Sensex, Nifty Log Worst Single-Day Loss In 2 Months

India's stock benchmarks closed lower for the second consecutive session. The S&P Sensex & NSE Nifty 50 incurred the worst single-day loss in two months, dragged largely by metal and banking stocks, amid weak global cues.

The Sensex fell 0.89% to 58,490.93, with the 30-stock index shedding 524.96 points in the session. The Nifty 50 declined 1.07% to 17,396.90. Housing Development Finance Corp. contributed the most to the index decline, decreasing 2.9%. Tata Steel Ltd. had the largest drop, falling 9.6%. Today, 41 of 50 shares fell, while 9 rose.

The broader indices underperformed larger peers with the S&P BSE MidCap and S&P BSE SmallCap shedding nearly 2%. Barring S&P BSE FMCG, all the other18 sectoral indices compiled by the BSE Ltd. declined, with S&P BSE Metal index falling nearly 7%.

The market breadth was skewed in favour of bears. About 1,036 stocks advanced, 2,338 declined and 133 remained unchanged.

"Domestic equities fell sharply today mainly on weak global cues as mounting concerns from default of Chinese real estate giant Evergrande weighed on investors’ sentiments. Defaults of Evergrande sent a shock wave across global equities as possible collapse of Evergrande can lead to cascading impact on financial institutions and corporate. Additionally, it can lead to high cost of borrowing for corporate, which does not augur well for growth of global economy. Therefore, today we saw a massive correction in metals and financials", Binod Modi, Head Strategy at Reliance Securities, wrote in a note.

A panel of lenders to Videocon Industries Ltd. has requested an Indian court to allow it to reconsider the approval for the sale of the bankrupt firm to Billionaire Anil Agarwal’s Twin Star Technologies Ltd.

The panel of lenders, led by the nation’s largest bank State Bank of India, has filed an affidavit detailing its stand in the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta said during a hearing.

Twin Star has “serious objection to change of stance by the committee of creditors,” said the company’s lawyer Harish Salve.

The tribunal adjourned the case for hearing on Sept. 27, giving time to Twin Star to file a written statement.

• Shares of Jindal Steel & Power Ltd. shed over 9% to Rs 351.7 apiece; lower than any close since March 31.

• Trading volume was 79% above the 20-day average for this time of the day.

• Jindal Steel trades at 4.8 times its estimated earnings per share for the coming yeaer.

• Analysts have 23 ‘buy’, two ‘hold’ and one ‘sell’ recommendations on the stock.

• Share price crossed below the 200-day simple moving average in Monday’s session, indicating potential downward price momentum.

Emerging markets such as India have shown pockets of strength yet continue to be overshadowed by a slumping China, said Jonathan Garner, chief Asia and EM strategist with Morgan Stanley.

• “Some parts of EM are in a better position” but the situation in China is an “overarching problem,” Garner said in a Bloomberg TV interview.

• India market “has done extremely well” and is in a stronger financial position than during the 2013 taper tantrum; should be resilient in a moderately strong dollar environment

Shares of Forbes & Co hit 5% upper circuit at Rs 4,184.35 apiece after the company approved on Sunday, the execution of share purchase agreement between Lunolux Ltd. (Buyer), Shapoorji Pallonji & Company (Seller), Forbes Campbell Finance Ltd., Forbes & Co, Eureka Forbes Ltd. and Forbes Enviro Solutions Ltd., for the acquisition of major stake in health and safety solutions biz of Eureka Forbes by Lunolux.

Eureka Forbes is a 100% subsidiary of Forbes & Co. The transaction values Eureka Forbes at an enterprise value of Rs 4,400 crore, according to an exchange filing by Forbes & Company.

Trading volume on the stock was 11.1 times the 30-day average volume at-time, for this time of the day.

The relative index strength on the stock was at 74, suggesting it may be overbought.

Cadila Healthcare Ltd. has received the final approval from the U.S. FDA to market Vortioxetine tablets in strengths of 5 mg, 10 mg, 20 mg. The drug is used to treat depression and helps restore the balance of serotonin in brain.

