Sensex Closes 130 Points Higher, Nifty Above 7,750; RBI Policy Eyed


3:30pm: India’s stock markets rose, tracking gains in Asian equities following an upbeat US jobs report, but caution prevailed a day before the Reserve Bank of India’s (RBi’s) policy meeting at which it is expected to cut interest rates by at least 25 basis points. A basis point is 0.01%.

The S&P BSE Sensex closes 0.51%, or 130.01 points, higher at 25,399.65, while the Nifty 50 closes 0.59%, or 45.75 points, higher at 7,758.80.

3:20pm: The S&P BSE Sensex is trading 0.54%, or 137.30 points, higher at 25,406.94, while the Nifty 50 is up 0.62%, or 47.75 points, at 7,760.80.

2:30pm: The Sensex is now trading higher by 12.96 points, or 0.05%, to 25,282.60, while the Nifty rises 17.95 points, or 0.23%, to 7,731.

2:15pm: The rupee turned positive so far this year helped by continuous dollar inflows into the local equity market. The home currency was trading at 66.12, up 0.2%, from its previous close of 66.25.

2:05pm: The Nikkei/Markit Manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) rose to an eight-month high of 52.4 in March from February’s 51.1, its third straight month above the 50-mark that separates growth from contraction.

1:55pm: The sensex is now trading higher by 33.70 points, or 0.13%, to 25,303.34, while the Nifty rises 23 points, or 0.30%, to 7,736.05.

1:45pm: Relaxo Footwears Ltd rises 20% to 442.10 after huge block deal. Around 1.79 million equity shares representing 1.5% of total equity of the company have changed hands in block deals, Bloomberg reported. Details of buyers and sellers were not available.

1:35pm: Fertilizer stocks are trading higher. Gujarat State Fertilizers and Chemicals Ltd rises 5.4%, Fertilizers and Chemicals Travancore Ltd 1.4%, Rashtriya Chemicals and Fertilisers Ltd 3.3%, Gujarat Narmada Valley Fertilizers Chemicals Ltd 3.7%, National Fertilizers Ltd 1.6%, Southern Petrochemicals Ltd 4.2%

1:25pm: Adlabs Entertainment Ltd rises 4% to 92 after the company said it will soon launch Snow park under the name Imagica.

1:15pm: India Tourism Development Corp. rises 10% to 275. ITDC “not considering sale of land banks yet, focus is on sale of core properties,” Economic Times reports on Twitter account.

1:05pm: Cox and Kings Ltd rises 4.1% to 188.60 after the company said it has sold majority stake in its subsidiaries hotel booking website LateRooms UK Ltd and short break specialist firm Superbreak. In an exchange filing, Cox and Kings said it has sold 100% of LateRooms to Malvern Enterprises UK Ltd for GBP 20 million.

12:55pm: Steel Strips Wheels Ltd rises 2.5% to 358.80. The company said it achieved total wheel rim sales of 12.25 lacs, up 10% from a year ago to 11.16 lacs.

12:45pm: Telecom stocks are trading higher. According toPTI report telecom ministry is expected to approach the Cabinet for its nod to reduce spectrum usage charges from existing 5% to 3% of the revenue earned by companies from telecom services. Idea Cellular Ltd rises 3.5% to 110.60, Bharti Airtel Ltd rises 2.2% to 342.65, Reliance Communications Ltd rises 1% to 50.70.

12:35pm: The sensex is now trading lower by 3.12 points, or 0.01%, to 25,266.52, while the Nifty rises 8 points, or 0.10%, to 7,721.05.

12:20pm: Gammon India Ltd rises 7% to 13.95 after the company said in a notice to BSE that its board approved GP group proposal to invest 250 crore for upto 75% in its arm Gammon Retail Infrastructure Private Ltd. The company also approved sale of up to 30% in Gammon Infra projects.

12:10pm: Mphasis Ltd rises 2.1% to 477.15. Hewlett Packard Enterprise said it will sell its majority stake in Mphasis Ltd. for about $825 million to Blackstone Group LP. The private equity firm will acquire at least 84 percent of HPE’s stake for430 per share, the U.S. company said in a statement on Sunday. The remaining 16% stake will be bought via a mandatory tender offer, HPE said.

12:00pm: Wabco India Ltd falls 5.6% to 5,875. WABCO India Ltd has entered into an agreement which is on arms-length basis with WABCO Europe BVBA, a related party for payment of royalty at the rate of 4% on the net sales for using the licensed intangibles and technical knowhow.

11:50am: Godrej Consumer Products Ltd rises 2% to 1,414 after the company announced on Friday that it has entered into an agreement to acquire Strength of Nature LLC (SON), a hair care products company for women of African descent. This acquisition is a further step to accelerate GCPL’s global “3 by 3” strategy and scale up its presence in Africa. The acquisition is expected to be earnings per share (EPS) accretive for GCPL from year one itself, the company said in a statement.

11:40am: Hindalco Industries Ltd rises 4% to 90.20. The rating firm Deutsche Bank has raised its target to ‘buy’ from ‘hold’.

