Closing Bell: Sensex down 269 pts, Nifty at 23,500; IT gains, FMCG, PSU Banks drag

Indian benchmark indices ended lower in the highly volatile session on June 21 with Nifty at 23,500. The Sensex was down 269.03 points or 0.35 percent at 77,209.90, and the Nifty was down 65.90 points or 0.28 percent at 23,501.10.

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.

Investors partially booked profit after a 6-session rally owing to weak global cues. While the fall was more severe in the mid-session, markets pared losses towards the end to end marginally lower amid weakness in banking, auto, oil and realty shares. The big event is the Union Budget in July and investors are pinning hopes on a market-friendly budget that would have a road-map on measures to boost economic activity and prop up the investment cycle.

Sensex & Nifty post minor gains (0.2 percent each), but up for 3rd straight week
Nifty Bank posts biggest weekly gain of 2024, up more than 3 percent
Nifty Bank records longest gaining streak in 19 months, up for 6th straight week
Midcap Index sees a gain of 0.5 percent, IT best performing sectoral index

The BankNifty index witnessed a volatile trading session but ended on a flat note, highlighting the evident tussle between buyers and sellers. The immediate resistance is placed at 52,000, where the highest open interest is built up on the call side. The index needs to surpass this mark to continue its upward movement.

"On the downside, the lower end support is placed at 51,000, where the highest open interest is built up on the put side. Dips towards this support level should be viewed as an ideal buying opportunity.

The domestic market witnessed minor profit booking amid concerns over the slow progress of the monsoon, resulting in underperformance in the FMCG sector. The heatwave in Northern India is driving consumer durables stocks up. The global markets were subdued as weak guidance from Accenture led to profit booking in US tech stocks. Conversely, domestic IT stocks saw buying interest as market participants appeared to have factored in weaker earnings. Attention is now focused on the upcoming GST meeting, where the potential rationalization of GST rates in certain sectors is under discussion.

Indian rupee ended 10 paise higher at 83.54 per dollar on Friday against Thursday's close of 83.64.

Indian benchmark indices ended lower in the highly volatile session on June 21 with Nifty at 23,500.

The Sensex was down 269.03 points or 0.35 percent at 77,209.90, and the Nifty was down 65.90 points or 0.28 percent at 23,501.10. About 1611 shares advanced, 1750 shares declined, and 85 shares unchanged.

Bharti Airtel, LTIMindtree, Adani Ports, Hindalco and Infosys were among major gainers on the Nifty, while losers included Adani Enterprises, UltraTech Cement, BPCL, Tata Motors and Tata Consumer Products.

On the sectoral front, IT, metal, media and Telecom up 0.5-1 percent, while auto, FMCG, PSU Bank and Realty down 0.5-1 percent.

The BSE midcap index was down 0.3 percent while smallcap index ended flat.

Rail Vikas Nigam emerges as the lowest bidder (L1) from SER HQ-electrical/south eastern railway for design, supply, erection, testing & commissioning of 132 KV Traction Substation, Sectioning post (SPs), and Sub sectioning post (SSPs) in 2x25KV System on Rajkhaswan- Nayagarh-Bolani section of Chakradharpur division of South Eastern Railway to meet 3000MT loading target on EPC mode.

#1 Market leadership, pricing power & lower delivery enables company to achieve expanding margin & returns
#2 Multiple margin expansion levers
#3 Ad take rates exhibit headroom with 4-5% of GMV derived from ad income in global retailers
#4 Asset-light leading to ROIC growth; from 9% in FY25 to 35% in FY30
#5 Asset-light leading to ROIC growth as IC intensity continues to moderate

The Nifty has remained in a range favoring non-directional trades for the last few days. However, if we look at the FII long-short ratio, we see that the FII short percentage in index futures has come down from 87% at the start of the series to 43% in the previous session, suggesting significant short unwinding. Additionally, the Nifty PCR was at 1.29, indicating an overheating market and leading to heavy call writing on Friday.

Technically, Nifty has been hovering within the 23300 to 23600 range, indicating indecisiveness, which sets the stage for a very volatile monthly expiry. Therefore, we might see strong movement in the last two days of the June expiry. A decisive move above 23600 might take the index towards 24000, whereas failure to hold above 23300 might trigger panic in the market. Below 23300, the Nifty might fall towards 22750.

India Infrastructure Finance Company Ltd plans to raise up to Rs 2,500 crore through bonds on June 24, money market sources said.

The bonds have a base issue of Rs 500 crore, and a greenshoe option of Rs 2,000 crore. A greenshoe option gives the underwriter the right to sell investors more bonds than planned if the demand is higher than expected.

