Market Live: Sensex, Nifty hold opening gains; Auto, Metal indices outperform

12:20 pm Market View: Talking on the market, Uday Kotak of Kotak Mahindra Bank said hat although markets have been on a roll for the last few days and weeks, on a more fundamental basis, Indian equity markets need to keep an eye on bond markets, what is happening to interest rates, the Budget and the levels of fiscal deficit.

When asked what would be his three priorities from the Budget, he said one is keep the fiscal discipline, it should not exceed 3.5 percent. Two, would be to get goods and services tax (GST) to work smoothly and three is centralisation of service tax is needed, he said.

According to him, 60 percent of the economy has got decentralised.

12:00 pm Sensex at 40,000 likely?: Jayant Manglik, President, Retail Distribution, Religare Securities said, “Markets have had a phenomenal run in the 2017 and we expect this positivity to continue in 2018 as well. It’s true that the corporate earnings growth expectations seem to have already built in some optimism but possibility of surpassing those estimates is high, thanks to firm global setting and various reforms like Make in India, Digital India gaining pace.”

Also, the recent changes in the landscape, after the implementation of GST and linkage of Aadhaar with almost all the important financial verticals, would further streamline the direct tax collection, helping government to invest in various initiatives to propel growth. Besides, with the market valuation at around 17x FY19 consensus earnings, the downside too is expected to be limited, he added.

He believes the Sensex and the Nifty have potential to touch 40,000 and 12,300, respectively, in coming year.

Here are the top headlines at 12:00 pm from Moneycontrol News’ Anchal Pathak

11:47 am Market Outlook: “The bull run in the stock markets may not be affected much as the Gujarat elections results have been declared. Less uncertainty provides some relief,” Hemang Jani, Head – Advisory, Sharekhan said.

Going ahead, he said, the stock markets will eye the quarter earnings season that begins in early January. A rise in crude oil prices and rate hikes by global central banks, especially the US Federal Reserve may affect markets, he feels.

He said all eyes will also be on the Union budget in February. It remains to be seen whether the government is able to maintain its fiscal deficit targets or not, he added.

11:37 am Confidence Petroleum in focus: Share price of Confidence Petroleum surged nearly 6 percent intraday as it has commissioned two new auto LPG dispensing stations in Tamil Nadu.

The company has commissioned two new auto LPG dispensing stations at Tamil Nadu, located at Dindigul, Survey No. 184 and Tiruchirapalli, Survey No 11/4AQ3.

With the inclusion of these two auto LPG dispensing stations, the company has now total 114 auto LPG dispensing stations in operation across Pan India.

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11:25 am Buzzing: Steel Strips Wheels has bagged a repeat export order from Europe for its truck wheels plant in Chennai.

Total order size is 30,000 wheels to be dispatched from its new truck wheels plant at Chennai from next month onwards. Order Size valued close to euro 1.2 million. The stock rallied 5 percent.

11:15 am Order Win: Infrastructure EPC major KEC International has secured new orders of Rs 2,424 crore across all its business units. The stock was up 4 percent.

Its transmission and distribution segment has bagged orders worth Rs 1,636 crore across India, SAARC, Africa and America while its railways division has secured orders of Rs 595 crore.

Cables business has won orders of Rs 115 crore and civil segment has bagged orders of Rs 78 crore for structural / civil works in automobile and tyre segments.

11:05 am Buzzing: Shares of Suzlon Energy advanced 2.5 percent intraday as it has received 252 MW wind power projects from leading Global Utility.

This project is won by the utility through SECI II auction held recently.

The company will execute the entire project on a turnkey basis and will also provide operation and maintenance services.

With this order, Suzlon has secured combined orders of 502 MW across SECI- I and SECI- II auctions.

10:55 am Market Check: Equity benchmarks retained opening gains, backed by positive global cues and as after winning state elections, BJP is ready to form government in Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh.

The 30-share BSE Sensex was up 113.78 points at 33,715.46 and the 50-share NSE Nifty rose 34.40 points to 10,423.20.

About 1,699 shares advanced against 531 declining shares on the BSE.

Nifty Auto (up 1.5 percent) and Metal (1 percent) were biggest gainers among sectoral indices.

10:40 am Management Interview: We are seeing some distress in the rural sector and therefore the farm loan waivers in many states have come. So the plan which the Prime Minister Narendra Modi has said about doubling the income of farm sector by 2022 – some action is definitely expected there, Rajnish Kumar, Chairman of State Bank of India (SBI) said in an interview to CNBC-TV18.

Crop insurance has been a positive move for farmers, he added.

Portfolio growth in agriculture book is lower than last year but our efforts to renew the Kisan Credit Card (KCC) is going at the fullest speed and the percentage of renewals is much higher compared to the previous year, said Kumar.

On Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises (MSME) he mentioned that it is definitely a focused area for the government but it will be a focused area for banks also.

10:25 am Market Outlook: With Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh election results being an event that has passed for the market, the next event is the earnings declarations for the December quarter.

