Sensex, Nifty Close Lower Dragged By Metal, Auto, Banking Stocks

India's stock benchmarks erased early gains and closed near day's low, dragged by losses in metal, banking, auto and energy stocks. Concerns over omicron variant of covid-19 virus offset the positive sentiment arising out of PMI data from China.

The S&P BSE Sensex fell 0.34% to 57,064.87. The 30-stock gauge rose 1.61% in intraday trade to reclaim 58,000 levels after two sessions. The NSE Nifty 50 index also declined by similar magnitude to 16,983.20. This is the first time the 50-stock index closed below 17,000 for the first time in three months.

Reliance Industries Ltd. contributed the most to the index decline, decreasing 1.5%. Tata Steel Ltd. had the largest drop, falling 3.9%. Today, 29 of 50 shares fell, while 21 rose.

The broader indices outperformed their larger peers with S&P BSE MidCap gaining 0.3% and S&P BSE SmallCap adding nearly 1.5%. Ten of the 19 sectoral indices compiled by BSE advanced with S&P Consumer Durables index adding over 2%.

The market breadth was skewed in the favour of bulls. About 1,779 stocks advanced, 1,472 declined and 151 remained unchanged.

"Markets traded volatile and lost nearly half a percent citing mixed global cues. The prevailing uncertainty around the new COVID variant trimmed all the gains and pushed the index lower as the day progressed", Ajit Mishra, VP-Research, Religare Broking Ltd. wrote in a note and added "markets will first react to the GDP numbers in early trades on Wednesday and the auto sales will also start pouring in from December 1. Needless to say, the excessive news flow around the new COVID variant would keep the volatility high. Keeping in mind the scenario, it’s prudent to continue with hedged positions until the markets stabilise."

• Tata Consultancy Services Ltd. assisted Australia's multiproduct energy retailer AGL in transforming the customer experience.

• TCS, the strategic partner of AGL for over a decade, used its digitally-powered, data driven integrated operating model that leveraged TCS Cognix for this purpose. TCS Cognix is an AI-driven human-machine collaboration suite, that uses machine learning algorithms, advanced analytics, natural language processing and automation technologies.

• TCS said that the transformation is helping AGL harness hidden insights from large amount of customer data and identify instances where customers are not receiving services as per its standards.

Source: Exchange Filing

• Volumes in rural markets fell 2.9% for the first time in the past several quarters

• The categories that show a slip were edible oil, packaged grocery, hot beverages, while in non-foods fabric care and personal witnessed consumption decline

• 14% of small FMCG manufacturers exited businesses owing to stress in rural markets

• Overall, FMCG volumes growth slowed to 1.2%, while value growth stood at 11.3%

Source: Nielsen Q3 data

Shares of Dilip Buildcon rose 8%, the biggest intraday gain in over two weeks to Rs 530 apiece after the company was declared as L-1 bidder for the tender floating by Rail Vikas Nigam Mld for the construction of tunnels in the Bhanupali-Bilaspur-Beri new railway line in Himachal Pradesh.

The bid project cost is Rs 636.98 crore. The project is to be completed within 24 months.

Of the 12 analysts tracking the company, seven maintained 'buy', one maintained 'hold' and four maintained 'sell' recommendations. Five of the analysts have revised the target price on the stock higher over the past month while three analysts revised the target price lower. The consensus analyst recommendation fell from 'buy' to 'hold' on November 15. The overall consensus price of analysts tracked by Bloomberg implied an upside of 23%.

• Sun Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd.'s wholly owned subsidiary DUSA Pharmaceuticals reached a settlement with Biofrontera in its lawsuit alleging misappropriation of trade secrets, tortious interference of contract and unfair trade practices.

• Under the terms of the settlement, DUSA Pharma will receive $22.5 million from Biofrontera.

• Further details regarding the settlement are confidential

Source: Exchange Filing

• Shares of Bajaj Auto Ltd. fell for the ninth straight day, on track for the longest losing streak in almost seven years (since the period ended Dec. 17, 2014).

• Bajaj Auto has lost a total of 8.7% during the streak while the S&P BSE Sensex Index fell 4.4%.

• The relative strength index on the stock was 19, suggesting it may be oversold.

• Maruti Suzuki India Ltd. has announced a price increase of Rs 8,000 In EECO (all non-cargo variants).

• The price hike is effective from today.

• The price hike is announced owing to the introduction of Passenger Airbag

Source: Exchange Filing

• Promotership of Shriram Group has already been transferred to Shriram Ownership Trust.

• This promotership rests with the trust and not with an individual or family.

