MARKET WRAP: Indices end flat ahead of no-confidence motion; IT stocks slip

Benchmark indices ended flat on Thursday, a day ahead of a no-confidence motion against the government.

3:41 PM

Nifty Pharma index ends 1.53% lower. Top losers:

COMPANY	LATEST	PREV CLOSE	LOSS( )	LOSS(%)
CADILA HEALTH.	344.30	354.25	-9.95	-2.81
CIPLA	610.45	627.40	-16.95	-2.70
BIOCON	572.30	584.80	-12.50	-2.14
DR REDDY'S LABS	2027.00	2065.65	-38.65	-1.87
LUPIN	797.90	811.00	-13.10	-1.62

3:39 PM

Nifty sectoral losers of the day

3:36 PM

BSE Sensex: Vedanta, Yes Bank, RIL among top gainers of the day

3:32 PM

Market at close

 

The S&P BSE Sensex ended at 36,351, down 22 points while the broader Nifty50 index settled at 10,957, down 23 points.

3:26 PM

RIL hits new high

3:22 PM

Hindalco records sharpest intra-day fall in 11 months; stock slips 8%

 

Hindalco Industries hit 52-week low of Rs 195, falling 8% in intra-day deal, its sharpest intra-day decline in past 11 months after the media report suggested that the company is likely to acquire Aleris for $ 2.5 billion.

 

Earlier on August 11, 2017, the stock of metal company slipped 8.2% during intra-day trade. The company and its Canadian arm, Novelis, is in process of raising debt for the said deal, the CNBC-TV18 reported quoting sources. READ MORE

3:15 PM

PC Jeweller tanks 43% in one week on withdrawal of buyback offer

 

Shares of PC Jeweller hit nearly four-year low of Rs 68 per share, falling 13% on the BSE in intra-day trade. In past one week, the stock tanked 43% from Rs 122 on July 12, as the company announced the withdrawal of proposed buyback offer due to the non-receipt of the NOC from the its bankers. The stock was trading at its lowest level since August 18, 2014.

 

The stock plunged 89% from its 52-week high level of Rs 457 recorded on January 16, 2018 in intra-day trade. Investors have seen their market cap erosion of Rs 204 billion to Rs 27.73 billion during the period. READ MORE

3:00 PM

UK watchdog tells banks to prepare for hard Brexit

 

Britain's banks and insurers must plan for a "hard" Brexit in case a transition period is not in place next March, a senior British regulator said on Thursday.

 

"With eight months until we exit the European Union in March 2019, it is important we all -- regulators and industry -- continue to plan for a range of scenarios," said Nausicaa Delfas, head of international strategy at the Financial Conduct Authority. READ MORE

2:45 PM

India a 'good place to hide' from trade war for this $10 billion fund

 

Ashburton Investments Ltd., which oversees $10 billion in global assets, is steadily acquiring stocks in medium-sized Indian companies that have been overlooked as investors targeted better-known companies.

 

India is a “good place to hide” as it’s not at “the heart of” the global trade-war volatility and exposed to the strengthening dollar, Jonathan Schiessl, the fund’s investment director, said in an interview. The country is relatively safer with “beta at multi-year lows,” and is still an outperformer among emerging markets with relatively better international flows, he said. READ MORE

2:31 PM

Prakash Ind down 5% on report of ED filing chargesheet in coal scam cases

 

Prakash Industries has locked in lower circuit of 5% at Rs 125 on the BSE with only sellers were seen on the counter after the media report suggested that Enforcement Directorate (ED) filed charge sheet in seven coal scam cases.

 

“We categorically state that we are unaware of any charge sheet having seen filed by the Enforcement Directorate as described in the news item published in the Economic Times referred to by you. That being so, the question of disseminating any information to the exchange does not arise,” Prakash Industries said on clarification on news report to BSE. READ MORE

2:16 PM

LIC-IDBI Bank deal: Large exposure to PSUs hurts insurer returns

 

Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) has bailed out several public sector companies — the acquisition of a majority stake in loss-making IDBI Bank being the latest — but these investments have resulted in the underperformance of the insurer’s equity portfolio.

