Stock Market Highlights: Sensex falls 243 points, Nifty ends below 14,300 dragged by IT stocks; smallcaps outperform

Manish Shah, Founder, Niftytriggers.com

Nifty saw a wide-ranged day with price closing at the low of the day. The previous day’s candle was not confirmed, and this is a bearish development. The only solace is that the support at 14,250-14,300 holds. Nifty has tested the support at 14,250-14,300 four times in the recent past. The trend line that is coming up from March 2020 is also violated. Fib node of 61.8 percent is also violated. The moving averages are also bearish. Prima facie the trend at least on the daily time frame is pointing to lower values if 14,250-14,300 is violated. Nifty needs to move above 14,750 for the rally to continue. On the lower end, a break below 14,250-14,300 and the index could see a drop to 13,900-13,650.

Market At Close

– Market Fails To Hold The 1st Half Gains As States Announce Fresh Restrictions

– Sensex & Nifty Slip In The Red After Trading 1% Higher Each In Opening Session

– Nifty Bank Falls 620 Points From Highs; HDFC Bank Top Loser

– Midcap Index Closes With Minor Gains Following A Fall Of 368 Pts From Highs

– Nifty Closes 63 Pts Lower At 14,296 & Sensex 244 Pts Lower At 47,706

– Nifty Bank Slips 96 Pts To 31,113 While Midcap Index Rises 70 Pts To 23,326

– Pharma Gains The Most Amongst Indices As Govt Expands Vaccination Drive

– UltraTech, HCL Tech, HDFC, Grasim, Shree Cement Top Nifty Losers

– Dr Reddy’s Top Nifty Gainer On Sputnik Vaccine Prospect

– HDFC Life Gains 3% After Reporting A Growth Of 58% YoY In March Premium

– ICICI Pru Rises Over 5% On Better-than expected Q4 Earnings

– Snowman Logistics Up More Than 9% On Natl Logistics Policy Dvpt

– PVR, Cadila Health, JSPL, Apollo Hosp, Jubilant Pharmova Top Midcap Gainers

– Market Breadth Favours Advances; Advance-Decline Ratio At 3:2

Closing Bell | Indian equity benchmark indices ended Tuesday’s volatile session lower dragged by selling in IT, financials and FMCG stocks. The Sensex fell 243.62 points, or 0.51 percent to 47,705.80, while the Nifty ended 63.05 points or 0.44 percent lower at 14,296.40. Broader markets outperformed the benchmarks with the smallcap index ending 1 percent higher.

Among sectors, Nifty IT fell the most followed by Nifty FMCG, Nifty Financial Services and Nifty PSU Bank, while gains were witnessed in pharma, auto, media and metals indices. UltraTech Cement, HCL Technologies, HDFC, Grasim Industries and Shree Cement were the top Nifty50 losers, while Dr Reddy’s Laboratories, Bajaj Finserv, HDFC Life, Bajaj Finance and Tata Consumer Products were the top index gainers.

Should you invest in IT stocks during COVID-19? Envision Capital’s Nilesh Shah answers

The COVID-19 pandemic has been a massive challenge for a lot of industries. But for one sector it has proven to be a shot in the arm – the technology space. In India, the technology landscape is evolving and the larger players are re-inventing themselves. Midcap companies too are growing faster. Digital and internet consumer companies are also seeing a lot of traction. According to Shah, technology stocks have been huge outperformers and several of the technology companies in India have been able to kind of win some large deals across the globe and bring about increased scalability in their business models. Margins have expanded and therefore that has translated into even strong valuations, he said, adding that several companies have managed to win some very large deals. Watch full interview here.

India Inc says can manage short-term semi lockdown, willing to take staff vaccination responsibility

As India battles a fierce COVID wave, CNBC-TV18 has learnt that the centre and state governments have reached out to industry bodies like CII and FICCI to augment a pandemic response. Dilip Chenoy, Secretary-General, FICCI and Pawan Goenka, Former CEO of Mahindra and Mahindra discussed the nitty-gritty. “Corporate India is ready and willing to take on the responsibility of vaccinating its people. Being able to vaccinate people at their place of work will certainly make it easier for everyone,” said Goenka. “Corporates are tying up with hospitals to allow the eligible people to get vaccinated onsite,” Chenoy mentioned. “Full lockdown will be very damaging for the industry. Industry can manage a partial lockdown that is happening today. As long as it is not for a very long period,” Goenka added. Watch here.

