Closing bell: Sensex slips 92 pts, Nifty ends below 10,200 on weak Asian cues

3:30 pm Market Closing: Benchmark indices closed lower as the Sensex was down 91.69 points at 32,941.87, dragged by L&T, Infosys and HDFC Group stocks. Reliance Industries, however, capped losses.

The 50-share NSE Nifty fell 38.40 points to 10,186.60.

3:25 pm Buzzing: Shares of NCC slipped 6 percent on the back of dismal September (Q2FY18) numbers.

The company’s Q2 net profit fell 60.8 percent at Rs 20 crore against Rs 51 crore in the same quarter last fiscal.

Revenue of the company was down 33 percent at Rs 1,300 crore versus Rs 1,947.9 crore. The operating profit (EBITDA) was down 27 percent at Rs 124 crore and EBITDA margin was up at 9.6 percent.

3:19 pm Results: Real estate firm HDIL’s Q2 profit increased 64.4 percent year-on-year to Rs 60.9 crore on tax refund of Rs 44.8 crore, but revenue fell sharply by 26.1 percent to Rs 161.5 crore.

Operating profit also declined 28.8 percent to Rs 102.4 crore and margin contracted to 63.4 percent from 65.8 percent YoY.

3:16 pm Market Check: Benchmark indices continued to trade lower amid volatility. The 30-share BSE Sensex was down 109.42 points at 32,924.14, and the 50-share NSE Nifty fell 44.50 points to 10,180.50.

3:14 pm Buzzing: Non-banking finance company PTC India Financial Services shares lost 10 percent intraday on disappointing September quarter earnings. Profit fell sharply by 68 percent year-on-year to Rs 21.7 crore on higher provisions. Asset quality also weakened further.

Net interest income, the difference between interest earned and interest expended, increased 11.3 percent to Rs 110.7 crore in Q2 YoY but sequentially fell 10 percent.

Loan book for the quarter registered a 21.3 percent growth YoY at Rs 12,122 crore but posted a 3.4 percent decline on sequential basis.

Net interest margin compressed to 4.15 percent in Q2, from 4.77 percent in previous quarter due to sharp fall in yields. Yields declined sharply at 10.26 percent against 10.98 percent QoQ.

3:03 pm Europe Trade: European stocks hovered around the flatline, dragged down by negative sentiment in China.

The pan-European Stoxx 600 was 0.06 percent higher with sectors moving in different directions.

2:54 pm Earnings: Bata’s second quarter profit and operational income beat analyst expectations but revenue growth was muted.

Net profit in Q2 grew by 24 percent to Rs 43 crore from Rs 34.6 crore as operating income increased 12.4 percent to Rs 64.4 crore and margin expanded 110 basis points to 11 percent YoY.

Revenue from operations was up 1.5 percent at Rs 587 crore YoY.

Profit was estimated at Rs 40 crore and operating income at Rs 61 crore with margin of 9.7 percent for the quarter, according to average of estimates of analysts polled by CNBC-TV18.

2:47 pm Market Update: Benchmark indices were off day’s low, led by recovery in banks.

The 30-share BSE Sensex was down 13.34 points at 33,020.22 and the 50-share NSE Nifty declined 12 points to 10,213.

About 1,423 shares declined against 1,157 advancing shares on the BSE.

2:40 pm Buzzing: Shares of NCC slipped 6 percent intraday on the back of dismal September (Q2FY18) numbers.

The company’s Q2 net profit fell 60.8 percent at Rs 20 crore against Rs 51 crore in the same quarter last fiscal.

Revenue of the company was down 33 percent at Rs 1,300 crore versus Rs 1,947.9 crore.

2:24 pm Freight rates increase: Freight rates for the nine-tonne payload section were higher by Rs 1,000 at the local truck transport market in the national capital today on increased movements of cargo amid tight availability of trucks.

Transporters said better cargo movements and less position of trucks caused the rise in some of centers freight rates.

Delhi to Baroda, Vijaywada and Mysore freight rates went up by Rs 1,000 each to Rs 24,000, Rs 60,000 and Rs 65,000. Freight rates to Kochi and Coimbatore also moved up by Rs 1,000 each to Rs 72,000 and Rs 69,000.

2:14 pm Earnings: Royal Enfield maker Eicher Motors’ second quarter earnings missed analyst expectations. Standalone net profit increased 22.8 percent year-on-year to Rs 486.4 crore, aided by revenue and operating income.

