Market Live: Sensex, Nifty hold morning gains; SBI, Bank of Baroda top gainers

12:58 pm Oil recovers: Oil prices recovered some ground on strong demand in the United States, but analysts cautioned that oversupply would continue to drag on markets after a steep fall in the previous session.

Brent crude futures were trading up 1.13 percent, at USD 48.33 per barrel while US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures were up 1.17 percent, at USD 45.66 per barrel.

12.41 pm Market Check: Equity benchmarks continued to hold morning gains, backed by banking & financials, auto, infra stocks and ITC.

The 30-share BSE Sensex was up 153.80 points at 31,399.36 and the 50-share NSE Nifty rose 42.45 points to 9,680.05.

The market breadth remained strong as about two shares gained for every share falling on the BSE.

Markets in Europe opened higher as investors digested minutes from key central banks and follow geopolitical events.

Image2

12:10 pm Drug approval: Drug firm Jubilant Life Sciences today said its subsidiary has received final approval from the US health regulator for Bupropion Hydrochloride extended- release tablets, used for the treatment of major depressive disorder and prevention of seasonal affective disorder.

“Jubilant Pharma Ltd…has received abbreviated new drug application (ANDA) final approval for Bupropion Hydrochloride extended-release tablets USP (XL), 150 mg and 300 mg,” Jubilant Life Sciences said in a BSE filing.

The approved product is the generic version of Wellbutrin XL of Valeant, which is used for the treatment of major depressive disorder and prevention of seasonal affective disorder.

This is the fourth approval received by the company from the USFDA during the current financial year.

11:50 am Smallcap index at record high: The rally in the broader market continues as the S&P BSE Smallcap index hit a fresh record high 15,866.14. The index has already rallied over 30 percent so far in the year 2017 compared to near-18 percent rally seen in the S&P BSE Sensex.

The rally in the index was led by gains in Future Consumer, Mannapuram Finance, Cholamandalam Investment, Federal Bank, IDFC, Tube Investments, Prestige Estates, and Caplin Point.

11.30 am Market Check: Benchmark indices rallied further in late morning trade, with the Sensex rising more than 150 points on the back of strong rally in PSU banks.

The 30-share BSE Sensex rose 163.61 points to 31,409.17 and the 50-share NSE Nifty gained 41.05 points at 9,678.65.

The broader markets continued to rally on strong breadth. About two shares advanced for every share falling on the BSE.

Nifty PSU Bank index rose nearly 3 percent after brokerage houses upgraded leading PSUs Bank of Baroda and Punjab National Bank as valuations turned reasonable after recent correction on NPA concerns.

image1

11:15 am Auto sales: Tata Motors gained more than a percent intraday despite slow growth in Jaguar Land Rover sales.

JLR sales during June increased 7 percent to 9,161 units against 8,591 units sold in same month last year, driven by Land Rover.

Land Rover sales grew by 9 percent to 6,201 units while Jaguar sales increased 1 percent to 2,960 units compared with corresponding month last year.

10:55 am Market Outlook: With the market’s current trajectory, the question arises on the participation of retail and HNI (high net worth) investors in the current scenario. Emkay Global believes that the market seems to be in a consolidation mode right now.

“We have seen reasonable amount of profit taking and sector/stock rotation is the order of the day,” Krishna Kumar Karwa, Managing Director, Emkay Global Financial Services told CNBC-TV18 in an interview.

He added that direct retail participation was muted and was largely through mutual funds or portfolio management services (PMS) or specialised advisory. Meanwhile, he said that HNIs continued to remain positive.

10:46 am Buzzing: Bharat Forge shares gained as much as 2.5 percent in morning trade after solid growth in orders for North America class 8 trucks.

Orders for class 8 trucks increased 38 percent in June to 17,764 units, reports CNBC-TV18 quoting FTR.

Orders for the June month were also far better than 16,300 units in May.

North America truck orders contributed nearly 20 percent of revenue on standalone basis in FY17.

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.

Also read – Buy, Sell, Hold: Here are 7 stocks that analysts are watching today

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.