Sensex sheds 520 pts, Nifty ends 150 pts lower; IT, Realty, Metal drag

Indian equity markets were not immune to the depressed mood of the global stock markets and shed 0.8% on Monday. Sensex ended 518 points down at 61,144 and Nifty closed at 18,160, a drop of 150 points.

Most of the sectorial indices fell on Monday with PSU Bank remaining the only bright spot which added more than a per cent. IT, Realty, Metal, Auto and Finacial Service indices were among the hardest hits in today's session.

Among stocks, Adani Ports, Tech Mahindra, Hero MotoCorps and Hindalco shed the most today, while BPCL gained around 2% followed by Bharti Airtel, Axis Bank and IndusInd Bank which gained more than a per cent each.

Stocks fell globally overall as investors decided to wait and gauge the mood of central bankers with regard to future rate hikes and concerns that China may tighten Covid curbs after a string of reported deaths.

Japan's stock markets remained flat and ended marginally higher on Monday. Rising COVID-19 cases in China weighed on sentiment in Asia and traders awaited more clarity on the outlook for interest rates. The Nikkei closed 0.2% higher.

China stocks closed down for a fourth straight session on Monday as investors' hopes of an early easing in strict pandemic curbs were dashed. However, some surge in infections lifted some healthcare shares.

The blue-chip CSI 300 Index lost 0.9% at the close, and the Shanghai Composite Index slipped 0.4%. Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index dropped 1.9%, while the Hang Seng China Enterprises Index declined 2%.

European shares slipped with economically sensitive sectors like miners and industrials leading the losses to worries about the impact of surging COVID-19 cases in China. The pan-European STOXX 600 index was down in the morning session.

Private sector lender IDFC First Bank is looking to grab a sizable pie of the up-and-coming startup banking segment and has tied up with tech industry lobby body Nasscom’s centre of excellence as a preferred banker to new-age companies. 

IDFC First will offer products and solutions for startups including a zero-balance startup current account, working capital solutions for pre-profit startups, business credit cards for startups with step-up credit, and a tailored founder success program. (Read More)

Engineering and construction conglomerate Larsen & Toubro (L&T) on Monday said it has hired more than 3,000 fresh engineering trainees in the current financial year.

The onboarding of over 3,000 graduate and postgraduate engineering trainees in the ongoing fiscal marks a more than three-fold rise as against 1,067 trainees last fiscal.

The number of female engineers hired has more than quadrupled to 1,009 trainees in FY23 from 248 trainees in FY22, L&T said in a statement.

"It is worth noting that 30 per cent of current batch of fresh engineers are women which is commendable given the fact that 75 per cent of the fresh engineers are hired from mechanical, civil and electrical streams where women candidates are less. (PTI)

India’s oil refiners are looking to pick up a bit more Russian crude in last-minute purchases just weeks before new sanctions take effect.

At least four companies are seeking Russian cargoes that can load by Dec. 5 and discharge before Jan. 19, according to people familiar with the matter. That timeframe fits with a grace period being granted on oil purchases under a US-led measure to cap the price of Moscow’s sales.

The price cap is scheduled to be implemented alongside European Union sanctions on Russian seaborne imports on Dec. 5, and is designed to keep crude flowing but crimp the Kremlin’s revenues as it wages war in Ukraine. The cap level is set to be announced this week. (Bloomberg)

India’s economic growth will likely slow down to 6.5% in the second quarter of the current fiscal (Q2FY23), largely because of input cost movements for certain sectors with a higher fuel intensity, as well as the impact of the flagging external demand on non-oil merchandise exports, rating agency Icra Ltd. said on Monday. (Read More)

Shares of Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) were trading ex-dividend in Monday's trading session, a day ahead of the record date for its declared interim dividend that it had announced with its September quarter earnings for the current fiscal or Q2FY23.

ONGC shares were trading 4:41% lower at ₹135.50 apiece on the NSE intraday, also one of the top losers among the Nifty 50 stocks on Monday. (Read More)

Across eight major cities in India the average housing prices appreciated nearly 5 per cent in the first nine months of this year on account of rise in input costs and a strong revival in demand, said a report published by property brokerage firm PropTiger.com on 21 November.

