MARKETS ON FRIDAY: Indices end higher but Nifty fails to hold 10,500-mark

Benchmark indices rose for a seventh straight session on Friday, their longest winning streak since November 2017, on the back of gains in index heavyweights such as Reliance Industries and ICICI Bank.

Sentiment was also upbeat after retail inflation eased to a five-month low in March, but remained above the central bank’s medium-term target, supporting views that monetary policy is likely to remain unchanged at the next review in early June.

Investors now await January-March corporate results for future direction. IT Major Infosys will kick-start the March-quarter results season later in the day.

Meanwhile, Global stocks recovered to three-week highs on Friday as anticipated strong earnings season took centre stage after US President Donald Trump backtracked on his suggestion of an imminent missile attack on Syria.

Trump said in a tweet on Thursday that a possible attack on Syria could occur "very soon or not so soon at all," easing fears of confrontation with Russia.

MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan ticked up 0.1 per cent while Japan's Nikkei gained 0.8 per cent.

(with inputs from Reuters)

3:41 PM

Nifty Metal index ends nearly 1% higher. Top gainers:

COMPANY	LATEST	PREV CLOSE	GAIN()	GAIN(%)
S A I L	76.70	74.00	2.70	3.65
JINDAL STEEL	251.80	243.75	8.05	3.30
WELSPUN CORP	153.00	148.55	4.45	3.00
MOIL	215.00	209.65	5.35	2.55
HINDALCO INDS.	238.50	232.60	5.90	2.54

3:36 PM

Sectoral Trend

3:34 PM

BSE Sensex: top gainers and losers of the day

3:32 PM

Market at close

 

The S&P BSE Sensex ended at 34,193, up 92 points while the broader Nifty50 index settled at 10,481, up 22 points.

3:09 PM

IDBI Bank: High NPAs, new bad loan rules seen offsetting inflows

 

IDBI Bank has joined the bandwagon of public sector banks (PSBs) rushing to sell their non-core assets to strengthen their balance sheet. Recently, the lender sold a commercial building for Rs 9 billion, taking the total non-core asset sales to over Rs 41 billion in FY18.

 

Also, the government provided Rs 106.1 billion recapitalisation amount, the highest among PSBs, to this cash-starved bank. But these efforts seem insufficient given the bank’s high net non-performing assets (NPAs) worth Rs 293.5 billion as of December 2017. READ MORE

3:02 PM

Oil heads for biggest weekly gain since July

Oil prices edged higher on Friday, heading for their largest weekly gain since July after U.S. President Trump's comments about possible military action in Syria and reports of dwindling global oil stocks. Brent crude rose by 44 cents to $72.46 a barrel at 0821 GMT, up about 8 percent on the week. READ MORE

2:42 PM

BUZZING STOCK

 

KPIT Technologies  rose for a third straight session, quoting at Rs 230.5, up 1.86% on the day as on the NSE. KPIT Technologies is up 79.24% in last one year as compared to a 14.96% gain in Nifty and a 33.16% gain in the Nifty IT index.

2:28 PM

Goldman expects sanctions to keep aluminium prices high, sees oil hitting $72

Aluminium prices are expected to remain high and volatile until June because of sanctions on Russia's Rusal, while tensions in the Middle East are likely to push oil prices to $72 a barrel, Goldman Sachs said on Thursday. The bank reinforced its "overweight" view on commodities, with a forecast return of 10 percent over the next 12 months. READ MORE

2:16 PM

ICEX launches 30 cents diamond futures contracts to attract small investors

Reliance ADAG anchored Indian Commodity Exchange Limited (ICEX) has launched 30 cents polished diamond futures contracts on its platform to attract small investors and make natural precious stone popular amongst the average middle class. The exchange currently offers 1 carat (100 cents) and 50 cents polished diamond contracts on its platform where small investors need to wait to take delivery till their invested amount accumulates equivalent to the value of these stones. READ MORE

Diamonds

2:09 PM

TOP CONTRIBUTORS TO SENSEX TODAY

COMPANY	LATEST	CHG(RS)	CHG(%)	WEIGHT IN INDEX (%)
ADANI PORTS	381.85	9.80	2.63	0.97
TCS	3217.50	80.20	2.56	5.08
WIPRO	292.50	5.70	1.99	1.52
INFOSYS	1183.00	20.75	1.79	8.93
DR REDDY'S LABS	2084.40	25.60	1.24	1.56
RELIANCE INDS.	937.40	9.85	1.06	7.22

2:01 PM

Market Check

 

S&P BSE Sensex	34,235.14		0.39%
Nifty 50	10,488.85		0.29%
S&P BSE 200	4,607.73		0.33%
Nifty 500	9,273.00		0.28%
S&P BSE Mid-Cap	16,674.17		0.44%
S&P BSE Small-Cap	17,991.92		0.32%

1:58 PM

ICICI Securities on Bajaj Electricals (BEL)

We believe BEL is a strong candidate for re-rating owing to the strong performance of the EPC division and recovery in sales of consumer durable  products with rising coverage of retailers across India. We believe BEL will record revenue, earning CAGR of ~19%, ~34%, respectively, in FY18E-20E supported by an increase in EBITDA margin.

Under our SOTP based valuation, we value BEL’s CD segment MCap at 2x FY20E sales (~30% discount to peers) and E&P segment at 7x FY20E EV/EBITDA. We maintain our BUY rating with a revised target price of Rs 720/share.

1:56 PM

Chennai Petroleum Corporation Ltd – BUY – TARGET PRICE Rs 390

Post 30% correction in the stock prices in the recent past, we believe lot of the concerns have already been priced in. Hence, we now upgrade our recommendation to BUY (earlier ACCUMULATE) on the stock with a revised price target of Rs.390/share (earlier Rs. 495/share). We believe at CMP, that the stock is attractively valued. We have valued CPCL based on lower PE multiple of 5.5x FY20 (target PE), which is at a significant discount to its peers considering complexity of its refinery.

(Source: Kotak Securities)

1:54 PM

STOCK ALERT TCS nears all-time high; stock rallies 11% in four days

Shares of Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) have moved 3.2% higher to Rs 3,238 per share, extending their 7.4% rally in past three trading days on the BSE. The information technology (IT) giant trading close to its all-time high of Rs 3,255, recorded on January 24, 2018 in intra-day trade. The company is scheduled to announce its earnings for the period of January-March 2018 (Q4FY18) and the financial year 2017-2018 (FY18) on Thursday, April 19, 2018 READ MORE

1:43 PM

Etihad sends feelers to Anil Ambani to buy 76% stake in Air India

 

Gulf airline major Etihad is planning to bid for state-owned carrier Air India. Etihad is looking for partners in major Indian corporate groups and has sent feelers to Anil Ambani-owned Reliance group (ADAG).

 

Sources aware of the discussions said talks were at a preliminary stage. “Etihad is scouting for partners to form a consortium to bid for Air India and is in discussion with companies, including the Anil Ambani group,” a source said. There are chances that the talks may not translate into a partnership, but this indicates interest of foreign aviation firms and India Inc in the airline. READ MORE