MARKET WRAP: Indices settle at record high led by L&T, Infosys, HDFC

Among sectoral indices, the Nifty Metal index settled 3% higher led by a sharp rise in the shares of Hindalco Industries and Jindal Steel & Power.

The benchmark indices ended at their record highs on Tuesday. The S&P BSE Sensex ended at 36,825, up 106 points. The index hit its intra-day high of 36,902.06 today. The broader Nifty50 index settled at 11,134, up 50 points. It had hit a fresh near six-month high of 11,143.40 in intra-day deals.



Among sectoral indices, the Nifty Metal index moved up 3%, led by a sharp rise in Hindalco Industries and Jindal Steel & Power. The Nifty Realty index ended 2.5% higher, led by Unitech and DLF.

GLOBAL MARKETS

Shanghai shares got a boost from news that Beijing would adopt a more "vigorous" fiscal policy, including company tax cuts. Chinese blue chips rose 1.6 per cent to a one-month high, while MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan added 0.47 per cent. Japan's Nikkei edged up 0.5 per cent even as a disappointing reading on local factory activity suggested the threat of a trade war was starting to bite.

OIL PRICES

Oil prices extended losses on Tuesday as attention shifted to the risk of oversupply, with market participants shrugging off escalating tensions between the United States and Iran.

Brent crude oil was down 10 cents (0.14 per cent) at $72.96 a barrel, after settling down 1 cent on Monday. US crude was down 9 cents (0.13 per cent) at $67.80 a barrel. The contract fell 37 cents the previous day.

(with Reuters inputs)

4:27 PM

MARKET COMMENT Mustafa Nadeem, CEO, Epic Research

Market hits a new all-time high with S&P Sensex hitting 36902, just a tad below 37K mark while on the other side Nifty has been shy of testing its all-time high of 11171. Though, Nifty has given a definite breakout after consolidating in a flag pattern for a week. Further, We have seen a positive close above the resistance line of the flag which has turned bulls aggressively bullish.

A flag is a continuation pattern which indicates the continuation of the preceding trend in the market. While its Pole being the previous rally we have observed from 10600 odd levels which come to be 500 odd points while the breakout has happened above at 11050, the point of inflection for the pattern. Nifty has successfully closed above this point for the second consecutive day which indicates the control of directional bulls. With that, 11450 is the conservative target for this pattern in short-term

3:51 PM

Nifty Metal index ends 2.99% higher. Top gainers:

COMPANY	LATEST	PREV CLOSE	GAIN( )	GAIN(%)
HINDALCO INDS.	207.60	196.15	11.45	5.84
WELSPUN CORP	115.05	109.75	5.30	4.83
JINDAL STEEL	195.90	187.45	8.45	4.51
JINDAL STAIN .HI	130.25	124.70	5.55	4.45
NATL. ALUMINIUM	61.05	58.55	2.50	4.27

3:49 PM

Nifty sectoral gainers of the day

3:48 PM

BSE Sensex: L&T, Asian Paints, Vedanta among top gainers of the day

3:33 PM

Market at close

 

The S&P BSE Sensex ended at 36,825, up 106 points while the broader Nifty50 index settled at 11,134, up 50 points.

3:25 PM

IDBI Capital on L&T Infotech

We factor Q1FY19 beat and increase FX rate to Rs68 vs. Rs65.5 earlier for rest of FY19E and FY20E. We increase FY19/20E revenue by 2.6%/3.2% and EPS by 6.3%/5.7%. We now forecast FY18-20E revenue (US$)/EPS CAGR of 16.9%/18.3%. We also raise our target price to Rs1,809 based on 20x FY20E and maintain HOLD

3:14 PM

SBI Ecowrap: RBI to maintain status quo on August 01

We believe August rate decision is a close call, though we believe status quo rather than a hike looks the best option. The only reason for a rate hike by RBI at this juncture might be to satiate the self fulfilling prophecy of market expectations of a rate hike to stem the rupee depreciation (though rupee depreciated by 3% post June).

