Stock Market Today: Sensex, Nifty End Lower For Third Week In A Row

After a brief respite earlier this week, foreign investors continued to sell on Friday, for the second day in a row.

Foreign institutional investors offloaded stocks worth Rs 1,720.44 crore during the day, according to data on National Stock Exchange.

Domestic institutional investors remained net buyers for 12 days in a row, picking up stocks worth Rs 2,555.53 crore, the NSE data showed.

Foreign investors have been net sellers in the year so far, selling stocks worth Rs 52,801.37 crore

The yield on the 10-year bond closed 2 bps lower at 7.31% on Friday. It closed at 7.33% on Thursday.

Source: Bloomberg

• The local currency depreciated 22 paise to close at 82.48 against the greenback on Friday.

• It closed at 82.26 on Thursday.

Source: Bloomberg

Indian equity benchmarks ended lower in trade after a volatile Friday following weak Asia and U.S. trade sparked by a sell-off in banks and rally in information technology services stocks.

The headline indices fell for the third straight week, declining less than 1% in trade. Benchmarks fell nearly 10% from its previous all-time high on Dec. 1, 2022, indicating that the market has corrected. A market correction is a market decline that is more than 10%, but less than 20%. A bear market is usually defined as a decline of 20% or greater. S&P BSE Sensex was 9.10% lower, whereas, NSE Nifty 50 was down 9.93% from its last high.

European and Asian markets fell, whereas U.S. equity futures erased gains. Financials were among the worst-performing sectors on MSCI Inc.’s Asia-wide index.

Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen clarified to the U.S. lawmakers that the government would be prepared for further steps to protect deposits if needed. This came after her Wednesday's commentary that the government wasn’t considering a “blanket” deposit insurance to stabilise the banking system, triggered a sell-off.

The S&P BSE Sensex Index closed down 398 points or 0.69% at 57,527.10 while the NSE Nifty 50 Index was lower by 132 points or 0.77% at 16,945.05.

ITC Ltd., HDFC Ltd., ICICI Bank Ltd., Tata Steel Ltd., Axis Bank Ltd., Bajaj Finserv Ltd., State Bank of India, Bajaj Finance Ltd., Larsen and Toubro Ltd., Reliance Industries Ltd. were negatively adding to the change in Nifty 50 Index.

Adani Group company stocks reversed their early gains and ended mixed in trade on Friday. Only Adani Green Energy Ltd., Adani Transmission Ltd. and Adani Total Gas Ltd., advanced, while all the other stocks declined.

The broader market indices ended lower in traade; S&P BSE MidCap was down 1.25% whereas S&P BSE SmallCap was lower by 1.37.

All the 19 sectors compiled by BSE declined, with S&P BSE Realty and S&P BSE Metal declining the most.

The market breadth was skewed in the favour of sellers. About 1,308 stocks rose 2,019 declined, and 139 remained unchanged on the BSE.

The headline indices declined for the third consecutive week. Nifty logged weekly losses of 0.91%, whereas Sensex declined 0.80% in trade this week.

Indices ended lower in trade last week, Sensex declined 1.94%, and Nifty was down 1.80%.

Most of the sectors declined in trade this week with Nifty Realty and Nifty Metal being the top losers.

Nifty Pharma and Nifty FMCG, on the other hand, were the only two sectoral gainers this week.

• J. Kumar - AICPL has received an order for the construction and remoting existing Baiyappanahalli Depot for Bangalore Metro Rail Project- Phase- 2A.

• The share of J. Kumar is 55% or approximately Rs 137.05 crore for the project.

• The stock was down 0.22% at Rs 244.5, with traded volume 1.9 times the 30-day average.

• Of the 6 analysts tracking the stock, five maintained 'buy', one analyst recommended 'hold', while none recommended 'sell'. The return potential of the stock is 56.3%.

Source: Exchange filing

Shares of Rail Vikas Nigam Ltd. advanced 1.39% to Rs 223.35 apiece in trade on Thursday. The headline index NSE Nifty 50 was trading lower by 0.04%.

The board of the company declared an interim dividend of Rs 1.77 per equity share of Rs 10 face value each for the financial year 2022-23. The company will determine the eligibility of shareholders for payment of interim dividend on April 6, 2023. The payments will be cleared by April 22, 2023.

On Thursday, the company also announced that the 40:60 joint venture of Rail Vikas Nigam and Rachana Construction received letter of award for upgradation to six-lane Sarkhej-Changodar Section of NH-8A national highway with paved shoulder for Ahmedabad-Bagodara-Rajkot road in Gujarat at a project cost of Rs 252.21 crore.