Profit for year-ago quarter stood at Rs 396.2 crore.

Revenue during the quarter also grew by 22.8 percent to Rs 2,164 crore, driven by price hikes and higher sales volumes.

“Royal Enfield sold 2,02,744 motorcycles, registering the best ever quarterly sales volume with a growth of 21.7 percent, as compared to 166,582 motorcycles sold in the same period last year,” Eicher Motors said.

2:05 pm Oil production: Hindustan Oil Exploration Co Ltd (HOEC) has submitted a USD 43-million development plan to bring to production the Mumbai offshore oil field it had won in the first discovered field auction in March.

HOEC is the first company out of the 31 that signed contracts for the fields won in the auction in March, to have submitted a field development plan (FDP).

“We have submitted to the Directorate General of Hydrocarbon (DGH) an FDP for B-80 block that envisages production of 5,000 barrels of oil and 15 million standard cubic feet per day of gas by 2020-21,” HOEC CEO P Elango told PTI.

Here are the top headlines at 2 pm from Moneycontrol News’ Anchal Pathak

1:45 pm IPO: Speciality chemicals manufacturer Galaxy Surfactants has filed draft papers with markets regulator to raise an estimated Rs 1,000 crore through an initial public offer.

During the initial share sale, as many as 307 shareholders will sell 63,31,674 shares of the company, according to the draft red herring prospectus (DRHP) filed with Sebi.

According to merchant banking sources, the initial public offer (IPO) is expected to fetch Rs 1,000 crore.

“The objects of the offer are to achieve the benefits of listing the equity shares on the stock exchanges and the sale of equity shares by the selling shareholders.

1:30 pm Market Check: Benchmark indices trimmed losses in afternoon, led by Reliance Industries and recovery in banks.

The 30-share BSE Sensex was down 26.35 points at 33,007.21 and the 50-share NSE Nifty fell 19 points to 10,206.

Reliance Industries gained more than 2 percent, followed by Axis Bank (up 1.66 percent). ICICI Bank recovered to trade 0.2 percent higher.

1:15 pm Buzzing: Private sector lender Karur Vysya Bank’s second quarter (July-September) profit fell sharply by 40.1 percent year-on-year to Rs 75.6 crore, dented by higher provisions and weak asset quality performance. The stock fell nearly 4 percent.

Net interest income during the quarter grew by 12.1 percent to Rs 555 crore YoY, with loan growth of 11 percent at Rs 43,435 crore.

Asset quality deteriorated further as gross non-performing assets (NPA) for the quarter were higher at 4.83 percent compared with 4.27 percent in previous quarter and net NPAs were also higher at 3.24 percent against 2.85 percent QoQ.

1:05 pm Earnings: Road developer Dilip Buildcon has reported profit of Rs 115.6 crore for the quarter ended September 2017, a whopping nearly 17 times growth over Rs 7 crore posted in year-ago.

Revenue increased 72.6 percent to Rs 1,582 crore from Rs 916.3 crore while operating income jumped 83.5 percent to Rs 285.3 crore and margin expanded 100 basis points to 18 percent YoY.

12:55 pm Bond Yield: The 10-year bond yield traded over 7 percent today for the first time in last 14 months as the Reserve Bank of India is unlikely to cut interest rate in upcoming policy meet after retail and wholesale price index inflation increased higher than expectations in October.

At 12:55 hours IST, the 10-year bond yield was trading at 7.05 percent, the highest level since September 2016, against 6.972 percent in previous session.

The bond yield opened at 6.987 percent today; and then hit an intraday high of 7.06 percent & low of 6.98 percent.

12:40 pm Market Check: Benchmark indices extended losses in afternoon, dragged by banks, technology and infra stocks.

Nifty Bank fell more than 100 points as rate cut is unlikely in upcoming RBI’s policy meeting after inflation hardened further.

The 30share BSE Sensex was down 111.47 points at 32,922.09 and the 50-share NSE Nifty fell 39.50 points to 10,185.50.

About 1,342 shares declined against 1,077 advancing shares on the BSE.

12:30 pm Rates hold likely?: Stronger food and fuel inflation pushed up headline CPI inflation to a 7-month high in October and accordingly, the Reserve Bank is expected to stay on hold in its upcoming policy review meet next month, a majority of experts believe.

Costlier food items, particularly vegetables, drove retail inflation in October to a 7-month high of 3.58 percent.

