PremiumThe Sensex and Nifty ended lower for the fifth straight session on Thursday. Earlier, Asian markets climbed higher owing to fall in US treasury yields, as the US Fed decided to maintain its dovish stance in its latest policy review.
Benchmark Indian equity indices closed lower for the fifth straight session on Thursday, erasing the gains from earlier in the day. The Sensex closed at 49,216.52, down 585.10 points, or 1.17%, while the Nifty was at14,557.85, 163.45 points below the 15,000 mark. Among sectoral indices, IT, pharma, banks and financials saw heavy selloffs. the BSE midcap and smallcap indices were down 1.09% and 1.47%, respectively. 21 of the 30 shares on the Sensex ended in red, while ITC, Bajaj Auto, Bharti Airtel, M&M and 5 other stocks ended in green. Earlier, the SGX Nifty indicated a strong start for benchmark Indian equity indices owing to a strong start in Asia, after the Fed Reserve clarified that it will maintain its dovish stance towards inflation and key rates.
India's central bank may have to delay the start of monetary policy normalisation by three months amid rising COVID-19 cases, but barring the return of stringent lockdowns there is no significant threat to the economy's recovery, analysts say.
From the standalone cash flows, it is clearly seen that Nazara is a cash guzzler as it is continuously investing cash to acquire assets (games, IP, rights, licenses, gaming companies, etc). The moat for gaming is very thin—preferences can change overnight.
Nazara seems to be following Tencent's model on a small scale. Tencent is the world's largest gaming company which outright acquires every company whose game becomes famous.
Now, while everyone is gung ho about Nazara given its niche business, promoter capability, ace investors holding, data usage spurt in India, demographic advantage, mobile phone usage spurt, First pure-play gaming company to get listed, and so on but there are a lot of concerns too!
The company also says this in RHP "focused on near-term profitability rather than investing in brand building and consumer acquisition at scale." As business owners, we always think long term and the above statement is definitely concerning.
Taking into consideration all of the above, we have an avoid on the IPO. Looking at the investor interest, it does seem that the company may list at a good premium on the listing.
Entrepreneur First (EF), a UK-based global talent investor has announced a total pre-seed investment of $440,000 in 8 cutting-edge tech start-ups from its fourth cohort in India.
As part of the company’s Demo Day, EF introduced these start-ups that are leveraging new-age technologies such as Machine Learning, Artificial Intelligence (AI), Robotics and Virtual Reality to top early-stage investors in the country for their next round of funding. Startups like Expertia, Neuropixel, Fello, Subconscious Compute, Immunito AI, UngearVR, Aspiro and Rightbo are part of the fourth cohort.
The executive committee of the manager of Mindspace Business Parks Reit issued 3,750 non-convertible debentures of face value of ₹10,00,000 worth an aggregate ₹375 crore on a private placement basis. The debentures shall carry coupon at the rate of 6.65% per annum, the company said in a regulatory filing.
Mumbai: Adani Green Energy Ltd on Thursday said that it has raised a $1.35 billion debt package for its under-construction renewable asset portfolio through definitive agreements signed with a group of international lenders. The revolving project finance facility would initially finance the 1.69 GW hybrid portfolio of solar and wind renewable projects to be set up in four SPVs in the state of Rajasthan, India. According to the agreement, 12 international banks have committed for the facility which will be the first certified green hybrid project loan in India, Adani Green said
As digital transformation becomes a priority, the healthcare industry is more bullish, than any other, on adoption of the hybrid cloud model, with 95% of respondents agreeing that hybrid is their ideal choice, according to the Nutanix’s third annual Enterprise Cloud Index report. Currently, more than half of healthcare respondents have increased their adoption of public cloud (56%) and hybrid cloud (51%) and nearly half (46%) have invested more in private cloud environments in an effort to quickly provide new work-from-home employees with access to IT resources.
Some of the concerns in the IPO are 11.52% of the total equity being pledged by one of the promoters and the private placement that was done to promoters at ₹180 on 2 March 2021. (Just 7 days back they did private placement to mutual funds at ₹292). Coming to the operational side of the business, 75% of the total loan book is unsecured, CASA is low at 13.32% and the valuations are also very high at 1.93x Price to book (post issue). Considering all of this, we have an avoid on the IPO.
Shapoorji Pallonji Real Estate will invest ₹300 crore to construct around 440 luxury apartments in Bengaluru.The company has launched a new phase of its 46-acre luxury residential project Parkwest in Binnypet, Central Bengaluru. The new phase will have around 440 luxury apartments, ranging from 462.10 sq ft to 1,185.07 sq ft. The residences are available between the price range of ₹72 lakh to ₹2.06 crore. (PTI)
Enterprise information security and risk management spending in India is likely to increase by 9.5% this year to $2.08 billion (about ₹15,076 crore), according to Gartner Inc. "The overnight move to remote-working in reaction to pandemic exposed organisations' vulnerabilities while security leaders had to cut down on their security spending in 2020 because of IT budget cuts. In 2021, this trend is reversing," said Prateek Bhajanka, Senior Principal Research Analyst at Gartner. "A secure digital environment is now foundational to organisations' growth and in preparation for another crisis that may arise. Security leaders are ready to reinvest in cybersecurity with a renewed and refreshed rigour." (ANI)
Gland Pharma Ltd, having prowess in injectables manufacturing has now seen success in becoming part of the global supply for covid-19 vaccine too. The company entering into an agreement with the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) to supply up to 252 million doses of RDIF’s Sputnik V covid-19 vaccine is to boost Street confidence further.