#1 Significant progress made on One Firstsource Strategy
#2 Aspiring for USD 1 billion revenue run rate in Q4 FY26 & 15% EBIT margin in medium-term
#3 Company does not have any stated dividend policy but it has been paying out 45-50% of PAT
#4 Company notes that its senior leadership has both time & performance-based stock incentives
#5 Company notes that net debt of Rs 600 crore In FY24 is largely for working capital requirement
#6 M&A would primarily be focussed on capability building and not revenue accretion

The initial public offering (IPO) of Stanley Lifestyle witnessed demand from retail and non-institutional investors on its first day of bidding, June 21. According to subscription data from exchanges, the IPO garnered a subscription of 0.9 times, with investors bidding for 89.32 lakh equity shares against the total offer size of 1.02 crore equity shares.

Non-institutional investors subscribed nearly 1.1 times their allotted quota, while retail investors showed interest amounting to over 1.2 times the reserved portion. The portion allocated for qualified institutional buyers (QIBs) was subscribed the least as investors bid for 13,000 shares against a total of 28.25 lakh shares on offer.

Stanley Lifestyle's Rs 537-crore IPO remains open for subscription until June 25.

Markets@3 | Sensex, Nifty trade lower

The Sensex was down 216.12 points or 0.28 percent at 77,262.81, and the Nifty was down 47.60 points or 0.20 percent at 23,519.40. About 1576 shares advanced, 1777 shares declined, and 80 shares unchanged.

GRM Overseas board has approved raising of funds through issue and allotment of up to 91,00,000 share warrants, each warrant convertible into 1 equity share of face value of Rs 2 to certain promoters and non-promoter investors on preferential basis at an issue price of Rs 150.

Sensex Today | BSE Bank index down 0.5%; Bank of Baroda, Federal Bank, SBI top losers

Sensex Today | BSE Realty down 1%; Phoenix Mills, DLF among major losers

Kirloskar Pneumatic Company has entered in to a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to acquire a majority stake (above 51%) in Systems & Components India.

#1 Plant to date has produced nearly 12 GW nacelle out of company’s 20.7 GW installed asset base

#2 The plant has capacity to produce 2.5 GW of turbines per year

#3 Nacelle & Hub forms 65% of the cost of equipment (ex of EPC and land)

Click Here For Stock Info

Sensex Today | Nifty below 23450

Sensex Today | RailTel Corporation jumps 12%, nears 52-week high on securing work order

Shares of RailTel Corporation of India rallied over 12 percent to Rs 488 per share on June 21, nearing its 52-week high of Rs 491 apiece. The uptick comes after it bagged work order from South Central Railway worth Rs 20.22 crore.

So far this year, shares of RailTel raced over 44 percent, beating benchmark Nifty 50 index that rose by 8 percent during the same period.

In an exchange filing, the company stated that the work order is for telecommunications work for provision of IP-MPLS in 523RKM of secunderabad division of South Central Railway. The project will be executed by 18, June 2025.

Sensex Today | BSE Power index up 0.5%; Suzlon Energy, JSW Energy top gainers

The board of directors at its meeting held today has approved the raising of funds through issuance and allotment of equity shares having face value of Re 1 for an aggregate amount not exceeding Rs 49,00,00,000 on rights issue basis.

The board of directors of the company at the meeting held today approved the proposal for raising of funds by way of one or more public/ private offerings / preferential issue or Qualified Institutions Placements or any combination thereof upto an aggregate amount of Rs 500 crores in one or more tranches by issue of eligible securities, subject to approval of the Shareholders and such other statutory /regulatory approvals, if applicable.

The board approved the appointment of Suyash Bhise as a Chief Financial Officer (CFO).

Sensex Today | Nifty PSU Bank underperforms other indices

#1 Completes its 5G rollout obligations in all circles
#2 The company has 5G spectrum in 17 circles
#3 Rollout is completed in both spectrum bands
#4 DoT conducted network testing in both bands
#5 Incurred a penalty of about Rs1 crore for the rollout completion
#6 Rollout obligations are mandatory according to the licence terms
#7 Failure to meet obligations could have resulted in action against the company, including possible cancellation of the 5G spectrum
#8 Company had a deadline of August 15, 2024, to complete the rollout

Sensex Today | Nifty Midcap outperform

Morgan Stanley On Accenture

#1 Results & commentary pointed to a few positive data points such as strategy

#2 See consulting business returning to growth, pickup in smaller deals

#3 See this as another confirmation of bottoming out of growth rates

#4 Signals of a return of discretionary spending are still elusive

Sensex Today | BSE Oil & Gas index slips 1.5%; Linde India, HPCL, BPCL top losers

Power Grid board accorded the in-principle approval for formation of a Joint Venture (JV) with Rajasthan Rajya Vidyut Prasaran Nigam Limited (RVPNL) for the development of Intra State Transmission System in the state of Rajasthan, subject to approval of its administrative Ministry i.e. Ministry of Power, DIPAM, Niti Aayog and/or other statutory authorities as may be required.

