Sensex, Nifty Log Gains Aided By Reliance & I.T. Stocks

India's stock benchmarks closed higher, aided by gains in information technology stocks, as investors assess the possible impact due to the omicron coronavirus strain.

The S&P BSE Sensex gained 0.27% to 57,260.58. The 30-stock gauge rose nearly 1% in intraday trade before erasing the gains. The NSE Nifty 50 also advanced by similar magnitude to 17,053.95. Reliance Industries Ltd. contributed the most to the index gain, increasing 1.2%. Kotak Mahindra Bank Ltd. had the largest increase, rising 2.8%. Today, 18 of 50 shares rose, while 32 fell.

The broader indices underperformed their larger peers, with S&P BSE MidCap shedding 1% and S&P BSE SmallCap slipping 2%. Thirteen of the 19 sectoral indices compiled by the BSE Ltd. declined with S&P BSE Utilities falling over 2.5%. On the flipside, the S&P BSE Information Technology and S&P BSE Teck indexes rose over 0.6%.

The market breadth was skewed in the favour of bears. About 967 stocks advanced, 2,433 declined and 175 remained unchanged.

"Investors are trading with caution, especially after reports of a rising threat of a new South African coronavirus variant. After an early morning intraday selloff, Nifty found support near 16,780 and reversed sharply, but once again it failed to close above the 100 day SMA", Shrikant Chouhan, Head of Equity Research (Retail), Kotak Securities Ltd. wrote in a note and added "On daily and intraday charts, the index has maintained a lower top series formation which is broadly negative. However, on the intraday chart, the index is consistently taking support in the range of 16,950-16,970 levels."

• Shares of Ipca Laboratories Ltd. rose over 6% in intraday trade, the biggest single day gain in nearly two months to Rs 2,139.95 apiece.

• Trading volume was 2.8 times the 30-day average volume, for this time of the day.

• Ipca Lab trades at 26 times its estimated earnings per share for the coming year.

• Analysts have 18 'buy', six 'hold' and no 'sell' recommendations on the stock.

The pace at which India’s shadow financiers are extending loans is set to accelerate to 8% to 10% in the financial year starting April 1, as compared to 6% to 8% in the current financial year, Crisil Ratings said in a note.

• Crisil expects the fastest loan growth in four years due to improving economic activity and stronger balance sheet buffers of lenders.

Source: Bloomberg

• Shares of Mahindra & Mahindra Financial Services Ltd. fell for the 10th consecutive day, on track for the longest losing streak since the company went public in 2006.

• M&M Financial has lost a total of 20% during the streak while the Sensex fell 5.2%.

• The relative strength index on the stock is 28, suggesting it may be oversold.

• Shares of ICICI Prudential Life Insurance Co. fell for the 10th straight day, on track for the longest losing streak since the company went public in 2016.

• ICICI Prudential has lost a total of 13% during the streak while the S&P BSE SENSEX Index fell 5.2%.

• The stock is testing 200-day moving average support at Rs 583.69.

• Of the 36 analysts tracking the company, 29 maintained 'buy', five maintained 'hold' and two maintained 'sell' recommendations. The overall consensus price of analysts tracked by Bloomberg implied an upside of 27.9%

Source: Bloomberg

Shares of Kotak Mahindra Bank Ltd. rose over 3% to Rs 2,020.95 apiece after the lender received a intimation from Life Insurance Corporation of India stating that RBI had granted approval for LIC to raise its holding in the bank up to 9.99%.

• The approval is valid for a period of one year

• LIC holds 4.37% stake in Kotak Mahindra, according to Bloomberg data.

Of the 45 analysts tracking the company, 22 maintained 'buy', 15 maintained 'hold' and eight maintained 'sell' recommendations. The overall consensus price of analysts tracked by Bloomberg implied an upside of 10.1%.

• Shares of Man Industries India Ltd. rose over 4% in intraday trade after the company bagged new orders worth nearly Rs 325 crore.

• With these new orders, the unexecuted order book on stands at approximately Rs 1,650 crore to be finished in 6-7 months.

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

• Shares of Shakti Pumps India Ltd. rose 20% in intraday trade to Rs 694.5 apiece after the board of the Directors of Shakti Pumps India Ltd. approved the incorporation of wholly owned subsidiary company to do business in segment of EV motor, EV charger, Multi Application VFD for automobiles.

