Stock Market Highlights: Sensex, Nifty end at record close as IT, auto sectors lead

Closing Bell: Sensex, Nifty end at record close as IT, auto sectors lead

Indian indices edged higher to end at record close on Wednesday, snapping two sessions of losses, led by gains in IT and Auto stocks. Nifty Bank and Nifty Metal were also positive, lifting the sentiment further, however, FMCG was the only index to end in the red. The Sensex ended 394 points higher at 49,792 while the Nifty rose 123 points to settle at 14,645. Broader markets were also higher for the day with the midcap and smallcap indices up 0.5-1 percent each. On the Nifty50 index, Tata Motors, Adani Ports, Wipro, Tech Mahindra and Maruti were the top gainers while Powergrid, Shree Cement, NTPC, GAIL and HDFC Bank led the losses. The Nifty Auto and Nifty IT index surged over 2 percent each for the day while Nifty Metal was up 0.9 percent. Nifty Bank and Nifty Fin Servcies also rose 0.3 percent each.

Positive on consumer durables space, Crompton and Voltas top picks, says HDFC Securities

HDFC Securities’ Naveen Trivedi on Wednesday said the brokerage remains positive on consumer durables space with Crompton Consumer and Voltas as its top picks. “We like consumer durables space, we have positive ratings for most companies in our coverage universe and our top picks are Crompton and Voltas,” said Trivedi told CNBC-TV18. The demand is still robust in the consumer durables sector post-festive season, he said. “It seems that the housing activity is expected to do better in the coming years. So the core categories like the fan are expected to do well.” Watch the video for more

CLSA India bull-bear index compares current market to history

Markets have been uplifted on the back of very strong earnings that have been seen, easy liquidity conditions in India, globally as well as the COVID-19 vaccine driven optimism. After this kind of an upmove—a 95 percent upmove that the markets have seen from its March lows of 7,500—so quickly and so swiftly, the fear is that the market has topped out. CLSA has introduced a proprietary India bull-bear index that compares the current market to history from an investor sentiment perspective. Watch video for more

Indigo Paints subscribed 1.25 times on Day 1 so far; retail portion at 2.16 times

The initial public offering of Indigo Paints, the fifth-largest decorative paints company in India, has been subscribed 1.25 times on its first day of the bidding. As of 2 PM, the portion set aside for retail investors is subscribed 2.16 times so far, while the employee portion was subscribed 0.11 times. The reserved portion of non-institutional investors saw a subscription of 0.75 times and that of qualified institutional buyers 0.1 times. The IPO comprises of fresh issuance of Rs 300 crore and an offer-for-sale of up to 58,40,000 equity shares by promoters as well as investors. The offer will close on January 22. The price band for the issue has been fixed at Rs 1,480 and Rs 1,500 per share.

Cautious on Indian market in near term; positive on real estate, IT: Emkay Global

Krishna Kumar Karwa, MD at Emkay Global, is bullish on the Indian market for medium term but is cautious in the short term. He believes one should be prepared for some price correction and time correction. “We stay invested but if you feel uncomfortable or your asset allocation dictate too much in favour of equity, then there is no harm in taking money off the table,” he said in an interview with CNBC-TV18.

In terms of real estate stocks, he said, “My sense is that the real estate sector has been going through a downturn for almost 7-8 years and in the last three-six months, we are seeing some uptick because of lower interest rates and affordability factors. This is just the beginning as far as the sector tailwinds are concerned, we are very positive on the whole chain right from developers, to building materials, to housing finance companies. This sector has a large rub-off effect, we are very positive.” More here

Expect PSUs to remain in focus; positive on metals: Indiacharts.com

Rohit Srivastava, Founder & Strategist of Indiacharts.com on Wednesday said that he expects PSU stocks to remain in focus. “We have strength in sectors like PSUs. So, at least from a one-month perspective and running into the Budget and after, I will look at public sector stocks as one segment that I would want to be in because they are in early stages of a turnaround, getting interest back because of divestment. So momentum there may actually continue,” he said in an interview to CNBC-TV18. Srivastava is also positive on metals and expects it to continue to do well. “The other sector which we have been positive on for 8-9 months is metals. So metals because of the falling dollar, the emerging markets trade doing pretty well – that is a trend that is not over. I think it is something that is going to go on for couple of years,” he said. Watch the video for more

Intend to grow gold loan share in portfolio to 50%, says CSB Bank’s CVR Rajendran

CSB Bank’s net interest margins improved sharply to become the best in the industry but asset quality remains a pain point with quick deterioration. Aided by a smaller base, south-based CSB Bank on Tuesday posted an 88 percent jump in December quarter net profit at Rs 53 crore, but witnessed a jump in provisions for bad loans. The Kerala-based private sector lender’s core net interest income grew by 61.8 percent to Rs 155.2 crore during the reporting quarter, while the treasury profits helped in non-interest income more than doubling to Rs 116.6 crore. In an interview to CNBC-TV18, CVR Rajendran, MD & CEO of CSB Bank said there is an intend to grow the gold loan share in the portfolio to 50 percent. “It’s the most secured loan as there is so much of an uncertainty around. We have given a lot of loan against property (LAP) loans. To repossess the assets, we are not able to sell any asset; there is no buyer for any of these assets,” said Rajendran. More here

Expect growth to be sustainable for specialty business: Alembic Pharmaceuticals

Shaunak Amin, Managing Director of Alembic Pharmaceuticals spoke to CNBC-TV18 to talk about the growth they have seen in the overall markets and the outlook going ahead. US sales have slowed down in this quarter. Amin said, “The trailing quarters, we had almost 10 quarters of fantastic growth in the US business, so obviously the base had been built up quite high. This quarter was a bit of a competitive intensity which led to a slowdown.” On India business, he said, “On the India side of the business we haven’t launched any of the COVID specific products. Whatever growth we did see in Q3 was on the back of a better performance largely by specialty business. The acute portfolio for us was very sluggish not just for us but for the whole market.” More here

