MARKET WRAP: Indices recoup losses; Sensex up 180 pts, Nifty ends at 10,730

The S&P BSE Sensex gained 180 points or 0.5 per cent to settle at 5,650 after witnessing a 700-point swing in the intraday-trade.

Snapping a three-day losing streak, the domestic benchmark indices settled with decent gains on Wednesday, aided by buying in select bluechip counters such as HDFC twins, L&T, Reliance Industries (RIL) and ICICI Bank.

The S&P BSE Sensex gained 180 points or 0.5 per cent to settle at 35,650 after witnessing a 700-point swing in the intra-day trade. Bharti Airtel (up 4 per cent) emerged as the top gainer on the index while pharma major Sun Pharma(down nearly 2 per cent) declined the most. 

On NSE, the Nifty50 index added 66 points or 0.62 per cent to close the session at 10,730, with 36 constituents in the green and 14 in the red.

In individual stocks, Brigade Enterprises zoomed 14 per cent on BSE after the brokerage firm Motilal Oswal Securities initiated the coverage on the stock with a Buy rating and 12-month target price of Rs 282. The stock settled at Rs 235 apiece, up 14 per cent. 

Jubilant FoodWorks, which operates the Domino’s franchise, dipped 5 per cent to Rs 1,155, extending its 10 per cent decline in the past two trading days, on concerns of rising employee expenses and higher base and more intense competition from food aggregators. The stock, however, recovered later in the day to end at Rs 1,232, up 1 per cent on BSE. 
 

In the broader market, the S&P BSE MidCap index ended flat at 15,169, down just 1.65 points while the S&P SmallCap index closed the session at 14,439, down 27 points or 0.19 per cent. 

Sectorally, media stocks gained the most, followed by financials and metal counters. The Nifty Media pack surged 51 points or 2 per cent to close at 2,465.

Global Markets
 

Asian stock markets retreated again on Wednesday, extending a rout that began last week as US political uncertainty exacerbated worries over slowing global economic growth.

Investors were unnerved by the US federal government partial shutdown and President Donald Trump’s hostile stance towards the Federal Reserve chairman.

MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan slipped 0.5 per cent, brushing a two-month low. The Shanghai Composite Index lost 0.4 per cent while South Korea’s KOSPI shed 1.6 per cent. Japan’s Nikkei, which slumped 5 per cent the previous day, had a volatile session. It swerved in and out of the red, falling more than 1 per cent to a 20-month-low at one stage, before ending the day with a gain of 0.9 per cent.

(with Reuters input)

3:42 PM

Sectoral gainers and losers of the day

3:40 PM

BSE Sensex: Bharti Airtel, HDFC twins among top gainers of the day

3:32 PM

Market at close

 

The S&P BSE Sensex ended at 35,650, up 180 points or 0.51 per cent, while the broader Nifty50 index settled at 10,730, up 66 points or 0.62 per cent.

3:15 PM

Oil Check

Oil prices were mixed on Wednesday as the US benchmark rebounded from steep losses in the previous session, even though concern over the health of the global economy continued to overshadow the market.

 

US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures, were up 13 cents, or 0.31 per cent, at $42.66 per barrel. Prices earlier rose as much as 2 percent. They slumped 6.7 per cent in the previous session to $42.53 a barrel, the lowest since June 2017. READ MORE

3:05 PM

Gold climbs to six-month peak on waning risk appetite

Gold prices hit a six-month high on Wednesday as concerns over global growth and a partial government shutdown in the United States fuelled risk aversion, prompting investors to seek refuge in the metal.

 

Spot gold climbed 0.4 per cent to $1,273.77 per ounce. It hit $1,274.68 in early trade, its highest since June 20. US gold futures were up 0.4 per cent at $1,276.5 per ounce. READ MORE

2:51 PM

Top Securities traded in "S&P BSE 500" with respect to Top Volumes

Security Name	Security Group	Open	High	Low	LTP	No. of Shares Traded	Total Turnover(₹ Lac.)	No. of Trades
RCOM	A	14.20	14.39	13.82	14.36	1,24,44,251	1,749.00	3,21,396
JPASSOCIAT	A	7.20	7.20	6.83	7.17	66,81,646	465.00	13,157
YESBANK	A	182.20	182.60	174.25	180.50	43,14,903	7,655.00	22,148
SUZLON	A	5.50	5.53	5.26	5.44	25,47,341	136.00	20,869
SPICEJET	A	85.75	87.60	84.70	87.05	22,15,192	1,913.00	10,205

2:46 PM

Kotak Securities on Indian Railways

 

Indian Railways has benefited from the flexi-fare scheme with a recent response to a Lok Sabha question quantifying Rs 10 billion of additional revenues in FY2018 (amount to 7 per cent growth over AC rail revenues in FY2017). With no meaningful loss seen in occupancy in the key Rajdhani/Shatabdi/Duronto trains, Indian Railways has made changes to its flexi-pricing scheme largely to address the issue of low-occupancy in other trains. 