• Trading volume on the stock was 3.3 times the 30-day average volume, for this time of the day. The stock tested 50-day moving average resistance, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

• Nirmala Sitharaman: No proposal to recognise bitcoin as currency

• FM: Government monitoring prices of essential commodities.

• FM: Uptrend in India inflation due to exogenous factors.

• FM: Present government debt not a great cause of concern.

• India issues revised guidelines for international travelers in view of reported cases of new SARS-CoV-2 variant across the world.

• All travelers coming from countries identified as 'countries at-risk' to mandatorily undergo post-arrival Covid-19 testing at airport on arrival.

Source: PIB

India's stock benchmarks advanced, aided by gains in energy, information technology and metal stocks, as investors tried to calibrate economic risks from the omicron coronavirus strain.

The S&P BSE Sensex rose 0.71% to 57,513.91. The 30-stock gauge fell nearly 1.3% in intraday trade before erasing the losses. The NSE Nifty 50 also advanced by similar magnitude to 17,119.10. Reliance Industries Ltd. contributed the most to the index gain, increasing 2.4%. Hindalco Industries Ltd. had the largest increase, rising 3.1%.

The broader indices underperformed their larger peers, with S&P BSE MidCap falling 0.4% and S&P BSE SmallCap index shedding nearly 1.3%. Ten of the 19 sectoral indices compiled by BSE Ltd. rose with the S&P BSE Energy gaining about 2.4%.

The market breadth was skewed in favour of the bears. About 994 stocks advanced, 2,276 declined and 185 remained unchanged.

The lower house of parliament repealed three farm laws. The move to scrap the laws also needs approval of the upper house. The repeal bill was pushed through the lower house in a voice vote.

Ahead of the scrapping of the legislation, farmers' groups had said they would continue with their protests to press the government for other demands, including legal guarantee for crop prices.

Source: Bloomberg

• Supreme Court grants two more weeks to CCI on reconsidering the 2019 approval to Amazon-Future Group transaction

• Amazon had approached the top court against Delhi High Court order of two weeks deadline to CCI last week.

• Amazon told the top court that it had not been granted adequate opportunity to respond.

Asian Paints Ltd. signed a MoU with Gujarat government to commence the expansion of manufacturing capacity of paints from 1,30,000 KL to 2,50,000 KL to be completed over next 2-3 years. The company7 will invest Rs 960 crore, approximately on plant and machinery . The MoU also pertains to expand the manufacture of resins and emulsions from 32,000 MT to 85,000 MT.

• GAIL India has 1 million shares change hands in a bunched trade.

• Details of buyers and sellers are not immediately known.

Source: Bloomberg

Shares of Adani Ports & Special Economic Zone Ltd. shed nearly 5% in intraday trade, to Rs 682.65 apiece after MSCI dropped the company from key climate change indices.

• In an exchange filing, Adani Group said that the MSCI decision was disappointment. The company also reiterated its commitment.

• Adani Ports said that it never had any shareholding in the Carmichael mine.

• Of the 26 analysts tracking the company, 23 maintained 'buy;' and three 'sell' recommendations. The overall consensus price of analysts tracked by Bloomberg implied an upside of 26.1%.

• Trading volume was 1.1 times the 30-day average volume, for this time of the day.

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

• The 1-year yield remained unchanged at 4.281%

• The 10-year yield rose 0.7bps to 6.337%

• The 20-year yield was little changed at 6.891%

• The 1-year-10-year yield spread was 205.6bps, vs previous close 204.9bps

Source: Bloomberg

Shares of Ashok Leyland Ltd. shed over 5% to Rs 118.75 apiece after the company announced that Vipin Sondhi will step down from the position of MD & CEO. The change will be effective from December 31, 2021. Dheeraj Hinduja, chairman will take over as executive chairman with immediate effect.

Of the 49 analysts tracking the company, 37 maintained 'buy', seven maintained 'hold' and five maintained 'sell' recommendations. The overall consensus price of analysts tracked by Bloomberg implied an upside of 35.6%.

• Indian government is more cautious as new Covid variants emerge.

• Government ready to answer all questions of lawmakers

• Government ready for discussion on all topics.

• Parliament's Winter Session is a very important one

Prime Minister Modi

The board of Bharat Financial Inclusion deferred decision to relieve Shalabh Saxena and Ashish Damani, until review into some of the transactions completed, IndusInd Bank said in an exchange filing.