• Responsibility of driving the group's businesses will lie with a group of individuals.

Shares of Dhruv Consultancy Services Ltd. shed 10% in intraday trade, to Rs 77.25 apiece of the BSE. The stock closed with 20% gains on November 24 and 25 after which it fell for three consecutive sessions. Over the last three sessions, shares of Dhruv Consultancy has fallen nearly 13%.

In an exchange filing, the company announced that it received 'Letter of Award' (LoA) for services as independent enginner for supervision of the development of six land access control of Raipur-Vishakapatnam Economic Corridor under Bharatmala Pariyojana in the state of Andhra Pradesh.

Fees towards the independent engineer's services for the project will be Rs 5.04 crore (excluding taxes). The contract period will be 48 months.

Dhruv Consultancy Services needs to submit Performance Bank Guarantee with 15 days of receiving the LoA.

Bloomberg Exclusive

• Online retailer Snapdeal to file for up to Rs 1,875-crore IPO in the next few weeks.

• Company plans to go public in early 2022.

Source: People familiar with the matter

• India may overshoot its budget deficit target as the government boosts spending and struggles to complete planned asset sales.

• Budget gap may widen to more than 7% of GDP in FY2021-2022 versus 6.8% goal

• Lower divestment collections are also seen offsetting gains from higher tax collections.

Source: People with knowledge of the matter

Shares of Edelweiss Financial Services Ltd. rose nearly 4.5%, the biggest intraday rise in nearly four weeks, to Rs 71.7 apiece after the company approved the public issue of secured, redeemable, non-convertible debentures of face value of Rs 1,000 each for an amount aggregating up to Rs 200 crore (base issue size). This comes with an option to retain oversubscription up to Rs 300 crore agreegating up to Rs 500 crore, well within the shelf limit of Rs 1,000 crore.

In an exchange filing, the company said that the NCDs proposed to be issued have been rated CRISIL AA-/Negative. The NCDs are proposed to be listed on BSE. The NCDs shall be listed within six working days from the date of issue closure. BSE has been appointed as the designated stock exchange.

Of the five analysts tracking Edelweiss Financial Services, four maintained 'hold' and one maintained 'sell' recommendation. The overall consensus price of analysts tracked by Bloomberg implied an upside of 13%.

• Shares of V-Mart Retail Ltd. jumped over 4%, the biggest single day gain since November 11, to Rs 3,845.45 apiece after the company announced that it opened a new store in the state of Haryana in November.

• With this, the total number of stores of V-Mart stood at 376.

• Of the 23 analysts tracking the company, 16 maintained 'buy', five maintained 'hold' and two maintained 'sell' recommendations. The overall consensus price of analysts tracked by Bloomberg implied an upside of 18.7%. Analysts updates in the past 30 days include one upgrade and two downgrades.

Cryptocurrency Debate In The Parliament

• The SEBI, RBI and even the government have issued statements saying that people should be cautious while investing in cryptocurrencies, says Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman.

• The government is trying to build awareness to say that cryptocurrencies are high-risk investments.

• India doesn’t have ready information on tax paid on cryptocurrency.

• India studying norms for regulating crypto advertisements.

• India has reworked on cryptocurrency bill.

Source: Rajya Sabha proceedings

India's stock benchmarks rose, but erased most of the morning gains in a volatile session, so far, aided by gains in information technology, consumer durables and realty stocks. Rising concerns over omicron variant of covid-19 virus offset the positive sentiment arising out of PMI data from China.

The S&P BSE Sensex rose 0.23% to 57,394.86. The 30-stock gauge rose 1.61% in intraday trade as it reclaimed 58,000 level after two sessions. The NSE Nifty 50 index also advanced by similar magnitude to 17,101.80. The 50-stock index erased as much as 250 point-gains from the session's high. Tata Consultancy Services Ltd. contributed the most to the index gain, increasing 0.8% Power Grid Corp. of India had the largest increase, rising 2.9%.

The broader indices outperformed their larger peers with both S&P BSE MidCap and S&P BSE SmallCap indexes rising over 1.3%. Barring S&P BSE Energy and S&P BSE Metal, all the other 17 sectoral indexes compiled by the BSE Ltd. rose with S&P BSE Consumer Durables and S&P BSE Realty gaining over 1.7%.

The market breadth was skewed in the favour of bulls. About 2,002 stocks advanced, 1,135 declined and 152 remained unchanged.

Infosys Ltd. announced it will transfer Daimler's High Performance Computing (HPC) workloads to one of Europe's greenest data centers, Lefdal Mine Datacenter in Norway.