Retail inflation, a key input for RBI in setting the key interest rate, has been rising consistently since June amid a slowdown in factory output measured by the Index of Industrial Production (IIP).

Apart from retail inflation, the other key data point for RBI’s action is the GDP growth print due later this month.

“Given the rise in headline inflation and steady core inflation, we do not expect the RBI to ease further in the December monetary policy meeting,” Morgan Stanley said in a research note.

Japanese financial services major Nomura also believes that HRA and GST effects are to be blamed for higher underlying momentum in inflation and accordingly, the Reserve Bank is expected to stay on hold through 2018.

“Given higher oil prices, likely above-4 percent inflation in coming quarters and risks of a fiscal slippage, we expect the RBI to stay on hold through 2018, including at the December 6 policy meeting,” Nomura said in a research note.

12:16 pm Earnings Estimates: Public sector lender Bank of Baroda’s second quarter profit is expected to fall 16.8 percent to Rs 459.3 crore against Rs 552.1 crore in year-ago. It may be impacted by higher provisions due to ageing of non-performing assets.

Net interest income, the difference between interest earned and interest expended, may increase 2.7 percent year-on-year to Rs 3,519.6 crore in Q2, according to average of estimates of analysts polled by CNBC-TV18.

Analysts feel if slippages come below Rs 3,500 crore (against Rs 5,200 crore in Q1FY18), gross non-performing assets improve (11.4 percent in Q1) and net interest margin comes above 2.5 percent (2.48 percent) then that would be taken positively by the Street.

12:05 pm WPI Inflation: Wholesale price index inflation for October month increased to 3.59 percent against 2.6 percent in previous month.

It was higher than CNBC-TV18 poll of 3.21 percent.

Food inflation increased to 3.23 percent from 1.99 percent MoM.

Here are the top headlines at 12 pm from Moneycontrol News’ Anchal Pathak

11:55 am Buzzing: Cadila Healthcare share price rallied nearly 3 percent after the company reported healthy 32.5 percent growth year-on-year in second quarter profit at Rs 503.3 crore.

Revenue grew by 37.4 percent while operating profit increased 67.5 percent to Rs 857 crore and margin expanded by 480 basis points to 26.5 percent.

11:40 am Share sale: Bharti Airtel via its wholly owned subsidiary, Nettle Infrastructure Investments Limited today announced the successful divestment of 8.3 crore shares of its subsidiary Bharti Infratel through a secondary share sale in the stock market (NSE, BSE).

The sale was for a total consideration of over Rs 3,325 crore (USD 510 Million) and was executed at a price of Rs 400.6 per share, representing a discount of 3.6 percent to the previous day’s closing price.

The allocation was done to global investors, fund managers and long only funds, including many repeat investors. Led by healthy investor appetite, the deal was upsized by over 25 percent.

Bharti Airtel will primarily use the proceeds from this sale to reduce its debt. Following the closure of this transaction, Bharti Airtel and its wholly owned subsidiaries together have an equity holding of 53.51 percent in Bharti Infratel.

11:20 am Earnings estimates: Sun Pharmaceutical Industries’ second quarter profit is expected to fall sharply by 64 percent year-on-year to Rs 802 crore due to lower revenue as well as operating income.

Revenue during the quarter is seen declining 17 percent to Rs 6,861 crore compared with Rs 8,265 crore in same quarter last fiscal, according to average of estimates of analysts polled by CNBC-TV18.

EBITDA (earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation) is likely to fall 57 percent to Rs 1,357.4 crore and margin may shrink 1830 basis points to 20 percent YoY.

In Q2FY17, numbers included other operating income of Rs 501 crore (against Rs 15 crore YoY) aided by milestone payment due to Tildrakizumab licensing (studied for psoriasis) to Almiral, Spain for European market.

11:05 am Buzzing: Shares of Apollo Hospitals Enterprises touched 52-week low of Rs 981, slipping 1.5 percent today on the back dismal Q2 (July-September) numbers.

The company has reported 22.92 percent declined in its standalone net profit at Rs 70.90 crore in the quarter ended September against net profit of Rs 91.99 crore in the same quarter last year.

The revenue of the company rose 112 percent at Rs 1,851.64 crore against Rs 1,634.10 crore.

Axis Capital has put buy rating on stock with a target of Rs 1410 per share.

According to the firm, the company’s Q2 numbers were steady and EBITDA of Rs 220 crore was ahead of their estimate of Rs 190 crore.