Click Here For Stock Info

Markets@1 | Sensex down 420 pts, Nifty below 23500

The Sensex was down 425.75 points or 0.55 percent at 77,053.18, and the Nifty was down 98.80 points or 0.42 percent at 23,468.20. About 1565 shares advanced, 1733 shares declined, and 91 shares unchanged.

#1 Multiple revenue growth drivers ahead

#2 Growth opportunity in ABS sub-segment

#3 Company open to M&A given it has Rs 500 crore of net cash on balancesheet

#4 Broader demand momentum in Europe remains sluggish

Bharti Airtel received penalty notice from The Department of Telecommunications, Gujarat LSA (DoT) of Rs 1,77,000 for alleged violation of subscriber verification
norms.

Click Here For Stock Info

Sensex Today | BSE FMCG index down 0.7%; Kaveri Seed, Bannariamman Sugars, Tilaknagar Industries among major losers

The company has received a Letter of Intent amounting Rs 13.72 crores from Purvanchal Vidyut Vitran Nigam Limited (PuVVNL).

Click Here For Stock Info

Sensex Today | Nifty Bank index sheds 0.6%; PNB, HDFC Bank top losers

In a block deal on the NSE, Axis Bank traded approximately 1.7 crore shares (0.55 percent equity) for Rs 2,089 crore at an average price of Rs 1,226.45 per share

JM Financial said on Friday that it is committed to co-operating with SEBI after being barred from managing debt public issues. Financial impact due to the SEBI order is yet to be ascertained, it added. The stock was trading in the red.

Brahmaputra Infra stock jumped 6 percent as the company announced that it has a consolidated order book, including its joint venture and operational partners, totaling approximately Rs 1,210 crore as of June 21, 2024.

Shares of RailTel Corporation of India rallied over 12 percent to Rs 488 per share on June 21, nearing its 52-week high of Rs 491 apiece. The uptick comes after it bagged a work order from South Central Railway worth Rs 20.22 crore.

India's largest private sector lender and index heavyweight, HDFC Bank, has been gaining traction on the Street ahead of its June shareholding data release, expected soon. Over the past 10 days, HDFC Bank shares have surged by 6 percent, outperforming other private lenders like ICICI Bank, Axis Bank, and Kotak Mahindra Bank, which rose up to 4 percent during the same period.

In a note from Nuvama Alternative and Quantitative Research, analyst Abhilash Pagaria predicts that HDFC Bank's upward momentum will continue, with an additional rise of up to 5 percent expected until the shareholding data is released. READ MORE

Shares of Suzlon Energy Ltd surged nearly 5 percent to hit a new-52 week high. The stock has zoomed nearly 300 percent from its 52-week low of Rs 13.28, hit a year ago. So far this year, the stock has rallied more than 40 percent.

Shares of JM Financial extended losses to fall around 5 percent. The decline followed a decision by the markets regulator SEBI on Thursday, confirming interim measures to prohibit the company from serving as a lead manager for public issues of debt securities until March 31, 2025. This action relates to alleged irregularities in a public issue of non-convertible debentures (NCDs).

Benchmark Indices trimmed losses by noon as IT stocks held strong gains. At 12:00 pm, the Sensex was down 193.89 points or 0.25 percent at 77,285.04, and the Nifty was down 33.20 points or 0.14 percent at 23,533.80. About 1,755 shares advanced, 1,513 declined, and 95 unchanged.

Stock Market LIVE Updates | HDFC Bank most active Nifty stock

Mrs Bectors Food Specialities' board has approved raising of funds of up to Rs 400 crore.

IT services are definitely facing near-term challenges on account of rising inflation rates and potential slowdowns. However, the dovish stance from the Fed indicated an infusion of liquidity, which will lead to a quicker recovery. Hence, the medium to long-term outlook still remains intact, which is likely to be led by massive technological shifts and rising dependence on the systems, the brokerage said.

• Picks from Largecaps: HCL Tech; TCS
• Picks from Midcaps: Coforge; Persistent Systems; and Cyient

The initial public offer of the Udaipur-based non-banking finance company (NBFC) Akme Fintrade (India) Ltd received quite a great response from non-institutional investors (NIIs) and retail investors, leading to the issue's oversubscription. The IPO has received 18.33 times subscription so far on the third day of bidding.

