Market Live: Sensex gains 150 pts despite tepid GDP growth; Bajaj Auto gains 4%

3:20 pm Cabinet reshuffle: The much-anticipated Union Cabinet reshuffle will take place on Sunday between 9 am and 11 am, hours before Prime Minister Narendra Modi leaves for the China to attend the BRICS summit, sources have told Moneycontrol.

About two dozen ministers could get affected in the shuffle, possibly the last such exercise before the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.

Agriculture minister Radha Mohan Singh, Water Resources minister Uma Bharti, Skills Development Minister Rajiv Pratap Rudy and Commerce and Industry Minister Nirmala Sitharaman may be removed from the Cabinet and given party responsibilities as part of a broader strategy leading up the 2019 polls.

Finance minister Arun Jaitley, who is also holding the defence portfolio, will likely hold only one of the two after the shuffle. It is widely speculated that Power minister Piyush Goyal could be elevated and given charge of one of these portfolios. Jaitley has been holding charge of the defence ministry since Manohar Parrikar was sent to Goa as Chief Minister earlier this year.

3:05 pm Auto sales: Tata Motors’ August sales were far ahead of analysts’ expectations, registering a 14 percent growth on year-on-year basis following 7 percent growth in July.

The passenger and commercial vehicle maker sold 48,988 units in August compared with 43,105 units sold in same month last year, which was much ahead of CNBC-TV18 poll of 44,000 units.

The growth was driven by domestic sales that grew by 26 percent year-on-year to 45,906 units due to growing demand across segments and increased positive customer sentiments, but exports continued to be subdued, falling 53 percent to 3,082 units compared with July 2016.

In August 2017, passenger vehicles, in the domestic market, increased 10 percent to 14,340 units, bolstered by the strong demand for the Tata Tiago and the Tata Tigor.

“The car segment remained flat at 11,462 units and the utility segment grew by 84 percent to 2,878 units, driven by the Tata HEXA,” Tata Motors said.

2:56 pm Buzzing: Shares of Gravita India touched 52-week high of Rs 134.65, rising 11 percent intraday on the back of strong Q1 numbers.

The company’s Q1FY18 consolidated net profit increased 47.3 percent at Rs 10.9 crore against Rs 7.4 crore, in a year ago period.

The revenue of the company jumped 46 percent to Rs 201.5 crore versus RS 138 crore.

The operating profit (EBITDA) was up 0.8 percent at Rs 18.9 crore and EBITDA margin was up at 10 percent.

On August 31, 2017 LTS Investment Fund sold 12,94,510 shares of the company at Rs 114.04 on the BSE. However, SBI Small And Midcap NSDL Fund bought 7,90,000 shares at Rs 114.11.

2:51 pm Drug approval: Cadila Healthcare shares rallied 2.5 percent intraday after receiving final nod for anti-dementia medicine.

Zydus Cadila, the group company, today said it has received final approval from the US Food and Drug Administration to market Donepezil Hydrochloride tablets in the strength of 23 mg.

The drug will be manufactured at the group’s formulations manufacturing facility at Moraiya in Ahmedabad, Zydus said.

The tablets are indicated for the treatment of dementia of the Alzheimer’s disease.

The company has been getting several approvals filed especially from the Moraiya facility that was cleared in February.

2:45 pm Bajaj Auto in focus: Bajaj Auto share price rallied more than 4 percent after the two-wheeler maker reported 2.98 per cent increase in total sales in August at 3,35,031 units as against 3,25,347 units in the same month last year.

Domestic sales increased marginally at 2,00,659 units as against 2,00,314 units in the same month last year, Bajaj Auto said in a statement.

Total motorcycle sales were at 2,83,861 units as against 2,79,911 units in August last year, up 1.4 per cent. Domestic motorcycle sales were at 1,71,664 units last month as compared to 1,74,719 units in August last year, down 1.75 per cent.

Bajaj Auto said its total commercial vehicles sales stood at 51,170 units as against 45,436 units in the year-ago month, a growth of 12.62 per cent.

Exports during the month were at 1,34,372 units as compared to 1,25,033 units in the corresponding month last year, up 7.47 per cent, the company added.

2:36 pm Market Check: Equity benchmarks remained higher in afternoon despite sluggish growth in economic growth reported yesterday after market hours.

The 30-share BSE Sensex was up 143.20 points at 31,873.69 and the 50-share NSE Nifty rose 49.80 points to 9,967.70.

