MARKETS ON THURSDAY: Sensex, Nifty gain for 6th session; IT stocks lead

All that happened in the markets on Thursday

12:44 PM

News Watch Delhi HC dismisses Monsanto plea to enforce BT cotton seed patent

The Delhi High Court on Wednesday dismissed the US-based agro major Monsanto Technology’s plea to enforce the patent for its BT cotton seeds in India.

 

A Bench of Justice S Ravindra Bhat and Justice Yogesh Khanna partially allowed the counter-claims of three Indian seed companies that Monsanto did not have a patent for its BT cotton seeds, a genetically modified variant that resists bollworms. READ MORE
 

12:30 PM

Global oil demand not to peak soon, India vulnerable to high prices: IEA

International Energy Agency said on Wednesday that global oil demand will not peak in the near future and India's vulnerability to high prices will increase with surge in its crude oil imports.

 

Oil demand will continue to grow stronger this year, at about 1.5 million barrels per day, driven by petrochemicals and other sectors, IEA Executive Director Fatih Birol said. READ MORE

12:15 PM

Manipal's revised offer for Fortis falls short of Street's expectations

Private equity firm TPG backed-Manipal Hospitals has sweetened the offer to acquire the hospital business of Fortis Healthcare to address the valuation concerns of the latter’s shareholders, but it is still short of the Street’s expectations. READ MORE

12:01 PM

IT stocks gain ahead of March quarter results; TCS, Infosys, HCL Tech up 3%

Shares of information technology (IT) companies were in focus and trading higher by up to 5% on the BSE ahead of financial results for the fourth quarter and the year ended 31 March 2018. Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), Infosys and HCL Technologies from the large-cap IT stocks were up 3% to 4% on the BSE. NIIT Technologies, Datamatics Global Services, Zensar Technologies, Aptech, KPIT Technologies, Hexaware Technologies and Tata Elxsi from the mid and small-cap were up between 3% and 5% on the BSE. READ MORE

11:47 AM

Bandhan Bank enters league of top-50 most valuable company

Bandhan Bank, the private sector lender, has entered the list of the top-50 most valuable companies in terms of market capitalization (m-cap) following a sharp surge in its stock price post listing.

Bandhan Bank, with an m-cap of Rs 640 billion, stood at 50th position in overall m-cap ranking on the BSE at 10:37 am, the exchange data shows. The bank climbed 5 positions in the m-cap pecking order since its debut on the bourses on March 27, 2018. READ MORE

11:30 AM

Stocks at 52-week high

COMPANY	PRICE()	52 WK HIGH	CHG()	CHG(%)
AARTI INDS.	1241.00	1243.65	21.45	1.76
IPCA LABS.	708.75	719.00	15.30	2.21
JUBILANT FOOD.	2508.80	2522.00	22.45	0.90
MRF	77594.95	77984.65	1127.35	1.47
TITAN COMPANY	986.90	989.90	6.95	0.71

11:25 AM

MARKET COMMENT Stefan Koopman, Market Economist, Rabobank International

The minutes of the March 20-21 meeting of the FOMC, in which the target range for the federal funds rate was raised by 25 bps to 1.50-1.75%, didn’t show much new in terms of headlines. The minutes read that “a number of participants indicated that the stronger outlook for economic activity, along with their increased confidence that inflation would return to 2 percent over the medium term, implied that the appropriate path for the federal funds rate over the next few years would likely be slightly steeper than they had previously expected”. It makes for a juicy headline, but this slightly hawkish change of heart was already being reflected in the upward shift in the dot plot.

11:16 AM

After touching 20-mth low in Feb, MFs see redemptions of Rs 500 bn in March

Mutual funds witnessed huge redemptions of over Rs 500 billion by investors in March on strong outflow from liquid and debt funds, according to industry body Amfi. Besides, MF schemes saw a net inflow of Rs 2.72 trillion in 2017-18, much lower than Rs 3.4 trillion seen in the previous financial year. READ MORE

11:01 AM

INTERVIEW OF THE DAY Oil prices can hit $80 a barrel in a year: Paul Hickin of S&P Global Platts

Oil prices hit their highest in over three years on Wednesday after US President Donald Trump threatened to fire missiles at Syria in response to a suspected chemical attack last week. London – based PAUL HICKIN, associate director at S&P Global Platts shares his thoughts on the road ahead for the oil markets with Puneet Wadhwa on the sidelines of International Energy Forum (IEF).  READ MORE

Paul Hickin, Platts

10:45 AM

VA Tech Wabag shares gain 4% on winning Rs 5,200 million Namami Gange order

Shares of VA Tech Wabag was up 4% to Rs 518 per share on the BSE in early morning trade after the company said that it has won orders worth of Rs 5,200 million under Namami Gange scheme (National Mission for Clean Ganga – NMCG) and repeat order from oil & gas sector. READ MORE

10:32 AM

Phased physical settlement of stock derivatives mandatory, says Sebi

Markets regulator Sebi on Wednesday decided to make physical settlement of stock derivatives mandatory in a phased or calibrated manner, a move that could bring some much-needed balance between equity cash and derivative segments. The regulator has strengthened the existing entry criteria for introduction of stocks into the derivative segment in line with the increase in market capitalisation since the last revision of the criteria in 2012, Sebi said in circular. READ MORE

10:16 AM

SGX to continue to offer trading in Indian derivatives despite NSE ban

The Singapore Exchange (SGX) will continue to offer trading in Indian derivatives even as its partner National Stock Exchange (NSE) has decided to terminate licensing agreements for providing indices and securities-related data feed services to the foreign counterpart.

 

The exchange said it would introduce proprietary Indian equity derivatives products in June 2018 and would simultaneously delist existing Nifty-based derivatives contracts. READ MORE

10:00 AM

Market Check

 

S&P BSE Sensex	33,999.93		0.18%
Nifty 50	10,419.25		0.02%
S&P BSE 200	4,586.89		0.14%
Nifty 500	9,236.40		0.06%
S&P BSE Mid-Cap	16,656.09		0.21%
S&P BSE Small-Cap	18,028.74		0.25%

9:45 AM

Foreign funds with India link face uncertain future over Sebi's diktat

Several foreign funds face an uncertain future with the Securities and Exchange Board of India’s (Sebi’s) order barring Persons of Indian Origin (PIO) from being the end-beneficiaries. According to sources, close to 150 foreign funds currently registered with Sebi are promoted by PIOs. They now face revocation of licences. READ MORE

9:32 AM

Oil marketing companies extend losses