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Snapping two sessions of losses, benchmark indices closed near the day's high on Tuesday with the Sensex surging 834 points to end at 49,398. Nifty rose 1.7% to end above the 14,500 mark. All sectors closed in the green. The market breadth was positive with BSE Midcap and Smallcap ending around 2% each. Volatility Index fell 6%.
"The Nifty has closed around its resistance area of 14550-14600. If we manage to get past that level, we should be headed to 14800-14900. The index has made a strong base at the 14200 level which acted as a good support. Keeping a close below this level as a stop, traders can initiate long positions for higher targets," said Manish Hathiramani, proprietary index trader and technical analyst, Deen Dayal Investments.
Bajaj Finance, RIL, ICICI Bank and HDFC twins were the biggest contributors to the rally today.
Barring M&M, ITC and Tech Mahindra all Sensex stocks ended in the green.
"The result season has started well giving encouraging sign. The vaccination drive is progressing well. Also, the global cues have been positive with expectation of a large fiscal push in USA. The overall sentiment is quite bullish. We expect that the market will now take its next major cue from the budget. The multiple expansion driven returns will ease out and returns will be linked more to growth from here on,"Mohit Ralhan, Managing Partner & CIO, TIW Private Equity.
The Indian government has asked WhatsApp to withdraw the recent changes in the privacy policy of the messaging app, saying unilateral changes are unfair and unacceptable.
In a strongly worded letter to WhatsApp CEO Will Cathcart, the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology said India is home to the largest user base of WhatsApp globally and is one the biggest markets for its services.
The International Energy Agency lowered forecasts for global oil demand as renewed lockdowns to contain the pandemic temper the recovery expected this year, Bloomberg reported.
“The global vaccine roll-out is putting fundamentals on a stronger trajectory for the year, with both supply and demand shifting back into growth," the agency said in a monthly report. “But it will take more time for oil demand to recover fully as renewed lockdowns in a number of countries weigh on fuel sales."
The IEA cut its consumption estimate for this quarter by 600,000 barrels a day, projecting a slight decline from the end of last year. Still, the world’s swollen oil inventories stand to abate by 100 million barrels in the three-month period as Saudi Arabia and other OPEC nations curb supplies.
Home First Finance (Home First) is an affordable housing finance player with over 43000 customers operating across 11 states in India. The company is owned by a clutch of PE investors including True North, Warburg Pincus, Aether, and Bessemer.
At the upper price band of ₹518, the issue is priced at a 4.1x P/BV ratio. The country’s best housing finance company trades at 3.2x being a 100x bigger company than Home first finance.
The NBFC regulation is very lax as seen with DHFL and many other NBFCs, and therefore it is hard to really judge the numbers. On top of this due to COVID-19, the real extent of the moratorium book and the restructured assets is unknown; therefore one must tread cautiously while investing in NBFCs.
The expensive valuations and the market froth make us wary of this IPO.
For the short term, it seems that the company will list at a premium given its grey market premium of ₹110-115 (21% premium) as of 19 January afternoon.
Asian shares climbed on Tuesday as investors wagered China's economic strength would help underpin growth in the region, even as pandemic lockdowns threatened to lengthen the road to recovery in the West.
Japan's Nikkei jumped 1.53%, Hang Seng rose 2.7%, Taiwan's Taiex gained 1.7% and Australia's ASX climbed over 1% higher.
When Thierry Delaporte took charge as the CEO and MD of Wipro Ltd in July last year, his mandate was to bring the company back to growth after the IT firm had lagged its peers for several years in a row.
Delaporte’s predecessor Abidali Neemuchwala had failed to deliver on his ambitious target of turning Wipro into a $15-billion company with operating margins of 23% by 2020. At the time he left, the company’s revenue was a little over $8 billion and operating margins stood at 18.1% in FY20. (Full report)
Bitcoin’s recent wobbles have turned the cryptocurrency spotlight onto other digital coins including Ether, whose gain this year has outstripped the performance of its bigger rival.
The world’s largest cryptocurrency hovered around $36,000 on Tuesday for a fifth day after major gyrations earlier in January. The comparative calm of late may encourage crypto enthusiasts to chase the momentum in coins like Ether, which is up about 80% in 2021 compared with Bitcoin’s 26% advance, as per Bloomberg report.
European shares rose on Tuesday after Asian markets rallied on optimism about China's economy, while upbeat earnings reports from miner Rio Tinto and computer peripherals maker Logitech boosted sentiment.
The pan-European STOXX 600 index gained 0.4% , while Germany's DAX and France's CAC 40 gained 0.4% and London's blue-chip index rose 0.7%.
Urban India has grown more anxious about financial security and preparedness in the last one year, and there is a significant shift towards increasing savings and investments. Financial anxieties related to covid-19 and the ability of current earnings to cover expenses have emerged as top concerns for urban Indians.