About two shares advanced for every share falling on the BSE.

2:29 pm Auto sales: Home-grown auto major Mahindra and Mahindra today reported 21.95 per cent increase in total tractor sales at 16,516 units in August this year.

The company had sold 13,543 units in the same month last year, Mahindra and Mahindra said in a statement.

Domestic sales were at 15,246 units as against 12,327 units in the year-ago month, up 23.67 per cent, it added.

Commenting on the sales performance, Rajesh Jejurikar, president of farm equipment sector, Mahindra and Mahindra, said: “With the normal monsoon received in the country till date, we are hopeful that it will boost the agricultural output leading to improved tractor demand in the festive months.”

Exports during the month stood at 1,270 units as against 1,216 units in the same month last year, a growth of 4.44 per cent, the company said.

2:16 pm Buzzing Stock: Investors were bullish on Sun TV on hopes of digitisation push in Tamil Nadu, which pushed up the stock price by over 12 percent intraday.

The Tamil Nadu Arasu Cable TV Corporation reportedly has launched its digital system from September 1, 2017 and analysts believe that around Rs 70-80 crore revenues per year can be gained from the digitisation exercise.

The move is seen as positive for Sun TV as it could help in registering gains in revenues and profits as it had mentioned in a concall that subscription revenues from digitisation could double in 2-3 years.

1:55 pm Management take: Focusing on the agri space ahead of the Motilal Oswal 13th annual global investor conference on Monday, CNBC-TV18 spoke to Niket Shah, VP-Research, Motilal Oswal Institutional Equities and Mayank Singhal, MD & CEO, PI

Industries for the outlook on the rural sector and business outlook going forward.

Singhal said the business outlook going forward looks good.

Shah said the agri space needs to be bifurcated into three segments – seeds, agro chemcials and fertilisers. After two years of good monsoons, agro chemicals will do well over next 2-3 years.

1:35 pm Expert Speak: Lord Meghnad Desai from the sidelines of the Elara India Conference spoke to CNBC-Tv18 on whole range of issues from geopolitical to macro data.

Speaking on the weak GDP data, he said the peculiar thing with the Indian data is they are out of touch with the way economy is changing. According to him there is potential for the economy to pick up but believes it is a wakeup call for the government.

He thinks the government has to do something about bank balance sheets and rescue PSU banks from total disaster, and also have to improve flow of credit.

1:25 pm Market Check: Equity benchmarks continued to trade higher in afternoon, with the 30-share BSE Sensex rising 136.56 points to 31,867.05.

The 50-share NSE Nifty maintained 9,950 level since morning, up 42.45 points at 9,960.35.

The broader markets continued to outperform benchmarks as the BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices gained 1 percent each on positive breadth.

About two shares advanced for every share falling on the BSE.

Sun TV Network was biggest gainer among midcaps, up 10 percent.

1:19 pm Tractors sales: Escorts continued to post solid growth in tractors sales in August, following a 34.3 percent growth in July YoY.

The Faridabad-based tractor maker sold 4,587 units in month gone by, a growth of 23.2 percent compared with 3,722 units in same month last year.

Domestic tractor sales grew by 19.9 percent year-on-year to 4,398 units while exports increased 243.6 percent to 189 units in August.

1:11 pm Aditya Birla Capital in focus: Aditya Birla Group listed its newly formed financial services company Aditya Birla Capital on the stock exchanges today.

“We are operating in a very broad range of financial services. We have 12 lines of businesses and many of our businesses are already leading, such as life insurance company, mutual fund company, non-banking financial company (NBFC), general insurance broker and we want to continue that path of making sure that we can build scale in every business in which we operate in,” Ajay Srinivasan CEO of Aditya Birla Capital said in an interview to CNBC-TV18.

We aim to grow faster than the market, he added.

According to him, Indian market is still underpenetrated and therefore he sees a lot of opportunities.

12:58 pm Auto sales: Eicher Motors said Royal Enfield sales in the month of August stood at 67,977 units, higher by 22 percent over same month last year. It was driven by sales of models with engine capacity up to 350cc that increased 29 percent to 63,637 units.

The company sold total 55,721 units in August 2016. Total sales were ahead of CNBC-TV18 poll estimates of 65,193 units.

The overall growth was despite fall in sales of models with engine capacity exceeding 350cc that fell 30 percent to 4,340 units in month gone by.

