MARKETS ON MONDAY: Sensex ends 162 pts up, Nifty at 10,379 on Asian cues

All that happened in the markets today.

The domestic markets ended higher on Monday taking cues from their Asian counterparts. The S&P BSE Sensex ended at 33,788, up 162 points while the broader Nifty50 index settled at 10,379, up 48 points.

Among sectoral indices, the Nifty FMCG index ended 1.13% up led by a rise in the shares of Marico and ITC.

Asian shares edged higher on Monday as a bounce in US stock futures soothed sentiment even as US President Donald Trump kept up his twitter war with China over trade just a couple of days before Chinese President Xi Jinping gives a keynote speech.

MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan inched up 0.1 per cent. Japan's Nikkei wavered either side of flat, and South Korea edged ahead by 0.2 per cent.

Back home, upcoming quarterly results season, along with the release of macroeconomic data points on industrial production (IIP) and inflation, are expected to determine the trajectory of key equity indices this week.

According to market observers, global cues such as concerns over trade protectionist measures between the US and China, combined with the direction of foreign fund flows and crude oil prices, will also impact investors' risk-taking appetite.

(with Reuters inputs)

4:30 PM

MARKET COMMENT

With a broader view, we would reiterate that worse is not over yet for our markets. What we saw on Monday was just a relief rally and hence, one needs to keep booking timely profits and ideally should stay light on positions

(Source: Angel Broking)

3:50 PM

Allegations against ICICI Bank pose reputational risks: Fitch

An investigation into allegations that India's ICICI Bank (BBB-/Stable/bbb-) extended a loan with a potential conflict of interest raises questions over the bank's governance and creates reputational risks, says Fitch Ratings. Other regulatory sanctions are also possible, depending on the outcome of the investigation.

 

The allegation relates to a $500 million loan to Videocon Group, whose controlling shareholder co-founded a separate company with the spouse of ICICI's CEO. A significant portion of the loan has since become non-performing. ICICI's board has denied any wrongdoing, highlighting that the loan was underwritten in accordance with the bank's credit standards and was extended as part of a consortium involving over 20 banks.

The bank has stressed that it has not given any credit to the borrower group outside of the consortium. Nevertheless, the presence of the bank's CEO on this credit committee - and the bank's reluctance to support an independent probe - have, in our opinion, created doubts over the strength of its corporate governance practices. 

(Source: Fitch release)

3:40 PM

Top gainers in Nifty Bank index:

COMPANY	LATEST	PREV CLOSE	GAIN( )	GAIN(%)
AXIS BANK	517.40	500.20	17.20	3.44
PUNJAB NATL.BANK	105.10	102.15	2.95	2.89
FEDERAL BANK	99.50	97.25	2.25	2.31
INDUSIND BANK	1860.10	1824.15	35.95	1.97
BANK OF BARODA	153.25	150.40	2.85	1.89

3:39 PM

Top gainers in the Nifty FMCG index:

COMPANY	LATEST	PREV CLOSE	GAIN( )	GAIN(%)
MARICO	327.35	320.65	6.70	2.09
ITC	265.50	260.85	4.65	1.78
TATA GLOBAL	277.25	272.70	4.55	1.67
HIND. UNILEVER	1391.00	1374.80	16.20	1.18
JUBILANT FOOD.	2449.35	2430.35	19.00	0.78

3:37 PM

Sectoral Trend

3:35 PM

BSE Sensex: top gainers and losers of the day

3:32 PM

Market at close

 

The S&P BSE Sensex ended at 33,788, up 162 points while the broader Nifty50 index settled at 10,379, up 48 points.

