Closing Bell: Street sees a bloodbath! Sensex down 800 pts, Nifty sheds 250 points; midcaps plummet

3:30 pm Market at Close: Led by a sharp selloff in financials, midcaps and smallcaps, equity market on Friday plunged to fresh lows, marking it the fifth-most steep fall in the past ten years.

The Sensex was down 839.91 points or 2.34% at 35066.75, and the Nifty down 256.30 points or 2.33% at 10760.60. The market breadth was negative as 316 shares advanced against a decline of 2,507 shares, while 209 shares were unchanged.

Bank Nifty fell around 3 percent, while Nifty midcap and BSE smallcap fell 4-5 percent.

BHEL, Bajaj Auto, Bajaj Finance and Tata Power lost the most on both indices, while TCS, Wipro, Tech Mahindra, and HCL Tech were the top gainers.

3:15 Management Speak: In an interview to CNBC-TV18, MV Gowtama, CMD of Bharat Electronics (BEL) spoke about the results and his outlook for the company.

Gowtama said that we implemented revised wages in Q3 of FY18 which hit margin.

He further said that lower other income impacted profitability in December quarter.

3:05 pm Losses: Germany’s biggest lender Deutsche Bank said Friday that Donald Trump’s tax reforms in the US pushed it into the red in 2017.

The Frankfurt-based bank said in a statement that its net loss amounted to 512 million euros ($ 640 million) last year, narrower than the loss of 1.4 billion euros in 2016.

Revenues fell to 26.4 billion euros in 2017 from 30 billion euros the year before.

At a pre-tax level, however, Deutsche Bank was back in the black, notching up a profit of almost 1.3 billion euros, compared with a loss of 810 million euros the previous year.

2:55 pm Results: Consumer durables firm Whirlpool of India today reported a 4.14 per cent fall in standalone net profit to Rs 53.14 crore for the December quarter.

The company had posted a net profit of Rs 55.44 crore during the same quarter a year ago.

Its total income during the quarter under review stood at Rs 979.26 crore. It was at Rs 919.89 crore in the corresponding period of the last fiscal, the company said in a regulatory filing.

2:45 pm Management Speak: Info Edge posted a weak set of Q3 earnings. Revenue growth has been rather muted this quarter and margins are also under pressure for the company.

In an interview with CNBC-TV18, Chintan Thakkar, CFO of Info Edge spoke about the results and his outlook for the company.

Speaking about the real estate side of the business, Thakkar said, “we have started investing more on increasing our branding and attract more traffic. So we have been spending more money in anticipation of revenue and we are hopeful that this business would
recover much faster.”

2:35 pm Market Update: Benchmark indices extended losses in afternoon as the Sensex fell 699.62 points or 1.95 percent to 35,207.04 and the Nifty was down 219.50 points or 1.99 percent at 10,797.40.

Nifty Midcap index plunged nearly 5 percent while BSE Smallcap index declined 4 percent.

All sectoral indices barring IT traded in the red. Nifty Realty index hit hard, falling 6 percent. Nifty Bank, Auto, Metal and Pharma were down 1-3 percent.

2:29 pm Bidders for Air India: The government is expecting to have the winning bidder for national carrier Air India by the end of June and the “legal closing” of the transaction by year-end, Union Minister Jayant Sinha said today.

To revive the fortune of the debt-laden carrier, the government has decided on a strategic disinvestment and a group of ministers is working on the modalities.

“We expect to have the winning bidder by the end of June,” the Minister of State for Civil Aviation said, adding that legal closing of the transaction is expected by the end of this year.

The information memorandum for the proposed disinvestment of the airline would be issued shortly, Sinha told reporters.

2:20 pm Earnings: Two-and three-wheeler major Bajaj Auto reported lower than expected net profit for the December quarter at Rs 952.4 crore against Rs 924.6 crore year on year. A poll of analysts by CNBC-TV18 pegged this to be Rs 1,058 crore.

The company’s revenue rose 26 percent at Rs 6,369.2 crore against Rs 5,067 crore year on ear.

At the operating level, the earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) rose to Rs 1,231.4 crore against Rs 1,043.9 crore.