The HPC workloads are used to design vehicles and automated driving technologies. Infosys said in an exchange filing that the shift to Green Data Center as a Service (DCaaS) is a vital step in supporting Daimler's "Ambition 2039", a sustainability mission to become carbon dioxide neutral by 2039.

Data Centers constitute only 1% of total global energy use and the service demand is expected to rise 60% by 2022. Norway is an exception with 100% of power production being renewable and transmission loss at a minimum.

Health Minister Says

• No omicron variant cases reported in the country yet.

• Government taking all precautions against omicron.

Source: Rajya Sabha proceedings

Indian rupee erased all gains as concerns about the effectiveness of existing vaccines to tackle the omicron virus variant weighed on sentiment. Traders also await the release of GDP data later in the day.

• USD/INR steady at 75.09 after declining by as much as 0.3%

• 10-year yields fall by 2bps to 6.31% on Tuesday

• Supreme Court stays Noida police notice which restrained Yes Bank from transferring and exercising voting rights on its Dish TV shares.

• Supreme Court issued notice on Yes Bank petition and stayed the operation of the notice by the police.

• Lupin Ltd. announced the launch of Sciflix, an educational mobile friendly website for medical students who are pursuing post-graduation specialising in the field of pulmonology.

• The platform has a multisource library and can be accessed by both android and apple devices by medical students across India for free.

Source: Exchange Filing

Yields fell across the India sovereign yield curve in Tuesday morning trading.

• The 5-year yield fell 2.3bps to 5.638%

• The 10-year yield fell 1.8bps to 6.317%

• The 14-year yield fell 1.9bps to 6.743%

• The 5-year-10-year yield spread was 67.9bps, vs previous close 67.4bps

Source: Bloomberg

• Mindtree raised to 'hold' at Emkay Global; price target: Rs 4,450

• Mphasis raised to 'buy' at Emkay Global; price target: Rs 3,730

• Tata Consultancy Services raised to 'buy' at Emkay Global; price target: Rs 4,100

Source: Bloomberg

Shares of Ratnamani Metals & Tubes Ltd. rose 13% in intraday trade, the biggest single day gain in over nine months, to Rs 2,305.3 apiece, after the company received domestic orders aggregating to Rs 297.87 crore from the oil and gas sector.

The orders are to be executed between February 2022 to January 2023, the company said in an exchange filing.

All the five analysts tracking the company maintained 'buy' recommendations. Two of the five analysts have revised target prices higher over the past month. The overall consensus price of analysts tracked by Bloomberg implied an upside of 14.2%.

Trading volume on the stock was 8.5 times the 30-day average volume, for this time of the day.

The company's strategic activity includes five M&A deals and one investment in the past three months.

• Shares of Rajesh Exports Ltd. rose over 7% to Rs 757.7, higher than any close since February 11, 2020.

• Trading volume on the stock was 2.1 times the 30-day average volume for this time of the day.

• The relative strength index on the stock was 72, suggesting it may be overbought.

• The company trades at 16 times its estimated earnings per share for the coming year.

Shares of Coal India Ltd. rose nearly 3% in intraday trade, the most since November 24, to Rs 158.5 apiece after the company approved the payment of interim dividend for the financial year 2021-22 at Rs 9 per share of the face value of Rs 10 each, post market hours Monday.

The company has fixed December 7 as the 'record date' for the payment of interim dividend.

The date of payment of interim dividend is on and from December 21, 2021, the company said in an exchange filing.

Of the 27 analysts tracking the company, 21 maintained 'buy', three maintained 'hold' and three maintained 'sell' recommendations. Eight of the 27 analysts have revised price targets higher over the past month, while four analysts revised the targets lower. The overall consensus price of analysts tracked by Bloomberg implied an upside of 26.6%.

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

• Go Fashion’s pre-market discovery price at Rs 1,316 per share, compared to its IPO price of Rs 690.

• The company’s IPO subscribed over 135 times.

Source: Bloomberg

Shares of Reliance Capital slumped to hit 5% lower circuit after the RBI took control of the shadow bank after a series of defaults.

In a statement Monday, the central bank said it "superseded the Board of Directors of M/s Reliance Capital Ltd (RCL) in view of the defaults by RCL in meeting the various payment obligations to its creditors and serious governance concerns which the Board has not been able to address effectively". The banking regulator appointed Y Nageswar Rao as the administrator and will initiate insolvency proceeding soon.

In an exchange filing, Reliance Capital said it had no debt from banks. Here's a gist of Reliance Capital's statement.

