Sensex ends lower, Nifty below 11050 as investors await Budget

Catch all market action here

4:27 PM

COMMENT

Volatility could remain high in the next few trading sessions considering key events like the US Fed policy meet and Union Budget at home. The government is expected to present a balanced budget being its last full budget before general elections; however any negative surprise on the fiscal deficit target could dampen investor sentiments. Thus, we advise to remain selective in stocks and avoid over leveraging for the near term

(Source: Jayant Manglik, President, Religare Broking)

3:42 PM

Sectoral Trend

3:35 PM

Top Sensex gainers and losers

3:33 PM

Market at close

The Sensex and Nifty edged lower on Tuesday, tracking Asian peers, as investors booked profits in recent outperformers such as index heavyweight HDFC Bank Ltd, while caution prevailed ahead of the federal budget, due later this week.

 

The S&P BSE Sensex ended at 36,033, down 249 points while the broader Nifty50 index settled at 11,049, up 80 points

3:21 PM

Factbox: Expectations for India's 2018/19 budget

 

India's government will unveil its budget for the 2018/19 fiscal year on Thursday, with investors expecting increased investment in key areas such as agriculture, and a slew of incentives for businesses.

 

Handicapped by the chaotic roll out of a goods and service tax (GST) last year and a shock, overnight move to take high value banknotes out of circulation in late 2016, India's economy is expected to post growth of 6.75 percent in the 2017/18 fiscal year ending in March, which would be the slowest in three years. READ MORE

3:10 PM

SIPs: Investors better off with monthly investments as it's easy to track

 

As investor are increasingly looking at systematic investment plan (SIP) to invest in mutual funds, a few distributors and fund houses have started offering variants of SIP. LIC Mutual fund has started a daily SIP option with a minimum investment amount of Rs 300 a day.

 

HDFC Securities is offering the same for HDFC Mutual Fund at Rs 500 a day. SIP helps investors to make the most of market volatility by averaging the cost of investments and removing the need to time the market. READ MORE

3:01 PM

Indian Oil gains 5% on 1:1 bonus, interim dividend of Rs 19 per share

 

Indian Oil Corporation (IOCL) gained 5% to Rs 419 on BSE in intra-day deal after the company’s board recommended bonus shares in the ratio of 1:1 i.e. one equity share for one exiting equity share held.

 

The board also declared an interim dividend of Rs 19 per equity share on face value of Rs 10. It fixed February 9, 2018 as the ‘record date’ for the purpose of ascertaining the eligibility of shareholders for payment of interim dividend.

 

The state-owned oil marketing company has reported nearly doubled standalone net profit at Rs 78.83 billion for the quarter ended December 2017 (Q3FY18). READ MORE

2:45 PM

No tax relief, spending spree due in last budget before elections: Poll

 

India is expected to unveil only modest stimulus at this week's budget, a Reuters poll of analysts showed, despite it being the last before the next election, with government spending likely limited by longer-term efforts to trim the fiscal deficit.

 

The latest Reuters poll shows the government is expected to delay the timeframe for hitting that target by another year, for the third year in a row, due to setbacks in the economic outlook.

 

The median forecast from over 40 economists polled Jan 24-29 was for India's government to borrow 3.2% of gross domestic product (GDP) in fiscal 2018-19. READ MORE

2:31 PM

Market Check

S&P BSE Sensex	36,059.11		-0.62%
Nifty 50	11,048.20		-0.74%
S&P BSE 200	4,832.99		-0.66%
Nifty 500	9,745.60		-0.75%
S&P BSE Mid-Cap	17,554.11		-0.88%
S&P BSE Small-Cap	18,915.35		-1.12%

2:15 PM

Two-wheeler major TVS Motor Q3 net up 16% to Rs 1.55 bn on strong sales

 

TVS Motor's Profit After Tax (PAT) rose 16.3 per cent to Rs 1.55 billion (Rs 155 crore) in the quarter ended December 2017, from Rs 1.33 billion (Rs 133 crore) in the corresponding quarter a year ago.

