Market Live: Sensex slips over 200 pts, Nifty below 9850 on North Korea tensions

11:10 am Lock-in period ends: RBL Bank rallied more than 4 percent amid weak market conditions.

The lock-in period for institutional investors, who bought shares through IPO, ended.

According to experts, the stock is trading at higher multiples due to its strong loan growth and better asset quality compared to peers.

In the quarter ended June 2017, bank’s loan growth stood at 40 percent and gross non-performing assets at 1.46 percent.

Federal Bank reported 30 percent loan growth & gross NPAs of 2.42 percent, and DCB Bank 22 percent & 1.74 percent, respectively. IDFC Bank’s gross NPA stood at 4.10 percent.

The stock had listed with 22 percent premium on August 31, 2016 and rallied 140 percent from the issue price.

10:58 am Stake sale: Venture Capital firm Norwest Venture Partners offloaded 9.3 percent stake in diagnostics chain Thyrocare Technologies for an estimated over Rs 335 crore through open market transactions.

The shares were picked by Reliance Mutual Fund and Birla Sunlife Mutual Fund, among others.

According to bulk deal data available with BSE, Norwest Venture Partners VII-A-Mauritius offloaded a total of 50 lakh shares, or 9.30 per cent stake, of Thyrocare Technologies.

The shares were sold on in a price range of Rs 670- 670.88 apiece, valuing the transaction at Rs 335.22 crore.

As of June quarter, the venture capital firm owned 50,64,880 shares amounting to 9.43 per cent stake in the diagnostics chain.

Norwest Venture Partners is a global venture capital and growth equity investment firm that manages more than USD 6 billion in capital.

Reliance MF purchased 11.3 lakh shares of Thyrocare Technologies for Rs 75.71 crore (rpt) crore, while Birla Sunlife MF bought 10 lakh scrips of the diagnostics chain for Rs 67 crore. The shares were picked up by them on an average price of Rs 670.

10:40 am Power pact: Union Power Minister Piyush Goyal said India has entered into a pact with Germany to improve parameters for grid integration of renewable energies.

The Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) and Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH India on behalf of Germany signed an agreement on technical cooperation under the “Indo-German Energy Programme – Green Energy Corridors (IGEN-GEC)” here.

This relationship between GIZ nad India will result in improved market mechanisms and regulations and help train manpower in India to ensure grid stability to ensure more and more integration of renewables in the country, Goyal said.

10:29 am FII View: Asian markets sink further jolted by North Korean missile test over Japan which led to buying in safe havens assets such as gold, Japanese Yen as well as US Treasuries.

“The North Korean situation is likely to continue being a short-term worry for global markets. I think going forward, markets would be volatile for a while. It would be sensible to take some risk off the table,” Manulife AMC’s Geoff Lewis said in an interview with CNBC-TV18.

10:15 am Market Check: Equity benchmarks extended losses in morning as the Sensex was down 227.05 points or 0.72 percent at 31,523.77, dragged by index heavyweights HDFC, HDFC Bank, Reliance Industries and Infosys.

The Nifty broke 9,850 level, down 68.95 points or 0.70 percent to 9,843.85.

The broader markets outperformed benchmarks, though they were also under pressure. The BSE Midcap index was down 0.3 percent and Smallcap declined 0.5 percent as about 1,171 shares declined against 705 advancing shares on the BSE.

10:05 am Infosys buyback: Infosys founders are likely to sell some of their stake in the company’s Rs 13,000-crore share buyback programme, the company said today.

The promoters’ keenness to participate in the buyback comes within days of a silent coup by founders led by N R Narayana Murthy to seize control of India’s second-biggest software services firm.

The founders and their families between them hold some 12.75 percent (29.28 crore shares) of Infosys. Murthy declined to comment on if he would participate in the buyback.

The buyback price of Rs 1,150 is higher than the current stock trading price of Rs 941.15 and is considered “reasonably good” by the firm’s former CFO V Balakrishnan.

Founded in 1981 by seven engineers – all former employees of Patni Computer Systems – with an initial capital of USD 250, Infosys today has grown into over USD 10 billion company.

9:58 am Buzzing: Share price of Swan Energy gained 4 percent as it subsidiary company entered into contract with Hyundai Heavy Industries Company

Triumph Offshore, 100 percent subsidiary of company, has executed ship building contract with Hyundai Heavy Industries Company, South Korea in connection with its upcoming FSRU project at Jafrabad, Gujarat.

The contract includes the construction of one 180000 CBM LNG Floating Storage and re-gasification unit (FSRU).

Swan

9:45 am OFS opens: NTPC fell more than 4 percent in early trade on equity dilution by the government through offer for sale route.

The offer for sale issue of the country’s largest power generation company has opened for subscription today and will remain opened till Wednesday.

In two days, the Government of India will a 5 percent stake (i.e. 41,22,73,220 equity shares) in the company with a greenshoe option to sell an additional 5 percent stake.

The government has set a floor price at Rs 168 per share for the sale through a stock market auction. It will get more than Rs 13,500 crore through this stake sale.

Non-retail investors are allowed to place their bids for the issue on both days while retail investors can participate in the issue on second day i.e. Wednesday.

Retail investors will get shares at a 5 percent discount to the cut-off price.

9:29 am FII View: Alexander Redman of Credit Suisse said the research house recommended that investors refrain from buying into the recent rally in Indian equities and remain 15 percent underweight.

“While we remain constructive on the long-term investment case for India given its sustainable economic growth model underpinned by structural drivers such as urbanisation, superior demographics, improving financial inclusion and productivity catch-up, we wait for a better entry point to participate in this structural growth story,” he said.

9:15 am Market Check: Equity benchmarks opened sharply lower on Tuesday on weakness in Asian peers after the launch of missile by North Korea.

The 30-share BSE Sensex was down 128.02 points at 31,622.80 and the 50-share NSE Nifty fell 41.95 points to 9,870.85.

ACC, Bank of Baroda and Tata Power were under pressure, down 1-2 percent after NSE decided to exclude these stocks from Nifty50. HPCL and UPL gained up to 2 percent on addition in Nifty50.

Nifty Midcap was down 0.5 percent on market breadth. About two shares declined for every share rising on the NSE.

DLF lost further, down 2 percent after losing 3.6 percent in previous session despite GIC deal.
Thyrocare, Fortis Healthcare, JP Associates, Biocon and Amara Raja Batteries gained up to 5 percent while Jaypee Infra, RBL Bank, 8K Miles, Dish TV, Bata India and Reliance Infrastructure fell up to 4 percent.