Sensex, Nifty Close At Record Highs; Jet Airways Slumps 8%

Indian equity indices closed at record highs as investors weighed on earnings growth and election outcome.

The S&P BSE Sensex ended 0.95 percent higher at 39,275.65 and the NSE Nifty 50 rose 0.83 percent to 11,787.15 at close. The broader market index represented by the NSE Nifty 500 Index ended 0.67 percent higher.

The market breadth was tilted in favour of buyers. About 871 stocks advanced and 856 shares declined on National Stock Exchange.

Seven out of 11 sectoral gauges compiled by NSE ended higher, led by the NSE Nifty Private Bank Index’s 1.78 percent gain. On the flipside, the NSE Nifty Media Index was the top sectoral loser, down 1.16 percent.

Adani Green Energy:

• Shares gained as much as 20 percent to Rs 44.90 apiece.
• The trading volume was more than 17 times the 20-day average for this time of the day, according to Bloomberg data.

Shilpa Medicare:

• Shares rose close to 13 percent to Rs 396.40 apiece.
• The trading volume was more than eight times the 20-day average for this time of the day, according to Bloomberg data.

Wipro:

• Shares declined 3.4 percent intraday to 278 per share.
• The trading volume was more than triple times the 20-day average for this time of the day, Bloomberg data showed.

Interglobe Aviation:

• Shares surged as much as 9 percent to Rs 1610 apiece.
• The trading volume was more than five times the 20-day average for this time of the day, Bloomberg data showed.

Naresh Goyal Opts Out Of Bidding For Ailing Jet Airways

Shares of the Chennai-based IT firm rose close to 2.6 percent to Rs 243.50 per share.

The company won a contract from Nigeria-based aviation company Caverton Helicopters Limited for providing digital transformation services, according to its exchange notification.

The stock traded 43 times its estimated earnings per share, according to Bloomberg data.

Shares of the property developer rose for the third straight session after it gained 3.1 percent intraday to Rs 284.50 per share.

The company’s arm acquired remaining 51 percent stake in Babji Realtors for Rs 364 crore, according to an exchange filing. The company says that the target entity is in the business of real estate development including developing and leasing of shopping malls.

The stock traded 6 percent below the Bloomberg consensus one-year target price.

• Max India: 13 lakh shares changed hands in a block deal on BSE.
• PC Jeweller: 34 lakh shares changed hands in two blocks on NSE.

Buyers and sellers were not known immediately
Source: Bloomberg

Polycab listed at a premium of 17.66 percent at Rs 633 per share on the National Stock Exchange, compared to its issue price of Rs 538 apiece. The stock rose as much as 19.6 percent to Rs 633 thereafter.

Indian equity benchmarks opened higher for the second straight session, led by gains in Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories and Wipro.

The S&P BSE Sensex rose as much as 0.40 percent to 39,072.30 and the NSE Nifty 50 rose as much as 0.40 percent to 11,736.20. The broader market index represented by the NSE Nifty 500 Index rose as much as 0.36 percent higher.

The market breadth was tilted in favour of buyers. About 1029 stocks advanced and 763 shares declined on National Stock Exchange.

All sectoral gauges compiled by NSE advanced, led by the NSE Nifty Realty Index’s 0.55 percent gain.

New in ban*

Goldman Sachs on Financials

• IDFC First Bank: Downgraded to ‘Sell’ from ‘Neutral’; maintained price target at Rs 45.
• PNB: Downgraded to ‘Sell’ from ‘Neutral’; hiked price target to Rs 74 from Rs 70.
• LIC Housing: Downgraded to ‘Sell’ from ‘Neutral’; hiked price target to Rs 437 from Rs 423.
• Confidence returns to sector but valuations high.
• Downgraded PNB on low capital adequacy and exposure to agri/SME.
• Downgraded LIC Housing on valuations and profitability outlook.
• Downgraded IDFC First on valuation and execution/credit cost risks.

Goldman Sachs on ICICI Bank

• Maintained ‘Buy’; hiked price target to Rs 492 from Rs 451.
• Turnaround in the corporate business.
• Expect bank to deliver RoA and RoE of 1.8 percent and 17 percent respectively over FY20-21.
• Banking on franchise strength – add to conviction list.