The initial public offer of the Udaipur-based non-banking finance company (NBFC) Akme Fintrade (India) Ltd received quite a great response from non-institutional investors (NIIs) and retail investors, leading to the issue's oversubscription. The IPO has received 18.33 times subscription so far on the third day of bidding.

Share Market LIVE Updates | IT stocks among top index contributors

Investec maintained a 'buy' rating on Astral with a target price of Rs 2,370. The brokerage firm expects an imposition of anti-dumping duty on PVC pre-September. Potential levy of anti-dumping duties on CPVC resin/compound in the $593-792/t range across countries. Imposition of a quality control order on PVC/EDC/VCM till September 2024. Production of local PVC prices has increased by 15 percent over QTD.

Warburg-backed student lender Avanse has filed for Initial Public Offer (IPO). The issue aggregating up to Rs 3,500 crore comprises of a fresh issue of equity shares of up to Rs 1,000 crore and an offer for sale (OFS) of up to Rs 2,500 crore with face value of Rs 5 each equity share.

Stock Market LIVE Updates | TechM, Axis Bank at 52-week highs

Motilal Oswal has issued a 'buy' rating on the stock with a target of Rs 1,500/share. The company is focussing on improving the overall product mix in the domestic market. It is also targeting to grow exports, which will drive margin, the brokerage said.

Stock Market LIVE Updates | Large deals in several PSU stocks

At 11:04 am, the Sensex was down 292.32 points or 0.38 percent at 77,186.61, and the Nifty was down 53.70 points or 0.23 percent at 23,513.30. About 1,650 shares advanced, 1,541 declined, and 106 were unchanged.

#1 Hindustan Zinc to be preferred supplier of Zinc for Aesir

Stock Market LIVE Updates | Sugar stocks see a sharp surge

#1 HSBC India June services PMI 60.4 vs 60.2 in prior month

#2 HSBC India June composite PMI 60.9 vs 60.5 prior

Heubach Colorants India (HCIL) shares soared 16 percent to Rs 544 on the NSE during Friday's trading, continuing a rally sparked by Quant Mutual Fund's acquisition of less than 1% stake in the company through open market transactions. Over the past two trading days, the stock of the dyes & pigments firm has surged 40 percent.

RailTel Corp of India announced a Rs 20.22 crore work order for telecommunication services, specifically for IP-MPLS provision covering 523RKM of Secunderabad Division in South Central Railway. The project is scheduled for completion by June 18, 2025, as disclosed in a recent exchange filing.

Sensex Today | Nifty FMCG down 0.5%; Marico, HUL top losers

Sensex Today | Nifty SmallCap 100 hits record high intra-day, up nearly 1%

Sensex Today | Fertiliser stocks see profit booking, fall up to 7%

Sensex Today | Nifty Bank fell 0.5%; HDFC Bank, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Axis Bank top losers

After a bumper debut in November 2023, has Tata Technologies lost its appeal among brokerages? In a report dated June 19, the foreign brokerage Goldman Sachs initiated coverage on the stock with a sell call and a target price of Rs 900, representing a 12 percent downside from the June 18th closing price of Rs 1,029. However, Goldman Sachs is not the only brokerage altering its stance on the Tata Group company.

For the record, Tata Technologies’ IPO that was floated in November 2023 marked the first IPO debut from the Tata Group in over 19 years and recorded the third-best closing gains on the listing day in the history of the Indian capital market. (Read more)

CE Info Systems continued its rally, up 10 percent on June 21. The stock on June 20 hit 20 percent upper circuit after Goldman Sachs initiated coverage with a 'buy' rating and a target price of Rs 2,800. This reflects a potential 40% increase from its recent closing price. The international brokerage highlighted CE Info Systems' strong potential in fast-growing markets, driven by its dominant 80% market share in automotive OEM navigation software.

As many as 4.7 crore shares changed hands, at Rs 345 per share -- at a discount of over 3 percent to the last closing price. The transaction price is also about 15 percent lower than Olympus' last stake sale in the company.

Aster DM Healthcare stock saw 9.3 percent of its equity being sold for Rs 1,607 crore in block deals on June 21, with PE firm Olympus likely selling part of its balance stake in the company.

Sensex Today | Nifty IT up 2.5% post Accenture Q3 update, FY24 guidance

The Indian benchmark indices opened higher on June 21.

The Sensex was up 200 points or 0.27 percent at 77,691, and the Nifty was up 94 points or 0.4 percent at 23,630. About 1854 shares advanced, 484 shares declined, and 99 shares unchanged.