In an exchange filing, Cadila Healthcare said that the drug will be manufactured at the formulation manufacturing facility at the SEZ, Ahmedabad.

Shares of Cadila Healthcare rose 0.48% in intraday trade before paring the gains. Of the 35 analysts tracking the company, 17 maintained ‘buy’, eight maintained ‘hold’ and 10 maintained ‘sell’ recommendations. The overall consensus price of analysts tracked by Bloomberg implied an upside of 6.8%.

Shares of Welspun Corp Ltd. rose 3.54% to Rs 125.9 apiece after the company bagged multiple orders of 120 KMT worth Rs 1,400 crore. In an exchange filing, the company said that most of the orders will be executed from the Indian facilities, including a significant export order for deep offshore pipeline project in Gulf of Mexico, U.S.

Welspun Corp’s order book, post the recent orders, stands at Rs 4,700 core, after considering execution up to August 2021.

Of the four analysts tracking the company, 2 maintained ‘buy’, 1 maintained ‘hold’ and 1 maintained ‘sell’ recommendations. The overall consensus price of analysts tracked by Bloomberg implied an upside of 26.4%.

Tata Power Co Ltd.’s wholly owned subsidiary TP Saurya Ltd. (TPSL) received Letter of Intent from Maharashtra State Power Generation Co. Ltd. to set up 250 MW Grid-Connect solar photovoltaic power plant in Dhule district in Maharashtra. The project has been awarded through tariff-based competitive bidding followed by e-Reverse auction, Tata Power said in an exchange filing.

The solar plant project will be commissioned within 15 months from the date of PPA executive.

With this LoI for the Maharashtra power plant, Tata Power will have 4,611 MW with an installed capacity of 2,947 MW and 1,664 MV under implementation.

Of the 24 analysts tracking the company, 19 maintained ‘buy’, 2 maintained ‘hold’ and 3 maintained ‘sell’ recommendations. The overall consensus price of analysts tracked by Bloomberg implied an upside of 6.3%.

RailTel Corp. and Rail Vikas Nigam traded higher after a report said the government wants to rationalize India’s state-run railway infrastructure and services providers via internal mergers.

• Shares of RailTel Corp rose as much as 20%, their biggest single-day gain since March 2; they however pared gain to trade 3.1% higher as of 12.30 p.m. in Mumbai

• Rail Vikas Nigam gained 8.8% in earlier in the day but gave away some gains to trade 3.3% higher

• Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corp traded 2.2% lower while IRCON International was down 0.3%

• Trigger: The government’s plan involves a merger of Rail Vikas Nigam with IRCON International, while RailTel Corp. will be taken over by Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation, Indian Express newspaper said on Sept. 18, citing a finance ministry report on rationalization of government bodies

India's stock benchmarks declined in a volatile session so far, dragged by PSU Banks and metals stocks, amid weak global cues.

The S&P BSE Sensex fell 0.13% to 58,936.35. The NSE Nifty 50 declined 0.3% at 17,534.55. Housing Development Finance Corp. contributed the most to the index decline, decreasing 2.3%. Tata Steel Ltd. had the largest drop, falling 6.1%. In midday trading, 34 of 50 shares fell, while 15 rose.

The broader indices underperformed its larger peers with both the S&P BSE MidCap and S&P BSE SmallCap indices shedding 0.5%. Fifteen out of the 19 sectoral indices compiled by the BSE Ltd. declined, with S&P BSE Metal Index declining over 4.3%.

The market breadth was skewed in favour of bears. About 1,325 stocks advanced, 1,876 declined and 176 remained unchanged.

Shares of Alkem Laboratories Ltd. shed over 2% to Rs 3,744.95 apiece after the company approved the closure of operations at Beta Block (Unit II) manufacturing facility at Baddi in Himachal Pradesh.

In an exchange filing, the company said that the Beta Block (Unit II) manufacturing facility catered predomninantly to domestic market for injections and was significantly underutilized. Hence Alkem Laboratories decided to discontinue the manufacturing operations to avoid operating expenses.