Exports during the month grew by 12 percent to 1,105 units compared with 986 units sold in overseas markets in corresponding month of previous year.

12:43 pm Europe trade: European markets started slightly higher as investors geared up for more data releases, while taking note of the positive trading seen overseas.

The pan-European Stoxx 600 was 0.37 percent higher with every sector moving in positive territory.

Sentiment appears to have been boosted somewhat, following a positive close on Wall Street on Thursday, and a upbeat session from Asia.

In Asia, markets were boosted on the back of the release of the Caixin China manufacturing data for August, which beat market expectations and came in at a six-month high.

12:38 pm FM on GDP: Finance Minister Arun Jaitley today attributed the lower GDP numbers to pre-GST destocking of goods and expressed hope that the economy will grow at 7 percent, saying manufacturing has bottomed out.

He further said that improvement in the global economy and good monsoon will aid GDP growth in the coming quarters which ought to be better if the country is to achieve the annual growth target.

The Economic Survey had projected a growth of 6.75 percent to 7.5 percent for 2017-18.

The Indian economy grew 5.7 percent in April-June, sharply lower than last year’s 7.9 percent expansion in the same quarter as also the previous quarter’s 6.1 percent growth, signs that the country was still reeling under the shock of demonetisation and disruption caused ahead of GST’s rollout.

12:30 pm USFDA inspection: Drug firm Strides Shasun has received an Establishment Inspection Report (EIR) from the US health regulator for its formulations facility at Bengaluru.

“The company’s formulations facility (KRSG Gardens) in Bengaluru which was inspected by the USFDA in May 2017 has received the EIR, thereby confirming the closure of the inspection,” Strides said in a BSE filing.

The KRSG Gardens facility manufactures tablets, capsules, liquids, sachets, creams and ointments. The facility supports important current and future products for the US market.

12:25 pm Market Check: Equity benchmarks maintained their morning gains despite slow growth in GDP, backed by auto, pharma, consumption and banks stocks.

The 30-share BSE Sensex was up 130.71 points or 0.41 percent at 31,861.20 and the 50-share NSE Nifty rose 40.30 points or 0.41 percent to 9,958.20 on positive breadth.

The broader markets gained 1 percent, outperforming benchmarks. About two shares advanced for every share falling on the BSE.

12:12 pm Buzzing: Shares of IRB Infrastructure Developers rose 3 percent intraday as the company has decided to sale of its special purpose vehicle to IRB InvIT Fund.

“The InvIT Committee of the company at its meeting held on August 31, has approved the proposed sale of IRB Pathankot Amritsar Toll Road (IPATRL) to the IRB InvIT Fund (Trust), at an enterprise value of Rs 1569.33 crore, as per company release.

The said value arrived at pursuant to negotiations and the valuation and due diligence exercise conducted by and on behalf of the Investment Manager of the Trust.

IPATRL is a SPV formed by the company in the year 2009 for the purpose of the implementation of project of design, engineering, finance, construction, operation and maintenance of Pathankot to Amritsar section of NH-15 in the state of Punjab.

11:55 am Settlement for drug: Dr Reddy’s Laboratories shares rallied more than 9 percent intraday after settlement agreement with US-based Vivus to resolve a long-pending patent litigation related to anti-obesity pill (or weight management capsules) Qsymia.

The settlement agreement permits the company to begin selling a generic version of Qsymia on June 1, 2025, or earlier under certain circumstances. In the event of a launch earlier than June 1, 2025, Vivus will receive a royalty on sales of the generic version of Qsymia.

Qysmia is a combination of phentermine and topiramate extended-release sold in capsule form. The drug is used to manage chronic overweight in adults with obesity symptoms.

The drug has gross sales of around USD 73.6 million in 2016.

11:47 am Buzzing: Share price of Rane Holdings gained nearly 10 percent intraday on strong numbers and acquisition of majority stake in Bengaluru based company.

The company has registered 89 percent increase in its Q1FY18 net profit at Rs 35.98 crore as compared to Rs 19 Crore in the same quarter last year.

The operating profit (EBITDA) was at Rs 52.02 crore and EBITDA margin was at 10.6 percent.

The company board has approved the acquisition of 70 percent shareholding in Bangaluru-based Telematics4U Services.

11:43 am Market Outlook: A day after the government reported lower-than-anticipated gross domestic product (GDP) figures, the market seems to have taken it in its stride and was trading in the green.