3:20 PM

NEWS WATCH RInfra wins Rs 1,081 cr contract for Kudankulam Nuclear Power Proj

Reliance Infrastructure Ltd (RInfra) today said it has won a Rs 1,081 crore contract from Nuclear Power Corporation of India Ltd (NPCIL) for works pertaining to two units of the Kudankulam project in Tamil Nadu. The company said its engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) division has won the contract amidst competition from leading players like BHEL, Larsen & Toubro, Tata Projects and BGR. READ MORE

RInfra stock quote:

2:59 PM

Tata Motors reclaims top spot in light commercial vehicles after two years

The previous financial year (FY18) belonged to Tata Motors in more ways than one. The country’s biggest commercial vehicle maker reclaimed leadership position in the light commercial vehicle (LCV) space from rival M&M after a gap of two years. Besides, the Mumbai-headquartered company also overtook Japanese car maker Honda to occupy the fourth spot in the domestic passenger vehicle market. READ MORE

2:58 PM

ICICI board is said to be divided over CEO Chanda Kochhar's future

The board of India’s ICICI Bank Ltd., which less than two weeks earlier expressed full faith in Chief Executive Officer Chanda Kochhar, is divided over whether to ask her to step down as federal authorities investigate allegations of impropriety over loans made to Videocon group, people with knowledge of the matter said. READ THE FULL ARTICLE HERE

2:57 PM

MOST ACTIVE STOCKS IN BSE 500 BY VOLUME

COMPANY NAME	LATEST	CHG ( )	CHG(%)	VALUE (  CR)	VOLUME
ICICI BANK	282.20	1.60	0.57	865.71	30677222
IDBI BANK	73.65	0.55	0.75	45.69	6204134
REL. COMM.	24.00	-0.35	-1.44	11.92	4965597
JP ASSOCIATES	20.50	0.05	0.24	9.47	4620748
PUNJAB NATL.BANK	104.40	2.40	2.35	35.22	3373227
GMR INFRA.	20.55	0.40	1.99	5.51	2681292

2:54 PM

Morgan Stanley on Titan Company

We forecast 15% revenue growth and 42% EBIT growth for jewellery. Based on our estimates, Titan will report F18 revenue growth of 25%, which underscores our view on rapid market share gains for Titan's jewellery business from the unorganized jewellery segment. The watch segment is likely to report 10% revenue growth and 5x EBIT growth off a weak base. Overall, we estimate revenue, operating profit,and adjusted net profit growth of 16%, 63%,and 55%, respectively, for Titan in 4QF18.

2:36 PM

Company Update: Finolex Cables

We recently met the top brass of Finolex Cables (FCL). Key takeaways include: 1) FCL posted lower revenue growth versus peers in past two-three years, largely owing to weak housing demand where the company has major (~60% of revenues) presence compared to peer-set; 2) management seemed upbeat on communication cables segment (we estimate the unit to log ~25% CAGR over FY17-20) given burgeoning demand for optic fiber cables (to lay 35-40mn km annually over next two-three years) as India remains highly under fiberised (~40-45%) to meet the complete 4G roll out; and 3) with FCL’s new PVC switches unit coming up at Goa, it is targeting INR2bn revenues from fans and switchgears by FY20. Notwithstanding the real estate slow-down, we expect 15%/20% earnings/OCF growth over FY17-20 on strong growth in non-housing segments. We maintain ‘BUY’ with TP of Rs 800, based on 25x FY20E PE

(Source: Edelweiss Research)

2:31 PM

TOP CONTRIBUTORS TO SENSEX'S GAIN

COMPANY	LATEST	CHG(RS)	CHG(%)	CONTRIBUTION (POINTS)
ITC	265.40	4.80	1.84	59.04
HDFC BANK	1938.80	16.10	0.84	48.46
AXIS BANK	518.70	18.00	3.59	45.91
H D F C	1842.70	13.10	0.72	31.67
LARSEN & TOUBRO	1327.70	16.60	1.27	23.67

2:29 PM

FY18 fiscal deficit to be below revised target as govt gets RBI, FCI boost

The government’s fiscal deficit at the end of March 2018 may have been slightly below its 2017-18 revised estimate of Rs 5.95 trillion, clawing back from a Rs 1.2-trillion overshoot at the end of February, Business Standard has learnt.

 

This was achieved partly as the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) transferred an additional Rs 100 billion in surplus to the central coffers, and the Food Corporation of India (FCI) returned nearly Rs 500 billion in allocation to the finance ministry