Closing Bell: Sensex ends 100 points higher, Nifty closes below 9450; LT, Bharti Infratel gain
The Sensex ended up 106.05 points at 30570.97, while the Nifty closed up 10.35 points at 9438.25. The market breadth was negative as 903 shares advanced against a decline of 1,852 shares, while 161 shares were unchanged.
ITC, Bharti Infratel and Larsen & Toubro gained the most on both indices, while State Bank of India and Lupin were a drag.
Midcaps continued their decline from the previous sessions, along with PSU Banks, and energy, while FMCG stocks gained the most.
3:10 pm Maruti Suzuki’s output plan: Car market leader Maruti Suzuki aims to aggressively target the domestic consumer which as per plan involves doubling of output capacity, launching a series of next-gen products including a ‘World Car’ from India.
The maker of popular cars such as Alto and Swift will nearly double its production capacity to 3 million units by 2025 from 1.56 million clocked last year to defend and grow its domestic market share.
Further, the Delhi-based company will have a ‘Global Car’ developed almost entirely in India leveraging the rapidly growing local research and development center. This car will be developed by Indian engineers from Maruti Suzuki in India, according to sources.
2:35 pm Buzzing Stock: Shares of Bank of India plunged more than 9 percent intraday Monday as it has registered net loss in March quarter (Q4FY17) compare to profit reported in the quarter ended December 2016.
The bank narrowed its net loss in the fourth quarter results ending March 2017 at Rs 1045 crore driven by interest income and lower provisions. The net loss a year ago was at Rs 3587 crore.
However, the loss comes against a profit of Rs 102 crore in the December quarter.
2:10 pm Market Check: Benchmark indices traded in a narrow range, even as selling pressure continued, while the market struggled to get back to opening levels.
The Sensex was up 137.33 points at 30602.25, while the Nifty was up 23.20 points at 9451.10. The market breadth was negative as 1,000 shares advanced against a decline of 1,595 shares, while 170 shares were unchanged.
ITC, Tata Motors and Zee Entertainment gained the most, while SBI and Lupin continued to decline.
1:50 pm Gandhigiri by Punjab National Bank: Punjab National Bank’s (PNB), one of the top three government lenders, is focussing on ‘Gandhigiri’ to help double its recoveries and reduce non-performing assets (NPAs).
In 2015, Andhra Bank and United Bank of India’s employee unions had resorted to ‘Gandhigiri’ – made famous by Bollywood movie Lage Raho Munna Bhai which endorses a less aggressive approach in dealing with debtors – to recover loans from wilful defaulters.
Sunil Mehta, the newly appointed CEO and Managing Director of the PNB, is aggressively stepping up its recovery mechanism by incentivising employees and reviving innovative ideas to tackle bad loans.
1:30 pm Product nod: Drug firm Lupin today said it has received approval from India’s Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO) for Bepotastine tablets, used in treatment of patients suffering from allergic symptoms. Lupin said it will commence promoting the product in the country shortly.
“Bepotastine is a new second generation antihistamine medicine to be introduced into the Indian Pharmaceutical Market (IPM) which could benefit millions of patients suffering from allergic symptoms.
1:10 pm Market Check: Equity benchmarks trimmed some more of its gains, with the Nifty struggled to hold 9450-mark as well.
The Sensex was up 97.44 points at 30562.36, while the Nifty was up 15.15 points at 9443.05. The market breadth was negative as 1,006 shares advanced against a decline of 1,527 shares, while 155 shares were unchanged.
ITC, Tata Motors and Bharti Infratel were the top gainers, while Lupin and State Bank of India lost the most.
12:25 pm Buzzing Stock: Shares of Elecon Engineering Company rose more than 7 percent intraday Monday on the back of robust fourth quarter numbers.
The company’s Q4FY17 net profit jumped 29.1 percent at Rs 29.7 crore against net profit of Rs 23 crore, in the same quarter last fiscal.
Total income of the company fell 1.5 percent at Rs 446.6 crore versus Rs 453.3 crore.
12:10 pm Market Check: Benchmark indices continued to trade in a range after seeing a gap up opening, with the Nifty above 9450 mark.
The Sensex was up 136.76 points at 30601.68, while the Nifty was up 28.25 points at 9456.15. The market breadth was negative as just 1,098 shares advanced against a decline of 1,322 shares, while 171 shares were unchanged.
ITC, Adani Ports and Bharti Infratel were the top gainers on both indices, while Lupin and SBI lost the most.
11:40 am Expert Speak: Udayan Mukherjee of CNBC-TV18 says the correction for the market is not coming because people are expecting it and if one were to look at bull market corrections, they usually do not follow predictable pattern – they come when they are least expected and they are very sharp but not protracted.
Moreover, the other factor that could be preventing a correction could be that mutual funds are continuing to see huge inflows and if one looked at the buying pattern of the last one-month of these large MFs they are buying 8-10 largecap names, says Mukherjee, adding that the MFs are getting so much money but they cannot deploy that into midcaps because of valuation concerns and so they are buying the ITCs and HDFCs of the world.
11:19 am Buzzing Stock: Shares of Kotak Mahindra Bank gained around 2 percent intraday on Monday on reports of the bank’s promoter selling his stake.
