Closing Bell: Nifty below 23,400, Sensex down 423 pts as Adani stocks fall on bribery charges

Indian benchmark indices ended lower on November 21 with Nifty below 23,400. At close, the Sensex was down 422.59 points or 0.54 percent at 77,155.79, and the Nifty was down 168.60 points or 0.72 percent at 23,349.90.

We wrap up today's edition of the Moneycontrol live market blog, and will be back tomorrow morning with all the latest updates and alerts. Please visit https://www.moneycontrol.com/markets/global-indices for all the global market action.

Nifty opened gap down drifted lower during the course of the day to close down ~160 points. On the daily charts we can observe that the Nifty witnessed follow-through selling pressure from the previous trading session. It has breached the low of 23350 and is now heading towards 23180. On the upside 23500 which is the 20-day moving average shall act as an immediate hurdle zone from short term perspective.

Bank Nifty tested the 200-day moving average (49800) and witnessed buying interest from that support level. It closed in the negative down ~253 points though well off the intraday lows. The crucial support zone is thus placed at 50000 – 49800 while resistance is placed at 50900 – 51000.

While the market is in the midst of a bear hug for the past few weeks, today's fall can also be attributed to the news of Adani group facing bribery charges which triggered a massive sell-off in its group stocks. Besides the news, most of the Asian and European markets were in negative territories which also weighed on the sentiment.

Following a weak start, Nifty traded within a narrow range throughout the day. The index remained below the 200-DMA, indicating persistent weak sentiment in the market. The RSI indicator has reentered a bearish crossover, further supporting the negative sentiment.

In the short term, sentiment remains weak, with support placed at 23,200. A fall below this level could trigger a correction in the market. On the upside, resistance is placed at 23,550; a decisive move above this level might induce a rally in the market.

The domestic market faced renewed pressure due to escalating tensions in the Russia-Ukraine conflict and heightened the nuclear concerns. Additionally, the fresh Adani case with the US DoJ added to the market's woes. Although there were signs of a slowdown in FII selling, it surged again, adversely affecting market sentiment particularly financials sector. We expect an improvement in the trend when global & domestic political issues stabilise.

The Adani saga returns affected the Indian markets adversely in today's trade. A vertical fall was seen in the opening trade followed by rangebound activity for the rest of the session to conclude the day at 23,349.90 with a loss of 168.60 points. Among the sectors, IT and Realty managed to end in green while PSU Banks and Media tumbled over 2% and underperformed. Surprisingly, Broader markets outperformed the Frontline Index as Mid and Smallcaps kept on minimizing their losses.

The series of lower top and lower bottom continues and in today's trade, the Index added one more bearish candle which indicates the strong grip of bears. Selling is seen on every rise but for a trend reversal, the Index has to clear the hurdle of 23,800. Until then the trend will remain weak and breaking below today's low will open the doors for the next important support of 23,000.

Indian rupee ended at fresh record low at 84.50 per dollar on Thursday versus Tuesday's close of 84.41.

Indian benchmark indices ended lower on November 21 with Nifty below 23,400.

At close, the Sensex was down 422.59 points or 0.54 percent at 77,155.79, and the Nifty was down 168.60 points or 0.72 percent at 23,349.90. About 1180 shares advanced, 2614 shares declined, and 89 shares unchanged.

Biggest Nifty losers were Adani Enterprises, Adani Ports, SBI Life Insurance, NTPC and SBI, while gainers included Power Grid Corp, UltraTech Cement, Hindalco Industries, HCL Tech and Grasim Industries.

BSE Midcap index down 0.3 percent and smallcap index down 0.6 percent.

On the sectoral front, Energy, FMCG, Oil & Gas, PSU Bank, Media, Auto, Metal down 1-2 percent, while Realty index gained 1 percent and Information Technology index rose 0.5 percent.

QIB – 0.74 times

NII - 0.30 times

Retail – 2.24 times

Employee Reserved - 0.36 times

Shareholder Portion - 0.94

Overall – 0.88 times

The company has received approval from the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) for the creation of OneSource, India’s first specialty pharma Contract Development and Manufacturing Organization (CDMO).

This integration is backed by an equity commitment of Rs 801 crore ($95 million) from a group of investors, valuing the company at a pre-money equity valuation of $1.65 billion, and positions OneSource for robust growth.

