts tracking the company, 19 maintained ‘buy’ and 1 maintained ‘hold’ recommendations. The overall consensus price of analysts tracked by Bloomberg implied an upside of 50%

Shares of Kesoram Industries Ltd. added over 4% to Rs 86.70 apiece after the company approved the offer and issue of partly paid up equity shares of the company by way of a rights issue, for an aggregate amount of up to Rs 400 crore.

In an exchange filing, the company said that up to 7,99,99,665 rights equity shares will be issued, for an amount aggregating to Rs 399.99 crore. The record date for the purpose of determining the shareholders who will be eligible to apply in the issue is September 17. The rights entitlement ratio is 133 equity shares for every 274 equity shares held by the eligible shareholders as on record date.

The issue opens on September 29 and closes on October 11.

Shares of Action Construction Equipment Ltd. added over 14% to Rs 271.30 apiece after the company announced that it was declared L1 (lowest bidder) in an Indian defense ministry contract to supply 482 multi-purpose army tractors.

In an exchange filing, the company said that the multi-purpose tractors are powered by 72 hp (horse power) engine with 4X4 configuration and reiterated its commitment to ‘Make in India’ and ‘AtmaNirbhar Bharat’ initiatives of the government.

Trading volume was 5 times the three-month full-day average.

V-Mart Retail Ltd. is lower for the sixth straight day, on track for the longest losing streak since the period ended Dec. 26, 2019.

V-Mart Retail has shed 5.1% during the streak while the S&P BSE SENSEX Index rose 0.7%.

Of the 24 analysts tracking the company, 18 maintained 'buy', 4 maintained 'hold' and 2 maintained 'sell' recommendations. The overall consensus price of analysts tracked by Bloomberg implied an upside of 11.5%

Suryoday Small Finance Bank gains by daily 20% limit to Rs 179.60 apiece after a report the lender was in talks to merge with privately-held shadow bank Clix Capital Services Pvt Ltd. 

• Suryoday SFB’s shares rose most since March trading debut.

• Shares set to extend gains for third day

• Trading volume was 5x three-month full-day average

The government will pay 50% of the fee to legal advisors after filing of the draft red herring prospectus and the remaining would be paid after the listing of Life Insurance Corp of India, the Disinvestment Ministry said in a notice on its website.

• This is a shift from its earlier position when the government had said fee to the selected law firm would be paid only after successful and satisfactory completion of the transaction

• “It has now been decided to introduce milestone payments within the overall ambit of the success fee to the legal adviser,” the government said

Shares of Nazara Technologies Ltd. rose over 8%, the most since July 2, to Rs 1,932.45 apiece, after Yes Securities penciled in a potential upside of 20-50% for the shares of the gaming and sports media platform operator.

Yes Securities

• Initiates coverage with 'reduce' rating and price target of Rs 2,208, an implied return of 23.75%

• Company has well recognized brands across subsegments of online gaming where sustained growth is expected.

• Planned overseas expansion, especially in the U.S. lifting the brand

• Company poised to benefit from growth in Indian gaming sector over the next 3 years.

Key Risks

• Long-term uncertainty remains as legacy games tend to lose audience engagement.

• Company has not shown ability to build blockbuster games.

Shares of MTAR Technologies Ltd. added nearly 4.5% to Rs 1,429.00 apiece after the company secured order worth Rs 220 crore from Bloom Energy, USA for providing manufactured and assembled products. This is the largest single order ever received by MTAR Tech.

The order is for the export of Yuma Hot Boxes and associated components for Bloom Energy, to be delivered over four quarters of the Calendar Year 2022, the company said in an exchange filing.

All the three analysts tracking the company maintained a ‘buy’ rating. The overall consensus price of analysts tracked by Bloomberg implied an upside of 13.6%.

Shares of AurionPro Solutions Ltd. rose 2.41% to Rs 208.00 apiece after the company secured a significant order in the Smart City segment, from Madhya Pradesh Police Radio.

In an exchange filing, AurionPro Solutions said that the order was valued over Rs 38 crore and to be served over 3 years and pertains to comprehensive annual operation and maintenance of integrated City Surveillance Systems for the eleven cities of Madhya Pradesh. With this project, the company will assist Madhya Pradesh police, take care of integrated command and control centers in these eleven cities.