 

The changes include: 

 

- discontinuation of such scheme in 15 trains and for another 32 trains during the lean period; 

- reducing cap on surge pricing now at 1.4X of base rate versus 1.5X earlier; and

- graded discount on trains with low occupancy four days prior to chart preparation. These changes would impact travel after 15th March 2019.

2:39 PM

Prabhudas Lilladher on Coal India

 

Rating: HOLD | CMP: Rs 248 | TP: Rs 270

 

Coal India (COAL) FYTD Volume growth slowed to 5.5% while, the growth in August--December’18 was mere 1% despite severe shortage of coal, led by improved demand from Power sector and pick-up in economic activity. Overall volumes growth would remain weak for rest of FY19e and FY20e due to poor rail connectivity at newly commissioned mines and peaked out Road/Belt route. We factor in 4.8%/5.5% growth in FY19e/FY20e. As happened in the past, margin rich E-auction volumes faced the brunt to meet the volumes tied-up in Power and Non-power FSAs. Led by weak operational performance and rising headwinds due to Govt policy on opening up the sector. We trim our multiple by 9% to 10xFY20e P/E and downgrade the stock to HOLD with TP of Rs270 (Rs330 earlier).

2:31 PM

WEB EXCLUSIVE Three Nifty Pharma stocks that can rise up to 10% from the current levels

 

The Nifty Pharma index faces resistance around 200-weighted moving average (WMA) and is consistently trading below April 2017 levels. Its attempt to conquer the level failed as technical indicators entered in overbought region as per the weekly chart. The daily chart indicates trend line resistance on every new rise, coinciding with earlier significant support levels now becoming resistance. Read more

Photo: Shutterstock

 

2:23 PM

Top gainers on BSE500

COMPANY	PRICE()	CHG()	CHG(%)	VOLUME
INDOSTAR CAPITAL	335.45	22.70	7.26	3059
SIEMENS	1037.20	41.25	4.14	50204
SPICEJET	86.90	3.15	3.76	2031378
QUESS CORP	656.80	23.80	3.76	7404
GE T&D INDIA	277.30	9.85	3.68	3672

2:15 PM

Top 10 stock recommendations by Motilal Oswal for 2019

The benchmark indices have witnessed a 4 per cent rise so far in the calendar year 2018 (CY18). With barely three trading sessions left in the current year, we take a look at some of the stocks that are likely to deliver decent returns in the coming year.

Here’s a list of 10 stock ideas for 2019 recommended by Motilal Oswal Financial Services (MOFSL)

 

2:00 PM

Market Check

Index	Current	Pt. Change	% Change
S&P BSE SENSEX	35,589.76	+119.61	+0.34
S&P BSE SENSEX 50	11,196.63	+33.63	+0.30
S&P BSE SENSEX Next 50	32,490.91	+116.43	+0.36
S&P BSE 100	10,992.91	+33.93	+0.31
S&P BSE Bharat 22 Index	3,457.92	+24.13	+0.70

1:45 PM

P-notes investment in Indian markets climbs to Rs 792 bn in November

Investments in the Indian capital market through participatory notes climbed to Rs 792.47 billion in November after hitting a nine-and-a-half year low at the end of preceding month. P-notes are issued by registered foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) to overseas investors who wish to be part of the Indian stock market without registering themselves directly. They, however, need to go through a due diligence process. READ MORE

1:29 PM

ICICI Direct Research on Banking Sector

The two major worries of the Indian banking sector - rising stressed assets and increasing G-sec yields - are largely behind us. Continuous effort on part of the government to move PSU banks out of the PCA (prompt corrective action) framework along with declining MTM (mark-to-market) losses on G-sec augurs well for PSU banks. With liquidity measures, NBFCs have witnessed some relief but we still believe all NBFCs and troubled banks are not yet out of the woods. Hence, we stick to our stance of preferring businesses with robust operating model, strong and stable franchise, both on asset as well liability side and strong management. Within banks, we continue to recommend SBI and Axis Bank among large caps and City Union Bank in the midcap space. In the NBFC space, we prefer Bajaj Finance owing to its favourable business attributes.

1:16 PM

Brigade Enterprises hits three-month high; surges 36% in two months

Shares of Brigade Enterprises hit a three-month high of Rs 220 per share, up 6% on the National Stock Exchange (NSE) in an otherwise market after the brokerage firm Motilal Oswal Securities initiates coverage on the stock with a Buy rating and 12-month target price of Rs 282. READ MORE