Of the 21 analysts tracking the company, 16 maintained ‘buy’, four maintained ‘hold’ and one maintained ‘sell’ recommendations. The overall consensus price of analysts tracked by Bloomberg implied an upside of 5.3%

Farm Equipment maker VST Tillers Tractors Ltd. announced the launch of 95 DI Ignito- Power Tiller.

This is India’s first 9 HP-electric start Power Tiller. The wide range of Brush cutters, part of the 95 DI Ignito, is launch to meet the needs of small and marginal farmers who account for 80% of the farming community in India. The tiller is particularly suided for applications like bund formation, earthing up and de-weeding and puddling, and is best suited for crops like sugarcane, paddy, cotton, vegetables, horticulture and turmeric.

Of the four analysts tracking the company, three maintained ‘buy’ and one maintained ‘hold’ recommendations. The overall consensus price of analysts tracked by Bloomberg implied an upside 0.9%

Most yields along the India sovereign yield curve fell, with 5-year bonds moving the most in Monday morning trading.

• The 3-year yield remained unchanged at 4.851%

• The 10-year yield fell 0.9bps to 6.158%

• The 18-year yield fell 0.7bps to 6.822%

• The 3-year-10-year yield spread was 130.7bps, vs previous close 131.6bps

• Co-branded card to be launched next month on Visa network

• Cards to focus on millennials, business owners and merchants

• The alliance will target deeper penetration in Tier II & Tier III markets

Source: HDFC Bank Statement

Shares of Nazara Technologies Ltd. rose nearly 4.5% in intraday trade to Rs 2,170 apiece after the company announced that its independent subsidiary and a leading esports company NODWIN Gaming acquired the Gaming and adjacent IP business of OML Entertainment.

In an exchange filing, Nazara Tech said that NODWIN Gaming has agreed to a consideration of Rs 73 crore as part of the agreement with OML Entertainment.

Of the seven analysts tracking Nazara Technologies, five maintained ‘buy’ recommendations and two maintained ‘sell’ recommendations. The overall consensus price of analysts tracked by Bloomberg implied an upside of 5.8%

India’s rupee falls, tracking losses in regional peers, as risks from the China Evergrande debt crisis and the upcoming Fed policy review weighed on sentiment. Bonds are higher after a government official said the nation’s debt could be included in global indexes by March.

• USD/INR up 0.3%, set to gain by the most since Sept. 13, to 73.7125

• 10-year yields fell by 1bp to 6.16% on Monday

Shares of Shipping Corp of India Ltd. rose 5.76%, the most in over two weeks, to Rs 118.5 apiece after the company received approval from Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways for the formation/incorporation of a new wholly owned subsidiary for demerger of non-core assets of the company.

Trading volume on the stock was 4.7 times the 30-day average volume at-time, for this time of the day.

Indian Hotels Co. leads rally in hospitality stocks after a report said the government may soon ease some restrictions and allow foreign tourists to enter the country for the first time since travel bans were imposed last year amid the Covid-19 outbreak.

• India plans to waive visa fees for about 500,000 foreign visitors to help revive the tourism, hospitality and aviation sectors, the Press Trust of India reported Sunday, citing unidentified officials

• An announcement is possible within 10 days, the report said

Shares of KEC International Ltd. rose nearly 8% to Rs 449.90 apiece after the company agreed to acquire 100% equity in Spur Infrastructure Pvt Ltd. for an enterprise value of Rs 62 crore.

Spur Infra in an EPC company setting up cross country oil & gas pipelines and city gas distribution networks

In an exchange filing over the weekend, KEC International said that acquisition will be completed within 60 days from the date of agreement.

Of the 31 analysts tracking the company, 24 maintained ‘buy’ ,6 maintained ‘hold’ and one maintained ‘sell’ recommendations. The overall consensus price of analysts tracked by Bloomberg implied an upside of 7.3%. Trading volume on the stock was seven times the 30-day average volume at-time, for this time of the day.

Shares of Kotak Mahindra Bank Ltd. rose 1.46% to Rs 2,030.6 apiece after the lender agreed to subscribe to 16.7 million shares in KFin Technologies Pvt. for Rs 3,100 crore($42 million), according to a stock exchange filing.