 

In our view, inflation risks are still evenly balanced. While the MSP hike could statistically push up CPI by 73 basis points, such inflation is unlikely to materialize as it is purely subject to procurement by the Central Government/State Government. In fact, without effective procurement, historical trends suggest that market prices have often fallen below MSP due to demand supply dynamics

3:12 PM

Exporters fear India may lose $5.5 bn in gold medallion, coin exports

India is set to lose around $5.5 billion worth of gold medallion and coin exports due to the government's decision to ban shipment of gold beyond 22 carat of purity. Since gold medallions and coins contain 24 carats of gold, their export has been banned, albeit unintentionally. READ MORE

3:08 PM

GlaxoSmithKline Pharmaceuticals zooms 17% on 1:1 bonus

Shares of GlaxoSmithKline Pharmaceuticals have zoomed 17% to Rs 3,249 per share, also their 52-week high on the BSE, after the company's board recommended a bonus issue in the ratio of 1:1. READ MORE

2:51 PM

Rail related stocks in focus; Titagarh Wagons, Texmaco Rail surge 20%

Shares of railway related stocks such as Titagarh Wagons, Texmaco Rail & Engineering, Cimmco, Hind Rectifiers and Commercial Engineering & Body Builders Company have rallied up to 20% on the BSE.
 

According to a PTI report, the railway is looking at 4,000 km of track renewal in each of the next two financial years --2018-19 and 2019-20. Its estimated cost for 2018-19 is a little above Rs 100 billion. READ MORE

2:36 PM

MARKET CHECK

INDEX	LATEST	PREVIOUS	CHANGE	CHANGE(%)
	36863.29	36718.60	144.69	0.39
	14994.78	14855.22	139.56	0.94
	15615.89	15392.58	223.31	1.45
	16185.83	15867.21	318.62	2.01
	4317.47	4286.44	31.03	0.72

2:35 PM

Devangshu Datta Rupee may rebound if crude keeps falling

The rupee hit a new low on Friday before it recovered to some degree. That was driven by a plunge in the Yuan’s value, which dragged down most Asian currencies in “sympathy”. However, the stockmarket rose on Monday, driven by the revamping of GST over the weekend.

 

Crude oil prices have also abated slightly, bringing some relief to India’s external account and we may see a rupee rebound if crude continues to trend down.  READ MORE

2:31 PM

Equirus Securities on HT Media Ltd (HTML)

HT Media (HTML) posted below-expected 1QFY19 revenues of ~Rs 5.4bn (-7% yoy; -13% below EE) as both print advertising (-7% yoy) and circulation (-3% yoy) revenues remained under pressure. Newsprint cost inflation and one-offs in other expenses squeezed EBITDA margins to 6.6% (-538bps yoy) — among all-time lows. After reviving last quarter, English ad revenues slid ~9% y-o-y while Hindi ad revenues declined ~5% yoy.

The radio business (up ~12% vs. 2% in 4Q) is being demerged from HTML (except Hyderabad & UP stations) and merged with the radio business of Next Media Works (NMW), a listed company. The transaction, to be closed in 12-18 months, would reduce HTML to a pure publishing play. We pare revenue/EPS estimates by 5%/15% and 5%/22% for FY19 and FY20 respectively, and roll over to a Sep’19 target price of Rs 50 (Jun’19 target price: Rs 90). Maintain REDUCE.

2:28 PM

ICRA on interest rate outlook

With mixed cues regarding the extent of inflationary and fiscal risks, and the momentum of economic growth, ICRA anticipates that the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) would adopt a cautious stance and increase the repo rate to 6.5% in the August 2018 review. However, given the lack of clarity regarding some of these risks, it may persist with the neutral stance of the monetary policy, to signal that the timing and magnitude of upcoming rate hikes would be data dependant

2:27 PM

MUST READ Venezuela inflation may surge to 1,000,000% by 2018-end, projects IMF

Venezuela's inflation rate is likely to top 1,000,000 per cent in 2018, an International Monetary Fund official wrote on Monday, putting it on track to become one of the worst hyperinflationary crises in modern history.

 

The South American nation's economy has been steadily collapsing since the crash of oil prices in 2014 left it unable to maintain a socialist system of subsidies and price controls CLICK HERE FOR MORE

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