Stock Market Highlights: Sensex sheds 440 points, Nifty settles below 15,000 on broad based selling

Manish Hathiramani, Proprietary Index Trader and Technical Analyst, Deen Dayal Investments

The markets have had yet another day in the red. However, it has not broken the medium-term support range of 14,700-14,800. If we break that, we could travel south to levels closer to 14,400-14,500. If we bounce from these levels, we would need to get past the 15,300 levels to move to higher targets of 15,500-15,600. Until then the Nifty is going to be range-bound and choppy.

Here are the highlights of the market this week:

– Market Snaps 2-week Losing Streak; Sensex & Nifty Gain Nearly 3% Each This Week

– Nifty Bank Rises Over 1% & Midcap Index Over 3%; Media & IT Top Gaining Indices

– Except PSU Bank, All Sectoral Indices Give Positive Returns This Week

– UltraTech, Grasim, Adani Ports & Kotak mah Bank Top Nifty Gainers This Week

– Only 6 Nifty Stocks (Bharti, IndusInd, SBI, Hindalco, CIL, HDFC Bank) Close Lower This Week

Market At Close

– US Yield Rise Spooks Global Markets; Frontline Indices Close 1-2% Lower

– Sensex Manages To Hold 50,000, Closes 441 Points Lower At 50,405

– Nifty Gives Up 15,000, Ends With A Cut Of 143 Points At 14,938

– Midcap Index Falls 530 Pts To 24,078 & Nifty Bank 574 Pts To 35,228

– All Sectoral Indices Close Lower While Volatility Index Rises Nearly 6%

– Financials & Metals Amongst Top Losers; Nifty Metal & PSU Bank Fall 3-4%

– 38 Nifty Stocks Close In The Red; IndusInd, Wipro, Tata Motors Top Losers

– Wipro Slides 4% As Brokerages See Synergy Concerns On Capco’s Acqn

– Tata Chairman’s Comment Of No Tesla Deal & Lower JLR Sales Drag Tata Motors

– PSU Companies Rise In A Weak Trading Session; ONGC & GAIL Top Nifty Gainers

– Titan Closes Higher While Manappuram & Muthoot Slip On Falling Gold Prices

– FACT, CSB, Emami, Blue Dart Amongst Top Midcap Gainers

– Apollo Tyres, PTC Fin, Max Ventures, BoB, Nalco Top Midcap Losers

Closing Bell | Indian equity market ended Friday amid weak global cues as rising bond yields spooked investors. The Sensex ended 440.76 points, or 0.87 percent lower at 50,405.32, while the Nifty settled at 14,938.10, down 142.65 points, or 0.95 percent. All the sectoral indices ended in the red with banks, financials and metal indices leading the losses. Broader markets also succumbed to selling pressure.

On the Nifty50, IndusInd Bank, UPL, Tata Motors, Wipro and Hindalco Industries were the top losers, while ONGC, GAIL India, Maruti Suzuki, Kotak Mahindra Bank and Hero MotoCorp were the top gainers.

Expect Q4 pig iron spreads to be upwards of Rs 12,000: Tata Metaliks

Tata Metaliks is buzzing post a SteelMint report that the company has hiked foundry grade pig iron prices by Rs 800 per tonne. Sandeep Kumar, MD of the company, said there was a temporary fall in prices, but have recovered in the last one month. “The pig iron prices have moved up once again in February. In January they had reached a peak of about Rs 42,000 or there about and then fell by almost Rs 4,000 or so. However, they have come back very rapidly to scale back the same levels which is 41,000-42,000. So, we have recovered quite a bit in the last one month,” he said in an interview to CNBC-TV18. He said restocking of pig iron and softening of iron ore prices have also led to increase in prices. Read here.

Nish Bhatt, Founder & CEO, Millwood Kane International

The fall in gold prices in the domestic market is in line with the international market prices post comments of the US Fed Chairman on inflation and bond yield. Commex Gold prices fell due to the rising treasury yields that make holding gold more expensive, the strengthening of the dollar also makes gold buying expensive. Heavy outflows from Gold ETFs are also one of the reasons for the softness in Gold prices.