Macquarie on ITC

• Maintained ‘Buy’ with a price target of Rs 376.
• Expect step-up in earnings growth led by higher cigarette EBIT.
• Launch of Marlboro Gold Advanced Compact means higher competition.
• Believe it will be difficult task for the product to make in roads.

PhillipCapital on Polycab India

• Initiated ‘Buy’ with a price target of Rs 718.
• Expect better working capital, improvement in margin and improvement in balance sheet.
• Expect earnings CAGR of 19 percent over FY19-21; Expect RoCE to improve to 23 percent in 2020-21 from 20 percent in 2017-18.
• Valuations to trade at premium compared to other wire and cable players.

Antique on Escorts

• Initiated ‘Buy’ with a price target of Rs 976.
• Structural turnaround of tractor division alleviates earnings volatility linked to cyclicality.
• Railways business remains crown prince; Construction Equipment business requires reorientation.
• Expect Revenue, Ebitda and net profit to grow at a compounded annual growth rate of 11 percent, 12 percent and 13 percent respectively over FY19-22.

Edelweiss on Reliance Industries

• Maintained ‘Buy’; hiked price target to Rs 1,636 from Rs 1,435.
• Higher GRM, petcoke ramp up to drive refining earnings.
• Expect Jio to start raising prices from the second half.
• Expect EBITDA CAGR of 19 percent over FY19-23 driven by retail and telecom.
• Announced monetisation of fiber and tower assets will trigger value accretion.

SBICAP on SpiceJet

• Maintained ‘Buy’; hiked price target to Rs 175 from Rs 154
• SpiceJet best placed among peers
• If Jet’s troubles linger, SpiceJet may well lease more planes to lift market share
• Revise estimates upwards on higher yields and PLFs

Earnings Reaction To Watch

Hathway Cable and Datacom (Q4, YoY)

• Revenue down 9.1 percent to Rs 132.4 crore.
• Net profit at Rs 212.7 crore versus Rs 12.6 crore.
• Ebitda down 28.1 percent at Rs 42.4 crore versus Rs 59 crore.
• Margins at 32 percent versus 40.5 percent.
• Other Income of Rs 41 crore.
• Deferred Tax Income of Rs 267.7 crore.
• Exceptional loss of Rs 84.54 crore.

Tata Metaliks (Q4, YoY)

• Revenue up 8.7 percent to Rs 593.8 crore.
• Net profit up 17.5 percent to Rs 64.5 crore.
• Ebitda down 8.1 percent to Rs 80.8 crore.
• Margins at 13.6 percent versus 16.1 percent.
• Deferred Tax Income of Rs 19.5 crore.
• RM as percent of sales at 60 percent versus 52 percent.
• Pig Iron Revenue up 10 percent to Rs 426.5 crore.
• Ductile Iron Pipe Revenue up 15 percent at Rs 345.2 crore.
• Declares dividend of Rs 3.5 per share.

Tinplate Company of India (Q4, YoY)

• Revenue up 4.7 percent to Rs 727.8 crore.
• Net profit down 3.2 percent to Rs 27.6 crore.
• Ebitda down 8.2 percent to Rs 53.6 crore.
• Margins at 7.4 percent versus 8.4 percent.
• Decrease in inventories to Rs 79.4 crore.
• Employee benefit expenses up 24 percent to Rs 31 crore.

Reliance Industrial Infrastructure (Q4, YoY)

• Revenue down 11.4 percent to Rs 20.9 crore versus.
• Net profit down 24 percent to Rs 1.9 crore.
• Ebitda down 27.8 percent to Rs 2.6 crore.
• Margins at 12.4 percent versus 15.3 percent.
• Declares dividend of Rs 3 per share.

Polycab India shares to start trading on the exchanges after IPO gets 51.9 times demand at Rs 538 per share.