Scrip rose as much as 2.32% intraday, the most since March 22, 2023. The relative strength index was at 50.6.

Two analysts tracking the company maintain a 'buy' rating on the stock.

Source: Bloomberg, Exchange filing

Shares of insurance companies declined in trade on Friday and the headline index NSE Nifty 50 was lower by 0.18% in trade.

HDFC Life Insurance Co., SBI Life Insurance Co., LIC, ICICI Prudential Life Insurance Ltd., New India Assurance Co. declined in trade.

After the government passed Finance Bill 2023 with amendments in the parliament, a taxation policy for insurance products was also mentioned during the Union Budget 2023. As per the amendment, the maturity proceeds of the annual premiums exceeding five lakh rupees will be taxed post March 31, 2023.

• Finance Bill 2023 has been passed in the Lok Sabha.

• The bill has been passed with 20 amendments.

• Lok Sabha has been adjourned till 11 a.m. on March 27.

Indian equity benchmarks swung between gains and losses amid high volatility through midday on Friday.

Contracts for European equities fell and Asian share edged lower after a technology-driven rally on Wall Street failed to ease the pressure over the banking sector.

U.S. investors piled into top technology companies including Apple Inc. and Microsoft Corp. to push the Nasdaq 100 close to the threshold of a bull market after an almost 20% surge from its December low.

Banking stocks missed out on the rally, with a gauge of U.S. financial heavyweights such as Wells Fargo & Co. and Bank of America Corp. sinking to the lowest since November 2020.

Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen clarified to the lawmakers the U.S. would be prepared for further steps to protect deposits if needed. This after her Wednesday's comments that the government wasn’t considering a “blanket” deposit insurance to stabilise the banking system, triggered a sell-off.

As of 12:31 p.m., the S&P BSE Sensex Index was up 81 points or 0.14% at 58,005.51 while the NSE Nifty 50 Index was lower by 7 points or 0.04% at 17,070.30.

Infosys Ltd., HDFC Bank Ltd., TCS Ltd., HDFC Ltd., and Kotak Mahindra Bank Ltd., were positively adding to the change.

Whereas, Reliance Industries Ltd., Bajaj Finance Ltd., L&T Ltd., Bajaj Finserv Ltd., and Adani Enterprises Ltd.. and were negatively contributing to the change in the Nifty 50 Index.

Adani Group company stocks reversed their early gains as only Adani Green Energy Ltd., Adani Transmission Ltd. and Ambuja Cements Ltd., advanced, while all the other stocks declined.

The broader market indices were trading lower; S&P BSE MidCap was down 0.37% whereas S&P BSE SmallCap was lower by 0.44%.

Thirteen out the 19 sectors compiled by BSE declined, whereas six sectors advanced in trade.

The market breadth was skewed in the favour of sellers. About 1,308 stocks rose 2,019 declined, and 124 remained unchanged on the BSE.

• Emami Ltd. approved a proposal to buy back fully paid-up equity shares at a maximum buy back price of Rs 450 apiece.

• Emami will buy back as much as 41.33 lakh equity shares at an aggregate amount of Rs 18,600 lakh from its shareholders.

• The transaction will take via the open market route through the stock exchange mechanism.

Source: Exchange Filing

Shares of HDFC AMC Ltd., UTI AMC Ltd., Aditya Birla Sun Life AMC Ltd., and Nippon Life India AMC Ltd. declined as the Indian government has decided to treat the gains arising from debt mutual funds as short-term capital gains via an amendment to the Finance Bill.

He further added that "This is good news for banks as they can attract customers with higher interest rates and increase their borrowing and saving book sizes."

Shares of Power Grid Corp of India Ltd. advanced 0.54% to Rs 223.35 apiece in trade on Thursday. The headline index NSE Nifty 50 was trading lower by 0.23%.

Company said in an exchange filing that they will be raising Rs 600-crore via bonds on a private placement basis by securitising the cashflows of its special purpose vehicle for 10 years from FY2032 to FY2033.

The base issue size of the fundraise stands at Rs 100-crore with a green show option of Rs 500-crore.

Scrip rose as much as 0.95% intraday. The relative strength index was at 50.3.

Out of the 23 analysts tracking the company, 19 maintain a 'buy' rating and four recommend a 'hold' on the stock.

The return potential as calculated by the consensus of analyst estimates, stand at an upside of 11.1% over the next 12 months.

Source: Bloomberg, Exchange filing

The yield on the 10-year bond declined by 2 bps to 7.31%, as of 10:49 a.m., on Friday. It closed at 7.33% on Thursday.