We expect gold prices to remain sideways in the short-term as vaccination drive across the globe picks up the pace which will lead to full normalcy in economic activities. The expectation of a rise in inflation due to excess liquidity globally may help gold prices in the medium to long-term.

Abhishek Chinchalkar, CMT Charterholder and Head of Education, FYERS

Nifty has shown indecisiveness over the last few sessions, as the index has formed a sequence of lower lows and higher highs, a sign of tussle between bulls and bears. With the earnings season behind and nothing much lined up on the data front domestically, Indian markets this week have taken cues from their global peers.

The cross-market developments indicate that domestic markets could witness volatility in the short-term. Hence, one needs to implement a cautious stance going forward. Technically, 15,000 is an immediate level to watch out for, which was defended quite well yesterday by the bulls. If Nifty fails to reclaim this level, the sell-off could extend towards 14,850/14,780

Market Watch: Hemen Kapadia, KRChoksey Securities

– Buy Asian Paints at Rs 2,410 with a stop loss of Rs 2,365 and a target of Rs 2,500.

– Buy Hindustan Unilever Ltd (HUL) at Rs 2,200 with a stop loss of Rs 2,165 and a target of Rs 2,290.

– Buy United Spirits at Rs 555 with a stop loss of Rs 540 and a target of Rs 585.

Market Update | Indian benchmark equity indices, Sensex and Nifty were trading over 1 percent lower Friday afternoon on broad-based selling across all sectors. Banks, financials and metal sectors dragged the most. Broader markets also succumbed to selling pressure. IndusInd Bank, SBI, ICICI Bank were the top Snesex losers.

Oil soars to near 14-month high as OPEC+ extends output cuts into April

Oil prices jumped more than $1 a barrel on Friday, hitting their highest levels in nearly 14 months, after OPEC and its allies agreed not to increase supply in April as they await a more substantial recovery in demand amid the coronavirus pandemic.

Brent crude futures for May rose to as high as $68 a barrel on Friday, a level not seen since Jan. 8, 2020. The contract was up $1.09, or 1.6%, to $67.83 a barrel at 0730 GMT, and was on track for a near 3% gain in the week. US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures climbed 93 cents, or 1.5%, to $64.76 per barrel after hitting a high of $64.94 earlier in the session.

Both contracts surged more than 4% on Thursday after the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and allies, together called OPEC+, extended oil output curbs into April, granting small exemptions to Russia and Kazakhstan.

PVR opens a new 6-screen property in Mysuru

Multiplex major PVR on Friday announced the launch of a new six-screen property in Mysuru, Karnataka. ”PVR Cinemas with this launch strengthens its presence in Karnataka with 109 screens in 16 properties and 292 screens across 47 properties in South. Located in the heart of India’s silk city, the new PVR Cinemas spreads across an area of 32,240 sq feet and can accommodate a total of 1,078 audiences,” the company said in a statement. Read more here.

Hitesh Jain, Lead Analyst – Institutional Equities, Yes Securities

Gold prices have tumbled recently in the wake of rising sovereign yields. We do not think yields will sustainably rise given the fact that governments do not favour higher yields on their accumulated gigantic debt. There is a prevalent divide between markets and central banks, wherein markets are pricing higher inflation and growth, while central banks remain accommodative and dovish. We assume that central banks will eventually rein in the yields with their asset purchases and also help their respective governments in keeping the borrowing costs low.

On gold price trajectory, we still remain bullish considering the unprecedented government stimulus, bloated Central bank balance sheets and burgeoning sovereign debt. This is tantamount to debasement of currencies like the greenback. A structural decline in USD against the basket of currencies will also underpin the value of an alternative currency like Gold.

Honeywell Automation expects strong order flows and capex expenditure to rise

Honeywell Automation, a provider of integrated automation and software solution, is optimistic about the upcoming year, said Ashish Gaikwad, managing director (MD) of the company, on Friday. Speaking in an interview with CNBC-TV18, he said that the company expects strong order flow going ahead.

