MARKET WRAP: Sensex ends 137 pts higher, Nifty above 11,700; ITC slides 5%

All that happened in markets today

3:47 PM

SECTOR WATCH | Top gainers and losers on the NSE

3:46 PM

Top gainers and losers on the S&P BSE Sensex

3:39 PM

CLOSING BELL

The S&P BSE Sensex climbed 137 points or 0.34 per cent to end at 39,872 while NSE's Nifty50 ended at 11,708, up 46 points or 0.39 per cent.

3:18 PM

GLOBAL MARKETS

World shares sank to their lowest in seven weeks on Monday, dragged down by a plunge in Asian stocks on their first trading day after a long break on fears the coronavirus epidemic would hit demand in China.

3:16 PM

MARKET CHECK | Top gainers on the BSE at this hour

3:02 PM

BROKERAGE RADAR | Centrum Broking on SBI

We like SBIN for its improving margins, funding franchise, and improving coverage ratios, all of which indicate a strengthening balance sheet, along with the subsidiaries’ profitable performance. We roll forward our valuations to FY22E, and maintain our target multiple on the core banking business at 1.5x FY22E ABV. Aided by the subsidiaries’ performance, we get an SOTP-based TP of Rs 481 (from Rs 417 earlier). Maintain BUY. Risks: slower loan growth and higher-than-expected slippages.  

3:01 PM

Amara Raja Batteries soars 6% on good Q3 operational performance

The company’s earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (Ebitda) margins expanded 130 basis points (bps) year-on-year (YoY) to 16.2 per cent, driven by lower raw material costs and impacted by higher-than-expected other costs. Net revenue from operations during the quarter grew 3 per cent at Rs 1,748 crore against Rs 1,695 crore in the corresponding quarter of the previous fiscal. Profit after tax (PAT) rose 26 per cent to Rs 164 crore on YoY basis. READ MORE  

2:44 PM

BUZZING STOCK | RIL gains over 1%

2:31 PM

From Morgan Stanley to Motilal Oswal, brokerages disappointed with Budget

Goldman Sachs

 

Despite a slowing economy, the budget does not envisage any major stimulus through the budgeted fiscal deficit figures, with the FY21 targeted fiscal deficit to decline to 3.5 per cent of GDP, compared to 3.8 per cent of GDP for FY20.

 

With budgeted nominal GDP growth of 10 per cent y-o-y and gross tax revenue growth of 12 per cent y-o-y, the implied tax buoyancy stands at 1.2 which continues to appear ambitious versus the 0.5 tax buoyancy achieved in FY20. Unless there is a sharp increase in tax compliance, we think it is quite likely that the government will have to cut current spending, as was the case in FY20. READ MORE  

Nirmala Sitharaman

2:16 PM

NPAs of public sector banks stand at Rs 7.27 trillion: Govt tells Lok Sabha

The government on Monday said the Non Performing Assets (NPAs) of Public Sector Banks (PSBs) stood at Rs 7.27 trillion as on September 30, 2019. Union Minister of State for Finance Anurag Thakur also said in Lok Sabha that scheduled commercial banks and select financial institutions have reported frauds to the tune of Rs 1,13,374 crore in the first half of the current financial year. READ MORE  

2:05 PM

Post Budget proposals, analysts see RBI holding rates in February MPC meet

Most economists expect the central bank to maintain a status quo on Thursday, even as they remain divided on whether the central bank will continue to retain the 'accomodative' stance as regards the tone of the policy.  Aditi Nayar, principal economist at ICRA, for instance, expects the RBI to maintain status quo on February 6, but sees the stance changing from ‘accommodative’ to ‘neutral’. Besides, she sees the apex bank extend the pause to, at least, one more MPC meeting due to prolonged inflationary pressures. READ MORE  

1:44 PM

STOCK UPDATE:: 13 stocks from S&P BSE500 index hit all-time highs

-- Divis Lab, HUL, Jubilant FoodWorks, Nestle India, GSK Consumer, Pidilite Ind, Apollo Hospitals among the 13 stocks

1:40 PM

MARKET CHECK | S&P BSE Midcap index outperforms Sensex

1:27 PM

BROKERAGE RADAR | ICICI Securities on Security & Intelligence Services

Verticalised solutions positioning (bringing various parts of SIS together) is finding strong resonance with clients with the company having created specialised solutions for the healthcare, O&G, railways and hospitality segments and now in BFSI as well. The same is reflected in superior growth and market share gains across segments. However, we maintain our HOLD rating with a target price of Rs 500 per share as we see FY21 EV/FCF of 38.5x as adequately discounting the strong fundamentals of the company. A consistent improvement in cash generation and deleveraging would be key upside catalysts.

1:24 PM

BROKERAGE RADAR | HDFC Securities on Vinati Organics

We downgrade VO to NEUTRAL post an underwhelming performance in 3QFY20. Given a demand slowdown for the high margin ATBS and resultantly lower realizations, we cut our EPS estimates for FY21/22E by 13.5/12.6%. We like VO for its (1) Impeccable product selection (2) High market share globally (3) Best in class return ratios and earnings trajectory. However, in the absence of new product pipeline, we believe current valuations are contextually high at 31.1/26.1x FY21/22E PER. Our TP of Rs 2,040/share is based on a 25x Dec-21E EPS.