• KFin provides registrar and transfer agency services to mutual funds; it is also a central record-keeping agency under India’s National Pension System

Of the 46 analysts tracking the company, 24 maintained 'buy', 16 maintained 'hold' and six maintained 'sell' recommendations. The overall consensus price of analysts tracked by Bloomberg implied a downside of 7.15%.

Shares of Larsen & Toubro Ltd. rose 1.10% to Rs 1,735 apiece after the company announced that its wholly owned subsidiary L&T Hydrocarbon Engineering (LTHE) secured a significant order (Rs 1,000 crore-Rs 2,500 crore) from Petronet LNG, a joint venture company promoted by ONGC, IOC, GAIL and BPCL.

In an exchange filing, the company said that the order pertained to engineering, procurement, construction and commissioning of two LNG storage tanks for Phase IIIB of the Dahej Expansion Project in Gujarat.

Of the 44 analysts tracking the company, 32 maintained ‘buy’, one maintained ‘hold’ and one maintained ‘sell’ recommendations. The overall consensus price of analysts tracked by Bloomberg implied an upside of 8.8%.

Wipro Ltd. announced the launch of the Wipro-Google Cloud Innovation Arena in Bengaluru, post market hours Friday.

In an exchange filing, Wipro said that the cloud collaboration space will provide in-house technical expertise and ensure the seamless cloud adoption.

Shares of Wipro rose 0.79% to Rs 670.5 apiece in trade. Of the 48 analysts tracking the company, 16 maintained ‘buy’, 18 maintained ‘hold’ and 14 maintained ‘sell’ recommendations. The overall consensus price of analysts tracked by Bloomberg implied a downside of 12.6%

Shares of Lupin fell over 4% to Rs 912 apiece after the U.S. FDA concluded the inspection at the company’s Goa facility with seven observations.

In an exchange filing, the company said it remained confident of addressing the observations and are committed to being compliant with good manufacturing practice standards.

Of the 41 analysts tracking the company, 19 maintained ‘buy’, seven maintained ‘hold’ and 15 maintained ‘sell’ recommendations. The overall consensus price of analysts tracked by Bloomberg implied an upside of 14.2%.

Shares of Rail Vikas Nigam Ltd. rose 8.64% to Rs 32.7 apiece after the company bagged contract worth Rs 1,034.90 crore from Madhya Pradesh Metro Rail Corporation Ltd.

In an exchange filing, the company said that the order pertained to the design and construction of elevated viaducts in nine elevated metro rail stations.

All the three analysts tracking the company maintained ‘buy’ recommendations. The overall consensus price of analysts tracked by Bloomberg implied an upside of 24%. Trading volume on the stock was 25.6 times the 30-day average volume at-time, for this time in the day.

Shares of Bajaj Holdings & Investment Ltd. added 9.12% to Rs 4,800 apiece after the company approved the interim dividend of Rs 90 per equity share of Rs 10 each.

In an exchange filing post market hours Friday, Bajaj Holdings said that the record date for the interim dividend will be September 29.

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

India's stock benchmarks opened lower, dragged by losses in metal and auto stocks. Sentiment remained subdued globally due to prospects of reduced Fed stimulus and risk of contagion from debt crisis at China's Evergrande Group.

The S&P BSE Sensex fell 0.57% to 58,682.03. The NSE Nifty 50 also declined by similar magnitude to a record 17,472.15. Tata Steel Ltd. contributed the most to the index decline and had the largest move, decreasing 5.7%. In early trading, 39 of 50 shares fell, while 11 rose.

The broader indices underperformed their larger peers with the S&P BSE MidCap largely and S&P BSE SmallCap losing over 1%. Barring S&P BSE Fast Moving Consumer Goods, all the other 18 sectoral indices compiled by the BSE Ltd. declined, with S&P BSE Metal shedding nearly 3%.

The market breadth was skewed in favour of bears. About 777 stocks advanced, 1,580 declined and 120 remained unchanged.

