Indices snap 6-session losing streak, Sensex rises 318 points; banks lead

All that happened in the market today

4:05 PM

MARKET COMMENT Mustafa Nadeem, CEO, Epic Research 

Nifty has its important support of 200 - day simple moving average (SMA) at 10140, which provided a short-term relief to market to bounce back and see some short covering. Though this may be validated in next few days if the market also sustains the 200-day SMA. On the upside, we expect this short-term rally to continue till 10300 - 10350 on the Nifty, where it may face selling pressure again

3:44 PM

BSE Smallcap: Bhushan Steel, Mangalam Drugs & Organics top gainers of the day, Dalmia Sugars top loser

3:41 PM

BSE Midcap: Vakrangee, Reliance Infra top gainers of the day, IDBI top loser

3:39 PM

Nifty PSU Bank index ends 2.8% higher

3:37 PM

Sectoral Trend

3:35 PM

BSE Sensex gainers and losers

3:33 PM

Market at close

 

The S&P BSE Sensex ended at 33,352, up 318 points while the broader Nifty50 index settled at 10,243, up 88 points.

3:17 PM

Centrum on Praj Industries

Given the 9MFY18 financial performance (revenue up ~5% and net profit down 41%), we anticipate FY18E numbers to be weak. On the back of mature valuations and slow ordering activity impacting the company’s growth, we maintain our Neutral rating. We would continue to monitor Praj for any improvement in order book leading to better future growth visibility.

3:16 PM

BEML falls 18% in three days after clarification on stake sale report

 

BEML hit a 52-week low of Rs 1,112, down 7% on the BSE in intra-day trade, extending its past two days decline, after the company said it is not aware of government in principle approval to sell 26% stake in the company.

 

In past three trading sessions, the stock dipped 18% from Rs 1,362 on Monday, as compared to unchanged in the S&P BSE Sensex. READ MORE

3:09 PM

Who gains most from govt's spectrum cap decision?

 

The Narendra Modi-led central government on Wednesday decided to relax the cap on the amount of spectrum individual telecom service providers can hold and extended the payments tenure. The move will help ease the telecom sectors cash flow woes and aid the process of ongoing consolidation efforts.

 

Amid the pricing war in the sector, driven mainly by Reliance Jio’s disruptive run so far, the telecom market has shrunk from 15 players in 2011-12 to just four now – Telenor and Tata Teleservices have merged with Bharti Airtel, Reliance Communications is selling its assets to Reliance Jio, and Idea and Vodafone merging to unite forces. READ MORE

3:05 PM

Nomura on Bharti Airtel

In the backdrop of an 11-15% ARPU cut in bestselling bucket tariff plans in January, the regulator’s ruling on predatory tariffs, and the 10% revenue market share of exiting operators still up for grabs, we think that the risk of further tariff cuts over the next few quarters has increased, implying a weaker near-term earnings outlook for Bharti. 

At 7.4x FY20F EV/EBITDA, the stock is not cheap vs its regional peers. That said, it does not appear to be an outlier, especially in the context of the sector’s improved earnings growth outlook and industry structure from FY20F onwards. Our revised 12-month rounded target price for Bharti of Rs 505 is the sum of the attributable share of our fair value for Bharti Infratel (Rs 82), attributable DCF value of the DTH biz (Rs 31) and DCF value of the remaining businesses (Rs 393)

3:03 PM

Where are India's rich investing? Stocks beat gold and property too

 

Wealthy Indians are buying stocks hand over fist, eclipsing the strong appetite for equities seen across the world, according to a Knight Frank study.

 

Some 95 per cent of India’s population with net assets of $50 million or more lifted their holdings in the 12 months through October, compared with the 62 per cent global average, the analysis showed. At the same time, they shunned historically favoured assets from property to gold, which ranked among the investments seeing the smallest allocation increase for India’s rich. READ MORE

2:39 PM

Gold falls Rs 220 on weak global cues, low demand

Gold prices went down by Rs 220 to Rs 31,450 per 10 grams at the bullion market today backed by a weak trend overseas amid easing demand from local jewellers at prevailing levels. READ MORE
 

2:25 PM

Brighter year ahead: analysts expect 14-21% rise in paint stocks

Share prices of most paint companies have lagged the S&P BSE Sensex in the last six months on worries over rising prices of key inputs and expectations of muted volumes, also partly reflecting in the October-December 2017 (Q3) performance. However, things are changing for the better.

 

Higher prices of titanium-dioxide, mainly due to a supply disruption in China, and crude-based derivatives — key raw materials used by paint companies — weighed on their gross profit margins in Q3. READ MORE

2:19 PM

Market Check

 

S&P BSE Sensex	33,235.88		0.61%
Nifty 50	10,195.70		0.41%
S&P BSE 200	4,452.12		0.37%
Nifty 500	8,954.40		0.20%
S&P BSE Mid-Cap	15,955.94		0.01%
S&P BSE Small-Cap	17,262.06		-0.05%

2:10 PM

ETF assets surge four-fold in 2 years on steady inflow from EPFO

The assets of exchange-traded funds (ETFs) have quadrupled in the past two years, on the back of steady inflow from the Employees Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO). ETFs are traded on stock exchanges, with stocks, bonds or commodities as the underlying product. An ETF's portfolio exactly mimics the securities in its underlying index, in the same weightage. READ MORE

1:53 PM

Sebi re-constitutes panel on corporate bond market to be headed by H R Khan

Markets regulator Sebi has re- constituted its committee that suggests roadmap for developing corporate bond market in the country.
 