These are the key findings of the third edition of the Max Life India Protection Quotient 3.0 (IPQ 3.0) survey done by Max Life Insurance Co. Ltd in partnership with Kantar. As per the survey, Urban India witnessed a positive movement of four points on the Protection Quotient scale from 35 (IPQ 2.0) to 39 at present.
Mortgage financier Home First Finance Company (HFFC) on Tuesday fixed a price band of ₹517-518 a share for its initial share-sale, which will open for public subscription on January 21.
This would be the third initial public offer (IPO) this year after Indian Railway Finance Corporation (IRFC) which is currently open for public subscription, and Indigo Paints, which would be launched on January 20.
Oil prices climbed on Tuesday as optimism that government stimulus will buoy global economic growth and oil demand trumped concerns that renewed COVID-19 pandemic lockdowns globally could cool fuel consumption.
Brent crude futures for March gained 55 cents, or 1%, to $55.30 a barrel after slipping 35 cents in the previous session.
"L&T Finance Holdings is one of the leading NBFC in India with a strong presence across various segments including MFI, Housing, two wheeler, tractor and wholesale segment. The rural and the housing segment account for 56.5% of the company’s AUM at the end of Q2FY21 as compared to 51.5% in FY19. We expect disbursements to improve further in 2HFY21 and expect the company to post strong sequential loan growth from Q3FY21."
Rallis India Ltd., reaping benefits of buoyant agri-inputs demand in the country, posted a strong Q3 show. The normal monsoon and good winter crop sowing ensured a strong demand for agricultural commodities during the December quarter. The company, with presence across the value chain in seeds, soil conditioners, crop protection chemicals, plant growth nutrients saw benefits across all segments. Seed business showed an impressive growth of 38% y-o-y, while domestic crop care business grew 5%. The revival in export businesses also remained a key highlight during the quarter. (Full report)
Bank of Maharashtra's Q3 net profit rises 14% in the December quarter to ₹154 crore. Gross NPA declined to 7.69% against 8.81% in the previous quarter, while net NAP fell to 2.59% versus 3.3%.
Adani Group on Tuesday said it has signed a concession agreement with Airports Authority of India (AAI) for Jaipur, Guwahati, Thiruvananthapuram airports.
"We are pleased to inform you that Adani Jaipur International Airport Limited, Adani Guwahati International Airport Limited and Adani Thiruvananthapuram International Airport Limited, wholly-owned subsidiaries of the Company have signed the Concession Agreement on 19th January, 2021 with Airports Authority of India for the Operations," the company said in a regulatory filing.
"We believe efforts to built liability franchise, fresh capital infusion and provision taken on wholesale book will help to tide over this difficult time. The IDFC First Bank is trading ( 0.7 x FY22ABV) at a significant discount to historical average valuations."
The brokerage house recommends a buy on the stock with a target price of ₹55.
The path to normalcy following India’s covid-19 lockdown has been comparatively tougher for Shoppers Stop Ltd. A key pain point for the retailer has been a higher presence in shopping malls.
Out of 84 department stores, 73 are mall stores. The malls are yet to recover and that impacts Shoppers Stop. While all of the company’s stores are fully operational now, revenues are catching up at a slower pace. Standalone revenues for the December quarter declined by 29% over the same period last year to ₹707.6 crore. Sure, this is an improvement from the June and September quarter when revenues had declined by 93.5% and 65.4% year-on-year, respectively. But the sequential improvement isn’t surprising given the easing of the lockdown. (Full report)
Pipe manufacturer Man Industries (India) Ltd on Tuesday said it bagged orders worth ₹250 crore.
"The company has received new orders worth approximately ₹250 crore which are to be executed over the next 5 months," Man Industries said in a regulatory filing.
“Nifty started the session around the previous week’s close but right from the word go, Nifty witnessed some selling pressure and by noon it breached the 14300 mark. The index then recovered from the low but that intraday pullback got sold into, and it marked a low of 14222 during closing. The Nifty index registered a loss of over a percent at close while the Bank Nifty corrected by over 400 points after showing some resilience in the first hour of trade.
Nifty had already indicated signs of some correction in Friday’s session as it closed below its 5 day EMA. The index breached its support of 14380 in the first hour of the trade which confirmed an extension of this profit booking and then we witnessed a good sell-off in the broader markets. The Bank Nifty showed some relative strength in the first hour of the trade, but it then synced with the market move and corrected for the rest of the session. The Nifty Midcap index resisted around some important retracement level last week, and thus this space too witnessed a decent profit booking in yesterday’s session. If we look at the broader picture, this correction definitely seems to be a corrective phase within an uptrend which would provide good opportunities to buy stocks on dips. However, from an intraday or a short term perspective, the volatility is likely to be high as some more profit booking could not be ruled out. Hence, traders should use intraday pullbacks to exit longs.
