Selling pressure was seen in most of the sectors
Indian markets halted a five-day rally today as concerns over global growth hit equities across the globe. IMF in its latest forecast trimmed its global growth forecast to the weakest in three years. Sensex fell 134 points to close at 36,444 while Nifty declined 0.36% to 10,922. Auto and metal stocks led the decline today with M&M, Tata Steel and Vedanta falling over 3%. Other major losers in the Sensex 30 pack included Maruti Suzuki, Bharti Airtel, HCL Tech and L&T, down between 1% and 2%. Among the gainers, Sun Pharma surged 5% while Kotak Mahindra Bank, Bajaj Finance and Hero MotoCorp rose between 1% and 2%.
Markets likely to remain range-bound: Jayant Manglik
Market view of Jayant Manglik of Religare Broking: “Post a decent gain in the last few trading sessions, the Indian equity benchmark indices declined on weak global cues as the IMF cut global growth forecast for 2019 and 2020. The markets are likely to remain range bound given global headwinds in the form of uncertainty over acceptance of alternate plan for Brexit and global growth concerns. Further, volatility in crude oil price and rupee would keep the market participants on edge. However, on the domestic front, there have been no negative surprises on the earnings front so far which is encouraging. We expect stock specific volatility to remain high as the investors will take cues from quarterly performance of the stocks. We advise traders and investors to maintain stock specific approach."
Motilal Oswal Research revises target price on Kotak Mahindra Bank
The brokerage has maintained Neutral rating on Kotak Mahindra Bank with a revised target price of ₹1,350. In a note Motilal Oswal Research said: “Healthy capitalization (Tier 1 of 17.6%) places the bank in a sweet spot to capitalize on growth opportunities and consistently gain market share. We expect loan CAGR of 23% over FY19-21 on the back of higher refinancing opportunities, increased pricing power, healthy customer acquisition run-rate and cross-sell to existing customers. Further, the bank has maintained stable asset quality in a challenging environment and is on track to build a formidable liability franchise. The capital market, securities and asset management businesses can provide further upside to earnings as the business cycle improves." (Read: Bond bonanza helps Kotak Mahindra Bank in beefing up profits in Q3)
Prabhat Dairy shares in limelight on sale of diary business
Prabhat Dairy shares surged 15% after the company said it will be selling its flagship dairy business for ₹1,700 crore to French multinational Groupe Lactalis. The company said it will be sharing a "substantial proportion" of the sale proceeds with its shareholders and will focus on the cattle feed business after the close of the transaction. The company has entered into definitive agreements with Tirumala Milk Products, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Lactalis, for the ₹1,700-crore sale.
Kotak Mahindra Bank shares jump nearly 2%
Kotak Mahindra Bank shares rose 1.8% to ₹1,289 after its net profit rose 23% year-on-year to ₹1,291 crore in the quarter ended December. That beats the ₹1,190 crore consensus estimate of analysts tracked by Bloomberg
Sun Pharma replaces formulations distributor, shares surge
Sun Pharmaceuticals Industries Ltd rose 4% to ₹413. The company informed to exchanges that it will transfer distribution of its India local formulations business from current distributor Aditya Medisales Ltd to a unit of the company.
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