 

The country’s largest insurer, which has large shareholdings in public sector undertakings (PSUs) and public sector banks (PSBs), has not been able to beat the benchmark BSE Sensex index. READ MORE

2:00 PM

Market Check

INDEX	LATEST	PREVIOUS	CHANGE	CHANGE(%)
	36294.35	36373.44	-79.09	-0.22
	14647.56	14705.78	-58.22	-0.40
	15101.44	15181.35	-79.91	-0.53
	15668.52	15814.66	-146.14	-0.92
	4229.84	4242.66	-12.82	-0.30

1:45 PM

Oil prices fall amid record US output, stockpile build

 

Oil prices dropped on Thursday after official data showed an unexpected rise in US crude stockpiles and as US output scaled record levels. Brent crude futures had fallen 21 cents, or 0.3 percent, to $72.69 a barrel. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures declined 7 cents, or 0.1 per cent, to $68.69.

1:34 PM

Top BSE500 losers

COMPANY	PRICE( )	CHG( )	CHG(%)	VOLUME
MINDTREE	953.45	-109.10	-10.27	392738
PC JEWELLER	71.20	-6.80	-8.72	3372088
8K MILES	347.15	-26.25	-7.03	87445
IFB INDS.	960.85	-65.70	-6.40	3743
L & T INFOTECH	1743.20	-111.00	-5.99	41018

1:16 PM

Bajaj Finance slips 5% on profit booking post Q1 results

 

Bajaj Finance dipped 5% to Rs 2,378 on the BSE in noon deal trade on profit booking after the company reported a consolidated net profit of Rs 8.36 billion for the quarter ended June 2018 (Q1FY19). It had a profit of Rs 4.61 billion in the same quarter year ago.

 

Net interest income (NII) during the quarter review increased 46% at Rs 25.78 billion against Rs 17.61 billion over the previous year quarter. READ MORE

1:00 PM

HDFC Mutual Fund's market debut to bring a windfall for key employees

 

The debut on the bourses of HDFC Mutual Fund, the country’s second-largest asset management company (AMC), will be a windfall for employees. Two of them are chief executive officer Milind Barve and fund manager Prashant Jain.

 

The value of employee stock option plans (ESOPs) held by eight key staffers would amount to Rs 4.32 billion at the upper end of the price band of Rs 1,100. These employees together hold nearly four million shares. READ MORE

12:52 PM

RESULT HIGHLIGHTS RBL Bank

·         Q1 FY19 Net Profit up by 35% to Rs. 190.04 crore 

 

·         Advances (Net) at Rs. 42,198.09 and Deposits at Rs. 44,949.59 up by 36% and 27% on Year on Year (YoY) basis 

 

·         Net Interest Income (NII) up by 46% to Rs. 552.70 crore 

 

·         Other Income up by 27% to Rs. 325.97 crore 

 

·         Core fee income up 58% to Rs. 288.96 crore 

 

·         NIM improves to 4.04 % up from 3.54% in Q1 FY18. Cost to income ratio is at 50.80% 

 

·         Gross NPA ratio at 1.40% (1.46% in Q1 FY18); Net NPA ratio at 0.75% (0.81% in Q1 FY18); Provision coverage ratio increases to 60.41% 

 

·         Return on Assets at 1.26% up from 1.19% in Q1 FY18 

(Source: Company release)

12:45 PM

Mid-cap IT stocks down

 

Shares of MindTree, Larsen & Toubro Infotech and Hexaware Technologies fell between 4.3% and 11.5%. MindTree’s stock posted biggest daily percentage loss since Nov 9, 2016

12:30 PM

India to grow at 7.3% this fiscal, is fastest growing economy in Asia: ADB

 

Led by India, South Asia will continue to be the fastest growing economic area despite new trade tensions in Asia and Pacific region, Asian Development Bank (ADB) said in a new report today.

 

Growth in Asia and the Pacific's developing economies for 2018 and 2019 will remain solid as it continues apace across the region, despite rising tensions between the US and its trading partners, said a supplement to the Asian Development Outlook (ADO). READ MORE

12:15 PM

WEB EXCLUSIVE Q1 earnings preview: Banking sector will take some more time to revive

 

After a tough FY18, the beginning of the financial year 2018-19 (FY19) was expected to be a better one for the banking industry. However, with the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) starting to tighten policy rates, the sector might take some more time to revive.

