Market Live: Sensex falls over 200 points, Nifty below 10,300; midcaps crack

Thu Nov 30 2017
Rajesh Sharma (2046 articles)
Market Live: Sensex falls over 200 points, Nifty below 10,300; midcaps crack

11:25 am Listing: India’s Power Finance Corporation (PFC) has listed its first international bond in almost two decades on the London Stock Exchange to finance renewable energy projects in the UK.

The 10-year dated green bond raised USD 400 million, paying a 3.75 percent semi-annual coupon and listed on London Stock Exchange’s new International Securities Market (ISM) this week.

“The funds raised will help promote renewable energy projects across the country and aid in achieving the government’s target of 175GW of installed renewable energy capacity by 2022,” said PFC chairman Rajeev Sharma.

“The bond issuance allows PFC to access a new offshore investor base and also diversify its funding sources,” he said.

11:10 am Buzzing: Sagar Cements shares gained more than 2 percent intraday after Edelweiss has initiated coverage on the stock with a buy rating, citing attractive valuations.

“The stock trades at an attractive valuation of 7.7x/4.6x FY19E/FY20 EV/EBITDA,” it said while setting target price at Rs 1,137 per share, implying a potential upside of 32 percent from Wednesday’s closing price.

The acquisition of BMM’s 1 million tonne cement plant has taken company’s capacity to 4.3 million tonne.

The Hyderabad-based cement manufacturer bought BMM Cements at an enterprise value of Rs 540 crore in September 2014.

According to Edelweiss, the company is expected to be key beneficiary of the uptick in demand on Andhra Pradesh & Telangana bifurcation.

10:59 am PM Modi at HT Summit: Prime Minister Narendra Modi today said that he is ready to pay the political price for the steps taken by him for a better India and asserted he would not be deterred.

Addressing a gathering here, he said his government is committed to developing a development-centric eco system which is free of corruption and is citizen centric.

He also said that post demonetisation, the black money, which was part of a parallel economy, has now become part of the formal system.

10:45 am Buzzing: Global brokerage house Goldman Sachs has upgraded Healthcare Global Enterprises to buy from hold and raised its target price to Rs 355 from Rs 270 per share, citing solid growth story. The stock rallied 6 percent intraday Thursday.

The company has been delivering consistently in an underserved cancer market.

“We gain more confidence that HCG will maintain EBITDA (earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation) growth pace based on upcoming capacity and pricing power,” the research house said.

It expects EBITDA to grow at a CAGR of 26 percent over FY17E-20.

The research house said positives are pricing power and good management track record.

10:35 am Order Win: Steel Strips Wheels share price rallied 3.3 percent intraday on bagging another exports order for European Trailer market.

“…has bagged fresh exports order for its truck wheels plant in Chennai. Total order size is close to 6,000 truck wheels,” the automotive steel wheels manufacturer said in its filing.

The order will be supplied over period of 12 months and supplies will begin from December 2017.

“SSWL is in advanced stage of discussions to finalise long term contracts with multiple European customers and expects to close them by early next year,” it said.

10:25 am Management Interview: Cipla Health, the consumer healthcare arm of Cipla, plans to revitalise its over-the-counter (OTC) consumer business through more in-house launches and brand acquisitions in the coming quarters.

“We are looking at switching Cipla’s prescription products into consumer products and organic launches wherever there is a huge unmet need of it like the immune-boosters that we launched now,” said Anantha Nayak, Chief Executive Officer of Cipla Health.

“We are also actively looking at any kind of inorganic growth through mergers and acquisitions,” Nayak added.

He said the company is looking at new product launches in segments such as gastrointestinal, pain and analgesic, cough and cold and nutritional supplements.

The company recently launched kids nutritional supplement ActivKids Immuno Boosters developed by Cipla’s in-house research and development team.

10:19 am Funding for Green Power: Reaffirming its green credentials, the International Finance Corporation (IFC) has made an equity investment of USD 15 million in CleanMax Solar.

This is IFC’s first equity investment in grid-connected distributed generation globally, an official statement stated.

CleanMax Solar, a leading sustainability partner for large corporates, enjoys the No. 1 position in India as a rooftop solar developer with 24 percent market share, according to Bridge to India May 2017 report.

It is commissioning over 250 MW of open access solar farms to provide power to corporate users.

10:11 am Market Check: Equity benchmarks extended their losses in the morning session, with the Sensex falling over 200 points, while the Nifty traded below 10,300-mark.

The Sensex was down 216.40 points at 33386.36, while the Nifty too was down 71.80 points at 10289.50. The market breadth was negative as 764 shares advanced against a decline of 1290 shares, while 81 shares were unchanged.