India's stock benchmarks declined, dragged by banking and energy stocks. Rising covid cases globally has sapped sentiment even as investors awaited retail inflation data for the month of August to gauge the extent of price pressures in the economy.

The S&P BSE Sensex fell 0.22% at 58,176.64. The NSE Nifty 50 also declined by similar magnitude to 17,345. Reliance Industries Ltd. contributed the most to the index decline and had the largest move, decreasing 2.0%. In midday trading, 27 of 50 shares fell, while 23 rose.

The broader indices outperformed their larger peers with the S&P BSE MidCap adding 0.2% 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 Metal index rising 1%.

The market breadth was skewed in favour of bulls. About 1,628 stocks advanced, 1,498 declined and 220 remained unchanged.

Shares of Granules India Ltd. shed nearly 2% to Rs 321.65 apiece after the company announced that its wholly-owned foreign subsidiary Granules USA Inc. is voluntarily recalling one batch of Naproxen Sodium 220 mg tablets at a retail level.

One batch has 11.4 million units of Naproxen tablets out of which 0.9 million units are being recalled, the company said in an exchange filing, adding that the recall will not have any financial impact.

The company’s senior vice president GN Prashanth explained that Granules had manufactured and released a batch using API from alternate source prior to the final approval and clarified that there was no harm done at the patient level.

Of the 8 analysts tracking the company, 6 maintained ‘buy’, 1 maintained ‘hold’ and 1 maintained ‘sell’ recommendations. The overall consensus price of analysts tracked by Bloomberg implied an upside of 31.1%.

Shares of Goldiam International Ltd. climbed nearly 14% to Rs 1,048 apiece after the company approved a proposal to buyback up to 3,80,000 equity shares of the company for an aggregate amount (buyback size) of Rs 45.60 crore at a price of Rs 1,200 per share.

The buyback is proposed to be made from the existing shareholders of the company as on the record date on proportionate basis under the tender offer route. The buyback size does not include transaction costs, the company said in an exchange filing. Members of the promoter and promoter group of the company have indicated their intention to participate in the proposed buyback, the company added.

The Indian rupee drops in line with the nation’s stocks as risk-off sentiment swept Asian markets. Traders are waiting on the release of India’s latest retail inflation data, which is expected to show price increases at the same pace as July.

USD/INR up 0.2% to 73.6625; up 0.7% last week, the biggest gain since the week ended July 2.

Shares of Advanced Enzyme Technologies Ltd. rose 13.44% to Rs 415.80 apiece after the company announced positive clinical breakthrough in resolving ‘Long Covid’ fatigue symptoms.

In an exchange release, the company said that its systemic enzyme and probiotic supplements passed the promising stages of “Randomized Controlled Trials”.

The trials were conducted on 200 patients suffering from post-Covid fatigue symptoms. The supplemental treatment was shown to resolve fatigue in a greater percentage of patients.

Advanced Enzyme said that it has expanded its omnichannel presence across India and globally.

All the three analysts tracking the company maintained a ‘buy’ recommendation. The overall consensus price of analysts tracked by Bloomberg implied an upside of 10.4%

• Shares of Tata Consultancy Services Ltd. rose over 1.5% to Rs 3,850 apiece after the company was selected as a strategic partner by NXP Semiconductors to drive I.T. innovation.

• TCS will help NXP enrich its user experience and accelerate digital transformation, according to the company’s exchange filing. NXP is a world leader in secure connectivity solutions for embedded applications.

• TCS stated that it will develop a business-centric operating model by leveraging the Machine First approach and deep contextual knowledge of semiconductor industry as well as next-gen technologies. Additionally, TCS will accelerate NXP’s cloud adoption as well

• Of the 50 analysts tracking the company, 32 maintained ‘buy’, 11 maintained ‘hold’ and 7 maintained ‘sell’ recommendations. The overall consensus price of analysts tracked by Bloomberg implied a downside of 5.7%.

Yields rose across the India sovereign yield curve in Monday morning trading.

