Market Live: Nifty opens above 9650, Sensex moderately higher despite weak Asia

10.19 am Market Check: Equity benchmarks extended gains in morning trade, with the Sensex rising more than 100 points after two-day consolidation and despite correction in Asian peers.

The 30-share BSE Sensex rose 106.93 points to 31,352.49 and the 50-share NSE Nifty gained 24.50 points 9,662.10 while the BSE Midcap index was up 0.5 percent and Smallcap rallied 0.7 percent on strong breadth.

More than two shares advanced for every share falling on the BSE.

9:59 am Financial closure: IRB Infrastructure Developers shares rose as much as 3.6 percent in morning trade after its special purpose vehicle Udaipur Tollway Private Limited has successfully achieved financial closure for Udaipur-Gujarat border 6 laning BOT (build-operate-transfer) project.

“The SPV, in terms of the concession agreement executed with the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI), has tied up with the consortium of lenders for project finance to the tune of Rs 1,461 crore,” the largest highways infrastructure developer said in its filing.

Project is financed by consortium of lenders led by Canara Bank. Other members include Bank of India, Bank of Maharashtra, Oriental Bank of Commerce, Indian Overseas Bank, Andhra Bank and Aditya Birla Finance.

The concession period for the project is 21 years including construction period of 910 days.

“Total cost of the project Rs 2,088 crore will be funded by equity contribution of Rs 627 crore by the Company and the remaining amount will be funded by project finance of Rs 1,461 crore with average cost of approximately 10.65 percent per annum,” IRB said.

9:40 am Buzzing: Shares of Punjab National Bank rose over 3 percent intraday as investors cheered an upgrade call on the stock.

Nomura, in its report, upgraded the stock to buy with a target price of Rs 180.

The brokerage house said that the incremental risk reward was favourable after 24 percent correction in two months. Further, it said that asset quality risks were largely discounted while pre-provisioning operating profit (PPOP) remains a pain point.

Having said that, it revised downwards its FY18 profit forecast by 56 percent, while FY19 forecast was unchanged.

9:30 am Earnings Estimates: Sanjeev Prasad of Kotak Institutional Equities said the brokerage house expects the Sensex net income to be flat YoY.

However, it foresees 8 percent YoY decline in net income for its coverage universe including automobiles (inventory clearing due to GST), downstream energy (lower refining margins and adventitious losses due to recent correction in crude prices), pharmaceuticals (disruption in domestic formulation businesses again due to GST) and telecom (continuation of hyper-competitive sector activity).

Kotak estimates Sensex EPS for FY2018 at Rs 1,470 and Rs 1,833 for FY2019. “Our Nifty EPS estimate for FY2018 and FY2019 are Rs 478 and Rs 586,” Prasad said.

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9:15 am Market Check: Equity benchmarks opened moderately higher on Thursday, with the Nifty reclaiming 9650 level despite weakness in Asian peers.

The 30-share BSE Sensex was up 46.88 points at 31,292.44 and the 50-share NSE Nifty rose 8.95 points to 9,646.55.

The broader markets outperformed benchmarks, with the BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices rising 0.5 percent each. About 863 shares advanced against 260 declining shares on the BSE.

Lupin, Tata Motors, Tata Power, Ambuja Cements, Aurobindo Pharma, ITC, L&T, Bharti Infratel and ICICI Bank were early gainers while Bajaj Auto, NTPC, Axis Bank and Yes Bank were under pressure.

ABC Bearings surged 10 percent. Sobha surged 5 percent on strong pre-sales data for Q1FY18.

PNB was up 2.5 percent on Nomura upgrade while Bharat Forge gained 2 percent on North America truck sales order. Shriram EPC surged 10 percent and Venky’s was up 8 percent.

InterGlobe Aviation, Texmaco Infra, Kolte Patil, DB Realty, Jaypee Infratech, Caplin Point, Minda Corporation and Redington gained 1-10 percent but Shiva Cement continued to fall 10 percent.
Asian markets traded weak despite the mostly stronger close on Wall Street, as oil prices recouped some losses after falling around 4 percent overnight.