The 27-member committee would now be chaired by Harun R Khan, former Deputy Governor at the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), as per the latest update with Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi). READ MORE

1:41 PM

Sugar stocks extend fall on concerns of record output

Shares of sugar companies continue to trade lower for the fifth straight session, falling by up to 30%, on concerns of higher production which may pull down the prices of raw sugar.
 

Balrampur Chini Mills, Avadh Sugar & Energy and Dalmia Bharat Sugar and Industries were down 10% on the BSE. These stocks tanked in the range of 28% to 30% in past five trading sessions. Besides these three, as many as 20 sugar stocks were trading at their multi-months lows. READ MORE

1:24 PM

IPO WATCH: Bandhan Bank (Image source: Axis Capital report)

1:21 PM

Kotak Securities on IT sector

That CY2018 will be better than CY2017 is generally accepted and shows up in IT sector re-rating. The magnitude of acceleration will determine stock returns from here; 2-3% higher growth in FY2019 is already baked into the stock prices. Path to higher acceleration of 4-5% can lead to further upsides; however, visibility on the same is not clear. It is easier to predict the direction of growth than the magnitude of acceleration in our view. We prefer Infosys and Tech Mahindra as expectations embedded in the current valuations are low

1:14 PM

NEWS IMPACT Bhushan Steel surges 11% as Tata Steel emerges as the top bidder for debt-laden company

Bhushan Steel was trading over 11% higher on BSE after Tata Steel, one of the largest steel producers in the country, received formal communication from Resolution Professional of Bhushan Steel identifying it as the highest evaluated compliant resolution applicant to acquire the controlling stake in the latter. READ MORE

Bhushan Steel stock quote:
 

1:00 PM

Market Check

 

S&P BSE Sensex	33,252.25		0.66%
Nifty 50	10,218.20		0.63%
S&P BSE 200	4,458.04		0.50%
Nifty 500	8,977.25		0.45%
S&P BSE Mid-Cap	15,998.20		0.27%
S&P BSE Small-Cap	17,299.02		0.17%

12:47 PM

Nifty PSU Bank index rises over 1.5%

12:40 PM

Ashok Leyland, extends gains, hits new high

Ashok Leyland (ALL) hit a new high of Rs 145, up 2.5%, extending its previous day’s 1% gain on the BSE in otherwise subdued market. Hinduja Group flagship ALL has outperformed the market by gaining 8% in past one month, as compared to 3.6% decline in the S&P BSE Sensex. READ MORE

12:30 PM

Insolvency row: Liberty House highest preferred bidder for Amtek Auto India

Liberty House, part of Sanjeev Gupta's global industrial group GFG Alliance, has been chosen as highest preferred bidder for Amtek Auto's assets, which include 35 automotive component plants across India, Japan, Thailand and Spain, employing 6,000 people. READ MORE

12:14 PM

After Facebook ad ban, Twitter moves to prevent crypto scams on platform

Twitter is taking measures to prevent cryptocurrency-related accounts from running scams on its platform, the company said on Wednesday.

The measures come amid a boom in the price of bitcoin, the world's best known cryptocurrency. Bitcoin rose some 1,400 percent last year, but has fallen nearly 30 percent in 2018. READ MORE

12:01 PM

Bandhan Bank to go public, launch record $689 million IPO next week

India’s Bandhan Bank Ltd will launch an up to Rs 44.73 billion ($688.6 million) initial public offering of shares on March 15, in what will be the biggest ever initial share sale by a local bank. READ MORE

11:50 AM

Market Check

 

S&P BSE Sensex	33,168.42		0.41%
Nifty 50	10,184.00		0.29%
S&P BSE 200	4,449.23		0.30%
Nifty 500	8,956.70		0.22%
S&P BSE Mid-Cap	15,969.80		0.10%
S&P BSE Small-Cap	17,233.70		-0.21%

11:38 AM

Are the markets gradually heading towards a bear phase?

 

It has been a rollercoaster ride for the markets thus far in calendar year 2018 (CY18). Amid intermittent bouts of recovery marked with volatility, the S&P BSE Sensex at 33,129 levels has corrected around 9 per cent from its record high level of 36,444 touched on January 29, 2018 in intra-day deals.

 

The fall in the mid-and small-cap segments has been sharper with the S&P BSE Midcap and the S&P BSE Small-cap indices slipping 13 per cent and 14 per cent, respectively, from their peak levels hit in early CY18.

 

So, are we gradually heading towards a bear phase? Typically, markets are said to be in a bear grip when the indices fall 20 per cent or more from their peak levels. And, we have already covered half this distance. READ MORE

Photo: Shutterstock.com

11:32 AM

Lupin, RBL Bank, Tata Motors among 49 stocks from BSE500 that hit 52-wk low

Lupin, RBL Bank, Tata Motors, Kajaria Ceramics, Bosch, GlaxoSmithKline Pharmaceuticals, Adani Power, Rural Electrification Corporation (REC), Siemens, Power Finance Corporation (PFC) and Suzlon Energy were among 49 stocks from the S&P BSE500 index that hit their respective 52-week lows on the BSE in intra-day trade on Thursday. READ MORE