According to the report, the weighted average prices of residential properties in primary markets stood at ₹6,600-6,800 per square feet at the end of September quarter, as against ₹6,300-6,500 per square feet at the end of the December quarter across eight cities. (Read More)

Despite weakness in the stock market today, more than 5 banking stocks have hit a 52-week high in early morning deals on Monday. Interestingly, these banking stocks have managed to climb to their new 52-week high when the Bank Nifty index is in the negative zone after nearly three hours of trade. Out of those banking stocks that have hit a 52-week high today, 5 banking shares are state-owned banks. The list of those PSU banks that hit a 52-week high includes Central Bank of India, Indian Bank, Punjab National Bank, UCO Bank and Union Bank of India. (Read More)

Car sales volumes this year in India are expected to rise 12.5% and another 4% in 2023, Moody’s Investors Service said on Monday.

“India remains the bright spot for car sales. By 2023, we expect automotive sales in the country to recover to the highs touched in 2018. Volumes will climb 4% in 2023 after surging 12.5% in 2022, helped by the onset of the festive season at the end of September," as per a note prepared by the credit agency. “Meanwhile, the recovery in Japan (A1 stable) remains protracted. Sales will rebound in 2023 with supply chain improvement, especially on semiconductors, following a 5% decline in 2022 to 4.2 million units." (Read More)

Japan's stock markets edged up on Monday, although the Nikkei share average was kept below 28,000, as rising COVID-19 cases in China weighed on sentiment in Asia and traders awaited more clarity on the outlook for interest rates.

The Nikkei closed 0.2% higher at 27,944. The broader Topix edged 0.3% higher to 1,972. Both indexes have been treading water for about a week. Volumes were expected to be light due to U.S. and Japanese holidays later in the week.

"Financial markets are trying to find the balance between the room for further rate hikes versus the extent to which the U.S. and global economy will slow," said Masayuki Kichikawa, chief macro strategist at Sumitomo Mitsui Asset Management. (Reuters)

Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Monday chaired her first pre-Budget consultations with the first group of captains from industries and experts in the field of infrastructure and climate change in the national capital.

Along with Sitharaman, the meeting was attended by Union Minister of State Finance Pankaj Chaudhary and Bhagwat Kishanrao Karad; Finance Secretary TV Somanathan, secretaries from other departments of the finance ministry, and the Chief Economic Advisor Anantha Nageswaran.

The formal exercise to prepare the annual Budget for the next financial year -- 2023-24 - commenced on October 10. (ANI)

Football fans in India had a lot of difficulties viewing the opening match of the FIFA World Cup 2022, the first-ever football world cup in the Middle East. The JioCinema app's online video stream of the tournament kept buffering, leaving fans disappointed and disgusted.

Even when the video played without any hiccups, the audio kept going missing. The issue made the Qatar vs Ecuador match difficult for some to watch. As fans approached social media to vent out their frustration, more people came into agreement with the experience that some coined as “awful". (Read More)

Escorts Kubota is a prominent tractor maker domestically with a 10.3% FY22 market share. It also serves domestic construction equipment and railways space. Kubota (a Japanese company), is a co-promoter with an effective stake at 53.5%.

Brokerage house ICICI Securities has retained its Buy rating on Escorts Kubota shares amid wider opportunity at play with Kubota coming on board as co-promoter and strong financials amid healthy RoCE targets. The auto stock is trading near a record high level of ₹2,189 per share that it had hit in September this year on the BSE. (Read More)

Share lock-ins set are set to unravel this week with Delhivery, Venus Pipes and Tubes, Syrma SGS Tech, Tarsons Products, Ethos Ltd, e Mudhra Ltd, and Go Fashion being the seven stocks with lock-ins period expiring this month i.e., between the period of November 21 to November 28, 2022.

Delhivery's share price breached its initial public offering (IPO) issue price of ₹487 per share since the Gurugram-based startup debuted on the stock exchange. In its quarterly business update to its shareholders, Delhivery shared concerns over “high levels of inflation, with average user spends and total active shoppers remaining flat or lower during the ongoing festive season". (Read More)

Sanmit Infra shares are one of the multibagger stocks in 2022 that surged to the tune of 150 per cent in year-to-date (YTD) time. The stock recently traded ex-split after declaring stock subdivision in a 1:10 ratio. However, the stock is hitting the headline once again after climbing to a lifetime high of ₹85.70 apiece on 17th November 2022. However, the multibagger stock retraced its recent highs after the profit booking trigger. But, it seems that buying interest among market bulls has once again spurt in regard to this multibagger BSE-listed stock. (Read More)

Dost is a light commercial vehicle (LCV) offered in Hinduja group flagship brand Ashok Leyland. The company currently retails a range of light commercial vehicles under 'Dost' brand with a right-hand drive option both in domestic and overseas. It is now planning to launch Dost in the Middle East and African markets.

