MARKETS ON MONDAY: Sensex, Nifty end flat ahead of Karnataka poll outcome

The markets ended flat ahead of Karnataka election outcome

3:51 PM

Market rundown by Vinod Nair, Head of Research, Geojit Financial Services

 

"Market traded range bound as all eyes turned cautious ahead of tomorrow’s Karnataka state election verdict and CPI inflation data later in the day. WPI inflation accelerated to 3.18% in April due to surge in fuel and food prices which may have a negative impact on CPI inflation and is expected to surge to 4.41% vs 4.28% in March. Consequently, rupee & bond yield will continue to witness volatility."

3:38 PM

Nifty Auto index falls nearly 1%: top losers in the pack

COMPANY	LATEST	PREV CLOSE	LOSS( )	LOSS(%)	VOLUME
ASHOK LEYLAND	154.80	161.85	-7.05	-4.36	18527007
BOSCH	18140.00	18658.00	-518.00	-2.78	21320
TATA MOTORS	323.40	330.80	-7.40	-2.24	8022061
TATA MOTORS-DVR	191.05	195.30	-4.25	-2.18	2044881
M & M	850.85	869.10	-18.25	-2.10	1448106

3:36 PM

Sectoral Trend

3:35 PM

Top Sensex gainers and losers

3:33 PM

Markets at Close

The S&P BSE Sensex settled at 35,557 up 21 points while the braoder Nifty50 index ended at 10,806, up 0 points

3:15 PM

BUZZING STOCK

HDFC Standard Life Insurance Company hit a new high of Rs 547, up 5% on the BSE in intra-day trade on Monday, in otherwise subdued market.

 

Since April 18, post January-March quarter (Q4FY18) results, the stock of insurance company outperformed the market by surging 11% against 3.3% rise in the S&P BSE Sensex. The stock zoomed 89% against its issue price of Rs 290 per share. READ MORE

3:08 PM

Edelweiss Financial nears record high; stock up 15% in one month

 

Edelweiss Financial Services rallied 6% to Rs 305, trading close to its all-time high of Rs 309 recorded on November 3, 2017 on the BSE, in otherwise range-bound market on Monday.

 

In past one month, the stock has outperformed the market by gaining 15% as compared to 4% rise in the S&P BSE Sensex. Since May 3, 2018, post March quarter (Q4FY18) results, the stock rallied 7% against 1% rise in the benchmark index. READ MORE

2:52 PM

Mid, Small-cap stocks under pressure; 68 scrips hit 52-week low

 

Shares of mid and small-cap companies were under pressure with 68 stocks from these indices hitting their respective 52-week lows on the BSE in intra-day trade on Monday.

 

Sugar stocks like Bajaj Hindustan, Dalmia Bharat, DCM Shriram Industries, Dhampur Sugar, Dwarikesh Sugar, KCP Sugars and Mawana Sugars hit 52-week lows due to falling sugar prices. READ MORE

2:38 PM

HUL Q4FY18 results preview: Rise in rural demand to aid performance

Hindustan Unilever (HUL) is likely to announce its fourth quarter results later in the day today. According to analysts, HUL will gain from: 1) expected pick‐up in rural demand; 2) lower goods and service tax (GST) rates on more than two-third of its portfolio; and 3) benefits from sustained cost‐savings programs READ MORE

2:37 PM

PSBs' bad loans hit Rs 6.89 trn, or the cost of electrifying half of India!

Indian public sector banks’ (PSB) bad loans soared 1.5 times, from Rs 2.67 lakh crore ($39.99 billion) on March 31, 2015, to Rs 6.89 lakh crore ($103.21 billion)–an amount that could electrify half of India’s households–on June 30, 2017, according to this reply to the Lok Sabha (lower house of parliament) by Shiv Pratap Shukla, minister of state for finance, on April 6, 2018 READ MORE

2:16 PM

EARNINGS IMPACT

 

Parag Milk Foods hit a 52-week high of Rs 327, up 7% on the BSE in intra-day trade, after the company reported 18% year-on-year (YoY) growth in its consolidated net profit at Rs 262 million in March quarter (Q4FY18), on the back of healthy growth in operational revenue.

 

The company is a manufacturer and marketer of diary-based branded products in India, and had reported a profit of Rs 221 million in the same quarter year ago. READ MORE

2:01 PM

Market Check

S&P BSE Sensex	35,498.33		-0.11%
Nifty 50	10,783.65		-0.21%
S&P BSE 200	4,682.97		-0.29%
Nifty 500	9,380.40		-0.38%
S&P BSE Mid-Cap	16,225.62		-0.72%
S&P BSE Small-Cap	17,682.03		-0.76%

1:45 PM

ELECTIONS & MARKETS Markets are not factoring in Karnataka poll outcome yet, say analysts

 

Markets have not yet priced in the possibility of a loss for the Narendra Modi-led Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the upcoming assembly election in Karnataka. Though analysts expect a knee-jerk reaction to the outcome on May 15, they believe the markets will start focussing on other global and domestic events soon after.