Source: Bloomberg

Shares of Embassy office Parts REIT, Mindspace Business Parks REIT and Brookfield India Real Estate advanced as the government plans to soften the blow of payments made under the category of repayment of debt.

"It is proposed to tax distributed income by business trusts in the hands of a unit holder (other than dividend, interest or rent which is already taxable) on which tax is currently avoided both in the hands of unit holder as well as in the hands of business trust," Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said in her Budget speech on Feb. 1, 2023.

This amount is currently not taxed either at the REIT or InvIT or unitholder level.

The Finance Bill, 2023, proposes an amendment to plug a double non-taxation event that exists in the current provisions applicable to REITs and InVITs. Both instruments have a pass-through status. Any income distributed to unit holders will be of the same nature as income held by the REIT or InvIT.

Source: Bloomberg, BQPrime

• The local currency was trading flat at 82.25 as of 10:02 a.m. on Friday.

• It weakened 4 paise to open at 82.30, before strengthening to 82.23 by 9:10 a.m. on Friday.

• It closed at 82.26 on Thursday.

Source: Bloomberg

Shares of Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd. advanced 3.54% to Rs 2,584.8 apiece in trade on Thursday. The headline index NSE Nifty 50 was trading lower by 0.16%.

The government will exercise the greenshoe option to sell additional 1.75% stake in the company as the offer for sale was subscribed 4.5 times its base size. The issue is open for retail investors on Friday.

The central government, earlier decided to sell up to a 3.5% stake in the company via an offer-for-sale route on March 23 and 24 at a price of Rs 2,450 per share.

Scrip rose as much as 4.11% intraday, the most since March 17, 2023.

Total traded volume stood at 4.4 time its 30-day average. The relative strength index was at 45.

Out of the 10 analysts tracking the company, nine maintain a 'buy' rating and one suggests to 'sell' the stock.

The return potential as calculated by the consensus of analyst estimates, stand at an upside of 23.4% over the next 12 months.

Source: Bloomberg, Exchange filing

Shares of Zen Technologies gained after winning order worth Rs 127 crore.

The company believes that the next few years will be extremely positive, and it anticipates the signing of several more significant contracts in the near future, said Chairman and Managing Director Ashok Atluri.

The stock went up 1.03% to 269.9. It rose as much as 1.78%, intraday. The relative strength index stood at 50.4.

Out of the 14 analysts tracking the company, 10 maintained 'buy' rating and four suggested 'hold' the stock. The return potential of the stock implies a potential 9.6%.

Source: Bloomberg

Shares of information technology services companies advanced in trade on Thursday and the headline index NSE Nifty 50 was lower by 0.23% in trade.

On the Wall Street, U.S. investors piled into top technology companies including Apple Inc. and Microsoft Corp. to push the Nasdaq 100 close to the threshold of a bull market after an almost 20% surge from its December low.

The NSE IT Index was up 0.86% in trade. All 10 constituents compiled by the gauge advanced.

Mphasis Ltd., Tech Mahindra Ltd., Larsen and Toubro Technology Services Ltd., HCL Technologies Ltd., Wipro Ltd., TCS Ltd., Coforge Ltd., Infosys Ltd., Persistent Systems Ltd., and LTIMindtree Ltd. declined in trade.

Source: NSE

Shares of HDFC AMC Ltd., UTI AMC Ltd., Aditya Birla Sun Life AMC Ltd., and Nippon Life India AMC Ltd. declined as the Indian government has decided to treat gains arising from debt mutual funds as short-term capital gains via an amendment to the Finance Bill.

The change, if approved, would result in the loss of significant benefits available to investors in the form of indexation on long-term capital gains.  

Source: Bloomberg

All the Adani Group Company stocks advanced in early trade except Ambuja Cements Ltd. on Friday.

Source: Bloomberg

The broader market indices were mixed; S&P BSE MidCap was down 0.13% whereas S&P BSE SmallCap was unchanged at 0%.

Ten out the 19 sectors compiled by BSE declined, whereas nine sectors advanced in trade.

The market breadth was skewed in the favour of buyers. About 1,309 stocks rose 954 declined, and 101 remained unchanged on the BSE.

Source: BSE

Infosys Ltd., TCS Ltd., HCL Technologies Ltd., ITC Ltd., and Tech Mahindra Ltd., were positively adding to the change.

Whereas, HDFC Ltd., Relaince Industries Ltd., HDFC Bank Ltd., SBI Life Insurance Co., and HDFC Life Insurance Co. and were negatively contributing to the change in the Nifty 50 Index.

