MARKET WRAP: Sensex ends 109 pts lower, Nifty at 10,593 ahead of RBI policy

Bharti Airtel and Larsen & Toubro were among the top losers in BSE Sensex today, while Tata Steel was the top gainer, which rose around 1%.

3:46 PM

Nifty IT index slips 1.37%. Top losers:

COMPANY	LATEST	PREV CLOSE	LOSS( )	LOSS(%)
KPIT TECH.	260.35	278.70	-18.35	-6.58
INFIBEAM INCORP.	154.25	162.60	-8.35	-5.14
TATA ELXSI	1161.10	1203.85	-42.75	-3.55
WIPRO	255.25	260.15	-4.90	-1.88
HCL TECHNOLOGIES	885.05	900.70	-15.65	-1.74

3:40 PM

Nifty sectoral losers

3:38 PM

BSE Sensex: Tata Steel ends 1.08% higher, Bharti Airtel falls 2.11%

3:31 PM

Market at close

 

The S&P BSE Sensex ended at 34,903, down 109 points while the broader Nifty50 index settled at 10,593, down 35 points.

3:17 PM

Japan's Sharp to buy Toshiba PC business for $36 million

Japan's Sharp Corp said it will buy Toshiba Corp's personal computer business for 4 billion yen ($36 million), highlighting its recovery under the control of Foxconn and marking a return to a business it quit eight years ago. READ MORE
 

3:00 PM

Nifty Infra index nears 52-week low ahead of RBI monetary policy

Shares of infrastructure companies were under pressure with Nifty Infra index falling nearly 2% on Tuesday, trading close to its 52-week low ahead of the Reserve Bank of India's (RBI) second monetary policy review of 2018-19 on Wednesday, June 6, 2018. READ MORE

 

2:44 PM

RBI POLICY PREVIEW Emerging-market selloff may force RBI to hold interest rates in MPC meet

An emerging-market selloff that’s hit India hard presents its central bank with a choice: hold interest rates steady to keep the economy motoring or follow the example of the Philippines and Indonesia by raising to stem market pressure.

 

The nation’s currency is down about 5 per cent against the dollar this year and yields have spiked on government and corporate bonds. While those moves would argue for a rate increase, most economists aren’t convinced it will come on Wednesday. Of the 35 analysts surveyed by Bloomberg, 25 predict the monetary policy panel will hold the benchmark repurchase rate at 6 per cent READ MORE

2:42 PM

BEML aims to double its defence vertical revenue in FY19

Public sector engineering major, Bharat Earth Movers Limited (BEML) is betting big on the defence vertical with a plan to double its revenues from this segment in the current financial year. The defence segment accounted for around 17 per cent of the company’s overall revenue of Rs 33 billion in the financial year ended March 2018. READ MORE

2:28 PM

Top BSE500 losers

COMPANY	PRICE( )	CHG( )	CHG(%)	VOLUME
KEI INDS.	386.10	-68.35	-15.04	147056
H D I L	21.90	-2.45	-10.06	1618962
AVANTI FEEDS	1356.00	-133.60	-8.97	95505
V-MART RETAIL	2022.80	-187.20	-8.47	3006
IDEA CELLULAR	57.65	-5.10	-8.13	2148727

2:16 PM

Gold slips on sluggish demand, weak global cues

Gold prices softened by Rs 50 to Rs 31,600 per ten gram at the bullion market today on sluggish demand from local jewellers amid weak trend overseas. Traders said tepid demand from local jewellers and retailers at domestic spot market and a weak trend overseas weighed on gold prices. READ MORE

Gold

2:01 PM

Market Check

 

S&P BSE Sensex	34,901.18		-0.32%
Nifty 50	10,587.75		-0.38%
S&P BSE 200	4,571.02		-0.57%
Nifty 500	9,110.30		-0.71%
S&P BSE Mid-Cap	15,545.49		-1.13%
S&P BSE Small-Cap	16,240.62		-2.30%

1:46 PM

IPOs set to pick up after lull, firms line up offers worth Rs 200 billion

The activity in the primary markets is set to pick up after a period of lull. According to bankers, more than half a dozen companies are looking to tap the market with their initial public offerings (IPOs) worth a cumulative Rs 200 billion. READ MORE

 

Representative Image (Photo: Shutterstock)

1:30 PM

Auditor resignations not all that rare; here's all you need to know

 

Resignations of auditors have suddenly come into the limelight, following sharp declines in share prices of the companies involved. However, such occurrences are less rare than one might suppose. The median number of such resignations is 26 in the five years from FY15 to FY19, shows a Business Standard analysis of information from Prime Database.