L&T Technologies Q3 earnings today: Here’s what to expect

L&T Technologies will be reporting its Q3 earnings on Wednesday later in the day. Last quarter the growth rebounded and that is expected to continue even this quarter. The street is looking at a revenue growth of 5 percent which will be boosted by the Orchestra Technology acquisition. Margins that were severely impacted on the back of COVID-19 related issues are slowly rebounding. So this quarter the street is expecting margins of about 16 percent. However, the key thing to watch out for will be the FY21 guidance. Deal wins will also be another factor to look at. Watch the video for more

Saudi Arabia oil output cut key factor behind surge in oil prices: Oil Minister Pradhan

India, the world’s third-biggest oil importer, and consumer, on Tuesday said that recent output cuts by some OPEC nations had created uncertainty for customers and led to a surge in prices. Saudi Arabia has pledged additional voluntary output cuts of 1 million barrels per day (bpd) in February and March under a deal between the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies including Russia, a group known as OPEC+. “A few months back we all were discussing about consumption-centric economic revival, demand revival, and we are supposed to restrict our production cuts and gradually ramp up the production by January – but in contradiction to that, now we all are controlling the oil production,” Oil Minister Dharmendra Pradhan said at an energy conference organised by the Atlantic Council. More here

Tata Communications shares fall 8% post December quarter earnings

Shares of Tata Communications fell 8 percent on Wednesday after the company posted its December quarter earnings. The firm reported a 19.6 percent fall in its consolidated net profit at Rs 309.4 crore versus Rs 384.8 crore in the quarter ended September 2020. Its revenue for the quarter was down 4.1 percent at Rs 4,222.8 crore against Rs 4,401.1 crore in the previous quarter. Other income of the company stood at Rs 8.2 crore versus Rs 76.1 crore.

HDFC, Bajaj Finance remain our favourable picks, says Deven Choksey of KRChoksey

HDFC and Bajaj Finance remain our favourable picks, said Deven Choksey of KRChoksey Securities on Wednesday. The two non-banking financial majors are expected to benefit with the demand picking up in the real estate sector, he added. “Our comfort level is staying very high with the likes of HDFC, Bajaj Finance where we are seeing a higher amount of growth continuing for these companies. With the demand picking up in the real estate sector, these two companies are remaining steady as far as their growth is concerned. From a perspective, we see long-term visibility in the portfolio, these companies remain our favourable picks and we hold them in our portfolio,” Choksey told CNBC-TV18. Choksey also said that public sector banks definitely have the advantage because of the pedigree that they enjoy as far as their reach to customers is concerned. However, the lack of consistency of management is not allowing them to stabilise on their business model and as a result of which these banks lack the visibility for their investors as far as growth is concerned. More here

Here’s why Piramal Enterprises is strengthening

Piramal Enterprises has been building a gradual but steady momentum. It is also closing in on its 52-week high which was made last year in late January. In terms of resistance, the 52-week high will serve as a bit of resistance that stands at around Rs 1,728 and on the lower end its 200-day moving average (DMA) which will serve as a support and that comes in at Rs 1,514. Why so much momentum in Piramal Enterprises?

One, is the takeover of Dewan Housing Finance Corporation (DHFL); as a lot of analysts are suggesting, it will give diversification and that’s a positive. Second, from its pharma business, its contract development and manufacturing organization (CDMO) business as well as consumer products business will also drive impetus on Piramal Enterprises. Watch the video for more

Expect current rally in markets to continue for some time: RLC Ventures’ Jeff Chowdhry

Jeff Chowdhry, Chairman of RLC Ventures, on Tuesday said that he expects the current rally in the markets will go on for some time. “For the time being at least, while we have this surge of liquidity and we have got now a Democratic President who is going to open the taps even more, I am afraid whether it is good or bad, but this party will go on for little while. It is no surprise to me that sectors which were being beaten up, areas in the market which have not done so well in the last few years, are now attracting attention for that particular reason,” he said in an interview to CNBC-TV18. More here

Market Watch: VK Sharma of HDFC Securities

– Buy 140 Call of Bharat Electronics Ltd (BEL) around Rs 4 with a stop loss of Rs 3.20 and a target of Rs 6.

– Buy 1,420 Call of Godrej Properties at Rs 45 with a stop loss of Rs 35 and a target of Rs 70.

– Buy 260 Call of Tata Motors around Rs 10 with a stop loss of Rs 8 and a target of Rs 15.

– Buy 3,280 Call of Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) around Rs 48 with a stop loss of Rs 38 and a target of Rs 70.

Markets extend gains: Sensex up 150 points, Nifty around 14,550

Indian indices edged higher on Wednesday led by gains in IT and metal sectors. Nifty Auto and Nifty Pharma were also positive, lifting the sentiment further. Broader markets, however, outperformed benchmarks with the midcap and smallcap indices up 0.5-1 percent.

Opening Bell: Sensex opens flat, Nifty above 14,500; RIL, Infosys top contributors

Indian indices opened flat on Wednesday as gains in heavyweights RIL, Infosys, ICICI Bank and TCS were capped by losses in HDFC Bank, HUL and ITC. At 9:18 am, the Sensex was up 23 points at 49,421 while the Nifty rose 17 points at 14,538. Broader markets were also in the positive in early deals with the midcap index up 0.3 percent and smallcap index up 0.6 percent. Among sectors, The Nifty Metal rose the mose, up over a percent each while the Nifty IT index added 0.8 percent at opejning. Nifty Pharma and Nifty Auto were also in the green. However, the banking, fin services and FMCG indices were in the red, capping the gains.