Recently, Lancet had published that Sputnik-V recorded 92% efficacy against Covid-19. This too had been a big confidence booster. Looking at the RDIF CEO’s November 2020 statement on pricing the vaccine below $10 ( less than ₹730), analysts at Haitong Securities India Pvt. Ltd say that this brings the total opportunity size in the range of ₹800- 1700 crore depending on the price ( ₹350-700 per dose). However, they believe this opportunity size could further shrink to ₹400 crore if the procurement cost would be at ₹150-175 per dose like in India.
Housing and Urban Development Corporation Ltd's board has approved the payment of interim dividend for FY21 at 7.50%, ₹0.75 per share of ₹10 each.
The record date for the dividend is 26 March, the company said in a regulatory filing. The company's share was trading at ₹47.90, up 1.27% at 11:56 am.
The rupee appreciated by 9 paise to 72.46 against the US dollar in opening trade on Thursday, supported by positive domestic equity markets and easing crude prices. However, a strong US dollar against major currencies overseas restricted the rupee rise, forex dealers said. At the interbank forex market, the local unit opened at 72.48 against the US dollar, then inched higher to 72.46, registering a rise of 9 paise over its previous close. On Wednesday, the rupee had settled at 72.55 against the American currency. (PTI)
There wasn't anything substantially different in the US Federal Reserve's latest policy statement in terms of action and communication. Yet, with the central bank taming inflation fears, market participants heaved a sigh of relief.
In a widely expected move, the members of the US Federal Reserve's policymaking committee voted to keep short-term borrowing rates near zero. The central bank raised its expectations for economic growth,but indicated that there are likely to be no interest rate hikes through 2023. The US Fed is of the view that spike in inflation would be short-lived.
According to analysts, a takeaway for equity markets from Fed's statement is that the central bank is likely to stick to its accommodative stance even as the economy recovers.
Automobile majors will have to shell out up to ₹1 crore as penalty in case of mandatory recall orders by the government for defects in manufacturing from April 1, 2021, PTI reports Ministry of Road Transport and Highways as saying on Wednesday.
Fitch Solutions on Thursday revised its forecast for Indian rupee to average ₹73.50 per US dollar in 2021, slightly stronger from ₹75.50 per US dollar previously, which reflects its view for the rupee to mostly trade sideways over the course of year. While rising oil prices will worsen India's terms of trade and put depreciatory pressure on the rupee, it said, this is likely to be offset by a combination of intervention by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and a weakening bias of US dollar due to ultra-loose monetary and fiscal policy in the US.
The company has allotted 57,357 shares of ₹2 each to the grantees who had exercised their options under its employee stock option scheme, it said in a regulatory filing. The allotment raises Crompton Greaves' paid-up capital to ₹125.52 crore divided into 62,76,42,353 shares of face value of ₹2 a piece.
BHEL was trading at ₹52.50 a piece, up 4.79%, at 10:34 am. The state-owned engineering firm on Wednesday said it has emerged as the lowest bidder for supply of equipment for 6x700 MW nuclear power projects of Nuclear Power Corporation of India. "In an open competitive bidding process, Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd (BHEL) has emerged as the lowest bidder ( ₹10,800 crore) for the fleet mode tender floated by Nuclear Power Corporation of India Ltd (NPCIL) for the 6x700 MW Turbine Island Package Projects," the company said.
With this tender, BHEL has retained its market leadership position of being the sole Indian supplier of nuclear steam turbines.
The company said it has received multiple orders of approximately 93 KMT worth around ₹777 crore, it said in a regulatory filing. Welspun Corp. has received a 50 KMT order from a large client in the Middle East to be executed from the company facility in Saudi Arabia. Most of the remaining orders will be executed from Welspun Corp.'s facilities in India for the domestic market.
The company’s order book currently stands at 586 KMT worth around
₹5,300 crore, considering execution up to February 2021.
India’s oldest exchange for trading cryptocurrencies aims to double monthly transactions after an explosion in demand, despite concerns of looming curbs from the nation’s authorities.
ZebPay, a platform with about 4 million customers, expects to churn $2 billion worth of trades per month, said chief executive officer, Rahul Pagidipati. While that’s still less than one fifth of trades handled by top U.S.-based exchange Coinbase Global Inc., there is a vast untapped market in India, he said.
“India holds less than 1% of the world’s crypto currencies and its potential investor base is 100 million," Pagidipati, 43, who started investing in digital coins about 10 years ago, said in a phone interview from Durham, North Carolina. (Bloomberg)
DLF was trading at ₹293.55 a piece, up 0.69% at 10:16 am. The realty firm plans to raise up to ₹500 crore through issue of non-convertible debentures (NCD) to investors. The panel gave nod to "issuance of secured rated listed redeemable non convertible debentures (NCDs) at a coupon rate of 8.25 per cent with an aggregate principal amount of up to ₹500 crore on a private placement basis in one or more tranches to certain eligible investors.
