MARKETS ON FRIDAY: Indices end higher but Nifty fails to hold 10,500-mark

Benchmark indices rose for a seventh straight session on Friday, their longest winning streak since November 2017

3:41 PM

Nifty Metal index ends nearly 1% higher. Top gainers:

COMPANY	LATEST	PREV CLOSE	GAIN( )	GAIN(%)
S A I L	76.70	74.00	2.70	3.65
JINDAL STEEL	251.80	243.75	8.05	3.30
WELSPUN CORP	153.00	148.55	4.45	3.00
MOIL	215.00	209.65	5.35	2.55
HINDALCO INDS.	238.50	232.60	5.90	2.54

3:36 PM

Sectoral Trend

3:34 PM

BSE Sensex: top gainers and losers of the day

3:32 PM

Market at close

 

The S&P BSE Sensex ended at 34,193, up 92 points while the broader Nifty50 index settled at 10,481, up 22 points.

3:09 PM

IDBI Bank: High NPAs, new bad loan rules seen offsetting inflows

 

IDBI Bank has joined the bandwagon of public sector banks (PSBs) rushing to sell their non-core assets to strengthen their balance sheet. Recently, the lender sold a commercial building for Rs 9 billion, taking the total non-core asset sales to over Rs 41 billion in FY18.

 

Also, the government provided Rs 106.1 billion recapitalisation amount, the highest among PSBs, to this cash-starved bank. But these efforts seem insufficient given the bank’s high net non-performing assets (NPAs) worth Rs 293.5 billion as of December 2017. READ MORE

3:02 PM

Oil heads for biggest weekly gain since July

Oil prices edged higher on Friday, heading for their largest weekly gain since July after U.S. President Trump's comments about possible military action in Syria and reports of dwindling global oil stocks. Brent crude rose by 44 cents to $72.46 a barrel at 0821 GMT, up about 8 percent on the week. READ MORE

2:42 PM

BUZZING STOCK

 

KPIT Technologies  rose for a third straight session, quoting at Rs 230.5, up 1.86% on the day as on the NSE. KPIT Technologies is up 79.24% in last one year as compared to a 14.96% gain in Nifty and a 33.16% gain in the Nifty IT index.

2:28 PM

Goldman expects sanctions to keep aluminium prices high, sees oil hitting $72

Aluminium prices are expected to remain high and volatile until June because of sanctions on Russia's Rusal, while tensions in the Middle East are likely to push oil prices to $72 a barrel, Goldman Sachs said on Thursday. The bank reinforced its "overweight" view on commodities, with a forecast return of 10 percent over the next 12 months. READ MORE

2:16 PM

ICEX launches 30 cents diamond futures contracts to attract small investors

Reliance ADAG anchored Indian Commodity Exchange Limited (ICEX) has launched 30 cents polished diamond futures contracts on its platform to attract small investors and make natural precious stone popular amongst the average middle class. The exchange currently offers 1 carat (100 cents) and 50 cents polished diamond contracts on its platform where small investors need to wait to take delivery till their invested amount accumulates equivalent to the value of these stones. READ MORE

Diamonds

2:09 PM

TOP CONTRIBUTORS TO SENSEX TODAY

COMPANY	LATEST	CHG(RS)	CHG(%)	WEIGHT IN INDEX (%)
ADANI PORTS	381.85	9.80	2.63	0.97
TCS	3217.50	80.20	2.56	5.08
WIPRO	292.50	5.70	1.99	1.52
INFOSYS	1183.00	20.75	1.79	8.93
DR REDDY'S LABS	2084.40	25.60	1.24	1.56
RELIANCE INDS.	937.40	9.85	1.06	7.22

2:01 PM

Market Check

 

S&P BSE Sensex	34,235.14		0.39%
Nifty 50	10,488.85		0.29%
S&P BSE 200	4,607.73		0.33%
Nifty 500	9,273.00		0.28%
S&P BSE Mid-Cap	16,674.17		0.44%
S&P BSE Small-Cap	17,991.92		0.32%

1:58 PM

ICICI Securities on Bajaj Electricals (BEL)

We believe BEL is a strong candidate for re-rating owing to the strong performance of the EPC division and recovery in sales of consumer durable  products with rising coverage of retailers across India. We believe BEL will record revenue, earning CAGR of ~19%, ~34%, respectively, in FY18E-20E supported by an increase in EBITDA margin.

Under our SOTP based valuation, we value BEL’s CD segment MCap at 2x FY20E sales (~30% discount to peers) and E&P segment at 7x FY20E EV/EBITDA. We maintain our BUY rating with a revised target price of Rs 720/share.