This stance by investors could be due to their belief in structural reforms being carried out in the country, Edelweiss Securities explained.

“Potential of the economy growing at 8-9 percent, inflation going down, other markets not giving good returns is all making the market ignore short-term pain. Plus, domestically, money is coming in from investors in terms of financial assets,” Vikas Khemani, President and CEO, Edelweiss Securities, said in an interview to CNBC-TV18. Moreover, the market will remain solid on a sustainable path, with minor corrections, he added.

Speaking on the GDP data, Khemani said that GST, RERA and demonetisation had a short-term impact on the economy. Having said that, we are in the middle of transformative phase and the GDP should be back to normalcy over the next couple of quarters, he added.

Based on these, the market will also remain strong, backed by strong domestic inflows, he said, adding that this is just the beginning of the trend and household savings could move more towards financial assets.

11:30 am Crude oil falls: US crude futures fell in Asian trading, partly reversing sharp gains from the previous session, amid ongoing turmoil in the oil industry with nearly a quarter of US refining capacity offline.

US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) was down 0.64 percent at USD 46.93 per barrel. The contract rebounded 2.8 percent on Thursday but is still heading for a weekly decline of 1.9 percent.

The new Brent contract for November delivery was down 0.26 percent at USD 52.72 barrel. The contract for October delivery, which ended trading on Thursday, closed up 2.99 percent, at USD 52.38 a barrel.

11:15 am Auto sales: Ashok Leyland has reported healthy sales growth in August, the second month for goods & services tax that implemented from July 1.

The country’s second largest commercial vehicle maker sold 13,634 units in month gone by, a growth of 25 percent compared with 10,897 units sold in same month last year.

Sales data was much ahead of estimates. A CNBC-TV18 poll estimated sales at 12,000 units for the month.

Medium and heavy commercial vehicle sales grew by 29 percent year-on-year to 10,567 units and light commercial vehicle sales increased 14 percent to 3,067 units in August.

11:00 am Buzzing: Share price of Shankara Building Products touched 52-week high of Rs 1,254.10, gaining 6 percent intraday Friday as it has started its new processing facility and relocates one of its existing facility.

The company has started new processing facility in Secunderabad in the state of Telangana to capitalise on the growing requirements of the region through its network of Telangana state retail outlets.

Centurywells Roofing India, a step-down subsidiary of company, has started a new colour coated roofing sheet processing facility at Secunderabad.

Taurus Value Steel & Strips, a wholly owned subsidiary of company, has relocated its processing unit from Surat to Chegunta, Hyderabad.

The installed capacity of this unit is around 800 MT per month.

The relocation will help improve capacity utilization of the facility due to increased availability of raw materials which was hampering growth in Surat.

10:47 am Manufacturing PMI: India’s factory activity unexpectedly expanded in August, snapping back from a contraction the previous month, as disruptions stemming from confusion over a new national sales tax eased, a business survey showed on Friday.

The rebound suggests that India’s economic growth rate, which unexpectedly slipped to three-year low of 5.7 percent in the April-June quarter from a year ago, may also improve in the current quarter.

The Nikkei/Markit Manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index rose more than three points to 51.2 in August from 47.9 in July, beating the median economist forecast of 49.3 in a Reuters poll. A reading above 50 indicates expansion.

That was the biggest one-month jump in 5-1/2 years.

10:35 am Buzzing: Shares of Sadbhav Engineering advanced 4.6 percent intraday as it has declared lower bidder by government of Gujarat.

The company has been declared the successful bidder (L1) in respect of the bid invited by road & building department, government of Gujarat for the two projects on EPC Mode for aggregating value of Rs 900 crore.

The projects include, upgradation to 6 lane with paved shoulders of Sayla-Bamanbore section of NH 8A on EPC mode in the state of Gujarat.

The other project includes, upgradation to 6 lane with paved shoulders of Bagodara-Limbdi section of NH 8A.

Both the above projects are part of 215 kms long stretch between Ahmedabad and Rajkot.

10:20 am Auto sales: Maruti Suzuki India recorded healthy growth of 23.8 percent in August by selling 1.63 lakh shares compared with 1.32 lakh units sold in same month last year.

The growth was largely driven by passenger vehicles sales that grew by a whopping 28.4 percent to 1.16 lakh units in month gone by.