Oil hits $68 on Libya force majeure, although pandemic surge weighs

Oil rose to $68 a barrel and hit its highest in a month on Tuesday, supported by a disruption to Libyan exports and expectations of a drop in U.S. crude inventories, although rising coronavirus cases in Asia limited gains. Libya declared force majeure on exports from the port of Hariga and said it could extend the measure to other facilities. US crude stockpiles are expected to drop by 2.9 million barrels in weekly reports. Brent crude was up 86 cents, or 1.3%, to $67.91 a barrel after hitting $68, the highest since March 18, earlier. US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude gained 85 cents, or 1.3%, to $64.23.

Emkay Global Financial Services on ICICI Prudential Life Insurance 

ICICI Prudential Life Insurance on expected lines, reported a further decline in margins to ~23.6% in Q4FY21 from ~25.7% in Q3FY21 amid rising demand for savings products (mainly ULIPs) as well as consolidation in the protection portfolio. Full-year margins stood at ~25.1%. Management expects to maintain this in the coming years. Though we appreciate emerging clarity regarding growth over margins, we prefer to remain watchful due to volatile economic trends and a probable rise in claims amid the pandemic. We introduce FY24 to our estimates and raise target to Rs 506 from Rs 492, corresponding to 2x P/FY23 EV. We maintain hold and underweight stance in insurance EAP.

COVID-19 vaccine: Max Healthcare’s Abhay Soi expects surge in vaccination from May 1

The Central government on Monday announced liberalised and accelerated Phase 3 strategy of COVID-19 vaccination from May 1. As per the strategy, everyone above the age of 18 will be eligible to get a vaccine from May 1. Welcoming the move, Abhay Soi, CMD of Max Healthcare, said that corporates and hospitals are permitted to buy vaccines, but the prices are yet to be established for the private market. “The government has provided private manufacturers and private practitioners who interact with each other and procure. The prices are yet to be set up and I think perhaps the state governments should be getting involved in establishing prices,” he said. Watch here.

World stocks edge back, bond yields, COVID-19 cases rise

Global shares edged further back from record highs on Tuesday as lofty sovereign bond yields and rising global COVID-19 cases had investors questioning high equity valuations. With bond yields at elevated levels, the U.S. dollar remained under pressure, hitting its lowest in nearly seven weeks during the Asian session. Europe’s STOXX 600 was 0.6% weaker, with major indexes in Frankfurt, Paris and London all negative. That followed a mixed showing in Asian equity markets as MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan added 0.2%, close to its highest level since March. But Japan’s Nikkei dropped 2% on worries that the possible reintroduction of COVID-19 emergency measures in the country’s biggest cities would slow the economic recovery.

Market Watch: Ashish Kyal of Waves Strategy Advisors

– Buy Apollo Hospitals Enterprise with a stop loss at Rs 3,160 and target of Rs 3,510

– Buy Advanced Enzyme Technologies with a stop loss at Rs 365 and target of Rs 406

A $10-12 per dose vaccine in private market will accelerate India’s vaccination drive: CLSA

As the COVID-19 cases in India surge, better realizations in the private market could be a deciding factor for the success of the vaccination drive in India, brokerage firm CLSA said in its morning note. India will open vaccination for everyone over 18 years of age starting May 1 2021 with greater flexibility on pricing, procurement and administration of vaccines. CLSA observes that this will open up the private market for vaccination and provide more leeway to states and private companies. Better realizations in the private market may also spur local vaccine production at a time when demand may spike with this new eligibility relaxation. “A US$10-12 price per dose vaccine in the private market may help accelerate India’s vaccination drive,” said the CLSA report. Read more.

Varun Berry, Managing Director, Britannia Industries

We have stocked our distributors adequately to meet any potential surge in demand. We have also implemented a new real-time dealer management system that ensures quick conversion of orders, thereby ensuring product availability at any given time. Moreover, the brand mix is also being prioritized to meet distinct requirements across regions in the country, backed by appropriate inventory management at our depots and factories. All our factories are currently operating at optimal capacities to maximise the supply of our brands.