“FY22 is looking quite optimistic to us and clients are more committed towards digital transformation now. Therefore, we are looking at a lot of optimism in our pipeline. We typically target about 1.5-2 times the GDP growth as far as our order bookings are concerned,” he said. Read more.

Wep Solutions | The company said has fixed the record date for the purpose of determining the shareholders who will be eligible to apply in the Rights Issue as March 12, 2021.

BSE Ltd | BSE Investments Limited (BSEIL), a wholly-owned subsidiary of BSE entered into a Joint Venture agreement with Frontier Agriculture Platforms Private Limited to drive innovation in agriculture markets. As part of this joint venture, FAPL has picked 40 percent equity stake in BSE E-Agricultural Markets Ltd (BEAM).

Gland Pharma in talks to manufacture COVID-19 vaccines

The Gland Pharma stock is up over 75 percent from its issue price of Rs 1,500 in November 2020. A recent management meet takeaways indicate that the company is in talks with partners for contract manufacturing of COVID-19 vaccines. Srinivas Sadu, MD at Gland Pharma, shared his views. “We thought we will come with the announcement earlier than this but still the talks are underway, the collaboration has bit more extended than what we have envisaged initially. We will let you know once we sign off the dotted line but it is looking good and the volumes could be larger than what we had thought off initially,” he said.

“Company still feels there will be a demand at the end of this year as well but in parallel, we are also discussing to finish this earlier than that,” he added. Read more.

Coal India | The company’s board has approved an interim dividend of Rs 5 per share.

Hemang Jani, Head Equity Strategy, Broking & Distribution, Motilal Oswal Financial Services

Heranba Industries, a crop protection chemical manufacturing company, listed today on the exchanges with a 44% premium at Rs 900 per share against its issue price of Rs 627 per share. The company had raised Rs 625 crore through public issue which was subscribed 83 times. It is one of the leading domestic producers of synthetic pyrethroids, where it enjoys 20% market share. It derives 50% revenue from the export market where it enjoys higher margin. The export demand would continue to be strong as the shutdown of several chemical plants in China, would result in higher volumes of Pyrethroids being exported out of India.

During FY18-20, its revenue witnessed 13% CAGR, while PAT grew at 44% CAGR, led by EBITDA margin expansion from 12.5% in FY18 to 15.3% in FY20. RoE has been consistent and healthy at ~30%. At the CMP, the stock is valued at PE of ~37x of FY20 earnings and 27x FY21E on an annualized basis.

PNB Housing Finance, Yes Bank enter into strategic co‐lending partnership

PNB Housing Finance on Friday announced that it has entered into a strategic co-lending agreement with Yes Bank to offer customized retail loans to homebuyers at competitive interest rates. In an exchange filing, PNB Housing Finance said that both the companies will jointly do due diligence and co‐originate the loan at an agreed ratio. “PNB Housing will service the customers through the entire loan lifecycle, including sourcing, documentation and collection with an appropriate information sharing arrangement with Yes Bank,” the company said. More here

Wipro’s Capco buy gutsy move; Indian IT rerating underway: Moshe Katri

Wipro is acquiring London-based Capco, a global management and technology consultancy to banking and financial services industry for $1.45 billion, making it the Indian IT major’s biggest acquisition till date. Moshe Katri, MD, Wedbush Securities shared his views on the acquisition. “We have a neutral rating on the stock and this is a gutsy move by Wipro, it is a large transaction and it brings with it a lot of risks,” Katri told CNBC-TV18 while adding, “Capco is not a pure-play digital company, it has not been able to grow its topline for multiple years.” More here

Positive on IT; will allocate money towards private, select PSU banks: BNP Paribas

BNP Paribas continues to remain positive on Indian technology companies, said Manishi Raychaudhuri, Asian Equity Strategist, Equity Cash Asia Pacific at the global investment firm said on Friday. Raychaudhuri also said that work from home has been an additional tailwind for IT companies. BNP Paribas will continue to allocate money towards private and select public sector undertaking (PSU) banks, Raychaudhuri added. The government’s talk on privatisation is an encouraging sign, he further added. More here