Markets settle volatile session flat, Nifty ends below 10350; DRL top loser

All that happened in today's trade

4:15 PM

BSE midcap, smallcap indices close at new highs

 

The S&P BSE Midcap and the S&P BSE Smallcap indices settled at their respective new highs on the closing basis on the BSE, following a strong rally in education, pharmaceutical, chemicals, infrastructure and jewellery stocks.

 

The S&P BSE Smallcap index ended at record high of 17,943.86 on closing level on Thursday surpassed its previous high of 17,910.90 on November 6, 2017. The S&P Midcap index too closed at new high of 16,836.18, surpassed it earlier high of 16,794.23 on November 21, 2017. READ MORE

3:48 PM

Vinod Nair, Head of Research, Geojit Financial Services 

 

Market traded between gains and losses due to subdued trend in global market. After the completion of Q2 results, investors are looking for fresh triggers, upcoming state elections will be a key catalyst in the direction. On the global front, US Fed’s divergence in opinion on inflation growth in the minutes may refrain the chair to take aggressive rate hike in December which is positive for Indian market.

3:47 PM

Sectoral trend

Source: NSE

3:45 PM

Market breadth

 

Market breadth, indicating the overall health of the market, remained positive. 1,442 shares gained, 1,254 shares declined, while 158 shares remained unchanged. 

3:43 PM

Sensex heatmap at close

Source: BSE

3:38 PM

Markets at close

The S&P BSE Sensex settled at 33,588, up 26 points, while the broader Nifty50 ended at 10,348, up 6 points. 

3:25 PM

Insurance stocks trade weak 

 

Shares of insurance companies were trading lower by up to 5% on the BSE on fears of higher tax rate.

 

HDFC Standard Life Insurance, ICICI Prudential Life Insurance, SBI Life Insurance and Max Financial Services were down in the range of 3% to 5% on the BSE. By comparison, the S&P BSE Sensex was up 0.11% at 33,597 at 02:45 PM. READ MORE DETAILS

3:02 PM

China shares tumble on bond rout

 

Chinese shares tumbled on Thursday with the blue-chip index suffering its worst fall in nearly 1-1/2 years as worries about a sell-off in the bond market bled into equities.

 

Consumer and healthcare firms led the fall and dragged the CSI300 index down sharply by 2.93 per cent, to 4103.73, its biggest fall in percentage terms since June 13, 2016. The broader Shanghai Composite Index lost 2.26 per cent to 3352.99 points, its worst day since December. READ FULL REPORT

2:40 PM

Govt exempts oil & gas PSU mergers from CCI approval

 

Merger and acquisition deals involving public sector oil and gas companies have been exempted from seeking the Competition Commission's approval, says a notification.

 

The corporate affairs ministry's decision to exempt such deals from the ambit of the Competition Commission of India (CCI) comes against the backdrop of the proposed consolidation and stake purchases among state-owned oil and gas companies. READ MORE

2:21 PM

Aditya Birla Fashion fails to join the retail rally

 

Stocks of Aditya Birla Fashion and Retail (ABFRL) have not been a favourite on the bourses but brokerages remain bullish, hoping the network expansion of Pantaloons will bring growth.   Stocks of most retailers have surged in the current financial year. Future Retail and Avenue Supermart (D-Mart) rose 100 per cent and 74 per cent, respectively.

 

But ABFRL has moved less than one per cent. Despite this slow movement, CLSA has maintained a ‘buy’ on the stock in a note sent to its clients early this week. READ FULL REPORT

2:01 PM

Markets check

At 2:00 pm, the S&P BSE Sensex was trading at 33,536, down 25 points, while the broader Nifty50 was ruling at 10,329, down 13 points.

Index	Current	Pt. Change	% Change
S&P BSE SENSEX	33,523.07	-38.48	-0.11
S&P BSE SENSEX 50	10,767.46	-12.67	-0.12
S&P BSE SENSEX Next 50	35,558.62	-61.95	-0.17
S&P BSE 100	10,787.55	-13.82	-0.13
S&P BSE Bharat 22 Index	3,732.91	-5.94	-0.16

Source: BSE

1:48 PM

Tide is turning for corporate earnings: Morgan Stanley

 

Corporate earnings have failed to meet expectations quarter after quarter. And the latest one (September quarter) is no different. However, foreign brokerage Morgan Stanley believes the trend could reverse this quarter onwards.

