MARKET WRAP: Sensex ends 986 pts higher; financials rally post RBI measures

All that happened in the markets today

4:10 PM

MARKET COMMENT | Vinod Nair, Head of Research at Geojit Financial Services

"Markets were buoyant following RBI measures to boost liquidity and reclassify NPA norms for commercial banks. The positive global markets also added to the buoyancy. Rate-sensitive stocks managed to outperform. Focus will continue to be on how far these measures will help in containing the economic fallout of the virus and also on the earnings guidance of companies."

3:51 PM

Sectoral gainers and losers on the NSE

3:45 PM

MARKET AT CLOSE | Top gainers and losers on the S&P BSE Sensex

3:41 PM

CLOSING BELL

The S&P BSE Sensex rallied 986 points or 3.22 per cent to end at 31,589 while NSE's Nifty soared 274 points or 3 per cent to settle at 9,267.

3:27 PM

MARKET CHECK

3:18 PM

EXPERT COMMENT | Gaurav Dua, Sr VP, Head Capital Market Strategy & Investments, Sharekhan

RBI announced further policy measures today that are well targeted to address concerns of financial companies like mid/small-sized NBFC, mortgage finance and micro finance companies. Along with host of other measures, the RBI would incentivise bank credit flow, launch targeted repo (for MFI, NBFC, HFCs) and given refinance facility of Rs 50,000 crore to NABARD, SIDBI and NHB. The measures would aid financials but are not significant enough to change the bias and result in material re-rating of NBFC and MFI stocks.

In terms of Indian equities, our base case prognosis is the benchmark indices could continue to consolidate in a broad range of 8500-9200 on Nifty for the next few weeks. The situation is still volatile and uncertain in terms of the extent of disruption in economy and businesses. Thus, it is advisable to stick to quality companies with proven track record, healthy balance sheet and stable growth outlook.

3:07 PM

Europe car sales dip 55% in March on virus lockdown, worse than 2008 crisis

European car sales tanked last month amid strict lockdown measures to contain the coronavirus that shut down dealerships for at least half of March and dried up consumer spending. The European carmaker's association, ACEA, said Friday that new car registrations ''recorded a dramatic drop'' of 55% to 567,308 units. READ MORE  

2:58 PM

MARKET VOICE :: Ambareesh Baliga on dividend payout rule

2:58 PM

NEWS ALERT | RBI to conduct first auction under TLTRO for Rs 25,000 cr on April 23

Click here for RBI's notification

2:56 PM

RESULT TOMORROW | HDFC Bank Q4 preview: Net profit may jump 30% YoY; biz growth guidance eyed

Nirmal Bang Institutional Equities pegs the lender’s profit at Rs 7,616.2 crore, a 29.4 per cent growth from Rs 5,885.1 crore reported in the March quarter of the previous fiscal (Q4FY19). Sequentially, the PAT is seen growing 3 per cent from Rs 7,416.5 crore.

 

Similarly, analysts at ICICI Securities expect the bank’s profit to rise 28.6 per cent YoY to Rs 7,568.2 crore on the back of robust traction in deposits, and healthy fee-based income. READ MORE

2:53 PM

Stocks that hit 52-week high on BSE today

COMPANY	PRICE(rs)	52 WK HIGH	CHG(%)
BIOCON	353.50	357.00	1.04
CIPLA	601.00	615.55	0.07
DIVI'S LAB.	2346.25	2449.05	-1.99
DR REDDY'S LABS	3923.40	3993.80	1.59
LAURUS LABS	405.20	470.65	1.49

2:48 PM

Contribution to the S&P BSE Sensex's gain today

2:43 PM

ICICI Bank jumps 6%, top gainer on Sensex

2:38 PM

Nifty Private Bank index top sectoral gainer, up over 4%

2:25 PM

MARKET VOICE :: Vijay Kedia on liquidity crisis

2:22 PM

SBI, ICICI Bank: Are financial sector stocks a good bet post RBI measures?

NIFTY BANK: From a very short-term viewpoint, the index has formed a symmetrical triangle formation, which has a shortfall in volumes, as per the daily chart. The price is showing breakout, but is unable to hold the upside momentum. If the price moves up, the rally needs to conquer the selling pressure existing in the range of 21,000 to 22,000 levels. READ MORE

2:14 PM

BUZZING STOCK | Equitas Holdings jumps 16%

2:11 PM

Reserve Bank tries to reduce NPA burden for lenders in coronavirus crisis

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Friday announced additional set of regulatory measures to reduce the burden of debt servicing due to disruptions caused by the coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic, including an asset classification standstill for accounts that avail a moratorium between March 1 and May 31.

 

Such accounts will, therefore, be classified as non-performing assets from 180 days of overdue, rather than the current norm of 90 days, according to a set of measures announced by RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das on Friday. READ MORE

2:02 PM

Coronavirus impact: Bet on top-tier names in banking sector, avoid NBFCs

The banking and financial sector is among the worst hit in the current downturn. While the Nifty50 has declined 27.7 per cent, the Nifty Bank index has nosedived 40.1 per cent over the past three months.

