Market Live: Sensex, Nifty continue to trade steady; midcaps outperform

11:14 am Divestment: The Tatas had formally shown an interest in Air India’s stake sale, Union Minister of State for Civil Aviation Jayant Sinha said today.

The government has given its nod for the disinvestment of Air India, which has a debt of over Rs 50,000 crore and is staying afloat on taxpayers’ money.

“We have, of course, received from both IndiGo as well as the Tatas indications of interest for the airline (Air India), and then, we have received formal indications of interest for the other aspects of the Air India group. These are the formal indications we have received so far,” Sinha told CNBC TV18.

He said the government was working in a time-bound manner to conclude the bidding process and that the process of receiving the expressions of interest as well as bids should take six to eight months.

11:00 am Buzzing: Shares of IL&FS Engineering and Construction Company has locked at 5 percent upper circuit on contract win worth Rs 582 crore.

The company has received a letter of acceptance (LoA) for a road contract from IL&FS Transportation Networks (ITNL).

The total value of the contract is Rs 581.96 crore and completion period is 21 months.

The scope of work for this contract involves four laning from km 165.600 to km 220.00 of Amravati – Chikhli section of NH-6 in the state of Maharashtra on item rate basis.

IL&FS Engineering Services is currently working on Rs 5012 crore worth road projects across India.

10:53 am Management Interview: “Current market share in domestic bike segment is close to 19 percent and we are targetting domestic share of 22-23 percent by March 2018,” S Ravikumar, President-Business Development said in an interview to CNBC-TV18.

He expects strong run-rate in 3-wheeler segment to continue after stellar performance in November.

He expects 17 lakh exports by end of the year.

Ravikumar said two new launches would hit the market in January 2018.

10:46 am Manufacturing PMI: India’s factory activity quickened in November at the fastest pace since just before the government’s surprise cash clampdown late last year, driven by a surge in new orders, a business survey found.

Responding to improving demand, manufacturers cranked up output for the fourth month in a row, and hired new workers at the fastest pace in five years.

That suggests a drag on the economy caused by the shock removal of higher-value currency bills from circulation in November 2016 and the roll-out of a goods and services tax (GST) this July has faded.

November’s Nikkei/IHS Markit Manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index rose to 52.6 from 50.3 in October, above all forecasts in a Reuters poll which had predicted a more modest rise to 51.0. Anything above 50 indicates growth.</p><p>The reading was the strongest in 13 months.

10:40 am IMF on India: The International Monetary Fund (IMF) said it will update its growth rate forecast for India in January.

Recently, the US-based Moody’s upgraded India’s sovereign rating after a gap of 13 years to Baa2, with ‘stable’ outlook, from Baa3 earlier, citing improved growth prospects driven by economic and institutional reforms.

This was followed by S&P Global Rating, which kept India’s sovereign rating unchanged at BBB- with stable outlook saying vulnerabilities stemming from low per capita income and high government debt balances strong GDP growth.

“We will be updating the forecast for India, including the growth rate, and that will be coming in January with the update of our World Economic Outlook,” IMF spokesman Gerry Rice told reporters at a news conference held at its headquarters here.

10:35 am Maruti Hits Record High: India’s largest car maker Maruti Suzuki’s November sales matched analyst expectations as it sold 1.54 lakh units during the month, higher by 14.1 percent YoY.

The company sold 1.35 lakh units in November 2016 and a CNBC-TV18 poll estimated sales at 1.52 lakh units.

The growth was largely driven by domestic sales that grew by 15 percent year-on-year to 1.45 lakh units in month gone by.

Exports sales were largely muted, growing 0.8 percent YoY to 9,300 units in November 2017.

The stock price hit a fresh record high of Rs 8,695, rising a percent intraday after sales data.

10:20 am Auto Sales: Two and three-wheeler maker Bajaj Auto has reported a 21 percent increase in November sales, backed by domestic as well as exports segments.

The company sold 3.26 lakh units in month gone by, increased from 2.7 lakh units sold in year-ago.

Exports during the month grew by 27 percent to 1.46 lakh units and domestic sales jumped 16 percent to 1.79 lakh units compared with year-ago month, Bajaj Auto said in its filing.

It further said motorcycle sales rose by 11 percent to 2.64 lakh units, compared with 2.37 lakh units in corresponding month.

3-wheeler sales growth was solid in November, growing 94 percent to 62,488 units, the highest ever monthly sales, against 32,191 units in November 2016.

10:15 am Market Check: The market continued to trade steady, with the Nifty hovering around 10,250-mark.