Ashok Leyland is testing the popular light commercial vehicle with left-hand drive (LHD), a top company official has said. (Read More)

Axis Securities Pick of the Week – ACC Ltd: BUY with TP at ₹2710

Outlook & Valuation: With expanded capacity, better pricing. increased demand, moderation in commodity prices and better synergies with other Adani group companies, we expect ACC to report Revenue/EBITDA/APAT CAGR of 10%/50%/40% respectively over CY22-CY24E. Stock is currently trading at 14x and11x CY23E/CY24E EV/EBITDA.

Recommendation: We recommend a Buy the stock for a target price of ₹2760/ implying an upside of 10% from CMP.

Sam Bankman-Fried’s bankrupt FTX crypto exchange owes its 50 top unsecured creditors a total of $3.1 billion. FTX Trading Ltd. and about 100 affiliated companies are starting a strategic review of global assets.

Investors continue to pull funds from digital-asset exchanges despite the latter’s efforts to reassure markets about their stability. Crypto lender BlockFi Inc. is on the cusp of its own Chapter 11 filing.

Crypto markets are on the back foot, holding Sunday losses that have pushed Bitcoin -- the largest token -- to about $16,000. Second-ranked Ether is also struggling amid indications that some of the $663 million drained from FTX as it slid into bankruptcy is now being transferred out of the token. (Bloomberg)

Goldman Sachs Group Inc. sees India’s economic growth slowing next year, citing a hit to consumer demand from higher borrowing costs and fading benefits from pandemic reopening, while lowering its growth forecast. Gross domestic product (GDP) may expand by 5.9% in calendar year 2023 from an estimated 6.9% this year, Goldman said in a report. (Read More)

Tirthankar Das, technical & derivative analyst, retail, Ashika Stock Broking Ltd: On the technical front, Nifty formed bearish candle with long lower shadow following a couple of indecisive Doji candle on the daily time frame, on the weekly time frame too Index with a negative candle but the trend of higher high formation remains unabated but noticeable aspect being the range of the market has decreased. Hence present setup show consolidation with weak bias. Hence ongoing breather would help index to cool off the short-term overbought condition and help index to form a higher base that would pave the way to challenge the all-time high of 18600 and eventually head towards 18900 as the Index has breached past the falling trend line which confirms that the primary trend is up. Now the elevated support level for the market now stands at 17950 followed by 17500 as it happens to be the 50 days EMA and the breakout point from the 12 months falling trend line. During the day, Nifty is likely to open on a negative note tracking weak morning cues. Thus, intraday dip towards 18150-18200 can be used to create long positions for target of 18600.

The rupee depreciated 12 paise to 81.86 against the US dollar in early trade on Monday, tracking the strength of the American currency in the overseas market and a muted trend in domestic equities.

At the interbank foreign exchange, the domestic unit opened at 81.84 against the dollar, then lost ground to quote at 81.86, registering a loss of 12 paise over its previous close.

On Friday, the rupee depreciated by 10 paise to close at 81.74 against the US currency.

Meanwhile, the dollar index, which gauges the greenback's strength against a basket of six currencies, advanced 0.25 per cent to 107.19. (PTI)

Shares of Five Star Business Finance Ltd made a dull stock market debut on Monday with the stock listing at ₹464 apiece on the NSE, a discount of over 2% as compared to its IPO issue price of ₹474 per share. On the BSE, Five Star Business Finance shares started trading at ₹449 apiece.

The initial share sale was entirely an offer for sale (OFS) of shares to the tune of ₹1,960 crore by existing shareholders and promoter group entities. The price band for the issue was fixed in the range of ₹450 per share to ₹474 per share. The IPO closed with 70% subscription, lower than its actual issue size. (Read More)

Shares of Archean Chemical Industries Pvt Ltd made a positive market debut on Monday with the stock listing at ₹450 apiece on the NSE, a premium of over 11% as compared to its IPO issue price of ₹407 per share. On the BSE, Archean Chemical shares started trading at ₹449 apiece.

The public issue was subscribed 32.23 times by the close of the subscription period on Friday, November 11, 2022. Archean Chemical IPO consisted of a fresh issue of equity shares aggregating up to ₹805 crore and an Offer For Sale (OFS) of up to 1.61 crore shares by the promoter and investors. (Read More)

EaseMyTrip or Easy Trip Planners shares will be in focus today as the stock is trading ex-dividend and ex-bonus today. The board of directors of the company has fixed 22nd November 2022 as the record date to finalize eligible beneficiaries for issuance of bonus shares and stock subdivision. The company board has already approved and declared bonus shares in the 3:1 ratio whereas it has declared a stock split in 1:2 ratio.

