Sensex Today | Market Close Highlights : Sensex ends up 300pts, Nifty at 22,200; Realty, IT gain, O&G, PSU Bank fall

Having opened lower on Tuesday, Indian benchmark indices closed up on Tuesday, even as global peers were mixed in anticipation of inflation data set to be released in Europe and US this week.

Sensex that had opened at 72,723.53, remained in the range of 72,660.13 and 73,161.30 during the day. At close, it was up 305.09 points, or 0.42%, at 73,095.22.

And Nifty that had opened at 22,090.20, and touched a low of 22,085.65, climbed to a high of 22,218.25 during the day. At close, it was up 76.90 points, or 0.34%, at 22,198.35.

Elsewhere, the broader market erased some of its gains, with the Midcap index closing 0.12% down, and the Smallcap index, having eked out a gain, closing up 0.25%.

Across sectors, the PSU Bank index closed down 0.56%, the Oil & Gas index was down 0.73%, while the Financial Services index was down 0.32%.

Among the gainers, the Realty index closed up 1.07%, while Consumer Durables, Healthcare, Metal, Pharma, IT and Auto, all ended the day in green.

Sensex Today Live : Small-cap stock Centum Electronics' share price has posted multibagger returns in the long term - last 1,3 and 5 years.

The stock has soared 254 percent in the last 1 year from ₹567.95. Meanwhile, it has rallied 364 percent in the last 3 years and 416 percent in the last 5 years.

An investment of ₹1 lakh in this stock a year ago would have turned into ₹3.54 lakh today. Furthermore, the same investment 3 and 5 years ago would have resulted in ₹4.64 lakh and ₹5.16 lakh, respectively.

Centum was founded in 1994 in Bangalore, India. Since then, Centum has rapidly grown into a diversified electronics company with operations in North America, EMEA and Asia. The company offers a broad range of products and services across different industry segments. It has continuously invested in strengthening its design & product development capabilities while developing deep domain knowledge in the segments it operates in.

Sensex Today Live : Across sectors, Realty, Consumer Durables, Healthcare, Pharma, IT and Auto, were in the lead. 

Sensex Today Live : In the broader market, the Midcap index was down marginally.

Sensex Today Live : TCS, Tata Motors, Sun Pharma, Power Grid Corp., and IndusInd Bank, were the biggest gainers on the Nifty 50, while Bajaj Finance, Hero MotoCorp, SBI, Divi's Lab and UPL were the biggest losers. 

Sensex Today Live : Tata Motors and TCS were up more than 2%, while Sun Pharma, Airtel, and Power Grid Corp., were also in the lead on Sensex, Meanwhile, Bajaj Finance, SBI, Bajaj Finserv, Axis Bank, and NTPC were the biggest losers. 

Sensex Today Live : Having opened lower on Tuesday, Indian benchmark indices were up late in the afternoon, even as global peers were mixed in anticipation of inflation data set to be released in Europe and US this week.

At 3 pm, Sensex was up 304.95 points, or 0.42%, at 73,095.08, and Nifty was up 66.90 points, or 0.3%, at 22,188.95.

Elsewhere, the broader market erased some of its gains, with the Midcap index turning red, while the Smallcap index eked out a gain.

Across sectors, PSU Bank and Oil & Gas indices were down, while Realty, Consumer Durables and IT were up.

Sensex Today Live : Brokerage house Motilal Oswal Financial Services has initiated covering Cello Word stock, indicating an upside of 31% from the company's current market price. The brokerage has a buy rating for the stock with a target price of ₹1,100. The Cello World share price today surged by more than 5%. On the BSE, the Cello World share price opened at an intraday low of ₹858.80.

According to the brokerage's analysis, Cello has a strong brand reputation and a wide distribution network, making it a prominent participant in all of its product categories.

Sensex Today Live : Monthly bounce data suggests no material signs of risk build-up; bounce rates are now better than pre-covid levels

Over the last two quarters, there have been intense discussions on the quality and quantity of growth in the unsecured personal loan space.

We launch a new monthly series analysing the bounce data, as a lead indicator for any signs of retail risk build-up.

Bounce data (both volume-wise and value-wise) for Jan’24 suggests no material signs of risk build-up with unsuccessful rates now being better than pre-covid levels.

Bounce rate data suggests no rise in stress; unsuccessful rates are trending lower and are better than pre-covid period.

Bounce data for the month of Jan’24 suggests continued strong asset quality behaviour.

Unsuccessful auto-debit requests (bounce rate) were recorded at comfortable level of 20.6%, which is better than MoM (21.2%) and closer to the lowest levels in the last 4-5 years.

Unsuccessful bounce rate (volume-wise) also broadly continued its improving trajectory with Jan’24 print at 26.6% vs 28.9% YoY, though marginally up vs 26.2% MoM.

Historically, volume-wise bounce rate is higher vs value-wise, suggesting relatively higher stress in low ticket transactions / products.

Importantly, bounce rate (volume wise), after being flat for several months, has also started to settle at lower levels, suggesting improved behaviour in low-ticket size product as well.

Sensex Today Live : CMP: INR 9,042

Target Price: INR 9,170 (INR 8,000)

Price cuts dampen India prospects; demerger on track

The company is set to launch diabetes brands, namely Soliqua (Q1CY24), Insutage and Cetapin S in CY24 and Allegra M (consumer brand) in CY25.

It is also planning to source Insutage and Cetapin S locally to boost margins.