OneSource is now set to list its equity shares on the BSE and NSE. Strides' shareholders will be allotted one equity share of OneSource for every two equity shares held in Strides, as per the Scheme of Arrangement.

The company has incorporated a joint venture, Sievert 20 Microns Building Materials, to engage in the production of construction chemicals and building material-related products.

HDFC Mutual Fund acquired a 0.26% stake in the company via open market transactions on November 14, raising its total stake to 5.15%, up from 4.89% previously.

The company has received full consideration of Rs 41 crore for the sale of its Faridabad facility.

The company has entered into a share purchase agreement for the acquisition of Monga Strayfield, an engineering company that manufactures radio frequency dryers and heating solutions, for Rs 123 crore.

The textile and garment manufacturing company has announced the acquisition of the children's wear brand Gini & Jony. Suditi plans to transform Gini & Jony into a dominant player in the kidswear market through an omni-channel strategy, including exclusive brand outlets (EBOs), large format stores (LFS), and e-commerce platforms.

QIB – 0.74 times

NII - 0.28 times

Retail – 2.20 times

Employee Reserved - 0.36 times

Shareholder Portion - 0.92

Overall – 0.87 times

The Board will meet on November 25 to consider a proposal for fund-raising via a debt issue in the form of debentures.

The transport infrastructure consultancy has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the National Institute of Solar Energy (NISE) to collaborate on quality assurance (QA) services for solar and renewable energy projects.

The Sensex was down 446.59 points or 0.58 percent at 77,131.79, and the Nifty was down 171 points or 0.73 percent at 23,347.50. About 1008 shares advanced, 2372 shares declined, and 61 shares unchanged.

#1 Company expects medium-term loan growth to be in the 15-20 percent range while it will maintain 15 percent as guidance

#2 Believes company has been able to grow its loan book at 15 percent+ aided by favourable eco environment

#3 Company expects NIM to remain largely stable & to continue delivering ROE in excess of 16 percent

The company has declared an interim dividend of Rs 35 per equity share for the financial year ending March 2025. November 29 has been fixed as the record date for determining the entitlement of shareholders for the interim dividend.

Jungle Camps India has received in-principle approval for its IPO from BSE SME Exchange on November 19, 2024.

The company filed a Draft Red Herring Prospectus (DRHP) with BSE SME in July 2024. It is in the process of filing RHP with updated information and is expected to be listed on the platform very soon.

The company has acquired Khavda V-A Power Transmission from the bid process coordinator, REC Power Development and Consultancy, for Rs 18.9 crore.

Khavda V-A Power Transmission is the project Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) formed to establish a transmission system for the evacuation of power from the potential renewable energy zone in the Khavda area of Gujarat on a build, own, operate, and transfer (BOOT) basis.

The company is valued at an EV/EBITDA of ~16x and a P/E of ~24x and offers an attractive valuation compared to its peers.  Considering its robust project pipeline, consistent financial performance and margin-enhancing O&M contracts, assign a  “Subscribe” rating.

CRISIL share price erased previous session losses and posted better gains in last 9 months.

IndusInd Bank and UNICEF announced a strategic partnership to support the ‘Disaster Resilient Communities and Climate Risk-Informed Efficient Administrative Systems’ as part of the Flagship CSR program of IndusInd Bank.

Datamatics announced the appointment of Ankush Akar as Senior Vice President & Chief Financial Officer.

The company has invested Rs 100 crore on a rights basis in Aditya Birla Capital Digital. Following this investment, there is no change in the percentage shareholding of Aditya Birla Capital, and Aditya Birla Capital Digital continues to be a wholly owned subsidiary of the company.

The company will invest up to Rs 3,720 crore, in one or more tranches, for various renewable projects and acquire a stake by subscribing to equity shares of NLC India Renewables, as part of its asset monetization plan.

The renewable energy assets currently on NLC’s books were valued at Rs 6,263 crore as of September 2024.

Gold continues to trade positive - adding to its weekly gains with support from rise in safe-haven demand due to escalation in the Russia-Ukraine war and some chart based buying as well after prices rebound from above its 100-day SMA earlier in the week. The bullion also remains supported by slight weakness in the dollar against major currencies, so far this week.

In the session ahead, focus will be on the U.S jobless claims/ housing data later today, and the mfg./ service PMI data's tomorrow.

On chart, momentum now looks sideways/ consolidative with resistance at 76950/ 77000, while on the downside support holds at 75200.