Ahead of the record date for stock split and bonus shares, EaseMyTrip share price shot up near 17 per cent in early morning deals on Monday. EaseMyTrip share price today opened upside and went on to hit an intraday high of ₹57.30 apiece levels, logging to the tune of 17% upside within a few minutes of the stock market's opening bell today. (Read More)

Vaishali Parekh of Prabhudas Lilladher has recommended two stocks to buy today, here we list out full details in regard to those two stocks:

1] IGL: Buy at ₹418, target ₹430, stop loss ₹412; and

2] Canara Bank: Buy at ₹309, target ₹322, stop loss ₹304. (Read More)

In cryptocurrencies, the world's largest and most popular digital token Bitcoin's price today was trading more than 4% lower at $15,973, slipping below the $16,000 mark. On the other hand, Ether, the coin linked to the ethereum blockchain and the second-largest cryptocurrency, also plunged by more than 8% to $1,118.

The global crypto market cap today remained below the $1 trillion mark, as it over 5% lower in the last 24 hours to $828 billion, as per the data by CoinGecko, as cryptocurrency prices continued to struggle in the ongoing crisis sparked by the downfall of Sam Bankman-Fried’s once powerful FTX empire. (Read More)

Dr V K Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist at Geojit Financial Services: "There is a strong tailwind and a strong headwind which can sway the market now. The tailwind is the sharp decline in Brent crude to $86.75, which is a big macro positive for India. But this tailwind is unlikely to take the market higher since the headwind in the form of steadily declining momentum in the recent market uptrend, is very strong. The optimism driven by the recent decline is US inflation has run its course and the market is likely to wait for further data on the direction of US inflation and interest rates. So, this is the time to play defensively rather than taking risky shots at the goal. Cautious defensive games can be a good short-term strategy."

STOCK IN FOCUS

GPIL (CMP 272)

We have BUY rating on GPIL, with a 12-month SOTP-based Target Price of Rs415.

Intraday Picks

AXISBANK (PREVIOUS CLOSE: 859) BUY

For today’s trade, long position can be initiated in the range of ₹848- 855 for the target of Rs.875 with a strict stop loss of ₹835.

TATAMOTORS (PREVIOUS CLOSE: 424) BUY

For today’s trade, long position can be initiated in the range of ₹418- 421 for the target of Rs. 432 with a strict stop loss of ₹416.

SUNPHARMA (PREVIOUS CLOSE: 1010) SELL

For today’s trade, short position can be initiated in the range of ₹1020-1035 for the target of Rs.985 with a strict stop loss of ₹1050.

State-owned Punjab & Sind Bank expects to clock a net profit of around ₹1,100 crore in the current financial year on the back of the resolution of bad loans.

The bank has given NPA recovery guidance of ₹2,000 crore for the ongoing fiscal, Punjab & Sind Bank Managing Director Swarup Kumar Saha told PTI in an interaction.

Out of this, ₹700 crore has already been realised, he said, adding some big resolutions like Sintex Industries and Meenakshi Energy are going to happen in the coming quarter.

Besides, he said, the resolution of some IL&FS group accounts is expected during the current fiscal. (PTI)

The Central government will next week release the guidelines to check fake reviews and unverified star ratings on e-commerce websites, hotels, and travel booking platforms, said Consumer Affairs Secretary Rohit Kumar Singh, as quoted by news agency PTI.

E-commerce platforms give virtual shopping experiences to their customers, without any opportunity to physically examine the product.

Hence, the customers only rely on reviews posted on these portals to see the opinion and experienced users who have already purchased the goods or services. However, fake reviews and star ratings mislead consumers into buying online products on these platforms. (Read More)

NSE will continue to keep Balrampur Chini, Bhel, Delta Corp, Gujarat Narmada Valley Fertilizers and Chemicals, Indiabulls Housing Finance and Sun TV, and has added PNB on the list of banned securities under the F&O segment for Monday trading as they have crossed 95% of the market-wide position limit. (Read More)

Reserve Bank of India Governor Shaktikanta Das said a synchronised tightening of monetary policy globally has progressively increased the risk of a hard landing, which is a recession to tame inflation. India, however, is differently placed.