Indian equity benchmarks logged slim gains amid volatility at open on Friday following a weak Asia trade.

Asian markets decline after a technology-driven rally on Wall Street failed to ease the pressure over the banking sector. U.S. investors piled into top technology companies including Apple Inc. and Microsoft Corp. to push the Nasdaq 100 close to the threshold of a bull market after an almost 20% surge from its December low.

Banking stocks missed out on the rally, with a gauge of U.S. financial heavyweights such as Wells Fargo & Co. and Bank of America Corp. sinking to the lowest since November 2020.

Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen clarified to the lawmakers the U.S. would be prepared for further steps to protect deposits if needed. This after her Wednesday's comments that the government wasn’t considering a “blanket” deposit insurance to stabilise the banking system, triggered a sell-off.

At pre-open, the S&P BSE Sensex Index was down 35 points or 0.06% at 57,890.66 while the NSE Nifty 50 Index was unchanged, just lower by 0.70 points at 17,076.20.

At pre-open, the S&P BSE Sensex Index was down 35 points or 0.06% at 57,890.66 while the NSE Nifty 50 Index was unchanged, just lower by 0.70 points at 17,076.20.

Source: Bloomberg

The local currency weakened by 4 paise to open at 82.30 against the greenback on Friday. It closed at 82.26 on Thursday.

Source: Bloomberg

• Jefferies' Christopher Woods expects a potential for outperformance by India as China's valuation differential reverts after economy re-opening.

• The valuation differential between India and China has reverted to its traditional mean after the huge 65% outperformance of MSCI China over MSCI India.

• Expect a renewed outperformance by India in an Asian and emerging market context, as the dedicated long-only foreign investors are "Underweight" India.

• Domestic equity mutual fund inflows remained positive.

• Domestic demand story in India certainly remains intact to justify continuing belief in equity market.

• Expect an end to monetary tightening following 290 bps of hikes since April 2022, with the policy repo rate now at 6.5%.

• The challenge in India remains relatively high valuations.

• GREED & fear will remain slightly Overweight India in the Asia Pacific ex-Japan relative-return portfolio.

• In the Asia ex-Japan long-only portfolio, which is long term by nature and less benchmark focused, 39% of the portfolio remains invested in India.

Source: GREED & fear note

• U.S. Dollar Index at 102.6

• U.S. 10-year bond yield at 3.39%

• Brent crude down 0.92% to $75.21 per barrel

• Nymex crude at $75.21 per barrel

• SGX Nifty up 0.23% at 17,044.5 as of 07:27 a.m.

• Bitcoin up 0.02% to $28,333.7

• Emami: Promoter group Diwakar Finvest created a pledge of 9.60 lakh shares on March 20.

• Chambal Fertilizers & Chemicals: Promoter group Zuari International created a pledge of 1.50 lakh shares on March 21.

• LG Balakrishnana & Bros: Promoter group LGB Auto Products bought 17,840 shares on March 21.

• Mukand: Promoter group Baroda Industries bought 24,548 shares between March 21-22.

• Sunteck Realty: Promoter Matrabhav Trust bought 20,000 shares on March 22.

• Jai Corp: Promoter Mega Trust bought 1.40 lakh shares between March 21-22.

• NRB Bearings: Promoter and director bought Harshbeena Zaveri 42,993 shares between March 20-21.

• Fineotex Chemicals: Promoter and director Sanjay Tibrewala bought 40,000 shares on March 22.

• Star Cement: Promoter and director Prem Kumar Bhajanka bought 15,000 shares on March 22.

• Ex-Date Buyback of Shares: Ajanta Pharma

• Ex-Date Scheme of Arrangement: Sundaram Clayton

• Ex-Date Interim Dividend: Aditya Birla Sun Life Asset Management Company, Bharat Electronics, Glenmark Life Sciences, Steel Authority of India, Styrenix Performance Materials

• Record Date Interim Dividend: Aditya Birla Sun Life Asset Management Company, Glenmark Life Sciences, Steel Authority of India, Styrenix Performance Materials

• Record Date Buyback of Shares: Ajanta Pharma

• Record Date Scheme of Arrangement: Sundaram Clayton

• Move Into Short-Term ASM Framework: Mangalore Chemicals & Fertilizers

• Anand Rathi Wealth: Anand Rathi Financial Services sold 3.3 lakh shares (0.79%) at Rs 810 apiece.

• Vadilal Industries: Evoke Management Services LLP sold 46,147 shares (0.64%) at Rs 2,107.47 apiece, Navin Shah Family Private Trust 46,533 shares (0.65%) at Rs 2,107.68 apiece.

