Sensex, Nifty Rebound Led By ICICI Bank, Axis Bank
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KEY HIGHLIGHTS
Closing Bell
Indian equity benchmarks climbed, along with their global peers, as investors look for clues on the economic recovery in a big earnings week and a Federal Reserve meeting.
The S&P BSE Sensex added little over 1% to 48,386.51, its biggest advance in nearly two weeks. The NSE Nifty 50 Index also gained a similar magnitude. Both indices on Friday capped their third consecutive weekly declines as India’s deadly wave of coronavirus infections raised investor concerns over the pace of business recovery.
The broader market slightly underperformed their larger peer. The S&P BSE MidCap Index gained 0.6% while the S&P SmallCap rose 0.9%. Eighteen of the 19 sector sub-indices compiled by BSE Ltd. climbed, led by a gauge of real estate firms. The S&P BSE Healthcare index was the lone loser, down 0.64%.
The market breadth was skewed in favour of the bulls. About 1,882 stocks gained, 1,103 declined and 224 remained unchanged on the BSE Ltd.
Dabur India Shares Down Most in Seven Months
Dabur India Ltd. fell 3.4%, more than any full-day loss since Sept. 21.
- Stock advanced 8.3% in the past 52 weeks, compared with a 2.4% increase for the company's Bloomberg peers.
- Trading volume was 2.33 million shares, 41% above the 20-day average of 1.65 million shares for this time of day.
- Analysts have 30 buy, six hold, and two sell recommendations on the stock.
- The price target of 587.54 rupees represents a 8.7% increase from the last price
Axis Bank, HCL Tech, ICICI Bank in Focus: Options Watch
- ICICI Bank options volume 3.1x the 20-day average, with 105,106 calls changing hands vs 50,565 puts
- Stock up 5%, volume 1.8x the 20-day average for this time of day
- HCL Tech options volume 2.7x the average, with 43,148 calls vs 19,613 puts
- Stock down 2.6%, volume 2.6x the average
- UltraTech Cement options volume 1.9x the average, with 9,429 calls vs 2,399 puts
- Stock up 3.3%, volume 0.7x the average
- Axis Bank options volume 1.8x the average, with 36,084 calls vs 23,561 puts
- Stock up 3.9%, volume 0.9x the average
- Reliance Industries options volume 1.7x the average, with 143,463 calls vs 61,595 puts
- Stock up 2.2%, volume 0.9x the average
Vedanta Jumps After Tamil Nadu Order On Plant
Tamil Nadu state has allowed Vedanta Ltd. to restart only its oxygen plant at its closed copper complex in the state for four months, the local government said in a statement.
- The state government will supply electricity to the plant for four months and the oxygen produced from the factory will be prioritized for use in Tamil Nadu
- The government may extend the operation of the plant beyond the time allowed if the current pandemic situation continues
Rupee Snaps Four-Day Loss
The Indian rupee advances for the first day in five amid a strong rebound in equities, and as a weaker dollar supported emerging Asian currencies. Sovereign bonds are little changed.
“The dollar-rupee pair is likely to take little cues from the decline in the dollar and stronger EMs,” Amit Pabari, managing director at CR Forex says in a note. “Any reversal from the peak of the current Covid wave can cool off the risk sentiments and rupee might join the league of stronger EMs”
- Inflows pertaining to IPOs worth Rs 8,700 crore from Power Grid and Wellness Forever could cap any sharp decline past 75.50 levels
- Short-term range for the dollar-rupee is expected to be formed within 74.50 to 75.50 levels
M&M Financial Tanks After Q4 Earnings
Shares of the vehicle financer slumped as much as 9.6%, the most since April 12, after reporting a disappointing set of fourth-quarter earnings
The lender reported a net profit of Rs 149.97 crore for the March quarter, compared with the Rs 274.14 crore net loss in the previous quarter. The net profit was lower than the consensus estimate of analysts surveyed by Bloomberg.
Besides, the lender had to increase its provisioning against delinquencies and other stressed loans by 31% from the year-ago period.
The pandemic has spread to different parts of the country even in rural areas where we are present. We think it will take atleast two months for things to settle down so we expect some pressure on our books. Customers will need more time to pay back as unlike last time this time there is no moratorium tooRamesh Iyer, CEO, M&M Financial Services
Stock Insight
- Trading volume was almost six times the 20-day average for this time of day.
- Trading in the company's call options totalled 6,472 contracts, compared with the average of 3,290 over the past 20 days. Trading in the company's put options totalled 2,851 contracts, compared with the average of 1,382 over the same period.