Infosys, TCS, HCL Tech, Wipro were among major gainers on the Nifty, while losers were Tata Steel, Bajaj Finance, HUL.

Indian rupee opened marginally higher at 83.59 per dollar on Friday versus Thursday's close of 83.65

HDFC Bank could gain $4 billion in passive inflows if its MSCI index weight doubles to 8% from 4%, contingent on foreign ownership thresholds rising, forecasts Nuvama Wealth Management. Speculation on stock price movement is expected ahead of quarterly shareholding data release.

Benchmark indices are trading higher in the pre-opening session. The Sensex was up 250 points or 0.32 percent at 77,730, and the Nifty was up 94 points or 0.4 percent at 23,660.

Foreign institutional investors continued selling in oil & gas, construction, information technologies, metal & mining, consumer durables, and auto and FMCG stocks during the first two weeks of June, according to NSDL data.

FIIs sold around Rs3,683 crore in oil and gas stocks after offloading about Rs 5,500 crore in May. In the construction sector, they sold around Rs 2,660 crore, slightly down from Rs 2,686 crore the previous month. In the IT sector, FIIs sold about Rs 2,559 crore following sales of Rs 5,800 crore in May. In metals and mining, they sold Rs1,861 crore after being net sellers of Rs 953 crore in May. (Read more)

The market is in a consolidation phase, and this is likely to continue. There are no major triggers for aggressive buying or selling. Even in this consolidation phase the undertone of the market is bullish and, therefore, buying on dips will emerge imparting resilience to the market. Strong up moves will attract profit booking and, therefore, sustained rally would be difficult.

Even when the market consolidates, leading private sector banking stocks have the potential to move up further. Large delivery based buying is happening in this segment. This is perhaps the only segment which offers value in this overvalued market.

Today's FTSE India Index reshuffle is anticipated to attract $250 million in passive foreign inflows into Indian stocks, led by ICICI Bank, Bharti Airtel, and Kotak Mahindra Bank. Nuvama analyst Abhilash Pagaria forecasts ICICI Bank to receive $170 million, Bharti Airtel $98 million, and Kotak Mahindra Bank $75 million. Additionally, Adani Ports is expected to gain $259 million in passive inflows as it replaces Wipro in the S&P BSE Sensex Index, with Wipro potentially seeing an outflow of $170 million.

The S&P 500 and Nasdaq closed lower on Thursday, as Nvidia retreated from earlier gains, while investors looked at recent economic data and commentary from Federal Reserve officials to determine the timing of interest-rate cuts this year. Stocks retreated after a rally to all-time highs prompted calls for a near-term pullback amid signs of buyer fatigue.

Economic data released on June 20 indicated that unemployment in the US continues to rise. The Labor Department reported that fillings for jobless benefits reached 238,000 for the week ended June 15, up 5,500 from the previous week. This is the highest level since September 2023.

The Bank of England kept interest rates unchanged at 5.25 percent, which came in line with the market’s expectations.Traders are betting the Bank of England will cut rates in August after dovish signals from policymakers.

India slipped seven ranks to 15 in the World Investment Ranking in 2023 as foreign direct investment inflows fell 43 percent to $28 billion, a report released by the United Nations Conference of Trade and Development (UNCTAD) showed on June 20. In terms of greenfield projects, India was ranked fourth with 1,058 projects, after the US, the UAE and the UK. The country was ranked eighth last year, as it attracted inflows worth $48 billion.

The Union Cabinet has approved an increase in the Minimum Support Prices for 14 crops for the upcoming Kharif season.

Asian stocks fell after US shares closed lower overnight.

Nifty recovered from previous day’s fall and ended higher in a volatile session on June 20. At close, Nifty was up 0.22% or 51 points at 23,567. Nifty rose mildly after a volatile session on June 20. It formed another long legged doji forming a sideways pattern. Nifty could now stay in the 23,413-23,664 band for the near term.

Indian rupee made a closing low of 83.6525 and intra-day low of 83.67 as stronger dollar, weakening Asian currencies, Houthi attack on Ships sinking them and Equity related outflows kept the dollar well bid hitting many stop losses at 83.60 which had not been breached till date in OTC market, according to Anil Kumar Bhansali, Head of Treasury and Executive Director, Finrex Treasury Advisors LLP.

RBI was present but allowed the weakening process to continue yesterday. Today the opening of the rupee is a bit higher but the move has to be watched in sinc with what RBI does to protect the rupee as other Asian Central Banks take steps to protect their currencies.Importers may buy the dips towards 83.50 while exporters to wait and watch, Bhansali added.