The Governor was speaking about the rising inflation across the world and said that inflation in systemically important advanced economies turned out to be persistent rather than transitory.

The third shock emanated in the form of aggressive tightening of monetary policy by the US Federal Reserve, and subsequent unrelenting appreciation of the US dollar. (ANI)

The overall gross exports of gems and jewellery declined 14.64 per cent to ₹25,843.84 crore in October, against ₹30,274.64 crore in the year-ago period.

The overall gross imports of gems and jewellery showed a drop of 16.82 per cent to ₹12,181.92 crore in October, against ₹14,644.87 crore in the corresponding period a year ago, according to Gem and Jewellery Export Promotion Council report that came out recently.

The report said the overall gross exports of gems and jewellery grew 7.90 per cent to ₹1,88,183.89 crore during April-October 2022, against ₹1,74,406.57 crore in the year-ago period.

Indian lenders are expanding lending to local corporations at the fastest pace in more than eight years, a sign of a new private investment cycle starting in the world's fifth-largest economy even as growth in large developed economies and China slows.

That international slowdown will limit the strength of the new Indian cycle, economists say.

Private investment in India was constrained for years by heavy indebtedness of companies and banks and by weak demand. But over the past two years, corporations and lenders have cut costs and raised equity capital, and companies have been able to spend on new capacity as demand has strengthened. (Reuters)

Allotment of shares can be announced any time today because as per the tentative schedule of the public issue, Keystone Realtors' IPO allotment date is most likely on 21st November 2021 i.e. today. Bidders would be able to check their application status online once the finalisation of share allotment is announced. They can log in at the BSE website or at the website of IPO's registrar to check Keystone Realtors' IPO allotment status online. Among one of the Rustomjee brands, the public issue was subscribed to 2.01 times in three days subscription whereas its retail portion was subscribed 0.53 times. (Read More)

Persistent inflationary pressures squeezed earnings of Indian companies in the September quarter, even as revenue grew robustly, indicating demand, at least in urban areas, remained intact despite price increases.

September quarter profit plummeted 25% to levels not seen since the peak covid quarter of April-June 2021 as raw material costs surged 45% from a year earlier, a Mint analysis of 2,923 companies (excluding financials and banks) showed. However, with commodity costs softening, companies will likely see profit rebound in the coming quarters. (Read More)

The leading milk supplier in India, Mother Dairy has increased prices of full-cream milk by Re 1 per litre and token milk by ₹2 per litre in Delhi-NCR market with effect from today, Monday, November 21. However, the company hasn't altered the rates of full-cream milk sold in 500 ml packs.

Notably, this is the fourth round of hike in milk prices in 2022 by Delhi-NCR's leading milk supplier Mother Dairy. The company is one of the leading milk suppliers in Delhi-NCR with volumes of over 30 lakh litres per day. (Read More)

India is likely to post a 6.5 per cent to 7.1 per cent economic growth during the current financial year 2022-23 amid rising inflation and impending global slowdown, Deloitte India said in a report.

The persistent inflation has challenged policymakers over the past few months. Despite the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) raising interest rates by 1.9 percentage points since April 2022, inflation has remained above its tolerance range for over 9 months now.

To add to this, the runaway dollar is causing import bills to soar and further pushing inflation up. An impending global slowdown or even a recession in a few advanced nations as early as the end of 2022 or early next year is likely to make the situation worse. (PTI)

The government has cut the export duty on steel products and iron ore with effect from Saturday in order to provide a fillip to the domestic steel industry and boost exports.

Besides, import duty on anthracite, coking coal and ferronickel -- used as raw material in the steel industry -- has been hiked, as per a finance ministry notification issued late on Friday.

The export duty concessions and import tax have been restored after a gap of six months. In May, the tariffs were tweaked in the wake of a sharp and steady rise in prices of steel and in order to augment the availability both of finished steel as well as raw materials required for steel manufacture. (PTI)

Shares of Five Star Business Finances Limited are going to hit the secondary market today as the Five Star Business Finances IPO listing date has been fixed on 21st November 2022. As per the information available on the BSE website, effective from Monday, November 21, 2022, the equity shares of Five-Star Business Finance Limited shall be listed and admitted to dealings on BSE and NSE in the list of 'B' group of securities in Special Pre-open Session (SPOS).

Meanwhile, the grey market is expecting discounted listing of Five Star Business Finances shares. According to market observers, shares of Five Star Business Finances are available at a discount of ₹2 in the grey market today. (Read More)