Bajaj Auto and Dr Reddy’s Labs were the top gainers, while Kotak Mahindra, BHEL, and UltraTech Cement lost the most.

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

10:05 am Buzzing Stock: Shares of Tribhovandas Bhimji Zaveri tumbled 15.5 percent in morning on the back of weak Q2 (August-September) numbers.

The company has registered 90 percent decline in its Q2 net profit at Rs 80 lakh against Rs 7.89 crore in the same quarter last fiscal.

Revenue was down 27 percent at Rs 326 crore against Rs 447.30 crore.

Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) was down 50 percent at Rs 11.7 crore and margins was down 160 bps at 3.6 percent.

10:00 am Aadhaar violation: The Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) has ordered a probe against Bharti Airtel for alleged violation of the Aadhaar Act, following the government’s direction to link Aadhaar to mobile numbers, Times of India reported.

In addition, the regulator is said to have slapped a penalty on the company for discreetly opening Payments Bank accounts of customers while carrying out Aadhaar verification of their mobile numbers.

The probe was ordered after complaints of prima facie violations were found to be valid, said the report.

9:47 am Rupee Trade: The rupee dropped sharply by 19 paise to 64.50 against the American currency in early trade today ahead of the September quarter GDP data.

Currency dealers said apart from increased month-end demand for the US currency from importers and a lower opening of the domestic equity markets, dollar’s gains against other currencies overseas on upbeat US economic growth data weighed on the rupee.

Yesterday, the rupee had maintained its upbeat trend for the third straight session and firmed up by another 10 paise to end at a fresh two-month high of 64.31 against the US dollar ahead of the GDP data.

9:40 am Earnings Reaction: Share price of Mukta Arts added 15 percent in the early trade as it turned profitable in the quarter ended Septemebr 2017.

The company has posted net profit at Rs 9.4 crore against loss of Rs 4.9 crore in a year ago period.
Revenue also increased by 43 percent at Rs 37 crore gainst Rs 25.91 crore.

The has reported earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) at Rs 8.7 crore versus loss of Rs 5 lakh.

9:30 am Market Update: Benchmark indices extended losses in morning, with the Sensex falling 181.97 points to 33,420.79.

The 50-share NSE Nifty has breached 10,300 level, trading lower by 59.40 points at 10,301.90.

The market breadth was also weak. About two shares declined for every share rising on the BSE.

9:26 am Drug Recall: Drug major Lupin is recalling a single lot of Pravastatin Sodium USP tablets in the US, according to the US Food and Drug Administration (USFDA).

As per the information on the USFDA site, Lupin is voluntarily recalling the product due to “a pharmacy complaint where one Duloxetine delayed-release capsule, 30mg was found in a Pravastatin Sodium Tablets USP, 40mg bottle”.

The US health regulator, however, did not give details on the number of bottles being recalled. A query sent to the company remained unanswered. The ongoing Class II recall was initiated on November 17.

9:20 am Interest Rate Increase: State-owned lender State Bank of India has raised interest rate on bulk deposits by 1 percentage point across certain categories, effective Thursday.

The lender hiked interest rates by 1 percentage point across all maturities for deposits above Rs 1 crore, while rates on deposits of less than that amount were kept unchanged, having been increased by 25 basis points at the beginning of this month.

Post revision, SBI’s rate on bulk deposits of over Rs 1 crore with a minimum tenure of 1 year stood at 5.25 percent. Senior citizens get an extra 50 basis points added to their interest rate across all maturities.

9:15 am Market Check: Equity benchmarks started off last day of the month on a negative note ahead of expiry of November derivative contracts. Investors also await second quarter GDP data and OPEC decision later today.

The 30-share BSE Sensex fell 154.03 points to 33,448.73 and the 50-share NSE Nifty declined 49 points to 10,312.30, tracking weakness in Asian stocks.

Vedanta, Tech Mahindra, Axis Bank, UltraTech Cement, SBI, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Adani Ports, Tata Motors and Reliance Industries were early losers.

Sun Pharma, Indiabulls Housing Finance, Bosch, IndusInd Bank, Wipro and Aurobindo Pharma were early gainers.

Nifty Midcap was down 0.4 percent. Future Retail, McLeod Russel, Balaji Telefilms, GNA Axles, Indiabulls Real, Puravankara, Delta Corp and Gati were down 1-4 percent.

TBZ fell 9 percent and Mukta Arts gained 13 percent post earnings.
Asian markets tracked lower as oil prices firmed after falling in the last session.

Rajesh Sharma

Rajesh Sharma

Rajesh Sharma is Correspondent for Stock Market of South East Asia based in Mumbai. He has been covering Asian markets for more than 5 years.