The operating margin is reported at 19.3 percent against 20.6 percent year on year.

2:16 pm Antidumping Duty: The government may impose antidumping duty on import of a chemical, used in industries like plastics, from four countries, including China, for three years to guard domestic players from cheap shipments.

Imposition of the duty on imports of ‘Methyl Ethyl Keton’ from China, Japan, South Africa and Taiwan was recommended by the commerce ministry’s investigation arm Directorate General of Antidumping and Allied Duties (DGAD).

Cetex Petrochemicals Ltd had filed an application for investigations into alleged dumping of the chemical.

After completion of the investigation, the DGAD in its final findings have stated that domestic industry has suffered material injury on account of the dumped imports.

2:05 pm Europe Update: European equities moved lower as investors digested further earnings reports.

The pan-European Stoxx 600 was 0.3 percent lower with most sectors trading in negative territory. Travel and leisure stocks were the worst performers in early trade on rating downgrades in the sector.

1:57 pm Fundraising: Private sector lender Yes Bank today said it will raise USD 600 million (approximately Rs 3,830 crore) through issuance of fixed term notes under its USD 1 billion Medium Term Note (MTN) programme.

“The Capital Raising Committee of the board approved the issuance and allotment of fixed term notes for an aggregate principal amount of USD 600 million under the USD 1 billion Medium Term Note Programme of the bank,” Yes Bank said in a BSE filing.

In December last year, Yes Bank had established a Medium Term Note Programme to raise USD 1 billion (over Rs 6,400 crore) by issuing debt securities on private placement basis. On November 29 last year, the Capital Raising Committee of the board of the bank had approved its proposal to set up the MTN programme.

1:42 pm Auto Sales: Ford India today reported a 58 percent increase in total sales at 22,535 units in January as against 14,259 units in the same month last year.

The company said its domestic sales stood at 9,450 units in January as against 7,995 units in the year-ago month, up 18.19 percent.

Exports stood at 13,253 units last month as compared to 6,264 units in January 2017, a jump of 111.57 per cent, Ford India said in a statement.

1:31 pm Earnings: Aluminium major Hindalco Industries has reported profit growth of 17.2 percent year-on-year at Rs 375 crore for December quarter, driven by copper business.

Profit for quarter ended December 2016 stood at Rs 320 crore, the company said.

Standalone revenue during the quarter grew by 18.4 percent to Rs 11,023 crore compared to Rs 9,314 crore in year-ago.

Operating profit in Q3 increased 10.7 percent to Rs 1,312 crore and margin contracted 80 basis points to 11.9 percent compared to same quarter last year

1:21 pm Fundraising: Bank of Baroda said it would consider raising up to Rs 5,375 crore via issue of equity shares on preferential basis and consider fundraising via preferential issue to government, on February 9.

Here are the top headlines at 1 pm from Moneycontrol News’ Sakshi Batra

1:05 pm Excise Nod: Som Distilleries & Breweries informed exchanges that its Beer brands namely ‘Hunter’, ‘Blackfort’ and Power Family have got excise approval for supply to Maharashtra.

“We are in advanced stages of commencement of operations in Maharashtra and shall inform the stock exchanges shortly,” it added.

12:58 pm Earnings: Info Edge’s Q3 net profit fell 32.1 percent sequentially to Rs 53.4 crore on weak operational performance and slow revenue growth.

Revenue grew by 0.9 percent quarter-on-quarter to Rs 227.2 crore while operating profit declined 11.3 percent to Rs 78.8 crore and margin contracted to 34.7 percent against 39.4 percent.

12:52 pm Market Update: Frontline indices as well as broader markets were reeling under selling pressure in afternoon, weighed by LTCG, DDT on equity oriented mutual funds, political uncertainty and likely hike in interest rates.

The 30-share BSE Sensex fell 514.13 points or 1.43 percent to 35,392.53 and the 50-share NSE Nifty declined 148.90 points or 1.35 percent to 10,868.

About eight shares declined for every share rising on the BSE.

Nifty Midcap index fell 3 percent while banks, auto and realty stocks hit hard.