1:56 PM

Chennai Petroleum Corporation Ltd – BUY – TARGET PRICE Rs 390

Post 30% correction in the stock prices in the recent past, we believe lot of the concerns have already been priced in. Hence, we now upgrade our recommendation to BUY (earlier ACCUMULATE) on the stock with a revised price target of Rs.390/share (earlier Rs. 495/share). We believe at CMP, that the stock is attractively valued. We have valued CPCL based on lower PE multiple of 5.5x FY20 (target PE), which is at a significant discount to its peers considering complexity of its refinery.

(Source: Kotak Securities)

1:54 PM

STOCK ALERT TCS nears all-time high; stock rallies 11% in four days

Shares of Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) have moved 3.2% higher to Rs 3,238 per share, extending their 7.4% rally in past three trading days on the BSE. The information technology (IT) giant trading close to its all-time high of Rs 3,255, recorded on January 24, 2018 in intra-day trade. The company is scheduled to announce its earnings for the period of January-March 2018 (Q4FY18) and the financial year 2017-2018 (FY18) on Thursday, April 19, 2018 READ MORE

1:43 PM

Etihad sends feelers to Anil Ambani to buy 76% stake in Air India

 

Gulf airline major Etihad is planning to bid for state-owned carrier Air India. Etihad is looking for partners in major Indian corporate groups and has sent feelers to Anil Ambani-owned Reliance group (ADAG).

 

Sources aware of the discussions said talks were at a preliminary stage. “Etihad is scouting for partners to form a consortium to bid for Air India and is in discussion with companies, including the Anil Ambani group,” a source said. There are chances that the talks may not translate into a partnership, but this indicates interest of foreign aviation firms and India Inc in the airline. READ MORE

1:30 PM

Mishra Dhatu Nigam hits highest level since listing; stock surges 15%

Mishra Dhatu Nigam (MIDHANI) has surged 15% to Rs 107 on the BSE, on back of heavy volumes. The stock was trading at its highest level since listing on April 4, 2018. READ MORE

1:12 PM

Oil eases as Trump backtracks on imminent Syria strike

 

Oil prices edged lower on Friday after US President Donald Trump tempered remarks warning of an imminent missile attack on Syria, but were still set for their biggest weekly gains in more than 8 months.

 

NYMEX crude for May delivery was down 21 cents, or 0.3%, at $66.86 a barrel. For the week, the contract is set to post a gain of nearly 8 percent, following two weeks of declines.

1:00 PM

Top BSE500 gainers

COMPANY	LATEST	PREV CLOSE	GAIN( )	GAIN(%)
INDIABULLS VENT.	296.00	278.15	17.85	6.42
CHAMBAL FERT.	175.20	165.90	9.30	5.61
FUTURE LIFESTYLE	473.15	448.50	24.65	5.50
PHILLIPS CARBON	1139.40	1085.15	54.25	5.00
JBF INDS.	115.80	110.30	5.50	4.99

12:47 PM

Ashok Leyland up 3% on order win of Rs 1,000 million for 10x10 vehicles

Shares of Infosys gained 1% on Friday ahead of the IT major's fourth quarter results later in the day. On a year-to-date basis, the stock has rallied around 12.84% and has underperformed the Nifty IT index that gained around 13.5% during this period. By comparison, the Nifty50 index slipped around 0.25% YTD. READ MORE

12:31 PM

Company Visit Note: Genus Power Infrastructure Ltd – BUY – Target Price Rs 79

 

We recently met the management of Genus Power (GPIL). The management was very positive on the demand outlook for meters. Our interaction with other industry players also corroborates this view. After the order win of smart meters in Q3FY18, news-reports indicate that GPIL is the lowest bidder in prepaid meter tender. Based on robust demand outlook, we project strong revenue and earnings growth. We reiterate BUY with a target price of Rs 79 (21x FY20E).

 

Risks:

 

1) Higher commodity prices could dent near-term margins in excess of our projections; 2) Delay in payment from SEBs/EESL could elongate working capital, which could lead to higher interest expenses.

(Source: Kotak Securities report)

12:31 PM

Investors can earn risk-free income of 6-8% annually by lending stocks

 

For many years, long-term investors had the option to lend their shares and earn risk-free additional income by way of interest. But due to lack of awareness and demand from borrowers, the securities lending and borrowing mechanism (SLBM) never saw any meaningful volumes.

 

This is expected to change soon. On Wednesday, Securities and Exchange Board of India’s (Sebi) said that physical settlement of stock derivatives will be made mandatory in a phased manner. READ MORE

12:30 PM

Fortis Healthcare: Company update – Manipal hikes deal value, but not sweet enough

Manipal Hospitals (MHEPL) announced a revised offer for merging Fortis Healthcare (FHL), which proposes ~21% increase in the equity valuation of hospital business. This revised proposal has been announced after several investors of FHL expressed their reservations on initial offer. As per the revised agreement, the hospital business would be valued at equity valuation of Rs60.6bn (21% higher than earlier Rs50bn).

