Market Live: Sensex, Nifty extend losses in opening; banks stocks fall again

10:10 am Market Check: Benchmark indices fell further in morning, with the Nifty breaking 10,050 level, weighed by banking & financials stocks.

The 30-share BSE Sensex was down 167.35 points at 32,309.39 and the 50-share NSE Nifty fell 47.40 points to 10,034.10.

About 1,181 shares declined against 721 advancing shares on the BSE.

9:58 am Buzzing: Shares of Sical Logistics advanced 5.6 percent intraday on the back of robust Q1 (April-June) numbers.

The company’s consolidated net profit was up 72.30 percent at Rs 11.2 crore versus Rs 6.5 crore, in a same period last year.

Its revenue was up 14.4 percent at Rs 244.7 crore versus Rs 213.9 crore.

The company’s operating profit (EBITDA) increased 41 percent at Rs 44 crore and EBITDA margin rose 340 bps at 18 percent.

The company at its meeting held on August 2, has decided to provide corporate guarantee to the extent of Rs 40 crore to Kamarajar Port on behalf of the company’s subsidiary for execution of the modification project.

9:43 am Inflation Outlook: Sonal Verma of Nomura feels near-term economic outlook is likely to stay benign owing to GST effects. He said, however, this is a transitory phase and expects growth to be back at above 7 percent and inflation above 4 percent over the next 6-12 months.

According to him, the challenge for the RBI is whether to focus on the near-term benign outlook, which maybe getting influenced by disruptions or to focus on the medium-term outlook that will be sustained once these effects fade.

If the RBI chooses to focus on near-term dynamics, then core inflation will continue to moderate and headline CPI inflation is likely to marginally undershoot the RBI’s projection of a little above 4 percent by Q12018, Verma said. Beyond Q1FY18, he expects CPI inflation to overshoot 4 percent.

9:29 am FII View: Abhay Laijawala of Deutsche Bank said equity market valuations continue to scale new highs.

MSCI India’s current valuation at 19.1x forward PE is significantly higher than the historical average of 15.8x. Valuations are not as expensive on price-to-book ratios, he feels.

Dissecting the valuations on PE for earnings-based sectors and price to book for more cyclical sectors shows relatively not-as-discomforting internals, he said.

He feels, industrials, IT services, utilities and healthcare appear relatively inexpensive relative to their trading history. Telecom and consumer staples appear relatively expensive.

Laijawala maintains sectoral preference for cyclical sectors.

9:15 am Market Check: Equity benchmarks extended losses in opening trade Thursday, with the Nifty struggling below 10,100 level, dragged by banks after RBI policy.

The 30-share BSE Sensex was down 40.79 points at 32,435.95 and the 50-share NSE Nifty fell 12.60 points to 10,068.90.

HDFC Bank, Axis Bank, ICICI Bank, Infosys, ONGC, HUL, Kotak Mahindra Bank, IndusInd Bank, M&M and SBI were under pressure.

IOC gained 1.3 percent ahead of earnings later today. HPCL, Sun Pharma, Wipro, TCS, Eicher Motors, Cipla and Aurobindo Pharma were trading higher.

Nifty Bank lost 0.5 percent. UCO Bank, Union Bank of India, Canara Bank, Bank of India and Allahabad Bank lost up to 3 percent.

HEG, ENIL, Godrej Consumer Products, Colgate, Emami, Voltas and Marico fell up to 3 percent.
Bata India was up 3.4 percent after earnings. Sical Logistics and TBZ also gained up to 3 percent.