PC Jeweller recovered sharply post management clarification on Vakrangee issue, trimming losses from 60 percent to around 16 percent now.

12:40 pm FM on Budget: Finance Minister Arun Jaitley today said the world’s biggest health cover plan announced in the Budget will be cashless and not a reimbursement scheme, and promised more funds if required depending on the rollout later next financial year.

The National Health Protection Scheme (NHPS) touted as ModiCare envisaged to provide medical cover of up to Rs 5 lakh to over 10 crore poor and vulnerable families, constituting 40 percent of total population.

“It takes care of hospitalisation, the secondary and tertiary care. Obviously, it will involve various state hospitals and selected private hospitals. It can be on trust model, it can be on insurance model. It’s not on reimbursement
model because too many complaints come on the reimbursement model,” he said here.

The model is now being worked out between NITI Aayog and Health Ministry, he said adding the date of implementation would be next financial year and sometime in the course of the year it will be worked out.

12:21 pm Crude Oil Update: Oil rose for a third day on Friday after a survey showed strong compliance with output cuts by OPEC and others including Russia, offsetting concerns about surging US production.

Brent futures, the global benchmark, were up 0.27 percent, at USD 69.85 a barrel while US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude was up 0.4 percent, at USD 66.07 a barrel.

12:09 pm HDFC on Budget: “Mr Jaitley’s last Union Budget before the 2019 Lok Sabha elections was only an elaborate (and somewhat painstaking) statement of the government’s financials. It reconfirms our view that Budgets should be seen as accounting statements and not as instruments of economic policy. The good bit includes the stated intent to glide towards a 3.0 percent fiscal deficit, keep divestment momentum high and net borrowing by Government under a tight leash. Also the push towards formalisation is showing early signs of success: a 28 percent rise in the effective tax payer base over FY15-17!,” HDFC Securities said.

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

11:55 am Market Update: The benchmark indices plunged up to 1.72 percent in late morning trade after Fitch Ratings said weak public finances constrain India’s sovereign ratings.

The 30-share BSE Sensex was down 481.63 points or 1.34 percent at 35,425.03, and the 50-share NSE Nifty fell 140.20 points or 1.27 percent to 10,876.70.

About eight shares declined for every share rising on the BSE.

Stocks had opened down as the government’s proposal to impose a 10 percent long term capital gains tax on equity gains of over Rs 1 lakh hit triggered profit booking in frontline stocks.

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley projected a fiscal deficit of 3.5 per cent of GDP for current fiscal against the earlier target of 3.2 per cent which also dampened the market sentiment.

The sentiment took another jolt after Fitch Ratings today said high debt burden of the government constrains India’s rating upgrade.

Global markets were also trading in the negative after
most of the US stock indices fell due to political crisis and
growth concerns.

11:40 am Market Outlook: There are two parts to the fall seen today in the market. Broad market is reacting negatively to the excessive focus on rural and social schemes and the return of LTCG tax. There is stock specific pressure due to unwinding of positions in high beta stocks.

“Market will take few days to absorb these proposals. Investors should be looking at buying into quality names in insurance, like Bajaj Finserv and others like BEL, which has corrected sharply in past few days. Besides these L&T, and rural economy focussed companies like, Escorts, M&M, PI Inds etc with one-to-two years time frame,” Hemang Jani, Head Equity Sales & Advisory, Sharekhan said.

11:29 am Management Interview: The retail growth of 15 percent is in-line with the growth expectations and it is a good performance, Subbu Subramaniam, CFO of Titan said.

We are quite happy and pleased with how we have performed, he added.

We are still looking at a 25 percent growth in the jewellery division. For the jewellery division, our estimate or our guidance stands intact. We expect to do very well this year, said Subramaniam.

Speaking of online sales, he said that it contributes 10 percent of our volumes in India. Fastrack has been doing well in online sales, it has grown 26 percent this quarter.

We are on the path to achieve 15 percent margin in watches division, he further mentioned.

11:15 am IT Outperforms: Technology stocks bucked the trend when the frontline indices and broader markets hitting hard. The Nifty IT index gained around half a percent while other sectoral indices were down around 1-5 percent.