- M&M Financial trades at 11 times its estimated earnings per share for the coming year.
Analysts’ Take
- Macquarie analyst Nishant Shah downgraded the recommendation on M&M Financial to neutral and assigned a target price of Rs 180
- Nomura analyst Amit Nanavati downgraded the recommendation to neutral and assigned a target price of Rs 175
- Spark Capital Advisors analyst Abhinesh Vijayaraj downgraded the recommendation to add and assigned a target price of Rs 202
- Prabhudas Lilladher Pvt Ltd analyst Shweta Mane-Daptardar downgraded the recommendation on M&M Financial to sell and assigned a target price of Rs 153
- Centrum Broking Pvt Ltd analyst Gaurav Jani downgraded the recommendation to add and assigned a target price of Rs 190
HCL Tech Slides On Q4 Performance
Shares of the software services exporter declined as much as 3.3% to Rs 924 a piece, making it the worst-performing stock on the Sensex and the Nifty.
HCL Tech’s net profit declined 72.1% quarter-on-quarter to Rs 1,111 crore, much below the Rs 3,230-crore consensus estimate of analysts tracked by Bloomberg. The drop was mainly on account of a surge in tax expense to Rs 2,256 crore from Rs 502 crore in the December quarter.
Meanwhile, the estimate for HCL's dividend payments over the next year rose 25% to Rs 20 per share from the previous estimate of Rs 16 per share, according to Bloomberg Dividend Forecasts.
ICICI Bank Jumps Over 6% On Q4 Earnings
Shares of the Mumbai-based lender rose as much as 6.2%, the most since Feb. 1., to Rs 605 apiece after it delivered strong fourth-quarter earnings.
India’s second-largest private lender’s net profit rose 260.5% year-on-year to Rs 4,402 crore in the January-March period, according to its exchange filing. A year ago, the bank has stepped up provisions against standard assets, which had depressed profits.
ICICI Bank’s gross non-performing asset ratio stood at 4.96% compared with 5.42% in the October-December quarter. Net NPA ratio improved 12 basis points sequentially to 1.14% in the fourth quarter.
PowerGrid InvIT IPO Price Band Set At Rs 99-100 Per Unit
PowerGrid Infrastructure Investment Trust, sponsored by state-owned Power Grid Corp., plans to offer Rs 4,993 crore worth of fresh units in an IPO, while the selling unit holder will offload Rs 2,742 crore of units, according to an advertisement in the Financial Express newspaper Monday.
- Investors can bid for minimum 1,100 units in the sale, which opens April 29 and closes May 3
- ICICI Securities, Axis Capital, Edelweiss Financial and HSBC Securities are advisers on the sale
Opening Bell: Sensex, Nifty Open 1% Higher
Indian equity benchmarks rose after registering their worst weekly stretch of losses in 11 months as investors look for clues on the economic recovery in a big earnings week and a Federal Reserve meeting.
The S&P BSE Sensex climbed as much as 1.25% to 48,479 while the NSE Nifty 50 Index rose as much as 1.19% to 14,512. Both indices on Friday capped their third consecutive weekly declines as India’s deadly wave of coronavirus infections raised investor concerns over the pace of business recovery.
Eighteen of the 19 sector sub-indexes compiled by BSE Ltd. advanced, led by a gauge of banks. The S&P BSE Power was the lone loser, down 0.13%. ICICI Bank surged as much as 6.2%, the most since Feb. 1.
The Sensex has retreated more than 8% from its recent peak on Feb. 15, nearing the 10% loss threshold viewed as a technical correction.
Blackstone Makes Open Offer To Buy 26% Of Mphasis
Good morning!
Asian stocks drifted at the open Monday as investors look for clues on the economic recovery in a big earnings week and a Federal Reserve meeting. The dollar maintained losses against major peers in early trading. Oil and gold were little changed.
Benchmarks fluctuated in Japan and Australia, and edged higher in South Korea. U.S. futures were little changed after most major groups in the S&P 500 advanced Friday.
India's SGX Nifty 50 Index futures for April delivery rose 0.8% to 14,449.00, while MSCI Asia Pacific Index 0.5%.
Focus turns to the Fed meeting, with policymakers reiterating that they are in no hurry to withdraw support even as the U.S. economy rebounds.
Back home, ICICI Bank, HCL Tech, M&M Financial, Indiabulls Real may react as the companies reported quarterly results after the market closed Friday. Tech Mahindra, HDFC Life Insurance, SBI Card, Castrol India are among the companies scheduled to report earnings Monday. Foreign investors sold net Rs 904 crore of stocks on April 22, according to NSDL website.