 

This means over two dozen auditors have resigned every year or two a month since financial year 2014-15. This number only has those cases where a reason for cessation is provided. READ MORE

1:15 PM

Adani Power, HDIL, HUDCO, IDFC Bank hit all-time low

 

Shares of Adani Power, Housing Development and Infrastructure (HDIL), Housing and Urban Development Corporation (HUDCO) and IDFC Bank were among 9 stocks from the S&P BSE 500 index that hit their respective all-time low on the BSE in intra-day trade on Tuesday.

 

Advanced Enzyme Technologies, IL&FS Transportation Networks (ITNL), Inox Wind, Narayana Hrudayalaya and Navkar Corporation, too, touched new lows today after reported a weak set of numbers for the quarter ended March 2018 (Q4FY18). READ MORE

1:02 PM

EMs will face stress but no clear, immediate danger in Asia: Raghuram Rajan

Emerging market economies will face stress as they cope with a stronger dollar and rising interest rates but Asia appears to be insulated, for now, according to Raghuram Rajan, former governor of the Reserve Bank of India. READ MORE

 

12:47 PM

67 stocks from BSE smallcap index fall more than 50% in 2018

Shares of smallcap companies continue to be under pressure with the S&P BSE Smallcap index falling for the sixth straight trading day on the BSE. READ MORE
 

12:31 PM

NEWS IMPACT Shares of sugar companies rise on expectations of fresh bail out package by the Govt
 

Days after the ruling BJP suffered an electoral setback, primarily in the sugarcane-growing belt of western Uttar Pradesh, and with farmers in parts of the country stopping supplies of essential commodities to protect price fall, the Centre is expected to announce a fresh package of almost Rs 80 billion to bail out the sugar sector. This will be in addition to the financial assistance of Rs 5.50 per quintal of sugarcane announced a few weeks ago, costing over Rs 15 billion. READ MORE

Sugar companies rally:

COMPANY	LATEST	PREV CLOSE	GAIN( )	GAIN(%)
RAJSHREE SUGARS	28.85	27.00	1.85	6.85
SAKTHI SUGARS	15.75	15.00	0.75	5.00
INDIAN SUCROSE	16.70	15.95	0.75	4.70
RANA SUGARS	4.39	4.20	0.19	4.52
BAJAJ HINDUSTHAN	7.33	7.07	0.26	3.68

12:15 PM

Reliance Securities on Indian Bank

The bank continues to remain the best-managed PSB on all major fronts. Analysis of its stressed ​a​ssets clearly suggests that it is approaching the end of recognition of stressed loan cycle, which along with higher PCR clearly indicates sharp moderation in credit cost from FY19 onwards. The Bank expects improvement in asset quality led by decline in gross NPA ratio to 6% and net NPA ratio to <3% by FY19-end from current levels of 7.4% and 3.8%, respectively.

 

Further, strong revival in loan growth along with healthy NIMs and other income suggests sustained improvement in operating profit, going forward. The Bank expects its loan book to grow by 20% in FY19E driven by Retail, SME and Agriculture segment. It is capturing market share of PSBs in domestic corporate segments as most of them have been put under the RBI’s PCA due to higher level of bad loans.

 

Hence, we expect healthy traction in earnings to continue owing to robust growth in loan book, moderate credit cost and healthy margins. ​​We maintain our BUY recommendation on the stock with a Target Price of ​​Rs430 based on 1.1x FY20E Adjusted book value.

12:01 PM

Market Check

S&P BSE Sensex	34,987.75		-0.07%
Nifty 50	10,625.15		-0.03%
S&P BSE 200	4,584.08		-0.28%
Nifty 500	9,145.35		-0.33%
S&P BSE Mid-Cap	15,593.16		-0.83%
S&P BSE Small-Cap	16,338.08		-1.72%

11:55 AM

CARE Ratings' expectation from RBI policy

With no additional data point on inflation, inflationary expectations would play an important role. These would only be in the upward direction. Therefore, there would be no rate change this time; The tone would be hawkish and this would likely to be the consensus among the members; There could be an upward revision in inflationary projections for the year; The April policy projected CPI inflation of 4.7-5.1% for H1 and 4.4% in H2. The first half projection is to be revised upwards to 4.9%-5.1% and H2 to 4.6%; GDP growth forecast of 7.4% for FY19 is unlikely to be changed; CRR and SLR not to be changed. Banks have excess SLR of almost 8% presently