Both Shalabh Saxena and Ashish Damani resigned via emails to the board on November 25.

The company has nominated J Sridharan as executive director and appointed Srinivas Bonam to oversee its day-to-day functioning .

Shares of Reliance Industries Ltd. rose nearly 3.6% in intraday trade to Rs 2,482 apiece after the company announced tariff hike. Price of entry-level JioPhone will be increased by 21.3% to Rs 91. The new tariffs will be effective from December 1,2021.

Of the 38 analysts tracking the company, 22 maintained 'buy', 11 maintained 'hold' and five maintained 'sell' recommendations. The overall consensus price of analysts tracked by Bloomberg implied an upside of 28.6%.

Trading volume on the stock was 2.7 times the 30-day average volume, for this time of the day.

• Man Infraconstruction Ltd.'s subsidiary Man Infraconstruction Properties LLP is jointly developing residential high rise tower at Tardeo. The addition of this project is likely to establish the group's presence in South Mumbai.

• The project having carpet area for sale of 6 lakh square feet is expected to generally nearly Rs 3,000 crore over next 4-5 years.

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

Shares of IRB Infrastructure Developers Ltd. shed 5% in intraday trade to Rs 200.65 apiece after the company executed an investment agreement with Cintra INR Investments BV , Virendra D Mhaiskar and certain other members of the promoter and promoter group of the company.

• The total number of securities proposed to be issued is 15 crore, at a price of Rs 211.79 per share aggregating to Rs 3,180 crore.

• Upon completion of the proposed preferential allotment, Cintra will have the right to nominate two directors to the position of non-executive directors of the board.

• Of the 10 analysts tracking the company, six maintained 'buy', three maintained 'hold' and one maintained 'sell' recommendations. The overall consensus price of analysts tracked by Bloomberg implied an upside of 39.4%.

• Godrej Consumer raised to 'buy' from 'add' at Kotak Securities; price target: Rs 1,100

• HCL Technologies Ltd. raised to 'buy' from 'add' at Kotak Securities; price target: Rs 1,400

• Reliance Industries Ltd. raised to 'buy' from 'add' at Kotak Securities; price target: Rs 2.850

Source. Bloomberg

• Indian Hotels Co Ltd. has 1 million shares change hands in a bunched trade

• Details of buyers and sellers are not immediately known.

Source: Bloomberg

India's stock benchmarks opened lower, dragged by losses in consumer discretionary, auto, power and realty stocks, amidst concerns over the omicron coronavirus strain.

The S&P BSE Sensex index fell nearly 1% to 56,587.22. The NSE Nifty 50 index also declined by similar magnitude to 16, 794.95.

The broader indices underperformed their larger peers with S&P BSE MidCap shedding 3% and S&P BSE SmallCap declining 4%. All the 19 sectoral indices compiled by BSE Ltd. declined with S&P BSE Realty index slipping over 4%.

The market breadth was skewed in favour of bears. About 558 stocks advanced, 2,125 stocks declined and 110 remained unchanged.

• Paytm rated 'new sell' at JM Financial; price target: Rs 1,240

• Torrent Pharmaceuticals raised to 'outperform' at Credit Suisse; price target: Rs 3,565

• Embassy REIT raised to 'overweight' from 'equal-weight' at Morgan Stanley; price target: Rs 442

Source: Bloomberg

Reliance Industries Ltd. is weighing a bid for UK's BT Group, The Economic Times reported, citing people familiar with the matter it didn't name.

• Reliance may make an unsolicited offer to buy into the company or even stake a claim for a controlling stake with some strategic shareholders open to cashing out at the right price, according to the report.

• Reliance may also consider funding network or fibre optic arm Openreach, the report said.

• Deliberations are at an early stage and may not result in a transaction, it said.

• Reliance did not reply to the newspaper's emails for comments

IndusInd International Holding Ltd., the Hinduja-led founder entity of IndusInd Bank Ltd. is readying over $1 billion in funding to increase their stake in the bank, The Economic Times reported, citing Ashok Hinduja, chairman of Hinduja Group of companies.

The move comes after RBI allowed founder to raise stake up to 26% of total equity under new bank ownership regulations.

The founders will raise money in 2-3 months to enhance their stake in multiple tranches once guidelines are in place, the report cited Hinduja as saying.

Founders currently own 16.54% in the bank, according to the report