 

“Some market participants may be anchored to the decade gone by, remaining skeptical about the earnings growth recovery. We believe the cycle is turning as corporate India has come out of the balance sheet and earnings recession. We expect an earning CAGR (compounded annual growth rate) at 20 per cent in the next two years,” said analysts Sheela Rathi and Ridham Desai. READ FULL STORY

1:30 PM

Nifty PSU Bank top sectoral loser

State-owned banks fell after closing 1.3% higher on Wednesday following the cabinet’s approval to amend the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code.

Source: NSE

1:09 PM

12 stocks from BSE Smallcap index rally over 25% in one week

 

Jai Corp, Purvankara, Kolte-Patil Developers, Speciality Restaurants, Gitanjali Gems, Sterling Tools and Aptech are among 12 stocks from the S&P BSE Smallcap index that have rallied more than 25% in past one week.

 

BF Investment, Action Construction Company, Arshiya, Nila Infrastructure and RattanIndia Power surged an over 25% during the period. READ MORE

12:47 PM

IT, ITeS stocks trade mixed on reports of Rs 10,000 cr service tax demand

 

Shares of Information Technology (IT) and IT-enabled services (ITeS) companies such as Infosys, TCS, and Mindtree were trading mixed on Thursday following news reports that the tax department has demanded from them the service tax worth nearly Rs 10,000 crore. 

 

Although the Nifty IT (up 1%) index was the leading sectoral gainer in the noon trade, most of the gains came from Infosys (up 2%), KPII (up 3%) and Tech Mahindra (up 2%). Mindtree, Wipro and Oracle Financial Services Software lost up to 1% on the National Stock Exchange (NSE). READ MORE

12:34 PM

Top Nifty gainers

Source: NSE

12:16 PM

Market Check

Index	Current	Pt. Change	% Change
S&P BSE SENSEX	33,623.79	+62.24	+0.19
S&P BSE SENSEX 50	10,800.96	+20.83	+0.19
S&P BSE SENSEX Next 50	35,728.51	+107.94	+0.30
S&P BSE 100	10,824.21	+22.84	+0.21
S&P BSE Bharat 22 Index	3,744.58	+5.73	+0.15

11:57 AM

CME, world's top derivatives bourse, to soon start bitcoin futures trade

 

The market for bitcoin is set for a paradigm shift, with the world's largest derivatives exchange, CME, to soon begins futures trading in this popular crypto-currency.

 

"The launch of futures, is expected in Q4 (the last quarter) of 2017; we are still awaiting regulatory approval," said a spokesperson of the CME group to an e-mailed query.

 

The price of bitcoin has risen from $952 at the beginning of this year to $8,200, up 8.6 times. Bitcoin's market capitalisation is $136 billion, by one estimate, 56 per cent of the total crypto-currency m-cap. READ MORE

11:44 AM

Neuland Laboratories dips 8% on disappointing Q2 earning

 

Neuland Laboratories has dipped 8% to Rs 1,175 on the BSE in intra-day trade after the company reported 75% decline in its standalone net profit at Rs 2.59 crore in September quarter (Q2FY18), due to lower sales. The pharmaceutical company had profit of Rs 10.23 crore in the same quarter year ago.

 

Total operating income decreased by 17% to Rs 126 crore in Q2FY18, as compared to Rs 152 crore in the corresponding period of the previous year. EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization) margin fallen to 11.6% in Q2FY18 as against 16.6% in Q2FY17. READ MORE

11:16 AM

Canara Bank: Asset sale to reduce capital needs

 

Canara Bank has been among the proactive public sector banks (PSBs) to dispose its non-core assets, to shore up its capital position.

 

While it ranks fourth in terms of holding non-core assets, trailing peers such as State Bank of India (SBI), Punjab National Bank (PNB) and IDBI, analysts at Antique Stock Broking indicate Canara Bank’s non-core assets can reduce its capital requirement needs by 30 per cent.   The Street pegs the bank’s non-core assets could add up 30–32 per cent of Canara Bank’s market capitalisation (m-cap). READ MORE

10:56 AM

The ultra rich keep poaching Morgan Stanley's top bankers

 

Asia’s swelling ranks of mega-wealthy are proving to be a mixed blessing for Morgan Stanley. The firm’s Asian private banking unit has boosted assets under management and revenue this year, according to Vincent Chui, who oversees the business. But because top bankers keep getting poached by family offices set up by the richest people, a plan to increase headcount has fallen flat.

