Sensex ends 141 pts higher, Nifty settles at 10,397 levels; IT stocks rise

All that happened in the markets today.

The benchmark indices ended firm on Wednesday ahead of  the expiry of derivative contracts for February series on Thursday.

The S&P BSE Sensex ended at 33,845, up 141 points while the broader Nifty50 index settled at 10,397, up 37 points.

IT stocks ended 2.3% higher led by a over 4% rise in shares of HCL Technologies and Mindtree Ltd.

Stocks of pharmaceutical companies ended came under pressure, with the Nifty Pharma index settling nearly 2 per cent lower. Sun Pharma was the biggest loser of the day among the pharmaceutical companies, shedding 6.4% to settle at 523.90.

In global markets, Asian stocks gained on Wednesday, while the dollar advanced as traders near-term focus shifted to the minutes of the Federal Reserve’s last policy meeting for hints on the future pace of US monetary tightening. The Japanese Nikkei 225 ended at 21,971, up 0.2 per cent from the previous close.
 

MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan rose 0.7 per cent after slipping earlier in the session following the US market losses, which snapped a six-session winning streak..

(with wire inputs)

3:48 PM

Top Sectoral loser: Nifty Pharma down nearly 2%

3:40 PM

Top Sectoral gainer: Nifty IT up over 2%

3:39 PM

Sectoral Trend

3:37 PM

Sensex top losers and gainers

3:36 PM

Market at close

 

The S&P BSE Sensex ended at 33,845, up 141 points while the broader Nifty50 index settled at 10,397 up 37 points.

3:21 PM

MUST READ Gitanjali's Mehul Choksi and a London-Hong Kong cross connection

In 2010, Gitanjali promoter Mehul Choksi’s Hong Kong-based companies, Aston Luxury Group and Crown Aim Limited, invested in a London-based company called Alfred Terry Limited. Business Standard had reported earlier that Aston Luxury and Crown Aim were sharing the same office building and staff services with Aura Gems and Sunshine Gems. READ MORE

Mehul Choksi

3:16 PM

News Watch PNB fraud: Centre opposes plea seeking independent probe in Nirav Modi case

The Centre on Wednesday opposed in the Supreme Court a PIL seeking an independent probe and deportation of billionaire jeweller Nirav Modi in the over Rs 110 billion PNB fraud case, saying an FIR has been lodged and a probe was on.
 

A bench comprising Chief Justice Dipak Misra and Justices A M Khanwilkar and D Y Chandrachud said it would not say anything on the matter now and listed the PIL filed by lawyer Vineet Dhanda for further hearing on March 16. READ MORE

3:02 PM

Market Check

S&P BSE Sensex	33,792.20		0.26%
Nifty 50	10,375.45		0.15%
S&P BSE 200	4,535.86		0.04%
Nifty 500	9,148.05		-0.03%
S&P BSE Mid-Cap	16,375.72		-0.27%
S&P BSE Small-Cap	17,782.35		-0.27%

3:00 PM

News Watch South Korean government says will support 'normal' cryptocurrency trading

 

Bitcoin’s stunning rebound continued on Tuesday, with the world’s largest digital token extending February’s gains after South Korean regulators signaled they will actively support what they called “normal” cryptocurrency trading.

 

In a further shift from earlier rhetoric -- which hinted at an outright ban of cryptocurrency exchanges -- Choe Heungsik, governor of South Korea’s Financial Supervisory Service, told reporters he wants to see normalised trading of digital assets, and said the FSS is making efforts to do that. CLICK HERE FOR FULL STORY

2:55 PM

Nomura on Motherson Sumi Systems (MSS)

We continue to like MSS as a play on premiumisation and value addition in cars for weight reduction, electronics and shift towards EVs. The ramp-up of new plants for SMP will be a key catalyst for the stock, in our view. We value the company using a 24x target P/E on March 2020F EPS (from Nov-17 earlier). Thus, we revise our target price to Rs 435 (Rs 442 previously). The stock trades at 27x/19.7x FY19/20F EPS. With strong 44% FY18-20F EPS CAGR, its outperformance should continue, in our view.

2:52 PM

CLSA on Phoenix Mills

Phoenix reported strong 3Q earnings, up 46% YoY, as its core mall portfolio continued to do well. Lease income grew 10% YoY, driving 14% YoY Ebitda growth. Its lease income performance appears sustainable given underlying consumption growth continues to match the lease income increase. For the next leg of growth Phoenix is looking to tie-up sites under its mall development platform by 1HFY19 and scale-up its office portfolio. We maintain our BUY rating with a revised target price of Rs722 (previously (Rs597)

2:51 PM

Centrum on Marksans Pharma (MPL)

We have revised our FY18E and FY19E EPS downwards by 3% and 19% respectively. We upgrade MPL to Buy from Hold rating, with a target price of Rs55 based on 18x March’20E EPS of Rs3.0, and a 45.3% upside from CMP. Key positive upsides would be additional ANDA approvals from US FDA and key negative would be regulatory issue with US FDA for its Goa facility

2:50 PM

Kotak Securities on IT sector

Nasscom has guided for IT services exports growth of 7-9% in c/c for FY2019 as against 7% likely to be achieved in FY2018. Nasscom expects a better economic environment and deals signed by the industry to help elevate growth trajectory especially towards the second half. We believe that FY2019 growth will be better than FY2018 though not as steep as the Street is building in estimates. Our recommendation bias is towards companies that have low implied growth acceleration baked into stock prices; Infosys and Tech Mahindra fit the bill

2:49 PM

Sectoral Trend

2:38 PM

Strong volumes buoy Ambuja Cements; better cost controls boost performance

The stellar performance of Ambuja Cements in the December quarter has surprised the Street. The impressive show came mainly on the back of higher-than-expected cement volumes and better cost control measures. Ambuja follows the January-December financial year.
 

A growth of 17.4% in cement volumes pulled up revenues, which grew 19.4% year-on-year (y-o-y) to Rs 26.12 billion (up 14.5% sequentially). Realisations, however, remained subdued as expected. These were up 3% y-o-y at Rs 4,427 a tonne, but were 2.2% lower sequentially. READ MORE