• The 5-year yield rose 1.3bps to 5.621%

• The 10-year yield rose 1.4bps to 6.192%

• The 14-year yield rose 0.8bps to 6.716%

• The 5-year-10-year yield spread was 57.1bps, vs previous close 57bps

Shares of Finolex Industries Ltd. advanced nearly 5%, the most in 11 weeks, to Rs 179.50 apiece.

• Trading volume was 8,45,864 shares, five times the 20-day average of 1,82,385 shares for this time of the day.

• The company trades at 20 times its estimated earnings per share for the coming year.

• Analysts have 11 ‘buy’, five ‘hold’ and two ‘sell’ recommendations on the stock. Of the 18 analysts tracking the company, 11 maintained ‘buy’, 5 maintained ‘hold’ and 2 maintained ‘sell’ recommendations. The overall consensus price of analysts tracked by Bloomberg implied an upside of 10%

Shares of MAS Financial Services Ltd. rose over 3% to Rs 782.25 apiece, after the company announced partnership with CredAvenue for co-lending platform.

In an exchange filing, MAS Financial Services said that it intended to utilize the platform for partnering with multiple originators and to use the full stack discovery, credit, operations and risk management modules available on CredAvenue’s co-lending platform.

Shares of APL Apollo Tubes Ltd. rose 1.54% to Rs 1,908.50 apiece in intraday trade before paring the gains. The company received registrations for the Office of the Controller General of Patents, Designs & Trademarks for six products.

In an exchange filing, APL Apollo Tubes said that the grant of registrations was an affirmation of the company’s aspiration to redefine infrastructure development in India.

Of the 16 analysts tracking the company, 11 maintained ‘buy’, 3 maintained ‘hold’ and 2 maintained ‘sell’ recommendations. The overall consensus price of analysts tracked by Bloomberg implied an upside of 0.8%.

Infosys Ltd. and Microsoft entered into a multi-year strategic engagement with Ausgrid, the largest distribution of electricity on Australia’s east coast. The deal pertained to cloud transformation journey and for improving the digital readiness of Ausgrid.

In an exchange filing, Infosys said that the engagement strengthened global collaboration with Microsoft as well as the joint value to the industry.

Shares of Gillette India Ltd. rose 2.5% in intraday trade, the most in eight weeks, to Rs 6,250 apiece and extended the winning streak to the sixth day.

• Trading volume was 5,103 shares, six times the 20-day average of 789 for this time of day.

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

• Gillette India trades at 72 times its estimated earnings per share for the coming year.

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

• The company launched the New MACH3 Grooming Range to commemorate 20 years of the inconic Gillette MACH3 razor , on Wednesday.

Shares of Bharti Airtel Ltd. advanced 1% to 52-week high of Rs 692.90 apiece.

Rating agency S&P maintained Bharti Airtel’s credit rating of “BBB-“, even as it upgraded the outlook to ‘stable’ from ‘negative’, citing operating fundamentals and superior leverage management.

All the 33 analysts tracking the company maintained a ‘buy’ recommendation. The overall consensus price of analysts tracked by Bloomberg implied an upside of 8.2%

Shares of SpiceJet Ltd. advanced 2.30% to Rs 71.20 apiece after the company commercially agreed a settlement with CDB Aviation, another major lessor of MAX aircraft.

• This will add to the already announced settlement with Avolon, the company said in an exchange filing before market hours Monday. The move will enable SpiceJet to grow its fleet of 737 MAX aircraft.

• SpiceJet expects to start operations of MAX aircraft by the end of September, subject to regulatory approvals.

• Of the nine analysts tracking the company, 1 maintained ‘buy’, 4 maintained ‘hold’ and 4 maintained ‘sell’ recommendations. The overall consensus price of analysts tracked by Bloomberg implied an upside of 3.5%

India's stock benchmarks opened lower, dragged by I.T. and banking stocks. Investors await retail inflation data for the month of August scheduled to gauge the extent of price pressures in the economy. Rising covid-19 cases across the world and geopolitical tensions in Korean peninsula sapped sentiment further.

