MARKET WRAP: Nifty ends at fresh closing high of 11,320; PSU banks rally

Among sectoral indices, the Nifty PSU Bank index settled over 4% higher led by a rise in Bank of Baroda, Andhra Bank and Oriental Bank of Commerce.

3:45 PM

Nifty PSU Bank index ends 4.30% higher. Top gainers:

COMPANY	LATEST	PREV CLOSE	GAIN( )	GAIN(%)
BANK OF BARODA	152.15	137.85	14.30	10.37
ANDHRA BANK	35.65	33.30	2.35	7.06
ORIENTAL BANK	81.15	76.10	5.05	6.64
BANK OF INDIA	103.15	97.80	5.35	5.47
PUNJAB NATL.BANK	85.60	82.00	3.60	4.39

3:42 PM

Nifty sectoral gainers of the day

3:41 PM

BSE Sensex: Bharti Airtel, ICICI Bank, SBI among top gainers of the day, Infosys top loser

3:33 PM

Market at close

 

The S&P BSE Sensex settled at a record high of 37,494, up 158 points, while the broader Nifty 50 index settled at a record of 11,320, up 41 points.

 

3:19 PM

TVS Motor hits fresh 52-week low; stock slips 13% in past three weeks

Shares of TVS Motor Company hit a fresh 52-week low of Rs 511 per share, slipping 3% on the BSE on Monday, and extending its 5% decline in past three trading sessions in otherwise firm market on back of heavy volumes. The stock fallen below its previous low of Rs 518 recorded on Thursday, July 26, 2018, in intra-day trade. READ MORE

2:58 PM

RIL, L&T, Infosys among IIFL's top-six investment picks for the long haul

Indian benchmark equity indices,the BSE Sensex and the National Stock Exchange’s (NSE’s) Nifty50 have been hitting record highs of late.But growth has been limited to large-cap stocks; mid-caps have failed to join the party. READ MORE

2:47 PM

Morepen Laboratories surges 14% on USFDA approval for Baddi facility

Shares of Morepen Laboratories have surged 14% to Rs 36.20 per share on the National Stock Exchange (NSE) in intra-day trade on back of heavy volumes after the company announced that it has received United States Food and Drug Administration (USFDA) approval for both its bulk drugs manufacturing facilities situated in Himachal Pradesh. READ MORE

2:30 PM

Finding value in the market: Stocks are trading at extreme valuations

 

It is difficult to find value in a market which is trading at its all-time highs. However, given the lopsided growth, stocks are trading at extreme valuations.

 

There are many Nifty stocks available two standard deviation (SD) above (or below) their financial metrics like price-to-earnings (P/E), price-to-book (P/B) and enterprise value (EV)-to-Ebitda. Recent winners such as Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) and Hindustan Unilever (HUL) are trading at a P/E two SD above, while state-owned ONGC is available two SD below. READ MORE

2:15 PM

Thyrocare Technologies up 7% as board mulls share buyback proposal

 

Thyrocare Technologies was trading 7% higher at Rs 633 on the BSE, after the company that its board will meet on August 04, 2018, to consider a proposal to buy back equity shares.

 

“The meeting will also discuss about postponing the 18th Annual General Meeting convened to be held on August 11, 2018 to a later date, to enable the shareholders to consider the aforesaid proposal, too,” Thyrocare Technologies said in a BSE filing. READ MORE

1:59 PM

Market Check

INDEX	LATEST	PREVIOUS	CHANGE	CHANGE(%)
	11308.05	11278.35	29.70	0.26
	9611.70	9579.05	32.65	0.34
	18820.40	18781.45	38.95	0.21
	7450.25	7402.85	47.40	0.64
	12.88	12.31	0.57	4.63

1:45 PM

Recent GST rate cut is credit negative, revenue may take 0.08% hit: Moody's

 

Rating agency Moody's on Monday said the recent GST rate cuts on 88 items will weigh on government's revenue collection and is credit negative as it will put pressure on efforts of fiscal consolidation.

 

The GST Council, chaired by Union Finance Minister, last week cut tax rates on white goods as well as various handicrafts items and paints. READ MORE

1:34 PM

Top gainers in BSE 500:

COMPANY	PRICE( )	CHG( )	CHG(%)
SCHNEIDER ELECT.	100.50	11.50	12.92
BANK OF BARODA	151.15	13.10	9.49
BEML LTD	885.00	63.80	7.77
DEEPAK FERT.	283.00	18.10	6.83
THYROCARE TECH.	632.65	39.15	6.60

1:15 PM

Forex reserves falling below $400 billion not a worry, say experts

 

India’s foreign exchange reserves could go below $400-billion mark. However, experts say this in itself should not be a cause for concern.