 

In a report issued on April 15, Macquarie Research cut its earnings per share estimates for private banks by 35-40 per cent and reduced its target prices for private banks by 45 per cent and for public-sector banks by 47 per cent. READ MORE

1:53 PM

Rupee can depreciate another 4% despite RBI's liquidity support measures

We are still not out of the woods with respect to the pandemic globally and emerging market currencies like Rupee may not find buyers at least in the short term. Another 3-4 per cent depreciation for the rupee may not be ruled out at least in the short-to-medium term, post which, some buyers will find merit to earn carry by selling dollar against the rupee that is around 4 per cent for a year. READ MORE

Abhishek Goenka, IFA Global

1:53 PM

EXPERT COMMENT | Motilal Oswal, MD and CEO of Motilal Oswal Financial Services

“Given the unprecedented times we are in, it is heartening that RBI is addressing all these challenges at a war footing. We believe, the key measures announced by RBI will help inject the much needed liquidity in the system, facilitate and incentivise credit flow and provide flexibility on regulatory forbearance. Markets are in buying zone. Keep accumulating and increasing equity allocations gradually.”

1:42 PM

NEWS ALERT :: Sebi relaxes rules w.r.t intimation about board meeting

Click here for Sebi notice

1:38 PM

MARKET UPDATE:: India VIX cools off 4%

1:35 PM

NEWS ALERT | Govt to soon unveil fund of funds for MSME of Rs 10,000 cr: Nitin Gadkari

-- MSME ministry to seek cabinet approval on the fund

-- Finance Ministry has approved the creation of fund

-- Fund will be used to assist MSMEs with good credit rating

(as reported by CNBC TV18)

1:29 PM

Select real estate shares surge after RBI announces liquidity measures

Among individual stocks, Oberoi Realty, Kolte-Patil Developers, Ajmera Realty & Infra India and Puravankara rose 13 per cent to 20 per cent on the BSE intra-day. The stocks later came off the high point of the day, but were still outperforming the market.

Oberoi Realty has rallied 20 per cent to Rs 410 on the BSE in intra-day trade. The stock of the Mumbai-based real estate developer has soared 32 per cent in the past two trading days. It touched a multi-year low of Rs 291 on the BSE in intra-day trade on Monday, April 13, 2020. READ MORE

1:22 PM

PM Narendra Modi on RBI measures

1:17 PM

EXPERT COMMENT | Suvodeep Rakshit, Vice President & Sr. Economist, Kotak Institutional Equities

The RBI’s announcement has correctly focused on the financial sector, specifically the NBFCs. We expect the TLTRO2.0 along with allocations to NHB, SIDBI, NABARD will provide support to the NBFCs/HFCs/MFIs though the extent will depend on the risk appetite of the banks. The lower reverse repo rate should also encourage banks to lend out. However, given the current macro conditions, we need to watch how the banks utilize the various windows and options given by the RBI to assess whether credit growth increases and the extent of support that the NBFC sector gets

1:14 PM

Europe opens higher

(Source: Reuters)

1:13 PM

EXPERT COMMENT | Dhiraj Relli, MD & CEO, HDFC Securities

The RBI 's efforts are three pronged:

• Push Banks to do more lending (by cutting reverse repo rate), providing more liquidity to them (higher TLTRO-2 funds, special refinance facility of Rs.15000 cr to SIDBI and prescribing lower liquidity coverage ratio) and prescribing some reliefs and some fresh moves to create provisions against slippages.
• Provide more credit to NBFCs (especially smaller ones)  by prescribing that atleast 50% of funds under TLTRO-2 must be on lend to such entities. The special refinance facilities of Rs.10000 cr to NHB will help housing finance companies avail more liquidity. Also NBFCs can grant relaxed NPA classification to their borrowers and NBFCs can extend realty loans by 1 year if projects delayed on reasons beyond control.
• Alleviate the woes faced by State Govts by increasing by 60% the States Ways & Means Advances (WMA) limit to provide greater comfort to states.

NBFCs are clear beneficiaries of these measures. For investors in Banks the provision of higher liquidity and relaxation in provisioning norms are welcome, but the bar on dividend distribution and new provisioning norms are negatives for the time being. While the RBI is doing its part in providing reliefs in the current times, the street could keep expecting more and there could also be some concern about the time it would take for these measures to have an impact at the ground level.

1:11 PM

EXPERT COMMENT | Umesh Revankar, MD and CEO, Shriram Transport Finance

“RBI`s announcement to infuse liquidity into the system is extremely welcoming and a big relief to NBFC borrowers. The decision to cut the reverse repo rate by 25bps will encourage banks to look for lending opportunities. We would appreciate if banks reciprocate positively to NBFCs  request on moratorium to manage cash flow smoothly. All in all we think it is a positive step taken by the RBI  to overcome the challenges faced by the economy.”