• 95% of the borrowings is from debenture holders

• Welcome RBI move and will cooperate fully with administrator

• Over 10 pending cases in various courts has stalled resolution over the last 2 years

• Own profitable and valuable operating business through holdings in Reliance General Insurance and Reliance Nippon Life Insurance

Rupee bond traders will monitor GDP growth data for the quarter ended September and a weekly state government bond auction.

• USD/INR rose 0.3% to 75.0925 on Monday

• 10-year yields little changed at 6.34% on Monday

• Global Funds sell net Rs 3,330 crore of India stocks Monday: NSE

  • They bought Rs 375 crore of sovereign bonds under limits available to foreign investors, and added Rs 90 crore rupees of corporate debt

  • State-run banks sold Rs 2,450 crore of sovereign bonds on Nov. 29: CCIL data. Foreign banks bought Rs 1,680 crore of bonds.

• Axis Bank has 1 million shares change hands in a bunched trade.

• Details of buyers and sellers are not immediately known.

Source: Bloomberg

• ITC Ltd has 2.24 million shares change hands in a bunched trade.

• Details of buyers and sellers are not immediately known.

Source: Bloomberg

India's stock benchmarks opened higher, aided by gains in realty, consumer durables and information technology stocks. Easing concerns about the impact of omicron Covid-19 strain and rise in November manufacturing PMI in China shored up sentiment.

The S&P BSE Sensex rose 0.64% to 57,624.20. The NSE Nifty 50 index also advanced by similar magnitude to 17,169.75.

The broader indices outperformed their larger peers with S&P BSE MidCap and S&P BSE SmallCap indexes adding over 1.2%. All the 19 sectoral indices compiled by the BSE Ltd. rose, with S&P BSE Realty adding nearly 3.5% and S&P BSE Consumer Durables gaining almost 2%.

The market breadth was skewed in the favour of bulls. About 1,852 stocks advancced, 505 declined and 84 remained unchanged.

Mumbai-based wealth manager Anand Rathi Wealth Ltd. has set a price range of Rs 530-550 a share for its initial public offering.

Founders and shareholders plan to raise Rs 660 crore selling as many as 12 million shares, according to an advertisement in the Business Standard newspaper Tuesday.

• IPO to include offer-for-sale of 9.29 million shares by Anand Rathi Financial Services, while Anand Rathi and Pradeep Gupta will sell 3,75,000 shares each

• The company is not selling any new shares in the IPO, which will open for subscriptions Dec. 2 and close Dec. 6

• Investors can bid for minimum 27 shares of face value Rs 5 in the IPO; anchor investors will bid on Dec. 1

• Equirus Capital Pvt., BNP Paribas, IIFL Securities and Anand Rathi Advisors are managing the sale

IRB Infrastructure Developers Ltd. has executed share subscription agreement by and among the company, Bricklayers Investment Pte. Ltd. (GIC), Virendra D Mhaiskar, IRB Holding Pvt Ltd. (earlier known as Mhaiskar Ventures Pvt Ltd.) and some other members of promoter and promoter group of the company.

• The total subscription amount aggregates to a maximum of Rs 2,166.42 crore.

• In terms of the GIC share subscription agreement, the company is required to issue and allot not sell that 6.52 crore shares but only up to 10.23 crore shares at a price of Rs 211.79 apiece.

• Post allotment of securities, Bricklayers Investment will hold 16.9% equity share capital in case the company completes Cintra preferential issue and GIC preferential issue concurrenly.

• If the company completes GIC preferential issue before Cintra preferential issue, then Bricklayers Investment will hold 15.7% equity share capital post-preferential allotment.

Source: Exchange Filing by IRB Infra

Eleven firms raised nearly $4.8 billion through IPOs in November.

This is a new monthly record, surpassing the peak achieved more than a decade ago.

The offering by One97 Communications Ltd., the firm that operates Paytm, represented about half of the proceeds after it completed the country's largest-ever IPO.

Source: Bloomberg

• Go Fashion (India) Ltd. is set to make its stock market debut today, after investors piled into the company's initial public offering.

• Go Fashion's IPO was subscribed 135.46 times, making it the seventh-most subscribed issue of the year.

Shares of Covid-19 vaccine and pill makers in India and across Asia may move after companies including BioNTech and Moderna said they are working to adapt their Covid-19 vaccines to address the omicron variant.

• BioNtech says it could have a new version ready within 100 days if necessary

• Moderna’s stock gained 12% Monday adding to Friday’s 21% rise; BioNTech advanced 4.2%

• In Focus: Dr Reddy’s Laboratories, Cadila Healthcare and Pfizer Ltd., a unit of Pfizer Inc.

Source: Bloomberg