 

The company reported a revenue growth of 23.5 per cent for the quarter under review. Revenue excluding excise duty and GST grew to Rs 36.85 billion (Rs 3,685 crore) in the quarter ended December 2017 from Rs 29.84 billion in the year-ago quarter. READ MORE

2:00 PM

17 stocks from BSE Smallcap index hit 52-week low; Bhushan Steel falls 16%

 

Bhushan Steel, Multi Commodity Exchange of India (MCX), Bank of Maharashtra, United Bank of India and Vivimed Labs were 17 stocks from the S&P BSE Smallcap index hitting their respective 52-week low on BSE in intra-day trade on Tuesday.

 

Bombay Rayon Fashions, CL Educate, D B Corp, Dynamatic Technologies, North Eastern Carriers, Sangam India, Sathavana Ispat and Uttam Galva Steels too hit 52-week low today. READ MORE

1:47 PM

Apple loses $14 bn in m-cap as shares dip on reports of weak iPhone X sales

 

Apple Inc will halve its iPhone X production target for the first three months of the year to around 20 million units, Nikkei reported on Monday, sending its shares down 1.6 per cent.

 

The report added to growing concerns about weak sales of the $999 phone, making investors jittery about the company's financial outlook when it reports first-quarter results on Thursday.

 

Apple's shares fell to their lowest level in 2018, knocking off $14 billion from the company's market value. The company declined to comment. READ MORE

1:31 PM

SBI jacks up bulk deposit rates by 75-140 bps in second hike in 2 months

 

The country’s largest bank, State Bank of India, raised interest rate on domestic bulk term deposits on Tuesday by 75-140 basis points with immediate effect, at a time when liquidity in the system is under strain.
 

This is second hike in bulk deposit rates by SBI in a span of about two months.

 

It had raised bulk term deposits by one per cent (100 basis points) in November 2017. READ MORE

1:15 PM

Mixed performance for rail-related stocks ahead of Budget 2018

 

It has been a mixed performance for railway-related stocks at the bourses thus far in calendar year 2018 (CY18) with Larsen & Toubro (L&T), ABB India and Kernex Microsystems rallying up to 25% ahead of the budget presentation on February 1.

 

On the other hand, Hind Rectifiers, Titagarh Wagons, BEML, Stone India, Kernex Microsystems, Stone India and Zicom Electronic have slipped 3% to 17%. By comparison, the S&P BSE Sensex and Nifty 50 index have gained 6% thus far in CY18. READ MORE

Photo: Shutterstock

1:00 PM

Market Check

S&P BSE Sensex	36,061.36		-0.61%
Nifty 50	11,050.50		-0.72%
S&P BSE 200	4,834.77		-0.62%
Nifty 500	9,749.75		-0.71%
S&P BSE Mid-Cap	17,590.77		-0.67%
S&P BSE Small-Cap	18,944.11		-0.97%

12:44 PM

Nifty Strategy for Budget by Motilal Oswal

Hedge / Bear Put Spread

Object : Hedge your position till 10,800

BUY NIFTY 11,100 PUT at Rs 201

SELL NIFTY 10,800 PUT at Rs 100

12:30 PM

Economic Survey prescription: Beat investment slowdown with public spending

 

The detailed and innovative analysis of the past few Economic Surveys was ratcheted up in FY18, with the goods and service tax (GST)-enabled data deluge providing insights on structures, agents and their interactions, for example on inter-state trade. Happily, this will allow policy to be increasingly tuned and targeted. Indeed “a new planet swims into his ken”. This article, regretfully, has space only for a couple of high-level observations. READ MORE

12:15 PM

Altcoins enter India: Trade in Litecoins on Zebpay; Ethereum coming soon

 

Even as various government agencies and banks are tightening the screws around Bitcoin investors and other stakeholders, leading Bitcoin exchanges are launching trading in alternative coins or other cryptocurrencies. Last week, the country's leading exchange, Zebpay, launched trading in Litecoin, which is the eighth-largest cryptocurrency, following rising demand from Indian investors. The exchange already allows trading in Bitcoin cash. READ MORE

12:00 PM

KPIT Technologies hits 52-week high on restructuring plan

 

KPIT Technologies hit a 52-week high of Rs 223, up 6% on BSE in otherwise subdued market after the information technology (IT) company announced a restructuring plan.