 

Nilesh Shah, managing director at Kotak Mahindra Mutual Fund believes the S&P BSE Sensex could dip sharply if the BJP loses Karnataka. He, however, expects the recovery to be equally swift. A win, on the other hand, could take markets higher.

Photo: Shutterstock.com

1:32 PM

RBI's cash infusion not enough to cheer market, arrest Rupee's slide

 

Bond investors are finding out that the Reserve Bank of India isn’t as generous as they thought.

 

Sovereign debt declined for a third day Friday, wiping out gains fueled by the RBI’s May 4 decision to inject cash by buying bonds. The measure has failed to revive demand for debt as it simply restores the cash drained by the authority to prop up a sliding rupee, traders say. READ MORE

1:16 PM

Top BSE500 gainers

COMPANY	PRICE( )	CHG( )	CHG(%)	VOLUME
SUN TV NETWORK	964.55	99.90	11.55	467414
PARAG MILK FOODS	342.55	35.20	11.45	588950
PHOENIX MILLS	649.75	38.80	6.35	8660
SOUTH IND.BANK	27.00	1.45	5.68	1759875
SHARDA CROPCHEM	448.20	21.65	5.08	24986

1:00 PM

Declining sale of key drug weighs on Sun Pharma, stock down 7% in 2 days

 

The Sun Pharma stock has shed seven per cent over the past two trading sessions, as the declining sales trend for a key specialty product, coupled with worries over continued price erosion, weighs on the drug major’s revenues and earnings. Given that specialty products are expected to be the mainstay of Sun Pharma’s revenue growth amid rising pressures in the generic business, hurdles for its specialty pipeline would have an impact on earnings.

 

One such specialty product whose revenues are under pressure is acne drug Absorica. Kartik Mehta of Deutsche Bank says that revenues from the drug declined 26 per cent on a sequential basis to $89 million in the March quarter. Absorica is a key product for Sun Pharma, with sales of about $200 million in FY18. READ MORE

12:48 PM

Morgan Stanley on global growth

We expect global growth to stay strong at an above-trend pace over the forecast horizon, averaging 3.9%Y in 2018 and 3.8%Y in 2019. The cycle is being sustained by strong investment and improving productivity growth. Moreover, there are limited signs of misallocation across DM and EM (except in some segments of the US private corporate sector).

While inflation is set to rise in both developed markets (DM) and emerging markets (EM), it is projected to stay around central banks’ targets. In DM, we expect core inflation to rise, driven by a further tightening of labour markets and rise in capacity utilisation. However, more moderate wage growth than at this stage in past cycles and structural factors such as technology diffusion and globalisation should continue to keep upward pressures in check.

(Source: Morgan Stanley report)

12:47 PM

Equity mutual funds garner Rs 124 bn in April; drive AUM to record Rs 8 trn

 

Investors have pumped in a staggering over Rs 124 billion in equity mutual funds in April, driving the assets under management to a record Rs 8 trillion. This is much higher than over Rs 66.5 billion inflow seen in such schemes in March, according to the data from the Association of Mutual Funds in India (Amfi).

The strong inflow has pushed the asset base of equity mutual funds (MFs) by more than 6 per cent to Rs 8 trillion at the end of April from Rs 7.5 trillion in the preceding month.READ MORE

12:40 PM

SPECIAL REPORT RBI's cash infusion not enough to cheer market, arrest Rupee's slide

India’s rupee has declined 3.2 per cent against the dollar this quarter, the most in Asia, as foreigners turned net sellers of local debt and stocks. The weaker currency is adding to inflation risks at a time when prices of oil -- the nation’s biggest import -- have risen to levels last seen when Prime Minister Narendra Modi took power four years ago READ MORE

12:30 PM

Pledged holdings for BSE 500 stocks decline in the March 2018 quarter

 

Pledged holdings for BSE 500 stocks declined in the March 2018 quarter compared to the preceding quarter. The percentage of pledged promoter holdings reduced to 7.4 per cent from 7.8 per cent in December 2017, according to Kotak Institutional Equities.

 

The value of pledged holding stood at Rs 1.8 trillion, 1.43 per cent of the market capitalisation of BSE 500 stocks. A total of 128 companies of the 500 companies had at least some of their holdings pledged at the end of March quarter. READ MORE

12:15 PM

Elara Capital on Apollo Tyres

We are impressed with Apollo’s standalone & Europe’s volume growth, led by OEM growth and strong brand in TBR replacement. Natural rubber prices are expected to remain benign in the medium term, while cost pressures due to crude are expected to be passed on owing to strong demand. European operations are expected to bounce back in FY19 and FY20E as utilization improves.

