Stocks To Watch: AstraZeneca Pharma, Bank Of Baroda, MCX, Varun Beverages

Asian stocks opened lower on Wednesday after a disappointing U.S. manufacturing report reignited concern about global economic growth during an impasse in the trade war.

Japanese shares declined, along with those in Australia. Korea’s fluctuated. S&P 500 futures were steady after U.S. equities retreated overnight. The Singapore-traded SGX Nifty, an early indicator of NSE Nifty 50 Index’s performance in India, rose 0.33 percent to 10,855.50 as of 7:20 a.m.

Short on time? Well, then listen to this podcast for a quick summary of All You Need To Know before the opening bell.

Here are the stocks to watch in today’s trade.

• ICICI Lombard General Insurance: Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India has waived off the earlier imposed lock in period on the equity shares held by Fairfax. Earlier the lock in period was till March 29, 2021 and currently Fairfax holds 10 percent stake in the company.
• Varun Beverages fixed floor price at Rs 644.08 for its QIP Issue. Floor Price is at premium of 2 percent to the closing prices. The issue opened on Sept. 3.
• Bank of Baroda will issue up to 15 crore shares under the ESOP scheme, with a proposed issue price at Rs 75.47 per share.
• VST Tillers Tractors August Sales: Power Tillers sales fell 13 percent to 1,437 units. Tractors sales jumped 57 percent to 813 units.
• MCX clarified whistle blower complaint is based on factually wrong premise and a clear attempt is made to tarnish the image of the exchange. The company said that none of the delivery failed on account of any quality parameter in cotton. “There is no overall storage capacity issue across warehouses for cotton and gold and the company may initiate appropriate legal actions as well,” it said.
• AstraZeneca Pharma stated that its diabetes drug dapagliflozin has shown significant benefits for the treatment of patients with heart failure.
• Steel companies in focus after India Ratings and Research cut steel demand growth estimate to 4 percent from 7 percent for the current financial year. The outlook was also been revised to ‘stable-to-negative’ from ‘stable’ for rest of 2019-20, given sluggish steel demand growth expectations owing to concerns in end-user sectors, primarily auto and real estate construction. (Bloomberg News)
• Tata Communications said that Neeco Global ICT Services has become a customer of the company, to market digital solutions for enterprises in Europe.
• Gas supply to Mahanagar Gas CNG stations in Mumbai restored. (Bloomberg News)
• Central Bank of India introduced repo-linked interest bank on home loans and vehicle loans with effect from Sept. 1.
• Future Market Networks: ESR arm has partnered with Future Group to invest Rs 300 crore to develop logistics infra assets in Nagpur and Jhajjar (NCR).
• Praj Industries’ proprietary technology to be deployed to produce ethanol and other co-products using sugarcane bagasse in the U.S.
• Gujarat Alkalies & Chemicals: Board to consider share-split on Sept. 27.
• IndiaMart InterMesh to acquire 26 percent stake in in Simply Vyapar App for Rs 31.2 crore.
• Indoco Remedies: ICRA revised long terms ratings to ‘A’ from ‘A+’
• Redington: Standard Chartered Private Equity reduced its stake in the company by 2.72 percent to nil.

Initial Public Offering

• Bajaj Energy gets Securities and Exchange Board of India nod for Rs 5,450 crore IPO.

Trading Tweaks

• Minda Corporation, Inox Wind to move into short term ASM Framework

Stocks Moving Out Of Short-Term ASM Framework

• Astec LifeSciences
• Avadh Sugar & Energy
• Bajaj Electricals
• Balaji Amines
• Future Consumer
• Future Market Networks
• GE T&D India
• Gravita India
• Healthcare Global Enterprises
• Igarashi Motors India
• ITD Cementation
• JBM Auto
• Khadim
• Lakshmi Vilas Bank
• LG Balakrishnan & Bros
• Magma Fincorp
• Muthoot Capital Services
• NRB Bearing
• Precision Camshafts
• Sadbhav Engineering
• Sasken Technologies
• Shankara Building Products
• Spencer's Retail
• Vakrangee

Who’s Meeting Whom

• Future Supply Chain Solutions to meet Kotak MF on Sept. 4
• Cipla to meet Axis Capital, SBI Pension Fund and other investors from Sept. 4-11
• Tata Global Beverages to meet ICICI Pru MF and Kotak Life on Sept. 4.
• Sudarshan Chemical Industries to meet Malabar Investment on Sept. 5.

Insider Trading

• Mangalam Cement promoter Vidula Consultancy Services acquired four lakh shares on Aug. 30.
• Anant Raj promoter Anil Sarin acquired 7.7 lakh shares from Aug. 28-29.

Money Market Update

• The rupee had its biggest intra-day fall in a month to close at 72.39/$, its lowest since Nov. 18, 2018, versus 71.41/$ on Friday.

F&O Cues

September Futures

• Nifty Sep futures closed at 10,836.4, premium of 38.5 points versus 35.7 points.
• Nifty futures open interest up 2 percent, adds 3.8 lakh shares in open interest
• Bank Nifty Sep futures closed at 26,873.5, premium of 49 points versus 93 points.
• Bank Nifty futures open interest up 13 percent, adds 1.9 lakh shares in open interest.

Options

• Nifty PCR at 1.03 versus 1.37 (across all series).

Nifty Weekly Expiry: Sept. 5

• Max open interest on call side at 11,000 (29.3 lakh shares).
• Max open interest on put side at 10,800 (14.1 lakh shares).
• open interest addition seen at 10,900C (+19.8 lakh shares), 11,000C (+17.4 lakh shares).
• open interest shedding seen at 11,000P (-12 lakh shares), 10,950P (-6.5 lakh shares).

Nifty Monthly Expiry: Sept. 26

• Max open interest on call side at 11,200 (21.2 lakh shares).
• Max open interest on put side at 10,800 (28.3 lakh shares).

Brokerage Radar

Macquarie on Balkrishna Industries

• Initiated ‘Underperform’ with a price target of Rs 575.
• Proven track record, but competition is getting more intense.
• Faces headwinds due to weakness in global agri and mining activities.
• Rise in CAPEX to weight on net profit and RoCE.
• Earnings decline and low return ratio to drive valuation de-rating.

UBS on Infosys

• Maintained ‘Buy’ with a price target of Rs 850.
• Higher 2019-20 revenue visibility, margin improvement to help outperformance.
• See improved market share gains and operating margin stability in medium term
• Softening demand trends in banking, retail, manufacturing and hi-tech raises prospects of softer 2020-21.

BofAML on Titan Company

• Maintained ‘Buy’ with a price target of Rs 1,320.
• Short term demand blip; expect revival in the second half of the current financial year.
• Correction in share price is an attractive investment opportunity.
• Festive season is expected to reasonably strong.

Morgan Stanley on HDFC AMC

• Downgraded to ‘Equal-weight’ from ‘Overweight’; hiked price target to Rs 2,650 from Rs 2,300.
• Downgrade due to recent run-up.
• Stronger market positioning over the past year.
• Improved relative positioning within financial space being a free cash flow, balance sheet light business.

Morgan Stanley on Yes Bank

• Maintained ‘Underweight’; Cut price target to Rs 55 from Rs 95.
• Volatility reflects asset quality concerns and lack of clarity on further capital raising.
• Falling stock with low CET 1 and high stressed loans drives high dilution risk.
• Expect the stock to remain volatile given high capital requirement.