Stocks To Watch: BHEL, Bajaj Finance, NMDC, Prince Pipes IPO, UPL

Asian stocks opened in subdued fashion Friday following another record high on Wall Street.

Japanese stocks opened little changed, Australian shares dipped and South Korean ones edged up in early trading. U.S. futures were little changed. The Singapore-traded SGX Nifty, an early indicator of NSE Nifty 50 Index’s performance in India, traded flat at 12,273 as of 6:50 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.

• Bajaj Finance acquired 24 lakh shares or 10 percent stake in Karvy Data Management Services pursuant invocation of pledged shares of the company for recovery of outstanding dues of Karvy Stock Broking.
• NMDC: Ministry of Coal allocated to coal blocks in Jharkhand State. The Rohne coal block has extractable reserves of 191 million tonne and planned production capacity of 8 million tonne per annum. Tokisud North coal block has extractable reserves of about 52 MT of thermal coal and planned production capacity of 2.32 MTPA. NMDC will execute allotment agreement of Tokisud North coal block on Dec. 24. Rohne coal block allotment agreement would be executed as per the directives from Ministry of Coal with respective execution date.
• Kolte-Patil Developers: Pabrai Group increased stake in the company to 9.23 percent from 7.09 percent earlier.
• Dwarikesh Sugar commissioned its new 100 KLPD Distillery plant in Uttar Pradesh, according to its media statement.
• Religare Enterprises: Board withdrew the scheme of amalgamation of its two arms Religare Comtrade and Religare Insurance with the company. After amending the scheme, four arms of the group will be merged into the company.
• IndiaNivesh: Edelweiss Custodial Services has increased the stake from 11.26 percent to 17.67 percent in the company, by way of encumbrance of shares on Dec. 17.
• Dishman Carbogen Amcis said that I-T department visited company’s head offices and manufacturing sites conducting a search enquiry on Dec. 19 and the search enquiry is continuing. Company said that no impact is there on company’s routine operations.
• Lemon Tree Hotels opened its first international 144 room hotel in Dubai.
• Embassy Parks REIT: Brookfield is said to hold ta lakhs on potential $1 billion REIT listing. (Bloomberg)
• Titan setup a global retail unit in Dubai.
• JM Financial: Board approved raising Rs 850 crore via equity/debt and to increase the foreign portfolio investment from 24 percent to 40 percent in the company.
• Arunachal Pradesh granted exploration licenses to Oil India. (PTI)
• Reliance Communication clarified on the news of relief for Anil Ambani as U.K. court has dismissed Chinese bank’s $680 million claim stating that the company was not part to the said proceedings.

• Shipping Corporation of India: HK Joshi has assumed full time post of chairman and managing director with effect from Dec. 19
• Gati: Goldman Sachs reduced its stake from 5.12 percent to 2.84 percent in the company.
• Rites: Board to consider interim dividend on Dec. 27.
• CDSL received final approval from the Securities and Exchange Board of India open IFSC branch at Gift City, Gujarat.
• Suzlon Energy has appointed SBI nominee Rakesh Sharma as company’s director with effect from Dec. 19.

Offerings

• UTI Asset Management Company filed for an initial public offering as India’s top financial institutions look to sell shares in the nation’s seventh-largest mutual fund.
• Prince Pipes & Fittings gets subscribed 74 percent on day 2.

Pledge Share Details

• JSPL promoters Danta Enterprises created pledge of 18 lakh shares on Dec. 18.
• Shiva Cement promoter JSW Cement revoked pledge of 1.05 crore shares on Dec. 5.
• JSW Energy promoters created pledge of 2.45 crore shares from Dec. 16-18.

Trading Tweaks

• ABB India ex-date for demerger.
• R Systems International, Godawari Power and Ispat, Lyka Labs to move into short term ASM Framework.
• Karda Constructions. KIC Metaliks to move out of short term ASM Framework.
• Aanchal Ispat, Ortin Laboratories price band revised to 10 percent.
• KIC Metaliks, Nutraplus India price band revised to 5 percent.

Who’s Meeting Whom

• Symphony to meet Malabar Investments on Dec. 20.
• Eris Lifesciences to meet Tata MF and HDFC MF on Dec. 20.
• Titan to meet UBS Securities and Goldman Sachs on Dec. 20.
• Manappuram Finance to meet Navis Capital on Dec. 20.

Insider Trading

• KRBL promoters acquired 47,000 shares from Dec. 18-19.
• Navneet Education promoter Navneet Trust acquired 5 lakh shares on Dec. 17.
• Axis Bank promoter General Insurance Corporation of India sold 3 lakh shares on Dec. 18.
• Dollar Industries promoter acquired 45,000 shares from Dec. 17-18.

Money Market Update

• The rupee closed at 71.04/$ versus 70.97/$ on Wednesday.

F&O Cues

Index Futures

• Nifty December futures closed at 12,268.9, premium of 9.2 points versus 21.5 points
• Nifty December futures series OI down 0.1 percent, sheds 17,000 shares in OI
• Nifty Bank December futures closed at 32,260.4, premium of 19 points versus 35 points
• Nifty Bank December futures series OI down 3 percent, sheds 38,000 shares in OI

Options

• Nifty PCR at 1.74 versus 1.72(across all series)

Nifty Monthly Expiry: Dec 26

• Max OI on call side at 12,300 (20.9lk shares)
• Max OI on put side at 12,000 (39.7lk shares)
• OI addition seen at 12,200P (+13.7lk shares), 12,400C (+6.8lk shares)

Securities In Ban

• Yes Bank

Brokerage Radar

UBS on Sun Pharma

• Maintained ‘Buy’ with a price target of Rs 515.
• Ilumya continues lag peers in formulary coverage.
• Sun Pharma is most exposed to litigation relative to peers.
• India business growth would continue to look strong due to low base.

Morgan Stanley on BHEL

• Maintained ‘Underweight’; cut price target to Rs 37 from Rs 46.
• Macro outlook looks tougher for BHEL.
• Negatives:- Delay in new orders, contraction in PLF and weaker balance sheet of state plants and renewable generation continues to gain share.
• Cut earnings estimate by 22 percent and 19 percent for the next two financial years respectively.

Macquarie on Britannia

• Maintained ‘Underperform’ with a price target of Rs 2,662.
• Biscuits are losing wallet share to other packaged foods.
• Expect lower volume growth in slowing biscuit category growth.

JPMorgan on UPL

• Maintained ‘Overweight’ with a price target of Rs 700.
• Confidence in delivering on growth and debt reduction despite tough environment.
• Positive H2 along with synergies should help achieve Ebitda guidance.
• Building a stronger portfolio beyond Mancozeb.

Kotak Securities on Adani Ports

• Maintained ‘Buy’ with a price target of Rs 450.
• Better operating performance of key entities beyond ports counters solvency concerns.
• Share pledges have stagnated and can decline meaningfully on recent stake-sale transactions.
• Balance sheet allows big additions to business portfolio beyond Gujarat Ports.