1:18 PM

Nifty sectoral indices at this hour

1:07 PM

BUZZING STOCK:: BPCL gains 4%

1:06 PM

MARKET UPDATE:: Sensex regains momentum

1:04 PM

Godrej Properties surges 10%, erases Budget day losses on strong Q3 results

Shares of Godrej Properties zoomed 10 per cent to Rs 1,084 on the BSE on Monday after the company’s consolidated profit before tax (PBT) in December quarter (Q3FY20) more-than-doubled at Rs 88 crore, on the back of strong operational performance. The real estate developer had reported PBT of Rs 36 crore in the year-ago quarter. The stock erased its entire 8 per cent loss recorded on the Budget day. READ MORE

12:48 PM

TCI Express hits all-time high, surges 26% in 10 days

Shares of TCI Express hit a new high of Rs 925, up 6 per cent on the BSE on Monday in an otherwise subdued market after Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Saturday proposed to set up Kisan Rail in public-private-partnership (PPP) mode for cold supply chain to transport perishable goods. TCI Express is a prominent player in the express logistics industry providing Door-to-Door express distribution services. READ MORE

12:47 PM

JANUARY AUTO SALES | Maruti Suzuki's January sales up 1.6% YoY at 154,123 units; stock up 2%

12:38 PM

MARKET CHECK

12:27 PM

BROKERAGE RADAR | Prabhudas Lilladher on Navneet Education

Rating: BUY | CMP: Rs 91 | TP: Rs 108

 

We cut our PAT estimates by 20%/13% for FY20E/FY21E respectively as 1) scale up in Indiannica Learning (ILL) is slower than anticipation (in 9MFY20 sales stood at RS134mn; effectively implying flattish growth for FY20E) and 2) expectation of low single digit growth from publishing division (earlier expectation of mid double digit growth) on account of limited changes in the syllabus in the state of Maharashtra.

However, outlook for stationary division remains bright as domestic business will benefit from branding/marketing efforts in selected states and strong pipe-line of export orders. Even outlook for E-sense (sales down 24.7% YoY to Rs152mn in 9MFY20) looks encouraging going forward as more schools opt for digital learning. Given growth challenges in the publishing division we cut our target multiple to 10.5x (earlier 12x) but retain BUY with a TP of Rs 108 (earlier Rs142), amid 20% bottom-line CAGR over FY19-22E, superior return ratios, strong dividend pay-out and narrowing losses in ILL.

12:22 PM

BROKERAGE RADAR | Motilal Oswal Fin Services on insurance firms post Budgetary announcements

The removal of major exemptions/deductions under the new tax regime will impact sales of Life Insurance products as individuals migrating to the new tax regime will lose on tax savings on their insurance purchase. We reckon that under the new tax regime, tax liability for individuals (availing exemptions) will actually increase, and thus, a large section of individuals might not prefer to migrate, resulting in a modest impact on the new business sales of life insurers. Moreover, the removal of DDT will result in higher effective tax rate (ETR) for life insurers, which will adversely impact EV, VNB margins and shareholder earnings for insurers, more so for those that are ULIP-heavy. We further note that if corporates maintain the same dividend payout ratio then the impact will be relatively limited as insurance companies will pay tax at a lower rate of ~14.5%. We await further details from company managements on these developments and believe that while the structural story for the insurance sector is intact, the near-term stock performance may remain volatile until clarity emerges. We maintain Buy rating on IPRULIFE and Neutral on HDFCLIFE. 

12:20 PM

Nifty PSU Bank index under heavy pressure

12:18 PM

BROKERAGE RADAR | ICICI Securities on Kansai Nerolac Paints

We model volume CAGR of 8% in FY19-22E led by decorative paint segment. We believe that despite better EBITDA margins (due to benign raw material prices) near term pressure in volume growth owing to economic slowdown would weigh on valuations. We revise our rating from BUY to HOLD with a revised target price  Rs 545/share.

12:15 PM

BROKERAGE RADAR | Emkay Global Financial Services on Vedanta

We remain cautious about near-term demand situation in China due to the outbreak of the epidemic. We believe this will likely result in a reduction in demand for commodities in the near run and lead to a correction in commodity prices. Maintain Sell with a TP of Rs134 based on SoTP. Key risk to our call is higher-than-expected commodity prices and faster-than-expected production ramp-up by the company. 

12:09 PM

RESULTS CORNER:: Godrej Properties consolidated revenue up 48.9% YoY at Rs 275.5 cr

-- Net profit at Rs 69.7 cr vs 5.6 cr (YoY)

11:59 AM

Ashok Leyland dips 1% post January sales outcome

11:45 AM

MNC shares in focus; Nestle hits new high, HUL nears record high

Shares of multinational companies (MNCs) were in focus with Nifty MNC index gaining more than 2 per cent on the National Stock Exchange (NSE) on Monday after the government has abolished the Dividend Distribution Tax (DDT) from company level and will now be taxed in hands of recipients. Among individual stocks, Nestle India hit a new high of Rs 16,279, up 5 per cent today. Hindustan Unilever (HUL) surged 5 per cent to Rs 2,180 on the NSE. The stock of the fast moving consumer goods company (FMCG) giant was trading close to its all-time high level of Rs 2,190 touched on November 7, 2019. READ MORE