Indian sovereign debt could get a boost after a government official said the nation’s bonds could be included in global indexes by March. Traders will also watch out for a Rs 10,000 crore bond switch in which the central bank converts shorter dated government debt into longer term bonds.

• India has done most of the spadework and aims to be included in global bond indexes in the current financial year through March, a government adviser said Friday

  • “Ninety-nine percent of the stuff that needs to be done has been done,” Sanjeev Sanyal, principal adviser to the finance ministry, said at an industry conference. “So be rest assured that in this financial year at least some announcement should happen on that space so that we can get into these indexes. They are a good, stable source of money.

• 10-year yields were little changed at 6.17% on Friday.

• USD/INR was steady at 73.4850 in the previous session.

• They bought Rs 153 crore of sovereign bonds under limits available to foreign investors, and withdrew Rs 83 crore of corporate debt.

• State-run banks sold Rs 305 crore of sovereign bonds on Sept. 17: CCIL. data. Foreign banks bought Rs 1,440 crore of bonds, the most in over a month.

Welspun Corp Ltd. bagged multiple orders of 120 KMT worth Rs 1,400 crore. In an exchange filing, the company said that most of the orders will be executed from the Indian facilities, including a significant export order for deep offshore pipeline project in Gulf of Mexico, U.S.

Welspun Corp’s order book, post the recent orders, stands at Rs 4,700 core, after considering execution up to August 2021.

Of the four analysts tracking the company, 2 maintained ‘buy’, 1 maintained ‘hold’ and 1 maintained ‘sell’ recommendations. The overall consensus price of analysts tracked by Bloomberg implied an upside of 9.9%.

Droom, an online automobile marketplace, has hired JM Financial and ICICI Securities to begin work for a planned public listing that could raise about Rs 1000 crore ($136 million), Mint newspaper reports citing people it didn’t identify.

• The company is likely to file draft papers for the initial public offering in the next couple of months, according to the report.

• The IPO will be a mix of primary and secondary shares, the newspaper says.

Shares of India’s city gas distributors will be in focus as the government invites bids for starting operations in new areas.

• India has invited bids for 65 geographical areas for developing city gas distribution networks; the 11th auction round spreads across 208 districts and is the largest so far in coverage area.

• In focus: Adani Total Gas, Gail India, Gujarat Gas, Indraprastha Gas, Mahanagar Gas, Gujarat State Petronet.

Indian state-controlled companies that offer services and infrastructure related to railways may react after a report says the government wants to rationalize them via internal mergers.

• The proposal has recommended a merger of Rail Vikas Nigam with IRCON International, while RailTel Corp. will be taken over by Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation, Indian Express newspaper said on Sept. 18, citing a finance ministry report on rationalization of government bodies.

• In Focus: Rail Vikas Nigam, IRCON International, IRCTC, RailTel Corp, RITES.

Stocks slipped on Monday and U.S. futures wavered amid challenges from the China Evergrande Group debt crisis and a Federal Reserve meeting this week that’s expected to hint at moving toward tapering stimulus.

Australian shares fell and Hong Kong futures were in the red earlier. U.S. contracts fluctuated after the S&P 500 slid the most in a month, testing the dip-buying psychology as the gauge jabs at its 50-day moving average. Markets in Japan, China and South Korea are closed for holidays.

India’s SGX Nifty 50 Index futures for September delivery fell 0.9% to 17,447.00, while MSCI Asia Pacific Index shedding 1%. The NSE Nifty 50 Index fell 0.3% on Friday to 17,585.15.

Ten-year treasury yields have risen ahead of the Fed meeting this week where policy makers are expected to start laying the groundwork for paring stimulus. Cash Treasuries won’t trade on Monday in Asia because of a holiday in Japan. The dollar ticked up.

Elsewhere, iron ore will be closely watched after falling below $100 a metric ton for the first time in more than a year.

Back home, Nazara Tech, Speciality Restaurants are holding their annual shareholders’ meeting. Foreign investors bought net Rs 1,840 crore of stocks on Sept. 16, according to NSDL website.