Even the Nifty Pharma index was flat, falling only 0.14 percent. IT as well as Pharma are playing defensive roles now.

Investors may be taking exposure to these stocks on hopes of recovery going ahead because both sectors underperformed others last year. Nifty IT index gained 12 percent and Pharma was down 6 percent while Nifty50 rallied 29 percent.

Here are the top headlines at 11 am from Moneycontrol News’ Sakshi Batra

11:05 am Market Outlook: The Budget 2018 might have left investors thinking about equity markets after the finance minister Arun Jaitley imposed LTCG tax of 10 percent but the word coming from market expert Atul Suri is “Bullish”.

“I am bullish on India for the long-term and see Nifty hitting 17000 levels in the next 3 years. However, in the short term, we could see a correction of up to 5 percent in the Nifty and up to 10 percent in Midcap index,” Suri of Marathon Trends PMS said in an interview with CNBC-TV18.

India market could see a bit of correction in the short term but the market has been correcting in the last one month even though Nifty rose in the same period. Globally, we have seen some bit of selloff, and now we are getting synced with global markets.

Corrections are part of ever bull market and the corrections have already started in the midcap stocks, highlighted Suri. He further added that if we look at the stocks giving fresh 52-weeks high have deteriorated for the last one month.

“In a larger bull market, every month can’t be positive. In fact, it is an amazing time for stock pickers. Investors who are sitting on sidelines and waiting for a correction, this is a great time. Look for companies and pockets where you see strength in the fall,” said Suri.

11:03 am Jaitley to CNBC-TV18 post Budget: Market will have to realise that India is one of the soundest economies in the world. The kind of expenditure we will take this year, will help India which is poised for a very good growth this year.

11:00 am Asian stocks Update: Asian shares came under pressure after Wall Street closed mixed and yields on US government debt rose in the last session.

Japan’s Nikkei 225 declined 0.8 percent after snapping a six-day losing streak in the previous session while China’s Shanghai Composite fell 0.5 percent.

10:55 am Buzzing: PC Jeweller crashed nearly 60 percent in morning following further correction in Vakrangee wherein the company holds some stake, but post the management clarification saying there is no business interest with the IT firm, the stock recovered half of losses to trade lower by 30 percent.

Investors in Vakrangee, which was locked at lower circuit for third consecutive session today, were spooked as reports indicated that the company is facing a probe from SEBI for alleged stock price and volume manipulation.

10:48 am Fitch on Budget: Fitch Ratings today said high debt burden of the government constrains India’s rating upgrade, a day after Finance Minister Arun Jaitley projecting a fiscal deficit of 3.5 percent of GDP against the earlier target of 3.2 percent.

The 2018-19 Union Budget unveiled yesterday contains a number of policy measures with the potential to support economic demand and social well being.

These include those leading to rise in agricultural income and the ambitious health insurance plan while setting up new medical colleges.

“If implemented well, spending on such measures would likely reach a large part of the electorate, which is not insignificant with general elections coming up,” Fitch Ratings Director and Primary Sovereign analyst for India Thomas Rookmaaker said.

10:36 am Sectoral Update: All sectoral indices barring IT were under pressure. Nifty Realty hit hard, falling 6.5 percent followed by Bank, Auto and Metal that traded lower around 2 percent.

IT stocks provided good support to the market, with the Nifty IT index rising 0.5 percent.

10:25 am Market Update: Benchmark indices crashed, with the Sensex falling around 500 points and Nifty Midcap index losing 4 percent as investors digested Budget 2018.

The 30-share BSE Sensex was down 497.65 points or 1.39 percent to 35409.01 and the 50-share NSE Nifty declined 155 points or 1.41 percent to 10,861.90.

About 10 shares declined for every share rising on the BSE.

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

10:10 am JM Financial in focus: The company said its committee of the board today has approved the closure of the QIP issue today and the issue price of Rs 162 per share, including a share premium of Rs 161.

10:02 Buzzing: Shares of Vakrangee continued to plummet to new lows, with the stock trading at 10 percent lower circuit for the third consecutive day today.

