All You Need To Know Going Into Trade On Feb. 28

Stocks in Asia slipped Thursday following a topsy-turvy U.S. session that saw shares finish flat, giving no fresh impetus to a global equity rally that's losing steam.

Equities posted modest losses in Japan, Australia and South Korea. The Singapore-traded SGX Nifty, an early indicator of NSE Nifty 50 Index's performance in India, fell 0.16 percent to 10,786.50 as of 7:10 a.m.

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BQ Live

Here's a quick look at all that could move the equities today.

U.S Market Check

• Stocks drifted lower after the top U.S. trade negotiator dialled back expectations for a sweeping deal with China and investors fixated on a Congressional hearing about President Donald Trump's political controversies.
• The yield on 10-year Treasuries dipped one basis point to 2.67 percent. It rose five basis points in the previous session.

#BQMarketWrap | U.S. stocks fall as Cohen and trade take center stage.

Read: https://t.co/HVEM2BAfit pic.twitter.com/lnsKDA65Lr

Asian Cues

• Japan's Topix index fell 0.4 percent.
• Australia's S&P/ASX 200 Index fell 0.1 percent.
• South Korea's Kospi index fell 0.7 percent.
• Hang Seng futures earlier added 0.1 percent.
• S&P 500 futures edged lower.

Commodity Cues

• Brent crude ended 1.8 percent higher at $66.39 per barrel.
• West Texas Intermediate crude was at $56.97 a barrel after jumping 2.6 percent.
• Gold was little changed at $1,320.72 an ounce.

London Metal Exchange

• Nickel halted a two-day decline, ended 0.73 percent.
• Copper rallied for the fourth consecutive session, ended 0.2 percent higher.
• Aluminium ended higher for the second day, up 0.58 percent.
• Lead ended higher for the sixth day, up 2.1 percent.
• Tin ended lower for the second day, down 0.37 percent.
• Copper ended lower for the second day, up 0.18 percent.

Key Events To Watch This Week

• Feb. 28: India eight infrastructure industries data for January.
• Feb. 28: India Q4 GDP data. (Bloomberg estimates at 6.7 percent; prior 7.1 percent)
• Feb. 28: India Q4 GVA data. (Bloomberg estimates at 6.5 percent; prior 6.9 percent)
• Feb. 28: India fiscal deficit data for January.
• March 1: Nikkei India Manufacturing PMI for January. (Prior 53.9)
• March 1: Automakers to announce monthly sales data for January.
• China's factory PMI may have held at 49.5 in February, its third month of contraction, as external demand weakened. Bloomberg Economics expects this to be the nadir, as business expectations stabilize and equity markets rebound.
• Thursday brings fourth-quarter U.S. GDP.
• U.S. personal income and sending data is released Friday.

Indian ADRs

Stocks To Watch

• Tata Metaliks to increase DI pipe capacity by 2 LTPA (lakh tonne per annum) and hot metal capacity by 0.7 LTPA. The capacity will be expanded by March 2022 with an investment of Rs 555 crore. Besides, the board also approved issuance of 29 lakh equity shares and 36 lakh convertible warrants to promoter – Tata Steel – on preferential basis. If shares and warrants issued at yesterday's closing price, then company would raise close to Rs 380 crore, according to BloombergQuint calculation. Upon conversion of warrants, promoter holding in the company would increase to 60.3 percent from current 50.1 percent.
• Wipro signed an agreement to sell its ‘Workday and Cornerstone On Demand Business' to alight for $110 million.
• Varroc Engineering's Moroccan arm commenced commercial operations from Feb. 26. The plant has been set up to manufacture and supply automotive lighting parts
• Odisha Cement Ltd., soon to be renamed Dalmia Bharat Ltd., said it has filed a complaint with regulators and the police after a depository participant transferred mutual fund units of the group's arms.
• Lupin clarified on news of government's ban on company's anti-diabetic drug ‘Gluconorm' stating that the litigation was a non-material one and the Delhi High Court has set aside the order and remanded the said order to Drugs Technical Advisory Board to examine the issue as per Supreme Court's direction.
• Jet Airways said seven more aircraft had been grounded due to non-payment to lessors. The company said it was making all efforts to minimize disruption to its network.
• Punjab National Bank reduced its MCLR by ten basis points across various tenors with effect from March 1. One month MCLR at 8.1 percent and one year MCLR at 8.45 percent. The bank stated that base rate at 9.25 percent remains unchanged.

Bulk Deals

Suprajit Engineering

• First State Asia Pacific Fund acquired 23.25 lakh shares or 1.66 percent equity at Rs 190 each.
• Smallcap World Fund sold 26.5 lakh shares or 1.89 percent equity at Rs 190 each.

Vishal Fabrics

• Polus Global Fund sold 2.33 lakh shares or 0.53 percent equity at Rs 299 each.
• Veena Investments acquired 2.33 lakh shares or 0.53 percent equity at Rs 299 each.

Trading Tweaks

• Swan Energy to move into short term ASM Framework

Who's Meeting Whom

• ACC to meet Infina Finance on Feb. 28.
• Container Corporation of India to meet Aberdeen Standard Investment, ICICI Pru AMC and other investors from March 4-12.

Insider Trading

• Apollo Tyres promoter group PTL Enterprises acquired 75,000 shares on Feb. 25.
• Jindal Stainless promoter group Abhuday Jindal acquired 70,000 shares between Feb 25-26.
• IDFC First Bank promoter IDFC Financial Holding acquired 62,000 shares on Feb. 26.
• Future Retail promoter Future Corporate Resources acquired 1.17 lakh shares on Feb 25.

Money Market Update

• The rupee on Wednesday closed at 71.25/$ versus Tuesday's closing of 71.07/$.

F&O Cues

• Nifty February futures closed trading at 10809, premium of three points.
• Max OI for February series at 11,000 Call, OI at 49. 1 lakh shares.
• Max OI for February series at 10,400 Put, OI at 30.3 lakh shares.

Stocks In F&O Ban

In Ban

• Adani Enterprises
• Adani Power
• Reliance Power

Out of Ban

• IDBI
• Jet Airways

Put-Call Ratio

• Nifty PCR at 1.37 versus 1.4.
• Bank Nifty PCR at 1.08 versus 1.18.

Brokerage Radar

Credit Suisse on NBFCs

• Real estate sector NPAs are likely to rise in March quarter due to lack of funding from NBFCs.
• Developers are saddled with inventory of more than 40 months of sales in most markets.
• Cash flow constraints, incremental credit from NBFCs have started pushing up NPA levels.
• Remain cautious on Indiabulls Housing, Edelweiss, L&T Finance and Yes Bank.

CLSA on Vodafone Idea

• Maintained ‘Sell' with a price target of Rs 27.
• Rights issue will fund for two years; Leverage will still be out of control.
• Strategic shift from pan-India operator to being regional and focused operator to aid.
• Going regional can cut debt by 25 percent, boost Ebitda by 20 percent in the next financial year.

Nomura on Infosys

• Maintained ‘Neutral' with a price target of Rs 680.
• Seen material margin declines; outlook remains weak.
• Reasons:- investments in sales and digital, localisation and one-off wage reset to counter high attrition.
• Believe supply side issues are not restricted to Infosys but a sector-wide issue.

HSBC on Oil and Gas

• City gas licensing now complete; IOC, BPCL, GAIL and HPCL key winners.
• Regulatory focus shifts to streamlining pipeline tariffs.
• GAIL is key winner of increasing share of gas in energy mix.

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