 

At least 10 relationship managers left in 2017 for family offices, leaving headcount in Hong Kong and Singapore unchanged from the end of last year at about 100, Chui said in an interview. Morgan Stanley's earlier plan was to add 20 this year, he said, adding that some others left by what he described as “natural attrition.” READ MORE

10:39 AM

Security and Intelligence Services soars 15% post Q2 results

 

Security and Intelligence Services (India) soared 15% to Rs 1,029 on the BSE after the company reported more than four-fold jump in net profit at Rs 58.9 crore in September quarter (Q2FY18), on the back of higher other income.  It had logged profit of Rs 2.13 crore in the same quarter a year ago.

 

The company’s revenue from operations grew 35.7% at Rs 1,460 crore against Rs 1,076 crore in the corresponding quarter of previous fiscal. Other income increased by 12 times to Rs 24.5 crore from Rs 2.1 crore in previous year quarter. READ MORE

 

10:29 AM

India's emerging markets weightage tops 2007 bull run

 

The relative outperformance of Indian share markets has helped the country improve its weightage in the MSCI emerging markets (EM) index. According to data compiled from the MSCI website, India now has 8.72 per cent of the MSCI EM index, 50 basis points (bps) higher than the country's weight during the 2007 bull market.

 

Even on a year-on-year basis, the weight has gone up by 47 bps. This will help attract more of foreign flows, since at least $1.5 trillion of funds are estimated to track this index.  READ MORE

10:12 AM

MFs' bets on new firms pay off

 

Domestic fund managers have been adding shares of little-known companies to their portfolios, amid strong investor flows. In the past two years, the universe of stocks with mutual fund exposure has gone up. 

 

This year itself, about 60 new stocks have been added. An analysis of the stock price performance shows that bets on several small-cap companies have yielded robust returns. Majority of them have outperformed the benchmark indices in terms of year-to-date returns. Stocks like V2 Retail, Gravita India, Geojit Financial Services and Shakti Pumps have turned out to be multi-baggers. According to fund managers, these stocks will help the schemes generate reasonably better returns. 

 

Most fund houses have expanded their research coverage to over 500 stocks now. So far this year, equity schemes have seen inflows of Rs 1.2 lakh crore — close to half of which have come through systematic investment plans. READ MORE

9:55 AM

Nifty PSU Bank index snaps yesterday's losses

Source: NSE

9:45 AM

Quess Corp falls 8% as share sales by promoters begin; Thomas Cook up 5%

 

Quess Corp dipped 8% to Rs 840 on the BSE in early morning trade after the promoters share sales through offer for sale (OFS) began from today.

 

The floor price has been fixed at Rs 800 and the share sale will be held on Thursday and Friday. The floor price is 12.4% discount against Wednesday’s closing of Rs 913 on the BSE.

 

Thomas Cook India and Ajit Isaac, promoters of integrated business service provider Quess Corp, will raise around Rs 680 crore through OFS to meet regulatory requirement on promoter shareholding in the company. It will use the proceeds to retire its long-term debt. READ MORE

9:35 AM

Tide is turning for corporate earnings: Morgan Stanley

 

Corporate earnings have failed to meet expectations quarter after quarter. And the latest one (September quarter) is no different. However, foreign brokerage Morgan Stanley believes the trend could reverse this quarter onwards.

 

“Some market participants may be anchored to the decade gone by, remaining skeptical about the earnings growth recovery. We believe the cycle is turning as corporate India has come out of the balance sheet and earnings recession. We expect an earning CAGR (compounded annual growth rate) at 20 per cent in the next two years,” said analysts Sheela Rathi and Ridham Desai. READ MORE

9:24 AM

Sectoral Trend

Source: NSE

9:22 AM

Top Sensex gainers and losers

Source: BSE

9:19 AM

Broader Markets

In broader markets, the BSE Midcap index was a little changed while the BSE Smallcap index gained 0.3%