MARKET WRAP: Sensex ends 170 points lower on sell-off in Maruti, ZEEL

The broader NSE's Nifty50 index signed off the day at 10,781, down 69 points or 0.64 per cent. Out of 50 stocks, 32 constituents ended in the red and 18 in the green.

3:38 PM

Sectoral losers on NSE

3:36 PM

Gainers and losers of the day on S&P BSE Sensex

3:33 PM

Market at close

The S&P BSE Sensex ended at 36,041, down 170 points or 0.47 per cent, while the broader Nifty50 index settled at 10,781, down 69 points or 0.64 per cent.

3:15 PM

L&T Q3 earnings preview: Here's what analysts expect

Engineering and construction major Larsen & Toubro is expected to announce its financial results for third quarter of FY19 (October-December period) today.

 

According to analysts, the quarter gone by was muted for capital goods universe order inflows due to cautious stance ahead of general elections in 2019 and subdued private capex. READ MORE

2:57 PM

EARNINGS IMPACT Maruti Q3 profit falls 17% YoY to Rs 1,489 crore; stock skids nearly 9%

Maruti Suzuki India (MSIL) on Friday reported a 17.26 per cent per cent fall in its net profit at Rs 1,489.3 crore for third quarter of FY19. The carmaker had reported PAT of Rs 1,800 crore in the year-ago quarter. On QoQ basis, the figures fell 33.5 per cent. Total revenue from operations stood at Rs 19,668.3 crore against Rs 19,283.2 crore in the year-ago period. Basic EPS (earnings per share) came in at Rs 49.30 against Rs 59.56 in the corresponding quarter previous fiscal. Read more

2:55 PM

EARNINGS IMPACT

2:53 PM

NEWS ALERT | DHFL net profit at Rs 313.6 crore vs 438.7 crore on QoQ

2:45 PM

Zee Entertainment in a free fall, sinks 25% on promoter stake sale buzz

Shares of Zee Entertainment Enterprises plunged as much as 24.90 per cent to Rs 326 apiece in the intra-day trade on Friday on reports of promoter stake sale. According to news reports, the company is in talks with firms including Sony Pictures to sell half of their holding in the entity. It is learned that ZEE promoter Subhash Chandra, who is also chairman of the company, had discussions on the proposed stake sale in the UK and the US. “Chandra has had extensive meetings and discussions to sell half of his holding in ZEE. There are three final players in the ring,” reported The Economic Times citing sources. Read more

2:36 PM

EARNINGS IMPACT

2:35 PM

NEWS ALERT| Maruti Q3 net profit at Rs 1,489 crore vs Rs 1,799 crore on YoY

2:22 PM

Zee Entertainment Enterprises falls over 20%

2:01 PM

Edelweiss on Essel Propack

Essel Propack (EPL) reported a stable Q3FY19 driven by a strong 17% YoY revenue surge (eight quarter high, non-oral driven). However, margin miss led to EBITDA coming in line. Key highlights: 1) India turned around with 9% YoY revenue growth post a flat H1FY19; 2) EAP sustained stellar performance driven by non-oral. 9mFY19 jumped 19% YoY; and 3) Europe posted multi-quarter high growth, but margin improvement was still below expectation.

We believe, given growth revival (after many quarters) and strong management guidance, the stock should again trade close to its long-term average. Hence, we revise up our target multiple to 8x (7x earlier) EV/EBITDA, leading to revised TP of INR134 (INR111 earlier). Maintain ‘BUY’. That said, valuation is dependent on sustained performance in ensuing quarters

1:59 PM

HDFC Securities on Bharti Infratel

We remain positive on BHIN with target price of Rs 344 at 25x Dec-20E EPS (for merged entity). Key reasons are (a) stock has corrected by ~45% from peak (b) on account of savings on DDT (~Rs 5bn) and earnings accretion from Indus acquisition (c) healthy dividend yield of ~6% (d) uncertainty receding from Voda-Idea merger impact (e) growth resumption owing to robust data usage and (f) prognosis for rental renegotiations is weak in near term.

