MARKET: Sensex slips 260 pts; financials dip as RBI extends loan moratorium

All that happened in the markets today

4:05 PM

MARKET COMMENT | Quote by S Ranganathan, Head of Research at LKP Securities

Markets ended in the red ahead of a long weekend as the extension of moratorium on loans by the RBI today weighed heavily on Financials. Select Pivotals like Asian Paints; however, bucked the trend as the street seems to be betting on consumers painting their houses even as it fears that they may not repay their loans.

3:48 PM

SECTOR WATCH | Bank stocks decline

3:45 PM

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

3:36 PM

CLOSING BELL

The S&P BSE Sensex shed 260 points or 0.84 per cent to 30,672.59 levels while NSE's Nifty ended at 9,039, down 67 points or 0.74 per cent. 

3:26 PM

Cement stocks in focus; India Cements hits 2-yr high, soars 33% in 6 days

The stock today hit a 2-year high of Rs 134.40, up 6 per cent, on the BSE in an otherwise weak market and was trading at its highest level since May 9, 2018. In the past six trading days, it has rallied 33 per cent, as compared to a 1.4 per cent decline in the S&P BSE Sensex. READ MORE

3:18 PM

COMMENT:: George Alexander Muthoot, MD, Muthoot Finance on RBI announcement

“We welcome the RBI announcement to cut the repo rate by 40 bps which will infuse liquidity into the system in such challenging times. Also, the reduction in reverse repo rates will discourage banks to park idle money with RBI and lend further. We appreciate the decision of extending the moratorium by three months thereby providing the much-needed relief to the borrowers. It will help in reducing the repayment pressure and provide necessary time to analyze the cash flow status. We believe RBI measures will aid in restoring the financial health of the economy.”

3:11 PM

MARKET UPDATE | Supreme Ind jumps over 7%

3:03 PM

HDFC twins contribute the most to today's fall in Sensex

2:58 PM

COMMENT:: Navneet Munot, ED & CIO, SBI Mutual Fund

RBI announced measures to provide further relief to borrowers and enhance credit flow including the extension of moratorium period. We reiterate that further relaxations may be needed for greater flexibility to lenders on one-time restructuring. Hasten to add, while this is the crying need of the hour, we must keep an eye on hard-earned gains on the credit culture across all segments. It’s our collective responsibility.

 

We have been maintaining a relatively high duration in fixed income funds. While structural view remains unchanged, we will take advantage of tactical opportunities as we expect bond market to be in a consolidation mode for the time being. Credit spreads are highly elevated but they also reflect the economic uncertainty and constraints in the financial system. The equity market in the near term will continue to be driven by cues from global markets and the evolution of health crisis and economic situation. Our focus will continue to be on bottom up stock-picking.

2:54 PM

Top losers on BSE today

COMPANY	PRICE(rs)	CHG(%)
MAHINDRA HOLIDAY	155.30	-7.34
M & M FIN. SERV.	126.65	-7.01
HAWKINS COOKERS	4237.00	-6.76
TCI EXPRESS	530.45	-6.76
SHRIRAM TRANS.	537.05	-6.53

2:47 PM

BUZZING STOCK | Infosys gains 3%

2:40 PM

Stocks that hit 52-week low on BSE today

COMPANY	PRICE(rs)	52 WK LOW	CHG(%)
BAJAJ FIN.	1896.85	1865.50	-4.63
BAJAJ FINSERV	4308.20	4086.90	-5.06
BRIGADE ENTERPR.	92.60	90.70	0.38
C P C L	50.20	49.50	-2.14
CHALET HOTELS	102.60	99.00	-0.82

2:34 PM

MARCH QUARTER RESULTS | Godrej Industries Q4 revenue up 6.4% YoY at Rs 3,120.7 crore

-- Net profit down 91.3 per cent to Rs 25.9 crore

-- Ebitda down 15.6 per cent to Rs 211.5 crore

-- Ebitda margin narrows to 6.8 per cent from 8.5 per cent

2:28 PM

NEWS ALERT | Vistara opens bookings for flights starting May 25: CNBC TV18

-- Company says it will operate reduced network connecting 24 cities over next few weeks

2:25 PM

Global Markets check

World stocks took a hit on Friday as China moved to impose a new security law on Hong Kong after last year’s pro-democracy unrest, further straining fast-deteriorating US-China ties.

European shares opened broadly lower , with blue-chip indexes in London, Paris and Frankfurt all down more than 1.5 per cent.

 

That followed a sharp selloff in Asia after China said it would impose new national security legislation on Hong Kong — sparking a warning from U.S. President Donald Trump that Washington would react “very strongly” against an attempt to gain more control over the former British colony.

 

Hong Kong's Hang Seng index .HSI slid more than 5% to a seven-week low, MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan fell 2.7 per cent. Japan's Nikkei slipped 0.8 per cent, while U.S. stock futures fell almost 1 per cent -- pointing to a weak open for Wall Street.

2:16 PM

SBI Cards and Payment Services slips 9%, hits new low since listing

The non-banking finance company's stock was trading at its lowest level since listing on March 16, 2020. It has fallen below its previous low of Rs 501 touched on April 16, 2020. The stock has now fallen 34 per cent against its issue price of Rs 755 per share. READ MORE  

2:06 PM

Gloom for savers: How RBI repo rate cut will impact FD investments, savings

— Interest income from FDs is likely to fall further

 

— The rate cut comes as a pain also for senior citizens dependent on interest income from their FD investments

 

After RBI's previous rate cut in March, the country's largest lender State Bank of India had announced a reduction in fixed deposit interest rate by up to 50 bps. The rates were further revised on May 12, 2020.