11:01 am Management interview: In an interview to CNBC-TV18’s Latha Venkatesh, Rajiv Lall, MD & CEO, IDFC Bank said everything about the Shriram merger fall out was in the public domain. There was a valuation mismatch that led to the deal falling through, he added.

However, he confirmed that they are not shutting out anything inorganic and will continue to explore various alternatives.

He empathetically denied they had honed in on Manappuram Finance with regards to inorganic growth but said they routinely look at options and are speaking to a lot of people.

When asked about the stressed book, he said they have always been transparent about it. He further explained that their total advances as of September, 2017 stood at Rs 69,000 crore of which Rs 29,000 crore of total advances are legacy and those assets, which they did not desire to grow. Out of this Rs 29000 which are largely infra assets, Rs 7000 crore are stressed, he said.

10:55 am Buzzing: Repco Home Finance shares rallied nearly 14 percent intraday after strong set of earnings for July-September quarter. Edelweiss has maintained its buy rating on the stock with a target price of Rs 892 per share.

The target price implies 51 percent upside in the stock compared with its Monday’s closing price.

Edelweiss believes structurally Repco Home Finance has the potential to grow manifolds in under-served markets capitalising on emerging opportunities, which will help deliver superior return ratios.

10:40 am BharatNet second phase: The second phase of BharatNet project with an outlay of Rs 31,000 crore and a mandate to provide high-speed broadband to all panchayats by March 2019 got off the block on Monday.

Additionally, the Department of Telecom requested all states to provide a list of unconnected villages so that all of them can be connected with telecom services by 2020.

Telecom Minister Manoj Sinha, along with Law and IT Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad, Human Resource Development Minister Prakash Javadekar and Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Modi were present at the launch of the second phase of the project.

“Under the project, we will provide 1 gbps (gigabuit per second) bandwidth capacity at panchayat level. The Cabinet in July 2017 approved a modified implementation strategy for BharatNet which include…project completion for all 2.5 lakh panchayats by March 2019,” Sinha said at the launch.

The telecom ministry expects to complete the first phase of the project covering over 1 lakh panchayats by the end of December.

10:35 am Market Check: Equity benchmarks as well as broader markets continued to trade flat in morning due to lack of cues. Investors focussed on September quarter earnings as more than 200 companies will announce numbers today.

The 30-share BSE Sensex was down 14.16 points at 33,019.40 and the 50-share NSE Nifty fell 8.80 points to 10,216.20.

Bharti Infratel remained the most active stock on exchanges due to multiple block deals. Reports suggested that Bharti Airtel was likely to sell around 4 percent stake in the company.

Kotak Mahindra Bank, Just Dial, Axis Bank, SBI and Sun Pharma were other most active shares.

10:26 am Market Outlook: The September quarter earnings season is almost over and thankfully it has not been that disappointing as was expected. India Inc. reported results which were largely in-line with estimates but the recovery in earnings is likely to take place only by second half of FY18.

“In general, companies have reported decent numbers compared to expectations. In terms of Nifty50 names, EBITDA is slightly ahead of our estimates especially for companies such as RIL, Tata Motors, Bharti Airtel etc.” Sanjeev Prasad, co-head, Kotak Institutional Equities said in an interview with CNBC-TV18.

10:12 am Order Win: Shares of Jain Irrigation Systems rose 1.6 percent as it has received contract worth Rs 183 crore.

The company’s pipe division has been awarded a contract of Jalgaon City Water Supply Scheme under the Amrut Abhiyan Yojana.

The contract includes design and construction of 661Km of pipeline and required elevated storage reservoirs and pump houses.

The said project is to be completed in 24 months.

In the last one month, this is a third major project, in the water supply sector i.e. drinking & piped irrigation has been awarded to pipe division of the company, as per company release.

Here are the top headlines at 10 am from Moneycontrol News’ Anchal Pathak

10:00 am Listing: Footwear retailer Khadim India started off the first day on a tepid note. The stock listed at Rs 723 on the National Stock Exhange, a 3.6 percent discount to issue price of Rs 750 per share.

The stock fell as much as 4.5 percent in early trade to hit day’s low of Rs 716 while its pre-opening price of Rs 730 remained the highest level.

9:55 am Bids for Jaypee Infratech: Metals and mining giant Vedanta has submitted a preliminary expression of interest (EoI) for Jaypee Infratech currently undergoing the Insolvency Resolution Proceedings (IRP).