1:58 PM

Edelweiss on Sterlite Technologies

Sterlite Technologies (Sterlite) reported strong Q3FY19 numbers— revenue and EBITDA jumped 59.8% and 45.7% YoY (Street estimate 35.3% and 40.9%), respectively. Key highlights: 1) revenue growth was driven by execution of Navy order; 2) higher contribution of services business (~30%) led to 320bps QoQ dip in EBITDA margin at 22.0%; 3) management highlighted that Sterlite remained unaffected by decline in spot OF prices on account of delay in China Mobile tender as it has strong product order book; and 4) order book jumped 1.25x YoY to INR102.3bn with 50:50 split between services and products. We believe, with upcoming capacity expansions, Sterlite is well positioned to capture strong fibre demand. Sustained slowdown in China OF demand leading to supply glut is key risk to our thesis. Maintain ‘BUY’ with Rs 436 target price

1:50 PM

How India, China can gain from Trump's move to hurt Venezuelan oil industry

If the US decides to deploy a slate of sanctions that it’s said to have drafted against the Latin American nation, American refiners -- the No. 1 consumer of Venezuelan crude exports -- would be forced to cease purchases. That may mean more supply becomes available for the OPEC producer’s other big customers: China and India. READ MORE

1:36 PM

Vodafone's revenue growth slows in third quarter

Vodafone said its key revenue measure deteriorated in the third quarter, down 40 basis points quarter-on-quarter to 0.1 percent, reflecting continuing price competition in Spain and Italy and a slowdown in South Africa. Analysts had expected growth of 0.3 percent. READ MORE

1:17 PM

Web Exclusive Maruti Q3 preview: Profit likely to fall for the second straight quarter

Maruti Suzuki India (MSI) is slated to unveil its third quarter (October-December period) results of FY19 on Friday. The company is expected to show a muted performance, primarily driven by decline in volumes, analysts say.

 

Update on demand scenario, channel inventory, discounting trends and new launches, along with demand trend in urban and rural areas are some of the pressing issues that will be keenly watched. READ MORE

Maruti Suzuki Swift

12:56 PM

Web Exclusive Wipro, HCL Tech, Tech Mahindra: Look at these key levels before investing

NIFTY IT Index: As per the daily chart, NiftyIT index is showing consolidation in the range of 15,010 – 13,800 on a closing basis. The 100-days moving average (DMA) is currently placed at 14,884 lavels. The index has support at its 200-days moving average (DMA), currently located at 14,460 levels.

 

Though the index is currently trading above the trendline resistance of 15,010 and the 100-DMA of 14,884, only a strong close with subsequent follow-up buying can lead to a stronger breakout, which can see the index close in on the 15,700 and 15,900 levels, chart suggests. Read more
 

12:46 PM

UltraTech Cement dips 5% on disappointing December quarter results

Shares of UltraTech Cement dipped 5 per cent to Rs 3,592 on BSE in the intra-day trade after reporting a disappointing set of numbers for the quarter ended December 2018 (Q3FY19). The company posted a 13.6 per cent year-on-year (YoY) decline in its consolidated net profit at Rs 394 crore in Q3FY19, due to higher operational costs. It had reported a profit of Rs 456 crore in a year-ago quarter. Net sales, however, grew 19 per cent at Rs 9,258 crore on YoY basis. EBITDA (earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization) was up 3.6 per cent at Rs 1,548 crore, while margin contracted 2.5bp at 16.7 per cent during the quarter. Read more

12:32 PM

Do not exit debt funds hit by IL&FS events as resolution may happen soon

The Infrastructure Leasing & Financial Services (IL&FS) issue has resurfaced, and hit the net asset values (NAVs) of debt funds of three leading fund houses: Aditya Birla Sun Life (ABSL), HDFC and UTI. Mutual fund experts, however, say investors who have the requisite risk appetite should not exit these funds, as there is a good chance for payments to resume soon. READ MORE

12:15 PM

NEWS ALERT Moody's: See India's FY19 fiscal deficit at 3.4% of GDP vs aim of 3.3%