We increase our FY19-20E consol PAT by 5-9% to factor in higher volumes in standalone segment.  We re-iterate Buy with a revised target price of Rs 336 based on 14x (unchanged) FY20E EPS

12:11 PM

TOP LOSERS IN TODAY'S TRADE

COMPANY	LATEST	PREV CLOSE	LOSS( )	LOSS(%)	VOLUME
RELIANCE NAV.ENG	14.50	16.75	-2.25	-13.43	1849518
PTC INDIA FIN	21.85	25.15	-3.30	-13.12	845648
TATA GLOBAL	257.75	287.30	-29.55	-10.29	900192
PC JEWELLER	181.15	201.15	-20.00	-9.94	4236557
EROS INTL.MEDIA	137.35	148.05	-10.70	-7.23	64559

12:00 PM

Markets at noon

S&P BSE Sensex	35,537.42		0.00%
Nifty 50	10,810.30		0.04%
S&P BSE 200	4,691.26		-0.12%
Nifty 500	9,403.55		-0.14%
S&P BSE Mid-Cap	16,256.92		-0.53%
S&P BSE Small-Cap	17,745.01		-0.41%

11:56 AM

INTERVIEW Congress win in Karnataka may test 10,000 on Nifty, says Jigar Shah of Maybank Kim Eng Securities

With less than a week to go for the Karnataka assembly polls, Jigar Shah, chief executive officer, Maybank Kim Eng Securities, tells Puneet Wadhwa that the markets have not factored in the possibility of a loss for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) yet. He says, the March results season is on the expected lines so far

READ THE FULL TEXT HERE

Jigar Shah

11:52 AM

MUST READ Markets are not factoring in Karnataka poll outcome yet, say analysts

Markets have not yet priced in the possibility of a loss for the Narendra Modi-led Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the upcoming assembly election in Karnataka. Though analysts expect a knee-jerk reaction to the outcome on May 15, they believe the markets will start focussing on other global and domestic events soon after READ MORE

11:45 AM

Mphasis rebounds 5% from day's low post block deals

Shares of Mphasis were trading 2.2% higher at Rs 1,010 per share, bouncing back 5% from early morning low of Rs 960 touched on the National Stock Exchange (NSE) after nearly 8% of total equity of information technology (IT) company changed hands on the counter through block deals. READ MORE
 

11:38 AM

Prabhudas Lilladher on Mahindra & Mahindra Financial Services

 

Key takeaways from our interaction with the management were: (i) Growth has been improving from return in infra activity and cash flow in many troubled pockets as well from penetration in new areas (ii) two years into vertical led business model has turned out to be sucessful improving reach & with targeted collections ability and (iii) internal programs for customers coupled with reach has helped strong relationships with OEM & dealerships helping retain market shares.

 

We believe, rural recovery should agur well for growth and recovery from NPAs can bring tailwind to earnings helping deliver ROA of 2.6 ‐ 2.8 per cent by FY20. We retain Accumulate with revised target price of Rs 553

11:36 AM

Motilal Oswal on GSK Consumer

We note that the parent is considering the sale of the Horlicks business worldwide, which indicates the lack of confidence on the India business (accounts for majority of Horlicks’ global sales). We value the core business at 31x and add cash per share, as cash earnings to PBT is over 20%. We maintain Neutral with a target price of Rs 6,255 (on Mar’20E EPS).

11:30 AM

RESULT IMPACT Graphite India gains 5% on seven-fold jump in Q4 net profit

Shares of Graphite India were up 5% at Rs 766 per share on the BSE in early morning trade after the company reported seven-fold jump in its net profit at Rs 4.54 billion in March quarter (Q4FY18) driven by improved realization and higher capacity utilization. It had profit of Rs 620 million in the same period last year. READ MORE

11:15 AM

HUL Q4FY18 results preview: Pick‐up in rural demand to aid performance

Hindustan Unilever (HUL) is likely to announce its fourth quarter results later in the day today. According to analysts, HUL will gain from: 1) expected pick‐up in rural demand; 2) lower goods and service tax (GST) rates on more than two-third of its portfolio; and 3) benefits from sustained cost‐savings programs.

 

In the previous quarter (Q3FY18), the company, reported 28% year-on-year (YoY) rise in net profit at Rs 13.26 billion. The FMCG major had reported a net profit of Rs 10.38 billion in the corresponding quarter last year. READ MORE

HUL