 

The reserves accumulation happened through portfolio flows, and now that those flows have reversed, putting pressure on the currency, the central bank is right in giving up some of its accumulated reserves defending the rupee, said market experts and economists. READ MORE

1:00 PM

ICICI Bank gains 4% post June quarter results

 

ICICI Bank has moved higher by 4% to Rs 306, extending its past two days 6.5% gain on the BSE, as analyst retained ‘buy’ rating on the stock with upside 12-month target price in the range of Rs 347 to Rs 370.

 

ICICI Bank has reported a net loss of Rs 1.2 billion in the first quarter of the financial year 2018-19 (Q1FY19), on higher provisions for bad loans and treasury losses. The bank miss in an average net profit estimate of Rs 10 billion, due to 129% year on year (yoy) increase in provisions during the quarter to Rs 59.71 billion. READ MORE

 

12:45 PM

RITES hits new high on export order win worth Rs 5,670 million

 

Shares of RITES hit a new high of Rs 284, up 7% on the BSE, extending its Friday’s 19% surge, after the company said it secured export order of USD 82.63 million (approx Rs 5,670 million).

 

The stock of railways consultancy firm RITES had closed at Rs 264, its highest level since listing on July 2, 2018. In past six trading sessions, it zoomed 46% from Rs 194, as compared to 2.3% rise in the S&P BSE Sensex. READ MORE

12:30 PM

Result impact: Brokerage views on Bharti Airtel, RIL, ICICI Bank

 

Bharti Airtel, Reliance Industries (RIL) and ICICI Bank are among the frontline companies that announced their respective June quarter (Q1FY19) results over the past few days.

 

Here's how leading brokerages have interpreted the numbers.

 

NIRMAL BANG ON ICICI BANK

 

Per se, on the results front, IBL posted NII growth of 9.2 per cent YoY at Rs 61,019 million and a net loss of Rs 1,196 million. We have marginally modified our estimates for FY19/FY20 and retained Buy rating on ICICI Bank, revising our target price to Rs 414 (from Rs 409 earlier), and valuing the stock at 1.6x FY20E P/BV. READ MORE

12:15 PM

Stay braced for a rate hike

 

Corporate results this week are likely to be overshadowed by central bank policy statements. The Reserve Bank of India's (RBI’s) Monetary Policy Committee will release its next policy statement on Wednesday while the US Federal Reserve's Federal Open Market Committee will also release its statement on Wednesday (about 12 hours after the RBI due to the time-difference).

 

The European Central Bank has said last week that it will maintain its schedule to end its Quantitative Easing (QE) programme by December but not raise currently negative rates. READ MORE

12:01 PM

Markets at noon

INDEX	LATEST	PREVIOUS	CHANGE	CHANGE(%)
	37367.95	37336.85	31.10	0.08
	15218.82	15200.81	18.01	0.12
	15897.90	15912.62	-14.72	-0.09
	16510.94	16450.20	60.74	0.37
	4377.86	4372.13	5.73	0.13

11:45 AM

This agrochemical stock zoomed over 100% in 2018

 

Shares of agrochemicals company Excel Crop Care hit a new high of Rs 4,462, up 7% on Monday, extending Friday’s 7% rally, after the company reported a strong 61% year on year (yoy) growth in standalone net profit at Rs 385 million for the first quarter of the financial year 2018-19 (Q1FY19). The company had a profit of Rs 239 million in the same quarter of the financial year 2017-18 (Q1FY18).

 

Operational revenue during the quarter under review jumped 34.7% yoy at Rs 3,997 million against Rs 2,968 million in the corresponding quarter of previous fiscal. EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortisation) margin improved 15.8% in Q1FY19 from 13.33% in Q1FY18. READ MORE

11:30 AM

Web exclusive Buy realty stocks only for the long term, say analysts

 

At a time when the S&P BSE Sensex and the Nifty50 indices are scaling new highs, investors in real estate stocks have seen their capital erode thus far in the calendar year 2018 (CY18), with the Nifty realty index – a gauge of the sector’s performance – underperforming the benchmark index during this period by a wide margin. Thus far in CY18, the Nifty Realty index has slipped 24 per cent as compared to around 6 per cent rise in the Nifty50 index till July 25. READ MORE

11:26 AM

MARKET COMMENT BofA expects RBI to keep rates unchanged on Aug 01

We believe that the RBI MPC will wait and watch on Wednesday - with a hawkish tone - after its June hike. If the monsoons are normal, it should be on a long hold. If, however, the east does not get sufficient rains, then the RBI MPC will likely hike 25bps in October, although release of rice buffer stock will help far more than monetary tightening.