The U.S. Dollar index has seen a sharp correction in the last few months and the index chart seems to be inversely correlated to the same. In last couple of sessions, we have seen a pullback move there and thus, this too seems to be leading to profit booking in equity markets. The immediate supports for the Nifty are placed around 14180 followed by 14130 while 14400 would be the immediate resistance."
The non-bank lender's board has approved raising up to ₹3,000 crore through a rights issue. The offer will open on 1 February and close on 15 February. The lender has fixed ₹65 per share for the offer and an entitlement ratio at 17:74 (17 equity shares for every 74 shares held by the eligible equity shareholders of the company), as on the record date.
The company reported a 64% in its consolidated net profit to ₹80.69 crore for the quarter ended December. The company's total income was ₹756.81 crore during the third quarter of the fiscal year, against ₹1,317.70 crore a year ago.
India’s transportation fuel price rise continues unabated, with the oil marketing companies (OMCs) again increasing petrol and diesel prices by 25 paise per litre each on Tuesday.
Petrol prices in the national capital registered a record high price on Tuesday, with petrol selling at Rs85.20 per litre and diesel retailing at Rs75.38 per litre. This is the highest price for petrol in the National Capital Region.
Diesel is also retailing at a record high price in Mumbai. After holding the retail price of petrol steady for 29 days, oil marketing companies in India started increasing prices in January.
IDFC First Bank Ltd seeks to expand its credit card business with two unique offerings, including interest-free cash advances for 48 days and dynamic interest rates on revolving credit. The services were launched on Friday.
The interest-free cash scheme is a first for the industry and is a feature that the bank is testing, B. Madhivanan, chief operating officer, IDFC First Bank, said in an interview.
The Indian rupee surged 12 paise to 73.16 against the US dollar in early trade
"Although we have opened with a gap up, I would be wary of going long immediately. The Nifty has a resistance around the 14550-14600 levels. If we can conquer that, we should be headed to 14900. Until then there is every possibility to go down to levels closer to 14100 and then 14000."
A strong demand and improving realisations notwithstanding, investors have been turning cautious on steel stocks, largely because rising cost of key raw material such as iron ore and coal have led to concerns on profit margins of steel manufacturers. Tata Steel Ltd, JSW Steel Ltd, Steel Authority of India Ltd, and Jindal Steel and Power Ltd - all saw some corrections on Monday.
The Street remains watchful of steel demand and prices after the end of Chinese New Year celebrations. (Full report)
The country's largest carmaker on Monday said it has increased the price for select models by up to ₹34,000 to offset adverse impact of rising input costs. The new prices are effective from January 18.
The IT firm owned by Larsen & Toubro (L&T) Ltd, posted a 65.7% year-on-year increase in net profit to ₹326.5 crore for the third quarter-ended December on the back of improvement in operational efficiencies. On a sequential basis, the net profit was up 28.7%. The company’s revenue for the quarter stood at ₹2,023.7 crore, up 5% sequentially and 3% on an annual basis driven by broad-based growth across verticals and service lines.
At 0925 am, Sensex was 423.81 points higher at 48,988, while Nifty was up almost 1% at 14,412. ONGC, Bajaj Finance and RIL were the best gainers, while HDFC Bank and ITC biggest laagards.
Sensex was up 100 points at 48,672, while Nifty was
Suzuki Motor Corp. is developing a mid-size sport-utility vehicle (SUV) for India, aiming to mount a bigger challenge to South Korea’s Hyundai Motor Group, which dominates this fast-growing segment, said three people directly aware of the matter.
The new vehicle, code-named ‘YFG’, is based on Suzuki’s popular global SUV brand, Grand Vitara, the people said, requesting anonymity.
Production of the vehicle is likely to begin from 2022 at the factory of Toyota Motor Corp.’s Indian unit in Karnataka, becoming the first Suzuki product to be produced by Toyota in India as part of a wide-ranging partnership between the two Japanese automakers.
Among stocks that will be in focus on Tuesday are Mindtree, Maruti, Apollo Hospitals, Adani Green, Indiamart.
Major companies which will announce their December quarter results are L&T Infotech, ICICI Lombard, Bank of Maharashtra, Tata Communications, CSB Bank and Ceat India.
Indian stock markets are likely to consolidate on Tuesday while trends in SGX Nifty suggest a positive opening of domestic benchmark indices. On Monday,
Indian stocks fell for the second straight day, extending Friday’s decline, as investors pondered over whether the stunning gains of the past few months have outstripped economic reality.
On Monday, the BSE Sensex closed at 48,564.27, down 470.40 points or 0.96%. The Nifty ended at 14,281.30, down 152.40 points or 1.06%.
Asian share markets edged ahead on Tuesday as investors wagered China's economic strength would help underpin growth in the region, even as pandemic lockdowns threatened to lengthen the road to recovery in the West.
MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan firmed 0.2%. Japan's Nikkei bounced 1%, recovering all the losses suffered on Monday.
U.S. stocks also looked a little steadier as futures for the S&P 500 added 0.4% and NASDAQ futures 0.3%.
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