• Hindustan Aeronautics: The government will exercise the greenshoe option to sell additional 1.75% stake in the company as the offer for sale was subscribed 4.5 times its base size. The issue will open for retail investors on Friday.

• Reliance Industries: Jio-bp, a joint venture between Reliance Industries and bp, and Piramal Realty, the real estate arm of Piramal Group, have entered a partnership to set up EV charging solutions across all of latter’s residential projects in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region.

• Life Insurance Corporation of India: The Financial Services Institutions Bureau has recommended Siddhartha Mohanty as the chairperson of the insurer.

• Bharat Electronics: The company secured two contracts worth Rs 3,700 crore from Ministry of Defence for supply of medium power radars ‘Arudhra’ and 129 DR-118 radar warning receivers for the Indian Air Force.

• Tata Steel: The company acquired the balance 1.35 crore shares (24.06%) of indirect wholly owned subsidiary Tata Steel Advanced Materials from wholly owned unit Tata Steel Downstream Products for Rs 17.33 crore.

• Vedanta: The board of the company will meet on March 28 to consider its fifth interim dividend for the current fiscal.

• Infosys: The company’s U.S.-based subsidiary Infosys Public Services deployed Quantum Global Digital Management System for United Nations Development Programme, which will offer services to eight agencies of United Nations with a user base of 50,000 across 170 countries.

• Lupin: The company received tentative approval from U.S. FDA to market its abbreviated new drug application Obeticholic acid tablets, a generic equivalent of Intercept Pharmaceuticals’ Ocaliva tablets.

• IDFC First Bank: The board has approved the allotment of 37.75 crore shares of Rs 58.18 apiece to wholly owned subsidiary IDFC Financial Holding Company on preferential basis by way of private placement, taking the latter’s stake in the bank up to 39.99%.

• Rail Vikas Nigam: The 40:60 joint venture of Rail Vikas Nigam and Rachana Construction received letter of award for upgradation to six-lane Sarkhej-Changodar Section of NH-8A national highway with paved shoulder for Ahmedabad-Bagodara-Rajkot road in Gujarat at a project cost of Rs 252.21 crore.

• Punjab National Bank: The bank’s board will meet on March 29 to consider a proposal to raise capital for fiscal ending March 2024 through Basel-Ill compliant additional tier-I bonds and tier-II bonds.

• Canara Bank: The bank received the entire consideration of Rs 121.29 crore for the sale of its entire 40% stake in Moscow-based Commercial Indo Bank LLC.

• Indiabulls Housing Finance: The company allotted 9.16 lakh non-convertible debentures in public issue to raise Rs 91.65 crore.

• PNB Housing Finance: The board of the company will meet on March 28 to discuss and decide various matters related to the Rs 2,500-crore rights issue approved earlier this month.

• Indian Railway Catering & Tourism Corporation: The company signed an MoU with Uttarakhand Civil Aviation Development Authority for a period of five years for providing helicopter ticket booking service to the pilgrims of Kedarnath Dham on latter’s behalf.

Asian markets decline after a technology-driven rally on Wall Street failed to ease the selling pressure seen in the bank stocks.

U.S. investors piled into top technology companies including Apple Inc. and Microsoft Corp. to push the Nasdaq 100 close to the threshold of a bull market after an almost 20% surge from its December low.

Banking stocks missed out on the rally, with a gauge of U.S. financial heavyweights such as Wells Fargo & Co. and Bank of America Corp. sinking to the lowest since November 2020.

Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen clarified the U.S. would be prepared for further steps to protect deposits if needed.

Meanwhile, the yield on 10-year treasuries were trading at 3.39%. Crude prices were trading around $75-mark, while Bitcoin was hovering around 28,000-level.

At 07:27 a.m., the Singapore-traded SGX Nifty, an early indicator of the Nifty 50 Index’s performance in India, was down 0.23% at 17,044.5.

On Thursday, Indian equity benchmarks—Sensex and Nifty—snapped their two-day rally on the back of a volatile session to close 0.5% and 0.44% lower, respectively.

Indian rupee strengthened against the U.S. dollar, closing at its highest level in seven days, as the greenback came under pressure in overseas markets with a dovish Federal Reserve.

Overseas investors in Indian equities turned net sellers on Thursday, after a day. Foreign portfolio investors offloaded stocks worth Rs 995.01 crore during the day. Domestic institutional investors remained net buyers for the eleventh day in a row, as they raked in equities worth Rs 1,668.85 crore.