MARKET WRAP: Indices end flat, Sensex up 61 pts; YES Bank zooms 26%

All that happened in markets today

Worries over economic slowdown owing to Coronavirus outbreak continued to weigh on the investor sentiment Thursday as equities once failed to retain early gains and ended flat. 

The S&P BSE Sensex  ended at 38,471, up 61 points or 0.16 per cent. TCS, HUL, Bharti Airtel and HCL Tech were the major contributors to the index's gains. During the day, the index hit a high and low of 38,887.80 and 38,386.68, respectively. 

NSE's Nifty 50 ended at 11,269, up 18 points or 0.16 per cent. 

YES Bank had a field day today as the stock ended 26 per cent higher at Rs 36.85 apiece on the BSE after news reports suggested the government has approved a plan for State Bank of India to lead a consortium that will buy stake in YES Bank. SBI, on the other hnad, ended over 1 per cent higher at Rs 288.3 apiece. READ MORE
 

In the broader market, the S&P BSE MidCap index ended 0.3 per cent higher at 14,571 levels while the S&P BSE SmallCap index gained 0.29 per cent to settle at 13,591 levels.

On the sectoral front, PSU banks and FMCG stocks made decent gains while realty, metal. and media counters suffered losses. Nifty PSU Bank index added 1.39 per cent to 1,892 levels while Nifty FMCG ended at 29,530.50, up 1 per cent.  

Global Markets

Asian shares rallied for a fourth straight session on Thursday as US markets swung sharply higher and another dose of central bank stimulus offered some salve for the global economic outlook. Asian markets followed, if more cautiously. MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan added 0.7 per cent, in its fourth day of gains.

Japan's Nikkei rose 0.9 per cent and hard-hit Australian shares finally managed a bounce of 1.1 per cent. Shanghai blue chips put on 1.3 per cent.

In commodity markets, oil prices rebounded by more than 1 per cent on a smaller-than-expected rise in crude oil inventories in the United States.

(With inputs from Reuters)

4:07 PM

MARKET COMMENT | Vinod Nair, Head of Research at Geojit Financial Services

Fund allocated by IMF and easing monetary measures is marginally supporting global markets but India is underperforming due to suspected virus cases. Foreign investors continued to sell with a notion that epidemic effect will be more on emerging markets. Volatility is expected to persist, issues related to telecom and weak asset quality of banks could hurt market for short to medium term. 

3:41 PM

Sectoral gainers and losers on the NSE

3:40 PM

MARKET AT CLOSE | Top gainers and losers on the S&P BSE Sensex

3:35 PM

CLOSING BELL

The S&P BSE Sensex added 61 points or 0.16 per cent to end at 38,471 while NSE's Nifty50 ended at 11,269, up 18 points or 0.16 per cent.

3:24 PM

NEWS ALERT | RBI Deputy Guv NS Vishwanathan seeks early retirement on health grounds: CNBC-TV18

3:21 PM

NEWS ALERT | FDC gains 8% on BSE after around 1 mn shares or 0.59% stake change hands via block deal

3:17 PM

BROKERAGE RADAR | HDFC Securities on Cement sector

The recent surge in op margins for north/central/Gujarat (NCG) based cement companies is sustainable on structural tailwinds. Capacity consolidation these regions is further firming up and utilisation is also expected to hold above 80%. These should support strong pricing in the region to sustain, bolstering profitability outlook. Hence, we remain bullish on the companies with large exposure to these markets. The benefits of subdued petcoke and diesel prices should accrue to the whole industry. UltraTech and JK Cement remain our top-picks in the sector.

3:08 PM

MARKET CHECK

2:50 PM

Global Markets check

European shares rose for a fourth straight session on Thursday, as the action taken this week by several major central banks to ease the impact of the coronavirus outbreak on growth fed through into financial markets.

The main European equity benchmark rose 0.6 per cent, showing steady gains for the first time since a market rout in late February.

London shares, however, were up just 0.06 per cent as the Bank of England's next governor Andrew Bailey said it should wait for more clarity about the economic hit from the outbreak before making any decision to cut rates.

Asian shares also rallied. MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan added 0.7 per cent, in its fourth day of gains. Japan's Nikkei rose 0.9 per cent and hard-hit Australian shares finally managed a bounce of 1.1 per cent. Shanghai blue chips put on 1.3 per cent.

(Reuters)

2:44 PM

BSE500 stocks that hit 52-week high today

COMPANY	PRICE(rs)	52 WK HIGH	CHG(%)
AJANTA PHARMA	1482.35	1543.70	-1.91
DABUR INDIA	520.35	525.30	1.10
PIDILITE INDS.	1628.20	1644.75	2.82

2:40 PM

BROKERAGE RADAR | ICICI Securities on Tata Chemicals

We value the domestic soda ash business at 5x FY21E EV/EBITDA and overseas at 4x EV/EBITDA. We arrive at a target price of Rs 360, excluding investment portfolio value, providing an upside of 14% over CMP of Rs 316. We have a HOLD rating on the stock.

2:37 PM

BROKERAGE RADAR | JM FInancial Services on HUL post GSK deal

We believe there is potential of a large EPS upside over the coming few years even beyond the stated synergies (8-10ppt, as per HUL’s estimates) - in the form of tax-shield from amortisation of intangibles / goodwill that would arise from this merger, and this is not an insignificant number, as per our workings. One should, however, not be ascribing a ‘multiple’ to this ‘benefit’ given the limited number of years for which this would be available. The other topic of discussion has been around possible overhang on HUL’s stock-price as GSK Plc starts to look to monetise the shares that it would come to hold in HUL (5.7% - c.USD4bn) – we think it is very unlikely that Unilever Plc would be buying this stake back from GSK Plc.

2:36 PM

Heatmap: S&P BSE Sensex

2:35 PM

NEWS ALERT | Cadila Health receives approval from DCGI for Saroglitaza: BSE filing

>> Saroglitaza used for the treatment of Non-Cirrhotic Non-Alcoholic SteatoHepatitis (NASH) in India.

Alert: DCGI is Drug Controller General of India
 

 

2:34 PM

BROKERAGE RADAR | Emkay Global Financial Services on Essel Propack

Our FY21/22 revenue growth estimates of 9.1%/7.7% have downward risks due to Covid-19 disruption, while our EBITDA margin of 21.6%/22.2% have upside risks due to costoptimization and efficiency initiatives. China news flow could weigh on the stock in the near term as investors wait for clarity on the resumption of China operations and signs of a demand pick-up. We maintain Buy with a TP of Rs 200 based on 9x FY22E EV/EBITDA.

Key risks: 1) prolonged shutdown in China; 2) sharp increase in raw material prices; and 3) slowdown in demand for customers’ products.