12:04 PM

Market check

Index	Current	Pt. Change	% Change
S&P BSE SENSEX	36,405.31	+210.21	+0.58
S&P BSE SENSEX 50	11,412.29	+55.42	+0.49
S&P BSE SENSEX Next 50	31,993.38	+44.37	+0.14
S&P BSE 100	11,150.33	+48.75	+0.44
S&P BSE Bharat 22 Index	3,386.34	+21.17	+0.63

11:56 AM

Spencer's Retail, CESC Ventures locked in 5% lower circuit on market debut

Shares of RP-Sanjiv Goenka Group companies - Spencer’s Retail and CESC Ventures - have locked in their respective lower circuit of 5 per cent on the BSE after their listings on the bourses. Spencer’s Retail has frozen 5 per cent lower circuit at Rs 213 apiece, falling 7.5 per cent from its intra-day high of Rs 230 on the BSE. The stock opened at Rs 224 on the exchange. A combined 227,545 equity shares changed hands and there were pending sell orders for 1.36 million shares on the BSE and NSE at 11:12 am. Read more

11:45 AM

COMMENT | Elara Capital on NIIT 

 

Net debt reduced to Rs 573 million vs Rs 599 million in Q2FY19, suggesting cashflow has turned positive as we had expected. With translation losses for deferred payments for an acquisition, we reduce PAT by 9.0% for FY19E and 1.4% for FY20E while increasing it by 2.9% for FY21E. We reiterate Buy with a new TP of Rs 151 from Rs 140 on an SOTP method, considering its holdings in NIIT Technologies (NITEC IN, TP: Rs 1,500, Buy) and its core business. We use our proprietary return on operating assets (ROOA) framework to arrive at a TP of Rs 71.0 for the core business and Rs 80.0 for its stake in NITEC at a 30% discount to CMP of Rs 1,301.

11:42 AM

Reliance Securities on UltraTech Cement

We believe that ambiguity pertaining to profitability and margin of UNCL (Binani assets), absence of pricing recovery, skewed return ratios and pricey valuations may be a key drag for the stock’s performance in the near-to-medium-term. Further, we do not see any substantial improvement in profitability in the medium-term as well due to higher interest cost and higher incremental volume from non-trade segment. Rolling over our estimate to FY21E, we downgrade our recommendation on the stock to HOLD from BUY with a revised Target Price of Rs 4,050.

11:27 AM

Deepak Fertilisers gains 12% after falling 26% in seven trading sessions

Shares of Deepak Fertilisers and Petrochemicals were up 12 per cent at Rs 119 apiece on BSE on the back of heavy volumes after the company gave a clarification on rumours in capital market with respect to the outstanding commercial papers.
 

In the past seven trading days, the stock of commodity chemicals company has tanked 26 per cent, as compared to a marginal a 0.33 per cent fall in the S&P BSE Sensex till Thursday. It hit a five-year low of Rs 104.80 on BSE in the intra-day trade yesterday. READ MORE

11:13 AM

Chalet Hotels IPO opens next week, issue size lowered due to volatility

Chalet Hotels plans to raise about Rs 950 crore by fresh equity issuance and the promoter group plans to offload shares worth another Rs 700 crore in the IPO. Earlier, the IPO size was intended to be around Rs 1,900 crore. READ MORE

10:59 AM

Top gainers and losers on S&P BSE Sensex

10:44 AM

Web Exclusive L&T Q3 results today: Here's what analysts expect

Engineering and construction major Larsen & Toubro is expected to announce its financial results for third quarter of FY19 (October-December period) today. According to analysts, the quarter gone by was muted for capital goods universe order inflows due to cautious stance ahead of general elections in 2019 and subdued private capex. However, engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) companies such as L&T, KEC International and Kalpataru Power are expected to report strong performance Read more

10:39 AM

Linde India slips 20% on failure of delisting plan

Shares of Linde India slipped 20 per cent to Rs 570 apiece on the BSE in early morning trade due to the failure of the delisting offer. BOC Group Ltd. and Linde Holdings Netherlands B.V., the promoters of Linde India, informed the exchange after market on Thursday that the discovery price came to nearly Rs 2,025 per share in the delisting process. Read more