11:47 AM

ICICI Securities on RBI policy expectation

Although our base case assumes 25 bps hike in the upcoming policy, the MPC may decide to wait for clarity on certain key factors like the extent of MSP hikes and progress of monsoon. If the committee decides to hold rates this time, the chances of hike in Aug ’18 review are very high in our opinion

11:47 AM

Reserve Bank of India to hold rates, but June hike now close call: Reuters poll

 

An increasing number of economists expect the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to raise interest rates on Wednesday, a Reuters poll found, but most still think the central bank will stay on hold and use this week’s meeting to prepare for an August hike.

 

In a snap poll of 56 economists taken after gross domestic product data on Thursday, 26 of those respondents, or about 46 percent, expect the RBI to take the repo rate higher at the June 6 meeting. The GDP data showed Asia’s third-largest economy grew at its fastest pace in nearly two years in the January-March period.

Photo: Kamlesh Pednekar

11:31 AM

SPECIAL REPORT Banks, OMCs drag PSU index 14% in CY18; analysts advise caution

Shares of public sector undertakings (PSUs) have underperformed the market thus far in the calendar year 2018 (CY18). The BSE PSU index – a gauge to measure the performance of state-owned enterprises (SOE) – has slipped 14 per cent year-to-date (YTD), as compared to 4 per cent rise in the S&P BSE Sensex. READ MORE
 

11:15 AM

Top losers in BSE Midcap index:

COMPANY	LATEST	PREV CLOSE	LOSS( )	LOSS(%)
FUTURE RETAIL	549.00	586.15	-37.15	-6.34
SHRIRAM TRANS.	1363.00	1445.75	-82.75	-5.72
REL. COMM.	15.05	15.75	-0.70	-4.44
ADANI POWER	17.70	18.50	-0.80	-4.32
PIRAMAL ENTERP.	2304.80	2401.70	-96.90	-4.03

11:01 AM

Weak demand drags India services activity into contraction in May: PMI

Activity in India’s service industry shrank in May for the first time in three months as new orders stagnated, but business optimism was the highest since 2015 on expectations that demand will turn around, a business survey showed.

 

The Nikkei/IHS Markit Services Purchasing Managers’ Index fell to 49.6 in May from April’s 51.4, sinking below the 50-mark that separates growth from contraction.

Photo: Reuters

10:45 AM

HPCL merger: MRPL faces minimum 25% public shareholding norms test

Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) is looking to merge its subsidiaries, Mangalore Refineries and Petrochemicals (MRPL) and Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd (HPCL), with itself. However, there is the issue with MRPL regarding the regulatory norms on minimum public shareholding.

 

The Mangalore refiner is yet to meet the market regulator Sebi guidelines of meeting the minimum 25 per cent public shareholding norm by August 21 this year. The government of India holds 88.58 per cent stake in MRPL through ONGC and HPCL, while public stakes are as low as 11.42 per cent. READ MORE
 

10:34 AM

US Fed should slow its plans to shrink balance sheet, says Urjit Patel

The US Federal Reserve should slow down its plans to shrink its balance sheet. Or else, the deluge of US treasury issuance to fund tax cuts will dry up the dollar liquidity globally, said Reserve Bank of India (RBI) governor Urjit Patel in an article in the Financial Times. READ MORE

 

10:16 AM

Biocon shares hit record high as cancer drug Pegfilgrastim gets USFDA nod

Shares of Biocon hit a record high of Rs 695 per share, up 6% on the BSE in opening deal in otherwise weak market, after the company and its partner Mylan have received nod for their first biosimilar of cancer medicine Pegfilgrastim from the US drug regulator for selling in the American market. READ MORE
 

10:00 AM

Market Check

 

S&P BSE Sensex	34,963.18		-0.14%
Nifty 50	10,609.95		-0.17%
S&P BSE 200	4,587.87		-0.20%
Nifty 500	9,152.25		-0.26%
S&P BSE Mid-Cap	15,693.98		-0.18%
S&P BSE Small-Cap	16,474.45		-0.90%

9:49 AM

Emerging-market selloff may force RBI to hold interest rates in MPC meet

An emerging-market selloff that’s hit India hard presents its central bank with a choice: hold interest rates steady to keep the economy motoring or follow the example of the Philippines and Indonesia by raising to stem market pressure. READ MORE