Demerger of the consumer business (28% of India sales) is on track to happen in Q2CY24 and it has on-boarded a management team and independent directors for this business.

We cut our CY24E EPS by 2% to factor in weak results. Maintain HOLD, but raise target price to INR 9,170, valuing consumer/residual business at 32x/28x CY25E earnings.

Sensex Today Live : He posted, 

"How times change:

Previously we had BAAP- buy at any price.

Now it is

PAAP: Psu at any price

And

SAAP: Smallcap at any price"

Sensex Today Live : Having opened lower on Tuesday, Indian benchmark indices were up in the afternoon, even as Asian shares slipped in anticipation of inflation data set to be released in Europe and US this week.

At 2 pm, Sensex was up 146.42 points, or 0.20%, at 72,936.55, and Nifty was up 18.20 points, or 0.08%, at 22,140.25.

Elsewhere, the broader market erased some of its gains, while across sectors, PSU Bank and Oil & Gas indices had fallen more than 1%.

Sensex Today Live : Kajaria Ceramics, Amber Enterprises, Supreme Industries, are among the top picks of Jefferies India in the Small and Mid-cap space.

Analysts at Jefferies said that they remain bullish on capex and housing theme as well as Electronics Manufacturing Services (EMS). Likewise, their top Picks are Supreme Industries, Kajaria Ceramics and Amber Electronics. (Read the full story here.)

Sensex Today Live : Following the government's capex-push led surge in infrastructure shares such as L&T, the stock market is likely to shift its focus to the consumption story, particularly in rural India. This shift aligns with the release of the National Sample Survey Office's (NSSO) delayed monthly household expenditure survey for 2022-23.

The latest results reveal that average Indian household spending has more than doubled in the last ten years, with a greater portion of expenditure going towards discretionary items such as clothes, television sets, and entertainment, while spending on food items has decreased. The share of spending on food dropped below 50% for the first time in rural India. (Read the full story here.)

Sensex Today Live : The IT sector has outperformed the Nifty 50 in 2024 year-to-date (YTD), surpassing the benchmark again after doing so in 2023. So far in 2024, the Nifty IT index has jumped around 6% compared to a 1.65% gain in the benchmark index.

The IT index has risen over 3% in February so far, extending gains for the fourth straight month. The index had hit its 52-week high of 38,559.85 earlier this month on February 19, 2024, following the overall positive sentiment in the Indian market.

In a recent note, brokerage house Ambit Capital noted that the March quarter (Q4) outlook doesn’t suggest immediate recovery. The brokerage suggests that the current environment, with growth and margins likely to remain below pre-Covid levels, may not support the structural increase in valuations based on growth alone.

Sensex Today Live : Nova Agritech share price witnessed strong buying interest in morning deals today. Its price today opened upside at ₹60.30 apiece on NSE and went on to touch an intraday high of ₹68.95 per share level, logging an intraday gain of over 14 percent. While climbing to this intraday peak, Nova Agritech shares logged around 70 percent rise against its upper price band of ₹41 per share. If an allottee had remained invested in this stock despite strong listing, the absolute value of one's investment in the scrip would have surged around 70 percent within a month of Nova Agritech share listing.

Having opened lower on Tuesday, Indian benchmark indices were climbing up in the afternoon, even as Asian shares slipped in anticipation of inflation data to be released in Europe and US this week.

At 1 pm, Sensex was up 336.17 points, or 0.46%, at 73,126.30, and Nifty was up 83.10 points, or 0.38%, at 22,205.15.

Elsewhere, the broader market had pulled ahead, while indices across sectors were largely in the green with Bank and Financial services stocks having erased their losses.

Sensex Today Live : India's top banks including State Bank of India, HDFC Bank and Axis Bank have walked back on capital commitments made to private equity and venture capital funds to avoid falling foul of a recent central bank circular on alternative investment funds (AIFs), three people familiar with the matter said. The development has rattled around 100 funds, the people said, putting a question mark over AIFs operating in a range of sectors including startup funding and buyout finance.

In December, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) asked banks and non-bank lenders to sell investments in AIFs linked to their debtor companies. PE and VC funds raise significant amounts from domestic banks through AIFs, which they invest in companies across sectors. Once a fund manager finalizes an investment, a capital call is made - a request to draw down the promised money.

In a recent case, SBI declined a capital call from the sovereign-backed National Investment and Infrastructure Fund (NIIF), two of the three people cited above said on condition of anonymity. The bank has also declined capital calls from its own funds, a third person said, referring to several funds owned by India's largest bank by assets. SBI, NIIF, HDFC Bank and Axis Bank did not respond to requests for comment. (Read the full story here.)

Sensex Today Live : Top automakers are divided on the Indian government's tax policy on hybrid cars. While Maruti Suzuki and Toyota advocate for lower taxes for hybrids to encourage their adoption, Tata Motors, Mahindra, and Hyundai argue against any preferential tax treatment for these vehicles.

These companies account for over 85% of the Indian car market, effectively making this an industry-wide discord. Both the camps have lobbied with various government departments and ministries, including the Prime Minister’s Office.

Proponents of hybrids argue that tax reductions would narrow the price gap with conventional cars, thereby increasing consumer adoption. They believe this shift would assist the government in achieving lower emission goals and decrease the country’s oil import bill. Mint explains what the issue is all about. (Read the full story here.)

Sensex Today Live : Across sectors, Oil & Gas, Bank and Financial Services stocks were under pressure, while Realty, Consumer Durables, and IT stocks were in the lead.