Uday Kotak is said to have sold 1.58 crore shares in the bank through a block deal in a bid to reduce his holding. Kotak’s holding in the bank is now 29.9 percent from 30.8 percent.
At 11:18 hrs, the stock was quoting at Rs 945.50, up Rs 8.10, or 0.86 percent. It touched an intraday high of Rs 953.35 and an intraday low of Rs 937.35.
11:02 am Market Check: After erasing a huge chunk of the morning gains, benchmark indices traded steady, largely supported by ITC’s rally.
The Sensex was up 139.28 points at 30604.20, while the Nifty was up 28.20 points at 9456.10. The market breadth was narrow as 1,111 shares advanced against a decline of 1,166 shares, while 141 shares were unchanged.
ITC, Hindustan Unilever, and Indiabulls Housing gained the most on both the indices, while SBI, Lupin, and Tata Power lost the most.
Midcaps continued to underperform the index, while pharma stocks were lower as well.
10:45 am Gold update: Gold prices edged lower on Monday as Asian stocks gained, although political worries surrounding U.S. President Donald Trump are expected to keep supporting appetite for the metal as a so-called safe-haven asset.
Trump was hit on Friday by embarrassing leaks that a senior adviser was a “person of interest” in a probe of possible collusion with Russia during last year’s election campaign and that Trump had boasted to Russian officials of firing the man heading the investigation.
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10:20 am Market Outlook: In an interview to CNBC-TV18, Manish Ostwal, Senior Research Analyst at Nirmal Bang Securities spoke about State Bank of India’s Q4 numbers and the performance of the subsidiaries.
“At the current market price of Rs 308 the stock is fairly priced, relatively better standalone performance and speedier execution of associate banks but we need to see the performance of the merged entity going ahead and any lapses on that especially on the recognition side of the NPA assets – that could be the downside risk to the stock and right now the risk-reward is not that attractive to buy the stock,” said Ostwal.
10:00 am Market Check: Equity benchmarks soon gave up their gains from the opening tick, with the Sensex looking to snap 30,600.
The Sensex was up 139.54 points at 30604.46, while the Nifty was up 31.50 points at 9459.40. The market breadth was narrow as 1,131 shares advanced against a decline of 840 shares, while 109 shares were unchanged.
ITC, Adani Ports and Kotak Mahindra Bank were the top gainers, while State Bank of India, Sun Pharma and Tata Power lost the most.
Midcaps erased all their gains from the opening session, following heavy selling pressure. A fall was also seen in other sectors such as pharma and PSU banks.
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9:50 am Buzzing Stock: Shares of Suzlon Energy touched 52-week high of Rs 22.25, rose more than 8 percent intraday on Monday as it registered a turnaround in its March quarter numbers.
The company has reported a net profit of Rs 579 crore in the Q4FY17 against loss of Rs 333.9 crore, in the same quarter last year.
9:30 am EPFO investment in ETFs: Union minister Bandaru Dattatreya said the EPFO will take a final call on raising investment limit in exchange traded funds (ETFs) to 15 percent from 10 percent at a meeting scheduled on May 27 in Pune.
“On May 27, Employees Provident Fund Organisations (EPFO) Central Board of Trustees (CBT) meeting is scheduled in Pune. Now one of the major agenda item is ETF investments,” Dattatreya, the Minister of State for Labour and Employment, told reporters here.
9:15 am Market Opens: The market began the week on a positive note, with benchmark indices tracking trends from the global bourses and saw a gap-up opening.
The 30-share Sensex was up 204.32 points at 30669.24, while the Nifty was higher by 51.15 points at 9479.05. The market breadth was healthy as 430 shares advanced against a decline of 106 shares, while 37 shares were unchanged.
Midcaps gained nearly a percent, while FMCG index on the Nifty gained over a percent. Gains in auto, bank and infra were also seen on the index.
ITC, Tata Steel and Hindalco gained the most on both indices, while Wipro, Sun Pharma and State Bank of India lost the most.
The Indian rupee gained in the early trade on Monday. It has opened higher by 12 paise at 64.52 per dollar versus 64.64 Friday.
Pramit Brahmbhatt of Veracity said, “In the absence of any directional cue, the USD-INR pair will trade in a range of 64.50-64.80/dollar. However, technical bias would remain positive for the dollar.”
On the global front, Asian equities traded mostly higher on Monday, following the continued recovery on Wall Street last week and as investors digest yet another missile test out of North Korea at the weekend.
The hermit state said the missile test on Sunday involved an intermediate-range ballistic missile, according to Reuters. North Korean state media said leader Kim Jong Un had “approved the deployment” of the missile, Reuters said.
Markets are also likely watching the outcome of US President Donald Trump’s first foreign trip which began in Saudi Arabia during the weekend. An arms deal worth USD 350 billion was inked on Saturday between the two countries.
The Nikkei 225 was 0.34 percent higher. Australia’s ASX 200 added 0.66 percent, driven largely by its energy and materials sub-indexes which were up 1.85 percent and 1.43 percent respectively.
South Korea’s benchmark Kospi index shrugged off news of the North Korean missile test, gaining 0.36 percent.
The Hang Seng Index traded 0.37 percent higher, but markets on the mainland were in the red. The Shanghai Composite was down 0.18 percent and the Shenzhen Composite dipped 0.166 percent.