Total sales numbers were ahead of a CNBC-TV18 poll that estimated at 1.58 lakh units for the month.

Passenger vehicles also boosted domestic sales growth that was 26.2 percent at 1.52 lakh units against 1.19 lakh units sold in corresponding month of previous year.

10:11 am Chart of the Day: Earnings growth could rise into double digits from the September-2017 quarter onwards, CLSA said in a strategy report.

10:00 am New listing: Aditya Birla Capital listed at Rs 237.50 on the National Stock Exchange, which was 5 percent lower compared with pre-opening price of Rs 250.

In fact, the stock is locked at 5 percent lower circuit amid heavy volumes.

Grasim Industries gained 1.6 percent while Aditya Birla Money fell nearly 4 percent.

9:59 am Market Check: Equity benchmarks extended gains in morning trade as the 30-share BSE Sensex was up 127.20 points at 31,857.69.

The 50-share NSE Nifty reclaimed 9,950, up 37.40 points at 9,955.30.

About 1,325 shares advanced against 426 advancing shares on the BSE.

9:53 am Experts’ take on GDP: Sonal Varma of Nomura said given the lower Q2 print, the research house is revising full-year forecast to 6.7 percent in 2017 versus 6.9 percent earlier, before it accelerates to 7.8 percent in 2018.

Even as headline GDP data has disappointed, the turnaround in private services suggests that the growth cycle will head higher once the GST effects fade, she added.

From the RBI’s perspective, the GDP data is disappointing, but the current slowdown is largely due to GST, which should be seen as transitory, she feels.

According to her, focus remains on inflation, which is on an upward trajectory.

“Given our view that both growth and inflation are headed higher in the next 6-9 months, we expect the RBI to stay on hold,” Verma said.

9:50 am Pre-opening for new entrant: Aditya Birla Capital settled at Rs 250 per share in pre-opening on NSE.

9:45 am New entrant: Aditya Birla Capital will list on bourses today.

Aditya Birla Capital is the demerged company from Grasim which holds controlling stake in financial services businesses of the group. The demerger and listing of financial services business under one umbrella was part of the group restructuring exercise and was aimed at unlocking value for shareholders.

“Quality company with controlling stake in Aditya Birla group’s asset management, insurance and lending businesses is good investment opportunity for long term investors,” Sharekhan said.

9:40 am FII View: Sakthi Siva of Credit Suisse said the four most overvalued markets on price-to-book value versus return on equity valuation model are India, Indonesia, Philippines and Malaysia.

While historically markets tend to be overvalued because of investors’ perception of structural growth and therefore the ability to deliver on earnings but all four are associated with downgrades to 2017 estimated consensus EPS in August, she added.

“While we have previously highlighted three years of cuts to 2017 expected consensus EPS for India, we highlight that EPS cuts in August are not one-off for the other three as well. We re-iterate underweight on the ‘Expensive 4’ club,” Siva said.

9:29 am Buzzing: Shares of Welspun Enterprises rose more than 6 percent in the early trade on the back of letter of award from National Highways Authority of India.

“The company has received letter of award from National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) for the six-laning of Aunta-Simaria section of NH-31 in the state of Bihar on hybrid annuity model (HAM), as per company release.

“The company will develop the project stretch of 8.15 km at a bid project cost of Rs 1161 crore, and shall receive Rs 9.90 crore / year as O&M payments along with the annuity and interest thereon from NHAI for a period of 15 years post-construction.”

With the award of this project, the company has built a portfolio of four HAM projects totalling to Rs 4,129 crore.

9:15 am Market Check: The NSE Nifty started off September series on a flat note on Friday but the broader markets outperformed, rising half a percent.

The 30-share BSE Sensex was up 25.19 points at 31,755.68 and the 50-share NSE Nifty rose 6.2 points to 9,924.10.

Bajaj Auto gained 2 percent on August sales data. Dr Reddy’s Labs surges 6.5 percent on settlement for drug.

TCS, HCL Technologies, HDFC, NTPC, ITC and HUL were under pressure.

Nifty Midcap was up 0.5 percent as about four shares advanced for every share falling on the NSE.
Sun TV Network, Welspun Enterprises, Manappuram Finance, Reliance Capital, Nalco, Hindustan Zinc, IRB Infrastructure, BEML, Grasim Industries, Chennai Petroleum and Strides gained up to 5 percent. Infibeam, Petronet LNG and Just Dial fell 1-3 percent.