The company has “submitted a preliminary non-binding Expression of Interest for submission of resolution plan of Jaypee Infratech Ltd under corporate insolvency process (CIRP),” Vedanta Ltd said in a BSE filing.

It, however, said that no negotiations have taken place on this with Jaypee Infratech Ltd.

The statement comes amid reports that Vedanta is among the few players who have shown interest in buying Jaypee Infratech in full or in part.

9:50 am Pre-opening: Khadim India share price has settled at Rs 730 on the National Stock Exchange, lower by 2.7 percent from issue price of Rs 750 per share.

9:45 am Earnings Reaction: Shares of Madhucon Projects, Jindal Poly Films and Tamil Nadu Newsprint were down 3-8 percent in morning on the back of poor Q2 (July-September) numbers.

Madhucon Projects has recorded 64 percent fall in its Q2 net profit at RS 3.3 crore and revenue was down 14 percent at Rs 118 crore.

Jindal Poly Films’ Q2 net profit declined 40 percent at Rs 41.2 crore and revenue was down 2 percent at Rs 1,807 crore. EBITDA was flat at Rs 162.6 crore, while margin was up 20 bps at 9 percent.

Tamil Nadu Newsprint (TNPL) has reported loss of Rs 13 crore in the quarter ended September against profit of Rs 70.5 crore, in the same quarter last fiscal.

9:36 am Buzzing: Share price of Havells India gained 1 percent in the early trade on signing pact with Hyundai Electric & Energy Systems.

Hyundai Electric & Energy Systems and Havells India announced the signing of memorandum of understanding (MoU) to mutually explore and supply low and medium voltage protection and switching devices, as per company release.

Under the agreement, Hyundai Electric will supply low and medium voltage protection and switching devices to Havells as brand labeling.

Hyundai Electric will also grant manufacturing license and technology transfer for low-capacity Magnetic Contactors (MC) and Molded Case Circuit Breakers (MCCBs) to Havells.

9:26 am Listing: Footwear retailer Khadim India will list on the bourses today following the conclusion of its Rs 543 crore initial public offer last week.

Khadim India’s IPO was subscribed 1.90 times during November 2-6. The price band for the offer was fixed at Rs 745-750 per share.

The IPO comprised fresh issue of equity shares aggregating up to Rs 50 crore, besides an offer for sale of up to 65,74,093 shares by existing shareholders.

The net proceeds from the issue are to be utilised towards payment of loans and general corporate purposes. Axis Capital and IDFC Bank were the book running lead managers to the issue.

9:20 am MSCI rejigs index constituents: In the semi-annual index review for the MSCI equity indexes, Britannia, Petronet LNG and Vakrangee have been added to MSCI Global Standard Index while Apollo Hospitals has been removed. The MSCI Global Small Cap Index has seen 30 additions and 10 deletions. The stocks that have been added include CDSL, Chambal Fertilisers, Cochin Shipyard, DCM Shriram, Deepak Fertilisers, Eris Lifescience, Fortis Healthcare, Gujarat Alkalies, Gulf Oil Lubricants, Himadri Chemicals, IDFC, Jindal Saw, Jindal Stainless, Minda Industries, Nesco, Quess Corp, Radico Khaitan, Rain Industries, Shankara Building Products, Suprajit Engineering, Techno Electric, Tejas Networks, Time Techno, Uflex, VIP Industries and Welspun Corp. The exclusions include Adani Transmission, Future Retail, Indo Count, JB Chemicals, Kansai Nerolac, Kushal, L&T Finance, TVS Motor, Vakrangee and Videocon.

9:15 am Market Check: Equity benchmarks opened flat on Tuesday after sharp correction seen in previous session. Investors focussed on corporate earnings.

The 30-share BSE Sensex was down 14.55 points at 33,019.01 and the 50-share NSE Nifty fell 3 points to 10,222.

Coal India, Vedanta, BPCL, L&T and Bharti Infrtel were early losers.

Sun Pharma, HCL Technologies, Bharti Airtel, M&M, Lupin, Yes Bank, Kotak Mahindra Bank and Eicher Motors were early gainers.

PTC India Financial, Dhanlaxmi Bank, United Bank, Jindal Poly and TNPL fell 1-8 percent after weak earnings. Repco Home, Satin Creditcare, KEI Industries and NMDC were under pressure.
Vakrangee, Future Retail and Apollo Hospital gained 2-4 percent.