Bears tighten grip; Sensex slips 400 pts, Nifty holds 15,200; PSBs rally

In the intra-day session, the Sensex and the Nifty indices touched a low of 51,586 and 15,171, respectively.

3:35 PM

CLOSING BELL

the headline S&P BSE Sensex declined 400 points, or 0.77 per cent, to end below the 52,000-mark at 51,704 levels. Losses in heavyweights such as HDFC Bank, HDFC, TCS, Infosys, HUL, and Asian Paints dragged the index nearly 300 points down today.

 

On the NSE, the Nifty50 index ended below the 15,250-mark at 15,209 level, down 104 points or 0.68 per cent.

3:25 PM

Corporate Action :: Marico to consider second interim dividend for FY21

>> A meeting of the Board of Directors of the Company is scheduled to be held on Wednesday, March 3, 2021 to inter-alia, consider and approve the declaration of Second Interim Equity Dividend for the Financial Year 2020-21.

3:18 PM

NEWS ALERT :: Bharat Forge in focus

>> The Company has been declared as the successful resolution applicant by the Committee of Creditors of Sanghvi Forging & Engineering Limited (SFEL) on February 15, 2021, subject to obtaining necessary regulatory approvals, including approval from the National Company Law Tribunal.

>> The Company has accepted the Letter of Intent for SFEL under the Corporate Insolvency Resolution Process of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code 2016 today.
 

3:10 PM

NEWS ALERT :: Cabinet approves PLI scheme in telecom, network sector

3:02 PM

Greaves Cotton extends rally on improved Q3 results; stock up 32% in 1 week

Shares of Greaves Cotton advanced 16 per cent to Rs 114.75 on the BSE in the intra-day trade on Wednesday, having rallied 32 per cent in the past one week, after the company reported a standalone net profit of Rs 20.92 crore in December quarter (Q3FY21) on the back of a strong operational performance. The company, engaged in industrial machinery segment, had posted a net loss of Rs 23 crore in the previous quarter. READ MORE

2:56 PM

COMMENT :: Edelweiss on Sobha

With demand recovering and launches likely to pick up, we believe Sobha’s focus on cash flows would hold it in good stead. We maintain ‘BUY/SN’ with a target price of Rs 555/share, derived from applying a 10% discount to its NAV of Rs 570/share for the realty business, and adding Rs 42/share for the contractual business

2:54 PM

BofA on Indian economy

CPI inflation has expectedly returned decisively to the RBI's 2-6% mandate. January CPI inflation fell to 4.06% (4.6% BofAe, 4.4% consensus) from December's 4.6%. We track February inflation at 4.6%. Looking ahead, we see inflation slipping to an average 4.6% in 1HCY21 on base effects, good rains, weak demand and low 'imported' inflation.

Core CPI inflation continued at a soft 4.3% in January. At the same time, loan growth has slipped to 5.6% in end-January from 6.2% on January 1. December industrial production also rose by an anemic 1% (-0.9% BofAe, -1% consensus). In response, we expect the RBI to focus on funding the high fiscal deficit at reasonable yields to nurse recovery.

2:53 PM

Edelweiss on Wipro

We hosted Wipro (Abhishek K Jain, Head IR) at the Edelweiss India e-Conference 2021 – The New Order. Highlights: i) Wipro sees strong cash flow primarily driven by efficiency and offshore mix. ii) Demand is ramping up in the oil & gas segment, momentum is building up in the communications segment. iii) Sales is accelerating with a great pipeline. iv) Margins likely to sustain at current levels.

2:53 PM

COMMENT :: Jefferies bullish on ITC. Here's why

ITC's 3QFY21 results met our expectations, with Op EBITDA declining 7% YoY despite segmental variance. Cigarette volume decline (c.7%) and FMCG profitability missed our forecasts while the recovery in Hotels was much better. ITC also announced an interim dividend at Rs5/sh. Looking ahead, we expect ITC's earnings growth to accelerate to strong double digits, which should support the stock price. Valuations at 19x FY22E are also attractive. Reiterate Buy.

2:52 PM

COMMENT :: Jefferies on ACC

ACC's 4QCY20 volume decline is a negative although commissioning of new capacity in the east implies this is only a short-term issue. A slight sequential decline in realisation along with continuing cost focus allowed the company to report a 30% YoY growth in Ebitda. There are too many exceptional items during the quarter but the operating performance is in line.

2:51 PM

ICICI Securities on Nestle

2:38 PM

European share rally pauses as focus turns to inflation; Kering slips

European shares retreated from near one-year highs on Wednesday as concerns about a possible rise in inflation tempered optimism around a vaccine-led global economic recovery, while Kering tumbled after sales at its Gucci brand fell more than expected. 

 

The pan-European STOXX 600 index was down 0.4% by 0822 GMT, while London's mid-cap FTSE 250 lost 0.2% as data showed British inflation rose a little more than expected in January. The export-laden FTSE 100 slipped 0.4%.

(Source: Reuters)

2:32 PM

Gains in Motherson Sumi, Hero Moto help BSE Auto index wipe off losses

2:28 PM

RailTel IPO subscribed 4.5x so far on Day 2

QIB quota - 0.30x

NII quota - 1.92x

Retail quota - 8.44x

Employee quota - 1.12x

2:21 PM

Rich valuations may weigh on Voltas' cool outlook despite stellar Q3 show

Shares of India’s largest air conditioning company, Voltas, corrected more than 4 per cent from its intraday high on Tuesday. They closed 2.1 per cent lower as investors booked profits, even as the company reported better-than-expected results for the October-December (third quarter, or Q3) quarter. READ MORE