 

C K Group-owned KPIT Technologies and Birlasoft have announced a merger to create an over $700-million combined entity. The entity would be demerged into two separate companies later. READ MORE

11:45 AM

Leaked govt report reveals UK economy will be worse off after Brexit

 

A forecast prepared for the British government reportedly says the economy will be worse off after the country leaves the European Union whatever trade deal is struck with the bloc.

 

The leaked assessment published yesterday by news website BuzzFeed says if Britain reaches a free trade deal with the EU, growth will be 5 per cent lower than current forecasts over 15 years. READ MORE

11:31 AM

Sectoral Trend

11:15 AM

Reliance Jio effect: Airtel, Idea combined quarterly revenue rate down 23%

 

Investors seem to have given up on the telecom sector after waiting for nearly a decade to make some money in stocks here.

 

Kotak Institutional Equity, a leading brokerage, has decided to drop coverage on Bharti Airtel, the largest mobile telephony operator, citing a dismal financial outlook. The move raises a question mark over long-term financial viability of the sector and investor ability to generate decent return. READ MORE

11:00 AM

Sebi may give nod to partial implementation of Kotak panel recommendations

 

The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) is in favour of partial implementation of the recommendations made by the Kotak committee on corporate governance.

 

The regulator is keen on implementing key proposals of the report such as changes to the board structure of listed companies, sharing price-sensitive information and MNC royalty payouts. At the same time, some of the other recommendations like oversight of unlisted subsidiaries, bringing auditors under its purview and capacity building could be put on the back burner. READ MORE

 

10:48 AM

HDFC Securities on LIC Housing Finance

 

The brokerage remains  positive on LIC Housing Finance given strong distribution reach and top notch credit  rating.  However,  in  the short term, given spike in the wholesale rates,  they expect recovery on NIMs to be slower than earlier expected given high competition.  With home loan yield bottoming out and debt getting re-priced  lower,  NIM is expected to stablise and improve hereon. Maintain BUY with target price of Rs 655.

10:30 AM

Amber Enterprises makes good debt; lists 37% premium over issue price

 

Amber Enterprises India has made a good debut on the bourses by listing at Rs 1,180, a 37% premium over its issue price of Rs 859 on BSE. On the National Stock Exchange (NSE), the stock opened at Rs 1,175.

 

The company's initial public offer (IPO) of Rs 6,000 million had got a strong response from the all category of investors. The issue was subscribed 165 times with the offer receiving bids for 815 million shares as against 4.93 million offered by the company, data available with stock exchanges showed. READ MORE

10:16 AM

LIC Housing likely to see its profitability stabilising from March quarter

 

LIC Housing Finance has missed the Street expectation by a reasonable margin in two successive quarters. The December quarter results were more disappointing, with its net interest income dropping by about 2% year-on-year to Rs 9 billion. It led to another quarter of pronounced margin compression. However, the successive quarters of disappointment are well captured in LIC Housing’s stock price, which has corrected by about 30% from its 52-week high of Rs 794 recorded in June 2017. READ MORE

9:55 AM

Markets check

Index	Current	Pt. Change	% Change
S&P BSE SENSEX	36,111.77	-171.48	-0.47
S&P BSE SENSEX 50	11,549.72	-55.04	-0.47
S&P BSE SENSEX Next 50	36,396.97	-225.09	-0.61
S&P BSE 100	11,484.01	-57.39	-0.50
S&P BSE Bharat 22 Index	3,849.09	-8.30	-0.22

(Source: BSE)

9:51 AM

VIX signalling any correction could be steep; Nifty continues to ride up

 

The Nifty continues to ride up, driven by the usual pre-Budget optimism. All three segments of players - domestic institutions, retail investors/ traders and foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) appear to be bullish at the moment. However, option premiums have also spiked, and the VIX is up, indicating that there could be massive volatility in the next few sessions. READ MORE

9:39 AM

Q3 results: New technology focus, margin gains to drive Tech Mahindra

 

Tech Mahindra joined larger peers in reporting better than expected performance for the quarter ended December 2017. The company reported 2.5% sequential growth in dollar revenue to $1.2 billion.

 

In addition to business growth, cross-currency tailwinds boosted the top line. The growth was led largely by the enterprise segment which grew 4.2% and the North American region, 47% of revenue and which grew 6.2%. READ MORE


Earnings Impact
 

9:26 AM

Sectoral trend