So, what is the Street factoring in? Kashyap Pujara of Axis Capital believes so far earnings growth has been around 7 percent, excluding OMCs.

“Within them, pockets such as engineering, chemicals and auto have done well, while pharma and telecom haven’t performed. This growth could be around 10 percent for the current year,” Pujara told CNBC-TV18 in an interview. The market will also move ahead as the earnings progresses.

10:15 am Rupee Trade: The rupee today climbed a bit to 64.15 against the dollar, up 8 paise as the dust settled on the political landscape in Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh and the BJP gets ready to form the next government in both states.

The BJP returns to power for the sixth straight term in Gujarat and unseats the Congress in Himachal Pradesh.

10:05 am Stock view: Share PSP Projects rose 3 percent intraday as broking firm Spark Capital has initiated buy rating on the stock with a target price of Rs 640

According to firm, the company is likely to benefit from the upcoming industrial & institutional building opportunities in Gujarat.

Also, it expects the conservative order inflow of Rs 1,200-1,500 crore every year for the next 2 years.

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

9:45 am Buzzing: Shares of JM Financial added 5 percent in morning on the back of fund raising plan.

The company in its meeting held on December 18 has approved to raise Rs 650 crore by way of issue of equity shares or any other instrument or security including fully/partly convertible debentures or global depository receipts or American depository receipts or foreign currency convertible bonds or by way of a composite issue of non-convertible debentures and warrants.

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9:40 am Acquisition: Telecom operator Bharti Airtel today said that it has signed an agreement with Millicom International Cellular S.A. to acquire 100 percent stake in its Rwanda operation which operates under the brand name of Tigo Rwanda.

“Bharti Airtel Limited…has entered into a definitive agreement with Millicom International Cellular S.A. (Millicom) under which Airtel Rwanda Limited will acquire 100 percent equity interest in Tigo Rwanda Limited,” Bharti Airtel said in a statement.

Under this deal, Tigo’s 370 million customers will join the network of Airtel Rwanda. The acquisition will make Airtel Rwanda the second largest operator in the country with revenues of over USD 80 million and a revenue market share of over 40 percent, the statement said.

“The consideration for the transaction is based on approximately 6x EBITDA multiple, payable over two years. The agreement is subject to regulatory and statutory approvals,” the statement said.

Airtel at present operates in 15 African countries apart from India and South Asia.

9:35 am Buzzing: Shares of Dr Reddy’s Laboratories gained 1 percent in the early trade on the back of settlement with the US government.

The US subsidiary of Dr Reddy’s Laboratories has reached a settlement with the US government involving packaging of five blister-packed prescription products.

The company and US Department of Justice agreed to the settlement of the action without any adjudication of any issue of fact or law.

The said case is six years old and in order to avoid any unnecessary costs and the distractions of prolonged litigation, the company has chosen to settle the matter for USD 5 million.

9:29 am Fundraising: Mortgage lender HDFC will raise Rs 2,000 crore by issuing debt securities on private placement basis.

The ‘7.55 per cent HDFC, 20 February 2019’ secured redeemable non-convertible debentures will be issued on a private placement basis, HDFC said in a regulatory filing.

“The object of the issue is to augment the long-term resources of the Corporation. The proceeds of the present issue would be utilised for financing/refinancing the housing finance business requirements of the Corporation,” it said.

The issue will open on December 20 and closes the same day.

9:21 am IPOs: Two companies — ACME Solar Holdings and HG Infra Engineering — have received Sebi’s approval to launch initial public offerings, as per the latest update with markets regulator.

Together, these companies are expected to garner Rs 2,700 crore through initial share-sales.

The two firms had filed their respective draft red herring prospectus (DRHP) with the regulator on September 28.

ACME Solar Holdings and HG Infra Engineering received “observations” from Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) on December 15 and December 13, respectively, which is necessary for any company to launch public offers.

Going by the preliminary papers, renewable energy firm ACME Solar Holdings plans to raise Rs 2,200 crore through its initial public offer (IPO).

HG Infra Engineering’s IPO comprises fresh issue of equity shares worth Rs 300 crore besides an offer of sale 60 lakh scrips by the existing shareholders.

9:15 am Market Check: Equity benchmarks extended previous day’s rally on Tuesday opening, with the Sensex rising more than 100 points, following positive global cues.

The 30-share BSE Sensex was up 112.49 points at 33,714.17 and the 50-share NSE Nifty rose 35.90 points to 10,424.70. About 786 shares advanced against 221 declining shares on the BSE.

Eicher Motors, UPL, Aurobindo Pharma, Vedanta, Tata Motors, Tata Steel, SBI and Yes Bank were early gainers while Bharti Airtel, HDFC, TCS, Wipro and Infosys were losers.

M&M, PI Industries and Titan Company hit fresh record highs.

The Nifty Midcap index gained 0.6 percent and Nifty Bank was up 0.4 percent.

Godawari Power, REC, PFC, Indiabulls Real Estate, PNB, Titan Company, JM Financial and NMDC were up 1-4 percent.
Major Asian indexes were mostly higher after US stocks closed the Monday session at record highs.