QIB – 0.73 times

NII - 0.25 times

Retail – 2.04 times

Employee Reserved - 0.32 times

Shareholder Portion - 0.85

Overall – 0.82 times

#1 Vodafone Idea loses 15.5 lakh users versus loss of 18.7 lakh in August

#2 Reliance Jio loses 79.7 lakh users versus loss of 40.2 lakh in August

#3 Bharti Airtel loses 14.35 lakh users versus loss of 24.1 lakh in August

#4 BSNL adds 8.5 lakh users versus 25.3 lakh in August

Shares of Adani Ports, Adani Energy Solutions, Adani Green Energy Adani Enterprises, Adani Total Gas, and Ambuja Cements fell up to 20%, while Adani Power and ACC dropped 14% and 12%. Adani Wilmar and NDTV also declined 10% each. From its recent 52 week high, the Adani Group's market cap has plunged by nearly Rs 7.5 lakh crore.

Adani Group's listed firms collectively suffered a Rs 2.2 lakh crore loss in market capitalisation on November 21, as they plummeted up to 20% following charges by US prosecutors accusing Gautam Adani of participating in a scheme to pay over $250 million in bribes to Indian government officials for solar energy contracts. Read More

Bernstein hiked its target price on Paytm to Rs 1,000 per share, up from Rs 750 earlier. Based on the previous session's closing price, this indicates an upside of 23 percent.

International brokerage Bernstein reaffirmed its bullishness on Paytm parent One97 Communications, as the narrative for the beleaguered fintech player changes from survival to optimism. Read More

The Sensex was down 406.32 points or 0.52 percent at 77,172.06, and the Nifty was down 157.00 points or 0.67 percent at 23,361.50. About 945 shares advanced, 2371 shares declined, and 67 shares unchanged.

#1 Quality and consistency of growth is imperative

#2 Company evaluates store closures in normal course of business; decisions to ensure sustainable profitable growth

#3 New formats are like small startups

The company has signed a contract worth Rs 226.2 crore with the Transport Department of the Government of West Bengal for the delivery of 13 hybrid ferries. These ferries will operate on the River Hooghly under the West Bengal Transport Infrastructure Development Corporation.

QIB – 0.0 times

NII - 0.25 times

Retail – 1.96 times

Employee Reserved - 0.30 times

Shareholder Portion - 0.82

Overall – 0.48 times

Gold prices rose for the fourth straight session on Thursday, driven by safe-haven demand amid escalating tensions in the Russia-Ukraine conflict, while investors awaited remarks from Federal Reserve policymakers on the interest rate outlook.

Spot gold was up 0.3% at $2,657.41 per ounce, hitting its highest since Nov. 11.

U.S. gold futures rose 0.3% to $2,660.

The company’s subsidiary, Aegis Vopak Terminals, has filed a draft red herring prospectus with the capital markets regulator to raise Rs 3,500 crore via an initial public offering (IPO). It is an entirely fresh issue with no offer-for-sale component.

Bitcoin surged past $97,000 on November 21, marking its first time crossing this milestone, driven by optimism about a more favorable US crypto regulatory stance under President-elect Donald Trump. The cryptocurrency climbed 5.7 percent to approximately $97,445, pushing its market capitalization to $1.93 trillion.

QIB – 0.0 times

NII - 0.25 times

Retail – 2.02 times

Employee Reserved - 0.31 times

Shareholder Portion - 0.84

Overall – 0.5 times

#1 Company on track to achieve its Q4 exit combined ratio guidance of 101.5 percent

#2 Company says guidance could be affected by the change in regulation on accounting of long-term policies

#3 It is currently engaging with distributors to mitigate the impact, which should likely conclude by Q3 end

Agricultural solutions provider UPL and global investment firm Alpha Wave Global have signed definitive agreements.

As per the agreements, Alpha Wave Global will invest $350 million to acquire approximately a 12.5% stake in seed company Advanta Enterprises, a subsidiary of UPL. The transaction consists of a primary investment of $100 million and a secondary sale of $250 million worth of shares in Advanta by UPL.

Investor Siddhartha Yog bought an additional 0.37% stake in Trent from Dodona Holdings at an average price of Rs 6,475 per share, valued at Rs 843.15 crore. With this acquisition, Siddhartha Yog has accumulated a total of 2.7% stake in the company from Dodona Holdings since the beginning of October.