However, MHEPL would not buy the 20% stake in SRL from FHL and FHL would continue to hold 56.6% equity stake in SRL. This new proposal values the combined entity at 26.4xCY17 EV/EBITDA, which is at premium to peers’ average of 24.7x. The revised offer is better than the initial deal proposal, which was dilutive for FHL shareholders

(Source: ICICI Securities report)

12:27 PM

With $200-mn market value, world's best-performing retail store is in India

The allure of India’s consumer stocks is getting stronger. Jefferies India Pvt. joins a growing chorus of bulls on the producers of staples and branded goods. Its picks in the sector include V-Mart Retail Ltd., whose stock-market performance has made the company the world’s best-performing department stores chain this year, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. READ MORE

12:25 PM

MUST READ Investors can earn risk-free income of 6-8% annually by lending stocks

For many years, long-term investors had the option to lend their shares and earn risk-free additional income by way of interest. But due to lack of awareness and demand from borrowers, the securities lending and borrowing mechanism (SLBM) never saw any meaningful volumes.

 

This is expected to change soon. On Wednesday, Securities and Exchange Board of India’s (Sebi) said that physical settlement of stock derivatives will be made mandatory in a phased manner CLICK HERE FOR MORE

12:22 PM

Equirus Securities on Eicher Motors

Our recent meeting with the Eicher Motors (EIM) management suggests that Royal Enfield (RE) is seeing good traction in its newly-launched Thunderbird X – a fact also corroborated by our channel checks. With gun metal grey variant of Classic 350, stealth black of Classic 500 and now the Thunderbird X series, RE aspires for higher value growth as these variants are priced 5-6% higher than older variants.

Spare parts and gears would be the company’s other growth drivers, given the high vehicle sales over last three years. We expect a 15% volume CAGR over FY18-FY20E and retain our ADD rating on the stock. We also roll over to a Jun’19 target price of Rs 32,153 (from a Mar’19 target price of Rs 30,803), ascribing 31x Jun’19 EPS to the standalone operations and 12x EBITDA to the VECV business.

12:16 PM

FUND PICK L&T Emerging Businesses Fund: Right calls deliver superior returns

 

Launched in May 2014, L&T Emerging Businesses Fund is classified under the small and mid-cap equity funds of CRISIL Mutual Fund Ranking. It featured in the top 30 percentile (CRISIL Fund Rank 1 or 2) in the category for three consecutive quarters ended December 2017. S N Lahiri has been managing the equity component of the portfolio since the fund's inception and Karan Desai foreign security investments since February 2017. The quarterly average assets under management of the fund stood at Rs 26.51 billion for December 2017 quarter. READ MORE

12:00 PM

Markets at Noon

 

S&P BSE Sensex	34,281.43		0.53%
Nifty 50	10,508.05		0.47%
S&P BSE 200	4,619.88		0.59%
Nifty 500	9,295.25		0.52%
S&P BSE Mid-Cap	16,731.52		0.79%
S&P BSE Small-Cap	18,065.83		0.73%

11:53 AM

Tighter aluminium supplies to drive Hindalco, Vedanta's earnings

Rusal accounts for close to six per cent of global aluminium supplies and 13-14 per cent of overall supplies if China is excluded. Analysts at Kotak Institutional Equities say that sanctions against the company can have an adverse impact on the global aluminium supply chain, and hence they expect strong improvement in outlook in next two years.
 

Aluminium prices on the London Metal Exchange (LME) are up sharply by 14.5 per cent in less than a week, on supply disruption concerns. The per-tonne price had plummeted to $1,966 last Friday; it surprised the market by rebounding to $2,251 on Wednesday. READ MORE

11:40 AM

Volume Toppers

COMPANY NAME	LATEST	HIGH	LOW	CHG ( )	CHG(%)	VALUE (  CR)	VOLUME
IDBI BANK	72.05	72.50	71.10	0.70	0.98	14.72	2042822
REL. COMM.	22.65	22.75	22.20	0.40	1.80	3.40	1499417
JP ASSOCIATES	20.55	20.70	20.40	0.20	0.98	2.60	1263636
GMR INFRA.	20.15	20.35	19.70	0.40	2.03	2.14	1063329
DISH TV	79.60	81.70	79.20	-0.20	-0.25	5.74	721645

11:31 AM

HCL Technologies falls on profit booking after Actian Corporation deal

 

HCL Technologies was down 2% to Rs 990, falling 3% from its early morning high after the company and Sumeru Equity Partners (SEP) signed a definitive agreement to acquire US company Actian Corporation in an all-cash deal, valued at $330 million (Rs 21.55 billion).

 

HCL will own 80% stake in the joint venture that has been formed, with SEP holding 19.5% and Rohit De Souza (Actian Corporation CEO) owning 0.5%, HCL said in a regulatory filing on Thursday after market hours. READ MORE