Market Live: Sensex, Nifty lower; fertiliser stocks rally ahead of Cabinet meet

11:52 am SBI’s new look: From April 1, the associate banks which will be merging with State Bank of India will sport the lender’s signage and logo, with its iconic keyhole set against the background of navy blue.

The move is part of the bank’s larger goal to project a unified image, which will see all the five associate banks speaking the same language.

The SBI logo symbolises its role of a custodian that will keep customers’ money safe.

11:44 am SpiceJet readies for regional connectivity scheme: SpiceJet has added three Bombardier Q400 planes to its fleet to fly on routes under the government’s Regional Connectivity Scheme, an official from the listed airline told Moneycontrol.

With the latest induction, SpiceJet now has 33 Boeing B737 next generation planes and 20 Bombardier Q-400s.

The low-cost carrier, promoted by Ajay Singh, will fly on 11 routes covering four unserved and two underserved airports under the first phase of the government’s Ude Desh ka Aam Nagrik (UDAN) scheme.

11:24 am Management Speak: Satya Narayanan R, Chairman & Executive Director, CL Educate said we are building on the foundation and getting ready for the next phase of growth in the education sector.

The education company operates across segments in the learning industry and in present over 150 locations. “Our execution model is built on entrepreneurial energy,” said Narayanan.

He said, “We have geographical entrepreneurs in terms of business partners, who run with as much ownership and commitment as an entrepreneur can do, in 150 locations.”

11:10 am Market Check: Equity benchmarks saw a downtrend on the first day of April series as investors may have booked profits from the rally seen over the past few sessions.

The Sensex was down 78.18 points at 29569.24, while the Nifty was down 18.55 points at 9155.20. The market breadth was narrow as 1,339 shares advanced against a decline of 856 shares, while 152 shares are unchanged.

Tata Steel, Reliance, Indian Oil and Hindalco were top gainers on both the indices, while HDFC Bank, ITC and Bharti Infratel were top losers.

CL Educate saw a tepid listing on Friday. The stock price opened at Rs 402, down sharply by 20 percent from its issue price of Rs 502 per share.

The stock recovered from day’s low and locked at 5 percent upper circuit at Rs 422.10 on the NSE, but still far below its issue price.

10:40 am Small savings scheme: The government has decided to cut interest rates on most small savings schemes. Interest rate on public provident fund (PPF) has been cut by 10 basis points (bps) to 7.9 percent for April to June.

10:31 am Market Outlook: Sundaram Mutual Fund believes that the party on the market will continue.

The Indian economy seems to be well on track, GST is going through smoothly and liquidity and interest rate environment is good, S Krishna Kumar, CIO- Equity at Sundaram Mutual Fund, told CNBC-TV18 in an interview. He expects the current positive environment continue and the markets will also build on that.

Going forward, Kumar sees huge mergers and acquisitions (M&A) activity and that should be used as an opportunity. The deals could be spread across sectors, particularly on the financial side.

10:05 am New Listing: Education company CL Educate saw a tepid listing on Friday. The stock price opened at Rs 402, down sharply by 20 percent from its issue price of Rs 502 per share.

The stock recovered from day’s low and locked at 5 percent upper circuit at Rs 422.10 on the NSE, but still far below its issue price.

CL Educate operates across segments in the education industry, including test preparation and vocational training.

10:00 am Market Check: Equity benchmarks remained volatile in morning due to lack of global as well as domestic cues. Investors awaited fourth quarter earnings due next month.

The 30-share BSE Sensex was down 32.71 points at 29,614.71 and the Nifty down 6.80 points at 9,166.95. About two shares advanced for every share falling on the BSE.

Tata Steel, Reliance Industries, Axis Bank, NTPC, SBI, IOC, BPCL and Hindalco were gainers while HDFC Bank, Wipro, HDFC, Adani Ports, Bharti Airtel, Bharti Infratel and Grasim were under pressure.

9:55 am Listing: CL Educate settled at Rs 402 in pre-opening session, down a whopping 20 percent from its issue price of Rs 502 per share.

9:50 am FII View: Timothy Moe of Goldman Sachs says the brokerage house stayed overweight on India as the medium-term reform story remains promising.

The research firm expects the Nifty to reach 9,500 in 12 months and 10,200 by 2018-end as earnings recovery gathers pace driven by 12 percent and 15 percent profit growth this year and next, he says.

9:39 am Market Update: Benchmark indices turned positive as the Sensex was up 6.03 points at 29,653.45.

The Nifty started trading above its record closing high, up 4.60 points at 9,178.35.

The market breadth was also positive as about 1154 shares advanced against 464 declining shares on the BSE.

9:30 am UDAN: SpiceJet has added three Bombardier Q400 planes to its fleet to fly on routes under the government’s Regional Connectivity Scheme, an official from the listed airline told Moneycontrol.

With the latest induction, SpiceJet now has 33 Boeing B737 next generation planes and 20 Bombardier Q-400s.

The low-cost carrier, promoted by Ajay Singh, will fly on 11 routes covering four unserved and two underserved airports under the first phase of the government’s Ude Desh ka Aam Nagrik (UDAN) scheme.

On Thursday, SpiceJet and four other airlines won the bids to operate under the first phase of the scheme with funding assistance from the Centre and state governments. The five airlines have been awarded 128 routes (most of them exclusive) connecting 43 airports. The companies will have a three-year exclusivity on the routes.

Also read – Buy, Sell, Hold: 9 stocks, 1 sector on analysts’ radar as April series begins

9:15 am Market Check: The NSE Nifty started off April series on a lower note amid consolidation and mixed Asian cues Friday, weighed by banking & financials stocks.

The 30-share BSE Sensex was down 67 points at 29,580.42 and the 50-share NSE Nifty fell 17.15 points to 9,156.60. About 584 shares advanced against 258 declining shares on the BSE.

The Indian rupee has opened on a flat note at 64.92 against the US dollar.

Ashutosh Raina of HDFC Bank says the continued year-end portfolio flows getting absorbed by the intervention bids, continue in the USD-INR pair, with the pair trading close to crucial 64.80-64.85 per dollar technical level.

He expects the pair to trade in the 64.75-65.15 per dollar range for the day.

The dollar rose as a combination of technical trading and a theme of strong US economic data and potential weakness in the euro zone weighed down the continental currency.
Asia traded mixed on the last day of March, as investors digested a mixed set of economic data out of east Asia and President Trump’s tense tweets about his meeting with China’s Xi Jinping next week.