Investors have turned cautious of the stock after media reports hint at a possible investigation by Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) for alleged manipulation of share price and volume.

“The company has come under Securities Exchange Board of India’s (SEBI) investigation for alleged price and volume manipulation of its own scrip at Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) and the National Stock Exchange (NSE),” as per Mumbai Mirror report.

According to documents available with Mumbai Mirror, the trading of the Vakrangee scrip was analysed by both the exchanges from January 1, 2016, to June 30, 2016, and September 1, 2016, to June 15, 2017, after it was suspected that certain entities were trading the scrip and increasing its market gross.

Vakrangee is the largest enrolment agency for UIDAI.

9:56 am FII View on Budget 2018: Fiscal discipline has taken a backseat in the latest annual Indian budget which contains many tinges of populism, noted Indian economist Eswar Prasad said today.

Prasad, a professor of trade policy at the prestigious Cornell University, said there were no major measures in the budget that could stimulate private investment.

“Fiscal discipline has taken a backseat in this budget, which contains many tinges of populism, as was to be expected in the run-up to a national election cycle,” Prasad told PTI.

“There are no major measures that could stimulate private investment, which has been notably weak even during the recent period of high growth,” Prasad said.

However, the proposed new health insurance scheme and other measures that will in principle directly benefit the poor are welcome, Prasad said.

“Although it is unclear how exactly some of these programs will be funded within the budget envelope,” he said.

9:47 am Rupee Trade: The rupee depreciated by 6 paise to 64.08 against the dollar in morning at the interbank foreign exchange today due to concerns over widening fiscal deficit.

The Centre yesterday introduced a long-term capital gains tax of 10 per cent on stock market gains exceeding Rs 1 lakh, resulting in volatility in forex market.

Forex dealers said that besides increased demand for the American currency from importers, a lower opening of the domestic equity market also kept pressure on the rupee.

Yesterday, the rupee had plunged 44 paise to close at a near two-week low of 64.02 against the US dollar.

9:37 am Market Outlook: Hadrien Mendonca of IIFL expects indices to enter into a phase of consolidation from here on before we could see a fresh directional move. However, not forgetting the overall scenario continues to remain pretty bullish.

The higher top higher bottom structure remains intact and the strategy would be to remain to buy on declines. The action will continue to remain among the large caps and it would be prudent to stick to big names.

A fresh breakout is likely once Nifty surpasses its previous all-time high post which we expect the northbound journey to resume towards the 11,450 zone. Crucial support is seen around the 10,910 levels.

9:28 am Order Win: L&T Construction, the construction arm of Larsen & Toubro, has won orders worth Rs 2,275 crore across various business segments.

Its water & effluent treatment business has bagged orders worth Rs 1,255 crore, power transmission & distribution business won major solar EPC orders worth Rs 590 crore and buildings & factories segment has received an order worth Rs 430 crore.

9:21 am Auto sales: Bajaj Auto said total sales in January increased sharply by 46 percent to 3.53 lakh units, with domestic sales rising 50 percent at 2.02 lakh units and exports surging 41 percent to 1.51 lakh units YoY.

Motorcycle sales jumped 36 percent to 2.89 lakh units and 3-wheeler sales increased 113 percent to 64,211 units compared to same month last year.

9:15 am Market Check: Benchmark indices opened sharply lower as investors digested Union Budget 2018 and focussed on more corporate earnings.

The 30-share BSE Sensex was down 270.47 points at 35,636.19 and the 50-share NSE Nifty fell 83.20 points to 10,933.70.

Axis Bank, Yes Bank, SBI, Indiabulls Housing Finance, Adani Ports, SBI, ICICI Bank, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Sun Pharma, Tata Steel and UPL were early losers.

Hindalco, HCL Technologies, Bajaj Auto and ITC were early gainers.

Nifty Midcap extended losses, falling 1.5 percent or 313 points.

Vakrangee, IDBI Bank, Jain Irrigation, Syndicate Bank, PNB, Canara Bank, JSW Steel, Ceat, VST Tillers and Titan Company were down 1-10 percent.