The company said its board of directors will meet on 24 March to decide the interim dividend for the year ending 31 March 2021. The record date for the purpose of interim dividend will be 2 April, the company said in a regulatory filing.
Benchmark Indian equity indices opened in green on positive cues from SGX Nifty. The Sensex opened at 50,161.25, up 359.63 points or 0.72%, while the
Nifty was at14,855.50, up 134.20 points or 0.91%. On the 30-share gauge, 28 stocks were in green at 9:16 am, with Bajaj Finance, UltraTech, SBI, IndusInd Bank in the lead. Dr Reddy and Infosys opened in red. Metals, consumer durables and FMCG led gains among broader BSE sectoral indices. Among the Nifty sectoral indices, IT was in the red.
The Sensex was up 355.78 points or 0.71% at 50,157.40 during markets pre-opening. The Nifty was down 189.15 points, or 1.27%, at 14,721.30. Benchmark Indian equity indices are expect to have a strong start amid positive global cues.
Markets are likely to edge higher on Thursday while trends in SGX Nifty suggest a positive opening of Indian benchmark indices. On Wednesday, the BSE Sensex ended at 49,801.62, down 562.34 points or 1.12%. The Nifty closed at 14,721.30, down 189.15 points or 1.27%.
Asian stocks gained on Thursday after the Federal Reserve pledged to keep monetary policy and rates unchanged and projected a rapid jump in US economic growth this year as the covid-19 crisis eases.
While inflation is expected to reach 2.4% this year, above the central bank’s 2% target, Federal Reserve chairman Jerome Powell called it a temporary surge that will not change the Fed’s pledge to keep its benchmark overnight interest rate near zero.
After a failed delisting attempt last year, London-based parent Vedanta Resources Ltd (VRL) has upped its offer price to increase its stake in Vedanta Ltd by buying a 17.51% stake in it at ₹235 per share. Read here for more.
The turmoil in bonds that’s recently roiled asset classes worldwide has prompted India’s biggest fund manager to hold more cash.
SBI Funds Management Pvt. is deploying funds in the overnight repo markets, Rajeev Radhakrishnan, head of fixed income, said in an interview earlier this week. The $63 billion asset manager has also been reducing duration in its debt funds.
The US Treasury yield curve steepened after Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell stressed Wednesday that the central bank won’t raise interest rates until the US economy shows tangible evidence it has fully healed from Covid-19. (Bloomberg)
Gold rose after the Federal Reserve continued to project near-zero interest rates at least through 2023, bolstering demand for the metal.
Fed Chair Jerome Powell and his colleagues remained dovish at the end of their meeting Wednesday, despite upgrading their U.S. economic outlook and the mounting inflation worries in financial markets. While a growing number of officials saw an earlier start than peers to the withdrawal of ultra-easy monetary policy, Powell stressed this remains a minority view. Spot gold rose 0.3% to $1,750.42 an ounce by 8:44 a.m. in Singapore, after advancing 0.8% on Wednesday. Silver, platinum and palladium all gained. The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index was flat after declining 0.5% on Wednesday. (Bloomberg)
Oil prices dropped for a fifth day on Thursday after official data showed a sustained rise in US crude and fuel inventories, while the ever-present pandemic clouded the demand outlook.
Brent crude was down 12 cents, or 0.2%, at $67.88 a barrel by 0119 GMT after dropping by 0.6% on Wednesday. US oil was also down 12 cents, or 0.2%, at $64.48 a barrel, having fallen 0.3% the previous session. (Reuters)
Most Asian stocks climbed Thursday with US equity futures on the Federal Reserve’s projections for interest rates to remain near-zero through 2023. The dollar dipped and Treasury yields were steady.
Stocks rallied in Japan and South Korea after the S&P 500 Index reached a record as Fed Chairman Jerome Powell reiterated the central bank’s tolerant stance on inflation and the recent rise in bond yields. Consumer discretionary and industrial sectors led the gauge’s advance. The Dow Jones Industrial Average also closed at an all-time high.
SGX Nifty was up 175.25 points or 1.19% to 14,933.00 at 7:24 am.
S&P 500 futures edged up 0.3% as of 9:58 a.m. in Tokyo. The S&P 500 Index rose 0.3%.
Japan’s Topix Index rose 1.3%.
Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 Index dipped 0.2%.
South Korea’s Kospi Index added 1.1%.
The S&P 500 and Dow Jones Industrial Average closed at record highs on Wednesday after the Fed predicted a fast economic recovery from the coronavirus pandemic and said it would maintain its interest rate at close to zero.
It was the first time the Dow closed above 33,000 points.
Following the Fed’s statement, the yield on 10-year Treasuries ticked lower to 1.6374%.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.58% to end at 33,015.37 points, while the S&P 500 gained 0.29% to 3,974.12.
The Nasdaq Composite climbed 0.4% to 13,525.20.
The Nasdaq remains down about 4% from its Feb. 12 record-high close.
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