Sensex, Nifty end lower for 5th straight session; Bharti Airtel, TCS top drags

Market closing

Indian benchmark share indices erased opening gains to settle in the red on Wednesday, dragged by losses in index heavyweights TCS, Bharti Airtel, Bajaj Finance and HDFC Ltd.

After swinging between gain of as much as 1.7% and loss of as much as 1.1%, Sensex closed at 37,680.58, down 53.50 or 0.14%.

Similarly, the 50-share index Nifty ended 21.80 points or 0.2% lower at 11,131.85. Axis Bank, closing over 2% higher, was the top Sensex gainer followed by HUL, Infosys and Nestle India. Bharti Airtel, closing 8% lower, was the top laggard followed by Tata Steel, IndusInd Bank and NTPC.

Of 30 Sensex shares, 18 closed in the red.

View Full Image

Top gainers/losers on Nifty

View Full Image

Top laggards on Nifty Pharma

View Full Image

PNB, Maharashtra Bank and Canara Bank top laggards on Nifty Bank

View Full Image

Top laggards on Nifty Media

View Full Image

Route Mobile jumps 19%

Shares of Route Mobile surged 19% intraday to hit a fresh high of ₹828.80 apiece on the BSE. The cloud communication platform provider company had made made a stellar stock market debut on Monday.

Rupee closing

The Indian rupee settles 1 paisa higher at 73.57 against the US dollar.

All sectoral indices on NSE in the red

View Full Image

Hexaware Tech hits 52-week high

Hexaware Technologies rose 1.82% intraday to hit a 52-week high of ₹468.95 apiece, after its promoter accepted the discovered price of ₹475 per share, as the final price for the delisting offer.

Airtel onboards Waybeo to its Startup Accelerator Program

As part of its strategy to scale up its cloud offerings, Bharti Airtel on Wednesday announced that it has picked up a strategic stake in tech startup Waybeo under the Airtel Startup Accelerator Program.

Waybeo, a Trivandrum headquartered startup focused on deep Al based analytics for cloud telephony, is the fifth startup to join the fast growing Airtel Startup Accelerator Program, which helps promising startups unlock their potential.

HDFC Bank unveils norms for restructuring of loans

HDFC Bank's retail customers seeking to restructure debt should have minimum outstanding balance of ₹25,000 in their loan accounts. The lender has also offered an extension of loan tenures by up to two years to provide relief to its retail and corporate customers hit by the covid-19 pandemic. The private lender will levy a processing fee to restructure the loan. (Full report)

Gold prices fall sharply

Gold and silver prices in India fell sharply on Wednesday, extending losses to the third day. On MCX, October gold futures were down 1.2% to ₹49,764 per 10 gram while silver futures plunged 4% to ₹58,851 per kg. Precious metal prices have fallen sharply this week across the globe as investors sought the safety of US dollar. Gold prices fell about ₹100 in the previous session, extending Monday's ₹1,200 drop.

Asian shares mixed as worries percolate over pandemic

Markets were mixed in Asia on Wednesday as investors kept a wary eye on how the coronavirus pandemic will affect the economic outlook.

Stocks slipped in Japan and Hong Kong but rose in Seoul and Shanghai and jumped more than 2% in Sydney after the government reported retail sales have fared better than expected.

Overnight, Wall Street ended a four-day losing streak, though Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell pressed Congress for more aid to support the economy's recovery, citing worries over the lingering impact of the pandemic.

Sebi's reform list to de-stress debt MFs welcome, but raises doubt

The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) chairman's major announcements to reduce liquidity and redemption-related stress on debt funds raises many unanswered questions, said mutual fund industry participants. (Full report)

Tech Mahindra sells Altiostar stake to Rakuten Mobile

Indian IT services company Tech Mahindra and Rakuten Mobile Inc., a Rakuten group company responsible for mobile communications, on Wednesday announced an agreement under which the former has been appointed the preferred partner for global go-to market opportunities for the Rakuten Communications Platform (RCP). As part of the deal, Tech Mahindra has sold its stake in Delaware-based Altiostar Networks to Rakuten for $45 million.

Top gainers/losers on Nifty

View Full Image

Airtel, Vodafone Idea feel the heat of Jio’s new postpaid plans

Bharti Airtel Ltd and Vodafone Idea Ltd lost 5-6% in Wednesday trade after Reliance Jio Infocomm Ltd announced new tariff plans for postpaid customers. Shares of Jio’s parent Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) gained 1.6%. RIL separately announced a new investment in its unit Reliance Retail Ventures Ltd. (Full report)

Top Sensex contributors

View Full Image

Geojit Financial Services puts 'buy' on Cyient Limited

Geojit Financial Services has put 'buy' rating on Cyient Limited with a target price of ₹565. "In Q1FY21, consolidated revenue reported a de-growth of 8.9% annualised, largely driven by weakness in Aerospace and Defence vertical. Appointment of former bureaucrat Ramesh Abhishek as additional director, long term positive for DLM division. Weakness in A&D vertical could pave way for a double digit degrowth in revenue for FY21 and growth to be back from FY22 onwards powered by verticals like Communication, Semiconductor and Healthcare. EBIT Margins to be back to sub 9% levels in H2FY21 after cost optimisation ends. We expect growth in FY22E due to communication and transportation vertical and value Cyient at 12.5x FY22E EPS (Close to last 5 year average P/E) with revised upward target price of ₹460 and maintain Accumulate rating," the brokerage said.