The S&P BSE Sensex fell 0.2% to 58,159.74. The NSE Nifty 50 also declined by similar magnitude to 17,336.20. Reliance Industries Ltd. contributed the most to the index decline and had the largest move, decreasing 1.6%. In early trading, 36 of 50 shares fell, while 13 rose.

The broader indices outperformed their larger peers with the S&P BSE MidCap largely unchanged and S&P BSE SmallCap gaining 0.3%. Eleven out of the 19 sectoral indices compiled by the BSE Ltd. declined, with S&P BSE Energy shedding over 1%.

The market breadth was skewed in favour of bulls. About 1,379 stocks advanced, 965 declined and 166 remained unchanged.

Vedanta Resources has trimmed its net debt, including inter-company loan and loan at Volcan, by about $300 million in 1H and expects to further reduce it by about $500 million in 2H FY22, according to a statement.

With entire debt repayment at Volcan, the pledge on all the equity shares of VRL has been released.

“We believe that strong operational performance from our world class asset base will strengthen our balance sheet and lead to investment grade credit metrics,” it says.

Shares of India’s steel and thermal power producers may react after a media report said state-run Coal India may increase prices to mitigate the impact of rising costs.

• In Focus: NTPC, Tata Power, RattanIndia Power, Steel Authority of India, Vedanta, National Aluminium, Hindalco, GMR Infrastructure, NLC India, Adani Power.

Traders are waiting on the release of India’s latest retail inflation data, which is expected to show price increases at the same level as July.

• July industrial production rose 11.5% YoY, data released Friday showed; est. +10.1%

• IIP growth moderated but remained solid in July as the base effect waned, Madhavi Arora, lead economist at Emkay Global Financial Services writes in note

  • Activity levels appear almost close to pre-Covid levels, with the headline index now short of July 2019 levels by a mere 0.3%

  • While base effects are likely to fade, expects the sequential growth recovery to persist broadly over the coming months. Maintains upwardly-revised FY22 forecast of 10.1% growth

• USD/INR fell 0.1% to 73.4975 on Thursday; up 0.7% last week, the biggest gain since the week ended July.

• 10-year yields fell 1bp to 6.18% on Thursday. Indian markets were closed Friday for a local holiday

• Global Funds buy net Rs 423 crore of India stocks Thursday: NSE

  • They bought Rs 670 crore of sovereign bonds under limits available to foreign investors, and withdrew Rs 225 crore of corporate debt

• State-run banks bought Rs 237 crore of sovereign bonds on Sept. 9: CCIL data. Foreign banks bought Rs 148 crore of bonds.

Asian stocks were steady on Monday as traders evaluated the risk of a slower economic recovery from the pandemic amid elevated inflation.

Shares slipped in Japan and were little changed in South Korea and Australia, while U.S. futures rose. The S&P 500 last week dropped the most since mid-June on investor caution over the challenges for economic reopening from the delta virus strain.

India’s SGX Nifty 50 Index futures for September delivery fell 0.5% to 17,360.00, while MSCI Asia Pacific Index was down 0.6%. The NSE Nifty 50 Index gained 0.1% on Thursday to 17,369.25. Markets were closed on Friday for a holiday.

Treasury yields held an advance as traders assess price pressures and their impact on the likely timeline for a reduction in Federal Reserve stimulus. An update on U.S. consumer prices this week will feed into the debate about whether or not elevated costs are transient. The dollar was steady.

Chinese technology stocks may come under renewed pressure after a report that China is seeking to break up Ant Group Co.’s Alipay and create a separate app for its loan business. Trade tension is also in the spotlight again after the Biden administration was said to be weighing a new probe into Chinese subsidies.

Elsewhere, North Korea said it successfully test-fired a new type of long-range cruise missile, ratcheting up tensions on the Korean Peninsula. Oil climbed above $70 a barrel and Bitcoin was around $46,000. Epic Games Inc. filed a notice of appeal in its closely watched antitrust lawsuit against Apple Inc.

Back home, Government will release August consumer-price inflation data; Balrampur Chini is holding their annual shareholders’ meeting. Foreign investors sold net Rs 830 crore of stocks on Wednesday, according to NSDL website.