 

The credit growth, according to the RBI, has improved for the system at 12.3 per cent for the first two months of FY19 compared to 9.8 per cent growth seen in Q4FY18. While the system-wide growth has picked up, a number of PSU banks have had constraints in lending. The space vacated by state-owned banks is likely to be filled by private banks. Hence, growth for this quarter will also be driven by private lenders. READ MORE

12:02 PM

Markets at Noon

 

S&P BSE Sensex	36,436.87		0.17%
Nifty 50	10,980.90		0.00%
S&P BSE 200	4,679.04		-0.01%
Nifty 500	9,259.15		-0.11%
S&P BSE Mid-Cap	15,145.63		-0.24%
S&P BSE Small-Cap	15,718.45		-0.61%

11:46 AM

Hinduja Leyland Finance's proposed IPO expected raise Rs 10-15 billion

The proposed IPO of Hinduja Leyland Finance, a non-banking finance company, is expected to raise around Rs 10-15 billion. The company plans to go public this year, said senior officials from Ashok Leyland, which owns a major chunk of Hinduja Leyland Finance. READ MORE

11:29 AM

MindTree slips 9% on profit booking after Q1 results

Shares of MindTree have slipped by 9% to Rs 971 on the BSE in intra-day trade on Thursday after the management said that expected revenue growth rate in September quarter (Q2FY19) to be less than that of June quarter (Q1) on reported basis; however, margins are expected to be better in constant currency (CC). Mid-sized IT firm MindTree posted a 30% rise in consolidated net profit at Rs 1.58 billion for Q1FY19. It had profit of Rs 1.22 billion in the year-ago quarter. READ MORE

11:15 AM

Cost pressures weigh on UltraTech Cement in Q1; net profit down 33%

As expected, the impact of cost was evident on UltraTech’s performance in the India business for the quarter ended June (Q1). While volumes grew on almost expected lines by 34 per cent year-on-year to 16.8 million tonnes (mt), leading to 30 per cent growth in revenue, operating performance was a bit disappointing. READ MORE

10:59 AM

Bandhan's operating metrics justify valuation; Q1 net profit up 48%

The Bandhan Bank's stock hit a new high of Rs 607.5 on the BSE after the bank reported strong June quarter results on Wednesday. The stock closed with a gain of 6.8 per cent at Rs 600.1.

 

With this, the bank's current valuation is 5.3 times its FY20 estimated book value, highest in the banking industry. Yet, analysts believe it deserves such valuations. READ MORE

10:58 AM

Nifty Metal index enters bear phase; analysts see more downside

Metal stocks have entered a bear phase (typically described as a fall of 20 per cent or more from peak levels), given the ongoing trade war concerns.

 

The Nifty Metal index hit a 52-week low of 3,116.8 in intra-day deals on Wednesday but recovered marginally to end 3.15 per cent lower at 3,121. On a year-to-date (YTD) basis, the index has already lost 21 per cent, compared to a 4.2 per cent rally in the benchmark Nifty 50 index, data shows. READ MORE

10:45 AM

Nifty Smallcap index hits 52-week low; Jet Airways falls 66% since January

Shares of smallcap companies continued to be under pressure with the Nifty Smallcap 100 index hitting a 52-week low of 6,926.80 on Thursday after a sharp decline in market values of Jet Airways (India), PVR and Manpasand Beverages.
 

The index fallen below its previous low of 6938.50 recorded on August 11, 2017 in intra-day trade on the National Stock Exchange (NSE). READ MORE

10:31 AM

Stay with sector leaders, realign portfolios in favour of large caps

V K Sharma is quite taken aback by the current movement in the stock market. Sharma, who is head, private client group and capital market strategy, HDFC Securities, says that he has never seen the Bombay Stock Exchange Sensitive Index, or Sensex, hitting a lifetime high in one trading session, and the mid-cap and small-cap indices hitting their 52-week lows in the next trading session. “Never has the disparity been so high and so visible,” says Sharma. READ MORE

10:18 AM

Long trading hours fail to enthuse brokers

While the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) has allowed stock exchanges to keep the equity derivatives market open for 15 hours, this might not entirely happen. According to sources, the exchanges might initially opt for a 12-hour trading window, based on the feedback from market participants, particularly brokers.

 

Both the National Stock Exchange (NSE) and BSE plan to give their plan on extension of trading hours in the next few weeks. Sebi had in May allowed the exchanges to keep the derivatives market open till 11:55 pm. READ MORE

10:01 AM

Market Check

 

S&P BSE Sensex	36,377.37		0.01%
Nifty 50	10,947.80		-0.30%
S&P BSE 200	4,664.69		-0.32%
Nifty 500	9,219.30		-0.54%
S&P BSE Mid-Cap	15,043.62		-0.91%
S&P BSE Small-Cap	15,639.22		-1.11%