Market ends with decent gains

Key benchmark indices ended with decent gains on Monday. Selling pressure in last hour of the trade wiped most of the intraday gains. Weakness in index pivotal Infosys put pressure on bourses.

The barometer index, the BSE Sensex, rose 87.39 points or 0.23% to 38,214.47, as per the provisional closing data. The Nifty 50 index rose 24.75 points or 0.22% to 11,329.80, as per the provisional closing data.

The market breadth was negative. On the BSE, 1223 shares rose and 1281 shares fell. A total of 230 shares remain unchanged. In Nifty 50 index, the market breadth was positive with 36 stocks advancing and 14 stocks declining.

The S&P BSE Small-Cap index rose 0.12%. The S&P BSE Mid-Cap index was up 0.44%.

The Nifty 50 index opened higher but reversed gains in early trade. Buying resumed in morning trade and pushed Nifty above 11,350 level. The 50-unit index faced a stiff resistance at 11,375 during mid-morning trade. The index remained range bound and traded sideways before a break out in afternoon trade. The Nifty 50 index briefly crossed its 100-day moving average in mid afternoon session. Profit booking in last hour of the day drag Nifty lower to settle below 11,350 mark.

On the macro front, the annual rate of inflation, based on monthly Wholesale Price Index (WPI), stood at 0.33% (provisional) for September 2019 (over September 2018) compared with 1.08% (provisional) in the previous month and 5.22% during the corresponding month of the previous year. The data was unveiled during trading hours today, 14 October 2019.

India's industrial production (IIP) declined 1.1% in August 2019, while snapping consistent growth for last 25 straight months. Also, the pace of decline in industrial production was highest in August 2019 for 2011-12 base year data. As per the revised data for industrial production of July 2019, the growth is higher at 4.6% compared with 4.3% growth reported provisionally. The data was announced after market hours on Friday, 11 October 2019.

India's growth rate is projected to fall to 6% in this fiscal year, the World Bank said in its latest edition of the South Asia Economic Focus. In 2018-19, the growth rate of the country stood at 6.9%. However, the World Bank said the country was expected to gradually recover to 6.9% in 2021 and 7.2% in 2022 as it assumed that the monetary stance would remain accommodative, given benign price dynamics.

Moody's Investors Service on Thursday, 10 October 2019, cut India's gross domestic product (GDP) growth forecast for 2019-20 to 5.8% from the earlier estimate of 6.2%. It attributed the deceleration to an investment-led slowdown that has broadened into consumption, driven by financial stress among rural households and weak job creation. It expects growth to pick up to 6.6% in FY21 and around 7% over the medium term.

FMCG major Hindustan Unilever (HUL) was up 0.24% ahead of its Q2 September 2019 result today.

Shares of IRCTC made a sensational debut on the bourses today, 14 October 2019. The stock was trading at Rs 725.4 at 15:24 IST on BSE, premium of 126.69% over the initial public offer (IPO) price of Rs 320. The stock debuted at Rs 644, premium of 101.25% to the IPO price. So far the stock hit a high of Rs 743.8 and low of Rs 625. The IPO which was subscribed 112 times had opened for subscription on 30 September 2019 and closed on 3 October 2019. The price band for IPO was Rs 315 to Rs 320 per share.

IT major, Infosys witnessed profit booking. The stock fell 3.49% after surging 4.19% in Friday's session. On a consolidated basis, Infosys' net profit rose 4.55% to Rs 3,971 crore on a 3.78% increase in total revenue from operations to Rs 22,629 crore in Q2 September 2019 over Q1 June 2019. The company's operating margin stood at 21.7% in Q2 September 2019 as against 20.5% in Q1 June 2019. The firm increased lower end of FY 2020 revenue guidance. Revised guidance is 9%-10% in constant currency. It maintained FY 2020 operating margin guidance range of 21%-23%.

Telecom stocks advanced. Vodafone Idea (up 5.5%), Bharti Airtel (up 2.76%) advanced.

Reliance Industries, which owns Reliance Jio, was up 0.41%.

The department of telecommunications is in the process of reforming the spectrum pricing architecture and expects to see good competition among operators, Telecom Minister Ravi Shanker Prasad said on Monday. This will come as a relief to operators which have sought lower spectrum prices amid falling revenue of the sector. The auction will be India's first for 5G airwaves.

Sentiment in the telecom sector was also upbeat after Reliance Jio said last week that it will start charging for calls made to rival networks at 6 paise a minute.