Market outlook

"The markets have opened with a gap up, but the trend continues to remain weak in the short term. 10900-11000 continues to remain a target and is also a good medium term support for the Nifty. On the upside, the resistance zone is 11600-11650 and until we do not get past that, every rally up can be used to short for a target of 10900-11000," said Manish Hathiramani, proprietary index trader and technical analyst, Deen Dayal Investments.

Top gainers on Nifty IT

View Full Image

Biocon appoints Anupam Jindal as new CFO

Biocon Ltd has appointed Anupam Jindal as the new Chief Financial Officer (CFO) and be part of the executive leadership team.

He will report to the Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director Siddharth Mittal. Jindal will take over from Indranil Sen who was the interim CFO and he will continue as Vice-President for Finance.

HCC up 7.2%

HCC Concessions Ltd, the infrastructure development arm of HCC Group, has completed its 100% sale of Farakka-Raiganj Highways Limited to Cube Highways and Infrastructure II Pte Ltd.

BSE SmallCap up 1%

View Full Image

SP group firms surge after it announces separation from Tata group

Shapoorji Pallonji Group companies, Sterling & Wilson Solar Ltd and Forbes & Co Ltd on Wednesday surged after the group unexpectedly said it will end its seven decades-long partnership with the Tata group.

Shares of Sterling & Wilson Solar hit 20% upper circuit, its biggest single day gains since August 2019 while Forbes & Co Ltd hit 5% upper circuit. (Full report)

Hindustan Zinc up 4.8%

Vedanta Group firm Hindustan Zinc Ltd on Tuesday said its board-constituted panel has approved raising up to ₹4,000 crore through debentures. The approval on the same was given during the meeting of the committee of directors held on Tuesday, HZL said in a filing to the BSE.

BSE MidCap up 0.5%

View Full Image

Rupee opening

The Indian rupee opens unchanged vs Tuesday's close at 73.58 against the US dollar.

Indian Oil Corp drops 0.5%

The country’s largest fuel retailer will invest ₹17,825 crore in raising the capacity of its Gujarat refinery as well as setting up a petrochemical plant at the unit as part of plans for upscaling petchem business to protect margins.

Most sectoral indices on NSE are in the green

View Full Image

DHFL up 1.5%

The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) has barred promoters of Dewan Housing Finance Corp. Ltd (DHFL) from the securities market, accusing them of indulging in fraudulent transactions and misleading investors by releasing false financial statements for over a decade.

Sequent Scientific up 4%

The company, one of the largest manufacturers of veterinary APIs globally, will acquire 40% stake in Provet through Alivira Animal Health Limited, Ireland, its wholly-owned subsidiary.

RIL up 2.4%

Reliance Industries on Wednesday said global investment firm KKR will invest ₹5,550 crore in its subsidiary Reliance Retail Ventures Ltd (RRVL) to pick 1.28 per cent equity stake.

"This investment values Reliance Retail at a pre-money equity value of ₹4.21 lakh crore. This marks the second investment by KKR in a subsidiary of Reliance Industries, following a ₹11,367 crore investment in Jio Platforms announced earlier this year," Reliance Industries said in a statement.

Market opening

Indian benchmark share indices opened on a firm footing on Wednesday tracking Wal Street gains. Sensex opened at 37,966.16, up 232.08 or 0.62%, while Nifty climbed 105.10 points or 0.94% to open at 11,258.75. RIL, rising over 2%, was the top Sensex gainer followed by Sun Pharma, Infosys, Maruti and Axis Bank. Bharti Airtel, TCS and Power Grid were among the laggards. Of 30 Sensex shares, 25 opened in the green.

View Full Image

Market pre-opening

Indian stocks traded higher in the pre-opening session on Wednesday. At 9:06 am, Sensex was up 385.11 points or 1.02%, while Nifty advanced 105.35 points or 0.94% to 11,259.00.

Stocks to Watch

DHFL, Tata Group, Indian Oil Corp, HCC and Sequent Scientific are among the top ten stocks that may be in focus in today's session.

Market at close on Tuesday

Equity benchmarks buckled under selling pressure for the fourth session on the trot on Tuesday as wary investors took money off the table amid concerns over economic recovery and weak global cues.

The 30-share BSE Sensex settled 300.06 points or 0.79% down at 37,734.08.

Similarly, the broader NSE Nifty fell 96.90 points or 0.86% to finish at 11,153.65.

Asian stocks struggle to build on Wall Street gains

Asia's stock markets struggled to emulate Wall Street's rebound on Wednesday as persistent worries about the global economic recovery kept investors cautious.

MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was steady after two days of declines, but the mood was hardly bullish.

Japan's Nikkei 225 dropped 0.6%.

China's Shanghai Composite and Hong Kong's Hang Seng were little changed.

Australia's ASX 200 advanced 1.8%.

South Korea's KOSPI declined 1%.

Singapore's SGX Nifty climbed 0.24%.

Wall Street closes higher

Wall Street stocks rebounded on Tuesday, led by a jump in Amazon.com, even as a likely delay in new fiscal stimulus by Congress and an increase in the number of coronavirus cases dampened hopes of a faster economic recovery.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 140.48 points, or 0.52%, to 27,288.18. The S&P 500 gained 34.51 points, or 1.05%, to 3,315.57 and the Nasdaq Composite added 184.84 points, or 1.71%, to 10,963.64.