The Sensex was up 75.58 points at 33224.93, while the Nifty was up 23.30 points at 10249.80.The market breadth was positive as 1551 shares advanced against a decline of 467 shares, while 86 shares were unchanged.

Tata Motors, Tata Motors DVR, and Bosch gained the most on both indices, while Bharti Airtel, Coal India, and Hindalco lost the most.

10:05 am Geopolitical tensions: South Korea says the most powerful missile that North Korea tested this week missile is potentially capable of striking targets as far as 13,000 km, which would put Washington within reach.

The Defence Ministry says today further reviews are needed to determine whether the intercontinental ballistic missile’s warhead can survive atmospheric re-entry and accurately strike the target.

Many questions remain, but there’s broad agreement from government and outside analyses that the huge Hwasong-15 ICBM represents a significant step forward, putting the North extremely close to its goal of a viable arsenal of nuclear- tipped long-range missiles.

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

9:51 am Earnings Reaction: Shares of UFO Moviez India declined 4 percent in morning on the back of weak September quarter numbers.

The company has registered 46 percent fall in its Q2 net profit at Rs 10.2 crore against Rs 19 crore in the same quarter last year.

Revenue was down 13 percent at Rs 139 crore versus Rs 160 crore. The operating profit was down 33 percent at Rs 37 crore and margins was down 810 bps at 26.6 percent.

9:41 am Buzzing: Share price of Laurus Labs added 5 percent in early trade on the back of approval from USFDA.

The company has received its maiden tentative approval from United States Food and Drug Administration (U.S FDA) for Tenofovir Disoproxil Fumarate tablets 300mg.

Tenofovir Disoproxil Fumarate Tablets is therapeutically equivalent to VIREAD tablets of Gilead Science (GILEAD).

Tenofovir Disoproxil Fumarate Tablets is used for treatment of HIV-1 infection in adults and paediatric patients 2 years of age and older.

9:31 am Application for cancer drug: Shares of Biocon rallied 3 percent after the company announced that the European Medicines Agency accepted marketing authorization application for its breast cancer and chemotherapy drug.

The EMA has accepted for review Mylan’s Marketing Authorisation Applications (MAA) for proposed biosimilar trastuzumab and proposed biosimilar pegfilgrastim.

“The EMA acceptance of the submissions follows an earlier withdrawal of both applications in response to an audit conducted by European inspecting authority of Biocon’s product facility,” the company said in a filing to the exchanges.

The company claims to have completed corrective actions outlined as a result of observations and these will be confirmed during the re-inspection.

9:25 am Fuel Price Hike: Jet Airways fell half a percent after aviation fuel price hiked by Rs 3,206 per kilolitre to Rs 57349 per kilolitre in Delhi.

9:20 am Crude Update: US oil held steady today after OPEC and other major producers agreed to extend production curbs in a widely expected move aimed at ending a persistent glut in global supplies.

The Organization of the Petroleum Exporters (OPEC) and non-OPEC producers led by Russia on Thursday agreed to maintain the output cut until the end of 2018, while also signalling a possible early exit from the deal if the market overheats.

US crude futures were up 0.4 percent at USD 57.62 a barrel. The contract gained about 5.6 percent in November, the third month of gains.

Brent February crude futures rose 0.5 percent to USD 62.94. In the previous session, the most active Brent contract settled up 46 cents or 0.7 percent. Brent rose for a third consecutive month in November, gaining about 3.6 percent.

9:15 am Market Check: Equity benchmarks rebounded in opening on Friday after second quarter GDP data, with the Sensex rising more than 100 points. The buying was seen in most beaten down stocks. In previous session, the Sensex had fallen 453 points.

The 30-share BSE Sensex was up 115.44 points at 33,264.79 and the 50-share NSE Nifty rose 38.40 points to 10,264.90.

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

The Indian economy grew 6.3 percent in July-September quarter, recovering from a three-year low growth slump of 5.7 percent in April-June, as companies scaled up production and restocked supplies after Goods & Services Tax (GST) kicked in from July 1.

Eicher Motors, Indiabulls Housing Finance, NTPC, Bosch, Infosys, ONGC, Adani Ports, ICICI Bank and Kotak Mahindra Bank were early gainers. IOC, Bharti Airtel, HCL Technologies and Hindalco were losers.

Biocon, M&M Financial, SAIL, Vakrangee, Sadbhav Engineering, Apex Frozen, Gitanjali Gems, Talwalkar and Madras Fertilisers rallied 2-10 percent.

UFO Moviez was down 3 percent post earnings.
Asia markets traded mixed, giving up some of the early gains. That came despite a positive lead from the US that included the Dow Jones industrial average closing above 24,000 for the first time.