On our part, we would watch for the RBI's OMO plans (US$50bn if FPI flows do not revive) with durable liquidity contracting by about US$10bn to defend Rs69/USD. We estimate that the RBI will have to sell US$20bn (US$14bn so far) if FPI flows do not turn around. It also remains to be seen if the RBI assures the FX market that NRI bonds (raising US$30-35bn BAMLe) are a policy option. The MoF has already done so.

11:15 AM

Street signs Outlook improves for Bank Nifty

 

Outlook improves for Bank Nifty The Bank Nifty closed the July series with a gain of over four per cent and made a new lifetime high of 27,661 points. The index gained nearly 2.5 per cent just in the last three days. The rollover was higher than the three-month average, indicating continued momentum in heavyweight private sector banks, said experts.

 

Also, analysts believe that public sector banks seem to have bottomed out. Bank Nifty has to hold above 27,440 zones to extend its momentum towards 28,000. READ MORE

11:00 AM

FPIs throw their weight behind financials and technology stocks in Q1

 

Financials and technology (IT) are the only two sectors to see sizeable overseas investment in the first half of 2018. Consumer staples and discretionary, on the other hand, have seen foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) outflows of more than a billion dollars.

 

On an overall basis, FPIs have been net sellers to the tune of nearly over $500 million during the first half. According to data provided by National Depository Services (NSDL), the financial sector saw net FPI inflows of $1.1 billion during the first half, while the IT space has seen inflows of $1.04 billion. READ MORE

10:45 AM

PSU banks extend rally as Bank of Baroda posts good Q1 results

 

Shares public sector undertaking (PSU) banks have rallied by up to 8% on the National Stock Exchange (NSE) in early morning trade after the Bank of Baroda on Friday reported a more than two-fold jump in net profit at Rs 5.28 billion for the first quarter of 2018-19 (Q1FY19) as provisions for bad loans dropped.

 

The bank had reported a net profit of Rs 2.03 billion in the same quarter of 2017-18. It had reported a net loss of Rs 31.02 billion in last quarter (March 2018). READ MORE

10:32 AM

NEW LISTING TCNS Clothing makes listless debut; falls below issue price

 

TCNS Clothing has made a listless debut on the bourses by opening at par against its issue price of Rs 716 per share on the National Stock Exchange (NSE). However, it opened at Rs 715, a tad below its issue price.

 

It touched a low of Rs 692 on the BSE and Rs 702 on the NSE in intra-day trade so far. A combined 3.23 million equity shares have changed hands on the counter on both the exchanges. READ MORE

10:16 AM

More re-rating ahead for ITC; cigarette volume growth revives in Q1

 

Shares of ITC, which were under pressure until recently due to regulatory challenges faced by its flagship business of cigarettes, hit a 52-week high of Rs 307 during intra-day trade on Friday, before ending 5.2 per cent higher at Rs 302.2, after the company announced its June-2018 quarter (Q1) results late on Thursday. In a surprise, the company reported 1.5 per cent growth in cigarette volumes as against 1-2 per cent decline expected by analysts. READ MORE

10:00 AM

Market Check

INDEX	LATEST	PREVIOUS	CHANGE	CHANGE(%)
	37419.47	37336.85	82.62	0.22
	15239.17	15200.81	38.36	0.25
	15923.08	15912.62	10.46	0.07
	16537.39	16450.20	87.19	0.53
	4382.87	4372.13	10.74	0.25

9:55 AM

FPIs net inflow at Rs 1,800 cr in equities in July so far

 

Foreign investors have put in over Rs 1,800 crore in the Indian equity markets so far in July after pulling out massive funds in the preceding month. The latest inflow comes after such investors had taken out more than Rs 20,000 crore from the stock market during April-June.

 

According to the latest depository data, foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) pumped in a net sum of Rs 1,848 crore in equities during July 2-27. However, they withdrew Rs 482 crore from the debt market during the period under review.

9:40 AM

After good response to IPO, TCNS Clothing to make debut on bourses today

 

TCNS Clothing is scheduled to get listed on BSE and NSE on Monday. The initial public offer (IPO) of the women's apparel maker was subscribed 5.27 times overall. The Rs 11.25-billion public offer received bids for 5,79,79,780 shares against the total issue size of 1,09,99,828, data available with the NSE showed. READ MORE

9:26 AM

Nifty Bank index hits a record high of 27,801.95. Top gainers:

COMPANY	LATEST	PREV CLOSE	GAIN( )	GAIN(%)
BANK OF BARODA	149.00	137.85	11.15	8.09
ICICI BANK	300.00	293.20	6.80	2.32
PUNJAB NATL.BANK	83.25	82.00	1.25	1.52
ST BK OF INDIA	289.20	286.75	2.45	0.85
IDFC BANK	39.55	39.30	0.25	0.64