• Cipla’s arm entered into a definitive agreement with Pulmatrix for commercialization of Pulmazole which is used for treatment of asthma-related allergies. The arm will pay $22 million to Pulmatrix in exchange of assignment of all rights for Pulmazole in relation to pulmonary indications.
• Dr Reddy’s received an establishment inspection report from the U.S. FDA for its Hyderabad Formulations Manufacturing Plant. In February, the plant had received eleven observations under Form 483 by the FDA. The regulatory body has determined the inspection classification of this facility as Voluntary Action Initiated.
• Delhi High Court rejected petitions by Essar Power and GMR’s energy arm seeking to surrender coal mines they won in 2015 auctions and refund of money paid to the government, according to an order on the court’s website. (Bloomberg News)
• Suven Life Sciences board approved increasing investment limit from $25 million up to $50 million in its U.S. arm, in order to undertake clinical trials on molecules.
• Info Edge invested $60 miilion in fin-tech company Etechaces for 6.25 percent stake. Etechaces owns Policybazaar.com and Paisabazaar.com.  The company said post this transaction, its holding through wholly owned arms will be 7.59 percent and via company’s subsidiary Makesense Technolgies (where company holds 50.01 percent stake) holds 16.51 percent in Etechaces.
• Lakshmi Vilas Bank to consider actual price for the preferential allotment of equity shares on April 22. As per the press release, the bank has clarified that the Bank is proposing to make a preferential allotment to Indiabulls Housing Finance Limited to the extent of 4.99 percent of the Bank’s post-money equity, with the relevant date for this action being by end of April.
• Prestige Estate Project’s arm acquired remaining 51 percent stake in Babji Realtors for Rs 364 crore. The company says that the target entity is in the business of real estate development including developing and leasing of shopping malls.
• Dynamatic Technologies launched Tejas Main Fuselage assembly line for Hindustan Aeronautics. (Alert: The company has a market capitalization of Rs 966 crore)
• Deepak Fertilisers and Petrochemicals board to consider issuance of foreign currency bonds upto $30 million and for raising upto $30 million for its arm Smartchem Technolgies, from International Finance Corporation, on April 22.
• Nestle put May 7 as the record date for payment of interim dividend.
• Cyient launched digital solutions for 5G network deployment.
• Syndicate Bank reduced MCLR by five basis points across various tenors with effect from April 15. One-year MCLR at 8.6 percent and one-month MCLR at 8.25 percent.
• Shriram Properties got the SEBI approval for IPO. (Press Trust of India)
• LEEL Electricals: Mukat Behari Sharma, wholetime director and CFO has resigned due to his health and personal reasons. Ajay Dogra and Deepti Sahai, non-executive independent director has resigned due to health and personal reasons.
• ICICI Lombard General Insurance: IRDAI has approved re-appointment of Bhargav Dasgupta as MD and CEO for a period of five years effective from May 1, 2019.

Shriram Transport Finance Updates

• Company has received show cause notice from Directorate of Enforcement in relation to erstwhile Shriram Holdings (Madras) Pvt. Ltd. which was amalgamated with Shriram Transport Finance w.e.f April 1, 2012.
• Shriram Holding had relevant approval for foreign equity participation of up to 74 percent. Shriram Holding had issued warrants to the extent of Rs 243.6 crore in 2006 which were converted into equity shares within the prescribed limit.
• The notice alleges that the warrants were issued without relevant approvals. The company had sought clarification from Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) at that point of time.
• However, Department of Economic Affairs said that the policy regarding issuance of warrants was not explicit in the year 2006 and an approval of FIPB was not required.
• Company is under the bona fide view that it has not contravened any of the provisions of FEMA for which it has been alleged.

Jet Airways Update

• Airline extended international operations cancellation to April 18. CEO Vinay Dube said the airline has been in talk with vendors but it hasn’t secured any funding so far. (Bloomberg News)
• SBI spokesperson said the bid process for orderly sale of equity in Jet Airways is currently being run by SBI CAPS and is being vetted by the legal team. The prospective bidders will be shortlisted  by SBI CAPs shortly. The proposed equity conversion by banks, if any, will be undertaken as a transitory mechanism to facilitate the bidding cum sale process. SBI is acting on behalf of the group of lenders as part of the Bank Led Resolution Process. (Press Statement by SBI)

India’s Trade Deficit Widens In March

London Metal Exchange

• Aluminium gained for the session straight session, ended 0.11 percent higher.
• Copper halted a two-day gain, ended 0.06 percent lower.
• Lead snapped its four-day fall, ended 0.1 percent lower.
• Tin halted its one-day gain, ended 0.24 percent lower.
• Nickel resumed losses after a one-day gain, ended 0.24 percent higher.