CLSA upgrades ICICI Prudential Life to ‘buy’ after Q4 earnings

Gobal brokerage CLSA has upgraded its rating on ICICI Prudential Life Insurance Company (ICICI Pru) to ‘buy’ from ‘Outperform’ after the company’s earnings in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2021 were in line with estimates. CLSA has a target price of Rs 575 per share. The company’s Q4FY21 performance was in line with 27 percent APE growth versus a contraction of 27 percent in 9MFY21, CLSA said. It added that FY21 saw multiple headwinds with a big contraction in the ULIP business but VNB performance was well managed. Read more here.

Buzzing | Shares of Snowman Logistics surged over 14 percent after rating agency CRISIL affirmed the company’s long term rating at ‘A/Stable’.

Lenders, board of directors approve Future Group’s debt restructuring plan

The Board of Directors of Future Group and its lenders has approved a resolution plan to restructure the existing secured financial debt RBI’s August 6 recast circular. The lenders approved the plan on April 18. The recast plan remains to be submitted to Kamath Committee for approval. As part of the resolution plan, the outstanding working capital, term loans, cash credit, non-convertible debentures, and commercial papers are part of the existing debt and are proposed to be restructured. The company has received the written consent of 100 percent of holders of the NCDs to amend the terms and conditions of the NCDs in line with the resolution plan approved by the other lenders of existing debt. Further, it will extend the repayment of various loans by up to two years. The interest moratorium between March 1, 2020, to September 30, 2021, to be converted to Funded Interest Term Loan (FITL). The deadline for the company’s execution of the restructuring plan ends on April 24.

Market Watch: Chandresh Kumar Nigam, MD & CEO, Axis AMC

Financials: Focus on those businesses which will in next two years give you the desired growth rate or the estimated growth rate. Some of the top quality financials will gain market share, will grow, will see credit growth coming back etc. may not be in this quarter but 3-4 months down the line.

Hotels, restaurants stocks: Unless we have some real big surprise coming in which as of now in not on the table right now, I think the high touch B2C businesses being the worst affected and obviously the second wave did not bring any cheer, but some of these high-quality names in hotels, restaurants and all that I think some of them the weaker ones might not be able to make post this and we have seen some shutting down of the whole businesses happening in the unorganised space and organised space has benefited to that extent.

Hero MotoCorp | The company has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Municipal Corporation of Gurugram (MCG) for the ecological restoration and conservation of the Aravali Biodiversity Park, situated in Gurugram, Haryana, for the next 10 years.

Rupee rises 23 paise to 74.64 against US dollar in early trade

The rupee advanced by 23 paise to 74.64 against the US dollar in opening trade on Tuesday, tracking weaker dollar against key rivals and a positive trend in the domestic equity market. Forex traders said the government’s decision to open COVID vaccination to all above 18 years from May 1 lifted investor sentiment. At the interbank forex market, the local unit opened at 74.65 against the US dollar, then gained some strength to quote at 74.64, a rise of 23 paise over its last close. In the previous session, the rupee had settled at 74.87 against the American currency. Read more.

Aditya Birla Capital shares gain 5% after subsidiary files DRHP for IPO

The share price of Aditya Birla Capital rallied over 5 percent after the company’s subsidiary Aditya Birla Sun Life AMC Ltd (ABSLAMC) filed a draft red herring prospectus (DRHP) with the market regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) for an initial public offering (IPO) by way of an offer for sale of shares. Aditya Birla Capital Ltd (ABCL) has approved sale of up to 28,50,880 equity shares of face value of Rs 5 each held in ABSLAMC out of the total paid-up share capital of 28,80,00,000 equity shares of ABSLAMC, the company said in a regulatory filing.

New IPO: Aditya Birla Sun Life AMC files draft papers with Sebi

Aditya Birla Sun Life AMC, a subsidiary of Aditya Birla Capital has filed a draft red herring prospectus for an initial public offering with market regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi). Aditya Birla AMC will join its peers that have listed recently on the bourses including HDFC AMC, Nippon AMC and UTI AMC. The preliminary papers were filed on April 19, 2021, for an IPO by way of an offer for sale (OFS) of the shares of the company. The board of Aditya Birla Capital on April 14 had approved the IPO of Aditya Birla Sun Life AMC. The IPO comprises of sale of up to 28.5 lakh shares by parent Aditya Birla Capital in Aditya Birla Sun Life AMC and up to 3.6 crore shares held by Sun Life (India) AMC Investments in the firm. Together, the sale proposes to sell 13.5 percent of paid-up share capital in Aditya Birla AMC.