Bank of Baroda dropped 3.36%. Bank of Baroda has entered into binding transaction documents with BNP Paribas Asset Management Asia in relation to merger of Baroda Asset Management India with BNP Paribas Asset Management India and merger of BNP Paribas Trustee India with Baroda Trustee India. The announcement was made after market hours on Friday, 11 October 2019.

Avenue Supermarts fell 0.71%. On a consolidated basis, Avenue Supermarts' net profit rose 47.49% to Rs 323 crore on 22.44% increase in total revenue to Rs 5991 crore in Q2 September 2019 over Q2 September 2018. The result was announced on Saturday, 12 October 2019. Consolidated EBITDA rose 33.25% to Rs 517 crore during the period under review. EBITDA margin improved to 8.6% in Q2 September 2019 from 7.9% in Q2 September 2018.

Adani Gas surged 9.41% to Rs 150.65 after the company signed definitive agreements with French multinational oil integrated company, Total. The definitive agreement will deepen their existing partnership as the companies will work together in exploring synergies in gas distribution, fuel retail and LNG.

Total S.A. will purchase 37.4% shares in Adani Gas through a tender offer to public shareholders to acquire up to 25.2% shares, with an intention to acquire control of Adani Gas, subject to applicable regulations and purchase the residual shares from Adani Family. Accordingly, Total Holdings SAS will acquire up to 27.71 crore shares of Adani Gas, representing 25.2% of the voting share capital, at the price of Rs 149.63 per share, payable in cash. The partnership and equity support from the partners will help Adani Gas accelerate project executions in all its new geographical areas.

Pharma major, Cadila Healthcare rose 1.05%. The company announced that it has received no observations from USFDA on its Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (API) manufacturing facility at Dabhasa.

Bajaj Consumer Care slipped 6.22%. On a consolidated basis, Bajaj Consumer Care's net profit rose 11.2% to Rs 56.03 crore on a 3.2% increase in net sales to Rs 214.22 crore in Q2 September 2019 over Q2 September 2018. The result was announced after market hours on Friday, 11 October 2019.

Birlasoft advanced 7.49% after the company signed $240 million multi‐year agreement to deliver IT‐as‐a‐ Service (ITaaS) to US-based Invacare. Birlasoft will build a new analytics platform and move the Invacare data centre to the cloud. The company will also implement a new product lifecycle management system and Invacare customers will benefit from a new ecommerce portal to access products, spares and supplies.

Sun Pharmaceutical Industries rose 2.43% to Rs 395.7 after the drug major announced the launch CEQUA solution for the treatment of dry eye disease in the U.S. CEQUA (cyclosporine ophthalmic solution) has been approved by USFDA and offers the highest concentration of cyclosporine for ophthalmic use. CEQUA is indicated to increase tear production in patients with keratoconjunctivitis sicca (dry eye), an inflammatory disease that afflicts more than 16 million people in the US.

Indiabulls Housing Finance tumbled 7.07% to Rs 195.1 after the Moody's Investors Service downgraded the corporate family rating (CFR) and the foreign-currency senior secured rating of the company to B2 from Ba2. In addition, Moody's has downgraded Indiabulls' foreign and local currency senior secured MTN program ratings to (P) B2 from (P) Ba2. The outlook on all ratings, where applicable, remains negative. The downgrade is driven by Indiabulls' ongoing challenging access to funding. Governance considerations were also a key driver of this rating action.

DLF surged 6.05% to Rs 154.35 after media reports suggested that the real estate developer clocked bookings of 376 residential apartments for Rs 700 crore in its project in New Gurugram. As per reports, the bookings were registered on the first day earlier this week, in the second phase of its premium Ultima project, which has a total of 504 apartments. Nearly three years back, the real estate firm had said that it will construct and complete its residential projects before selling, given the tepid sentiment among homebuyers to risk buying into under-construction projects, the reports added.

Overseas, European stocks fell Monday as the UK and the European Union are still divided on customs arrangements as they look to hammer out a deal for Britain's departure before the 31 October deadline.

Asian shares edged higher on Monday as investor sentiment improved following last week's high-level trade negotiations between the United States and China. Markets in Japan were shut for a public holiday.

The US agreed to postpone an increase in tariffs from 25% to 30% on at least $250 billion of Chinese goods, which had been scheduled for Tuesday. However, customs data showed that China's import and export figures were worse than expected in September, with exports falling 3.2% on the year in US dollar terms, while imports declined 8.5%.

Meanwhile, US Federal Reserve announced that it would buy $60 billion of Treasury bills every month at least into the second-quarter, starting from next week. The central bank also said it would conduct overnight repurchase agreements at least through January of next year in order to reduce pressures in funding markets.

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