11:30am: Ricoh India Ltd falls 5% to 392.40. The stock is trading lower in 14 out of 15 trading sessions. Since 9 March to till date, the stock is down over 38% and so far this year it is down over 50%. Ricoh India sent its top management, including its chief executive and managing director Manoj Kumar, on leave on Friday after the BSE accused it of non-compliance. The company failed to submit its limited review reports to the regulator for two consecutive quarters - September and December 2015. Other than Kumar, chief financial officer Arvind Singhal and senior vice-president and chief operating officer Anil Saini have also been asked to go on leave, the company informed the BSE.

11:22am: Most Indian stocks climbed, led by automobile companies and software makers, before the central bank’s policy meeting tomorrow.

The sensex is trading higher by 65.76 points, or 0.26%, to 25,335.40, while the Nifty rises 23.40 points, or 0.30%, to 7,736.45.

11:15am: Hexaware Technologies Ltd falls 2.2% to 265.05 after CNBC TV report said that the Baring Asia planning to sell 20% stake in the company.

11:05am: Auto company stocks are trading higher. Tata Motors Ltd rises 2.7%, Bajaj Auto Ltd rises 2.3%, Hero MotoCorp 1%, Eicher Motor rises 1%, Ashok Leyland Ltd rises 0.5% to 111, TVS Motors Ltd rises 0.5%.

10:55am: Den Networks Ltd falls 1.9% to 97. The company said it will sell 55% of Den Sports, which indirectly owns Indian Super League team Delhi Dynamos, to Wall Street Investments for 43.32 crore.

10:45am: Makers Laboratories Ltd rises 3.2% to 64.85 after the company said it has received shareholders’ nod to sell the company’s Thane manufacturing plant. Shareholders of the firm have passed the special resolution to “sell, transfer or dispose off the company’s manufacturing unit” situated at MIDC.

10:35am: ITC Ltd falls 2.3% to 328.40. The company said it was not ready to print bigger health warnings on its packs as mandated by the government and will keep its factories shut until clarity emerges on the new rules. ITC’s comments highlight the latest tussle between India’s $10 billion cigarette industry and the government after new rules kicked in on Friday mandating health warnings should cover 85% of a pack’s surface, up from 20% now.

10:25am: Geometric Ltd rises 16.5% to 228.35 while HCL Technologies Ltd rises 0.3% to 823. HCL Technologies Ltd on Friday agreed to buy all of the business done by Mumbai-based software firm Geometric Ltd, except a joint venture the latter has with Dassault Systèmes SA, in a share-swap deal valued at $190 million. The transaction will help HCL, the country’s fourth largest information technology (IT) firm, increase its business in the engineering services space.

10:15am: MBL Infrastructures Ltd rises 4.7% to 161.10 after the company said it won order worth 2,100 crore under hybrid annuity model. The company said the total length of the road project around 100 km.

10:05am: MOIL Ltd rises 7.6% to 234.15 after the company said it has hiked prices of various grades of manganese ore by up to 50% for April-June quarter. In a filing to BSE, country’s largest manganese producer said it has increased the prices of all ferro grades of ore by 50% over previous quarter (January-March) prices.

9:55am: Torrent Power Ltd rises 2.3% to 234.40. The company said in a notice to BSE that Gujarat Electricity Regulatory Commission capped the FPPPA charges at 1.35 per unit as against the present FPPPA of 1.98 per unit.

9:45am: Adani Group companies are trading higher after Adani Enterprises on Sunday won mining leases for its $16-billion Carmichael coal project in Australia, moving a step closer to starting work at the controversial mine.Adani Entertainment Ltd rises 6.6% to 81.05, Adani Power Ltd rises 3.3% to 35.90, Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone Ltd rises 2.1% to 247.90, Adani Transmission Ltd rises 2% to35.80.

9:35am: The 30-share S&P BSE Sensex is currently trading higher by 112.47 points, or 0.45%, to 25,382.11, while the Nifty 50 of the National Stock Exchange (NSE) rises 29.85 points, or 0.39%, to 7,742.90.

9:30am: The Indian rupee on Monday weakens marginally against the US dollar at 66.32, down 0.12%, from its previous close of 66.25 ahead of the Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) bi-monthly policy on Tuesday.

9:25am: Meanwhile, India’s 10-year bond yield is trading at 7.467% as compared with its Friday’s close of 7.465%.

9:20am: Against the yen, the dollar falls to ¥111.52, having dropped to a two-week low of 111.32 early on Monday. The euro stood at $1.1397, not far from its 5 1/2-month high of $1.1438 touched on Friday.

9:15am: Brent crude futures fall to as low as $38.19 per barrel, its lowest in a month, on Monday and last stood at $38.34 per barrel, down 0.9%. US crude futures drop 1.3% to $36.33, hovering near their lowest level in three weeks.

9:10am: The MSCI Asia Pacific Index adds 0.8%, after sliding 2.3% on Friday. Japan’s Topix index climbs 0.6%, rallying from a one-month low, while utilities and health-care stocks led Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 Index to a 0.9% advance. New Zealand shares gain 0.4% as the Kospi index in Seoul swung between gains and losses.

9:00am: Asian share prices held firm on Monday after solid US payroll data underpinned investor risk sentiment while dovish comments from Federal Reserve chair Janet Yellen the previous week kept the U.S.  dollar in check.

8:50am: U.S.  stocks rose on Friday, with the S&P 500 gaining 0.63% to a three-month high, after better-than-expected U.S.  jobs and factory numbers.

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Source: PTI