 

Other major banks have also continued lowering interest rates on fixed deposits. READ MORE  

1:56 PM

COMMENT:: Gaurav Dua, Sr VP, Head Capital Market Strategy & Investments, Sharekhan by BNP Paribas

“RBI steps in once again. Post the out of the turn MPC meeting, RBI has cut policy rates by another 40 bps since the macro impact of the prolonged lockdown is much severe than the initial expectations. More importantly, the moratorium period has been extended to by another three months, total six months now, with provision to convert interest during moratorium period into term loan. However, RBI has not announced any relief on the restructuring of loans to address the risk of rising asset quality issues in the banking sector which has come as a disappointment for the equity markets. Along with adverse impact of COVID pandemic the additional concerns related to US-China brinkmanship is creating uncertainties and accordingly, we expect equities to remain volatile with negative bias in the immediate term.”

1:48 PM

HDFC near day's low, dips over 5%

1:42 PM

MARKET UPDATE | Asian Paints gains nearly 3%

1:29 PM

MARKET UPDATE:: Sensex extends losses

1:29 PM

Market Holiday on Monday

Stock market will remain closed on Monday, May 25, on account of Id-Ul-Fitr (Ramzan Eid)

1:22 PM

COMMENT:: Niranjan Hiranandani, National President- ASSOCHAM on RBI announcement

Measures like the reduction in repo rate by 40 basis points, the extension of term loan moratorium till August 31 is an honest step to support several sectors hit by contraction of economic activity stated ASSOCHAM National president, Dr. Niranjan Hiranandani.

 

“Reserve Banks of India’s (RBI) third presser since the lockdown is a continued effort to increase private consumption and provide liquidity access to all sectors hit by the COVID-19 pandemic. These measures will help revive demand crippled by the lockdown,” he said.

 

According to Dr. Hiranandani, there has been a total collapse in demand in both urban and rural India since March 2020. The continued proactive measures taken by the RBI will help address these issues and revive the economy in the second half of the year, he said.

 

He stated that reducing the repo rate by 40 basis points to 4 per cent will help the banks provide additional liquidity access to all the sectors. “ASSOCHAM welcomes the extension of term loan moratorium till August 31st. The lending institutions are being permitted to restore the margins for working capital to the origin level by March 31, 2021. This is a step in the right direction,” he said.

 

He also stated that the industry body welcomes the announcement by the RBI governor Shaktikanta Das to convert the accumulated interest for the moratorium period into a term loan. “It will also provide some relief as the borrower will not have to immediately repay the accumulated interest on the loan after the moratorium ends,” Dr. Hiranandani said.

1:19 PM

COMMENT:: Deepak Jasani's views on KKR's investment in Reliance Jio

The fifth stake sale in Jio Platforms by Reliance Industries will mean a total stake dilution of 17.12% for Rs78,562 cr. This will help Reliance to reach debt-free status soon. A range of diverse marquee investors lining up to take small stakes speaks volumes about the business model and promoters’ capabilities. Ideally,  Reliance may halt after stake sale of upto a max of 24.99% in Jio Platforms over the next few weeks.

 

 

1:13 PM

Govt scrutiny on new portfolio investors from China, Hong Kong: Report

India has drafted rules proposing tighter scrutiny of new Foreign Portfolio Investors (FPIs) from China and Hong Kong, three government sources told Reuters. The discussions come weeks after the central government said it will screen all foreign direct investment (FDI) from countries with which it shares a land border, a move it said was aimed at staving off takeovers when asset prices are depressed during the coronavirus pandemic. The Chinese government described the policy as discriminatory. READ MORE 

1:04 PM

Europe opens lower

12:54 PM

MARKET CHECK | Top 5 losers on the BSE at this hour

12:42 PM

COMMENT:: Abhimanyu Sofat, Vice President, Research, IIFL Securities

The commentary of the governor speech underpins the low prospects of a V-shaped recovery. RBI commentary indicates that the stress in the economy on both demand and supply is likely continue. We also believe government should provide subvention on existing loans or bear some cost of the haircut of existing loans. This would ensure more confidence to banks to lend to lower rated entities or individuals.

12:32 PM

Markets were expecting a rate cut; onus now on banks to pass on the benefit

As seen earlier as well, the transmission of interest rate cut to the end consumer has been slow. Hence, we need to watch what happens at the ground level. Given the severity of the situation due to Covid-19 pandemic, the timing of rate transmission holds great significance. Companies are facing working capital shortage; hence, there is no point in providing funds after three months. They need money on an immediate basis. The transmission has to be faster than what we have seen earlier. READ MORE  

Ambareesh Baliga, independent market expert (Photo: Kamlesh Pednekar)

12:23 PM

NIIT Tech's Rs 337-cr buyback offer to open on May 29; stock surges 9%

Shares of NIIT Technologies surged 9 per cent to Rs 1,573 on the BSE on Friday after the company announced that its Rs 337.4-crore buyback offer will commence from May 29. The IT consulting & software company's stock was trading higher for the fourth straight day. It has rallied 17 per cent during this period. The stock turned ex-date for share buyback on March 11, 2020. READ MORE