Closing bell: The equity indices on Monday fell in volatile trading, dragged down by banking stocks exposed to telecom operators after the government ordered mobile carriers to pay billions of dollars in dues immediately.

At close, the broader NSE Nifty 50 index was down 0.56 per cent at 12,045.80, while the benchmark S&P BSE Sensex fell 0.49 per cent to 41,055.69.

The banking sector dominated the losses, with the Nifty bank index falling 0.55 per cent. The Nifty PSU bank index dropped 2.95 per cent, and Nifty private bank index slid 0.41 per cent.

The Sensex hit an intraday high of 41,420.34 and a low of 41,030.58. Similarly, the Nifty touched an intraday high of 12,159.60 and a low of 12,037. The market breadth was negative as 1,717 shares declined, against advance of 831 shares, while 168 shares were unchanged.

Among BSE sectoral indices, except of IT index, all the sectoral indices ended the day in red lead by PSU Bank index falling nearly 3 per cent.

The shares of Bharti Airtel ended flat gaining 0.07 per cent as the government on Friday after market close ordered mobile carriers to immediately pay Rs 92,000 crore ($12.88 billion) in overdue levies and interest.

The move came after the Supreme Court threatened the companies and officials with contempt proceedings for failing to implement an earlier ruling.

Vodafone Idea's shares fell 1.47 per cent after rising nearly 12 per cent intraday on Monday. It had dropped 24 per cent on Friday.

Vodafone Idea is saddled with about $3.9 billion in overdue payments and said last week there was still material uncertainty about its ability to continue as a going concern.

Indian banks are burdened with nearly $140 billion of bad loans and face another huge hit if Vodafone Idea is forced into bankruptcy.

PSU Bank shares fall over 2%

The shares of public sector banks were trading with red on Monday's evening session. The Nifty PSU Bank index was trading 2.73 per cent down at 2150.90 at 3.05 pm.

Shares of J & K Bank (down​ 4.71 per cent)​, Bank of Baroda (down 4.45 per cent), Punjab National Bank (down​ 3.97 per cent)​, Indian Bank (down​ 3 per cent)​, Canara Bank (down 2.94 per cent), Bank of India (down 2.85 per cent), Indian Overseas Bank (down​ 2.84 per cent)​, State Bank of India (down​ 1.61 per cent)​, Union Bank of India (down​ 2.09 per cent)​, Central Bank (down 2.04 per cent), and Bank of Maharashtra (down 1.25 per cent) were the top losers in the index.

In the evening session, the benchmark NSE Nifty50 index was down 62.90 points at 12,050.55, while the BSE Sensex was down 202.27 points at 41,055.47.

Nifty sectoral indices at 2.50 pm

CCI approves ZF’s purchase of 100% stake in WABCO

The Competition Commission of India ( CCI) has approved ZF’s acquisition of 100 per cent shareholding in WABCO.

ZF is a global technology company that develops, manufactures and distributes products and systems for passenger vehicles, commercial vehicles, off-highway vehicles and industrial technology. Its products include gearboxes, steering, axles, clutches, dampers, chassis components and systems, active and passive safety technology for automotive applications and other associated components.

ONGC stock falls over 3% on Q3 results

Shares of Oil and Natural Gas Corporation lost over 3 per cent on Monday after the company posted halving of its December quarter net profit.

On the BSE, the stock slumped 3.15 per cent to Rs 100. On the National Stock Exchange (NSE), it fell 3.19 per cent to Rs 100.

State-owned Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) on Friday reported halving of its net profit in the third quarter ended December 2019, after it faced the double whammy of falling oil and gas prices and a drop in production.

Standalone net profit in the October-December 2019 period at Rs 4,152 crore was 49.8 per cent lower than Rs 8,263 crore net profit in the corresponding period of the previous financial year, the company said in a statement.

Reliance Infra shares rise over 5% on strong results

Shares of Reliance Infrastructure on Monday surged over 5 per cent after the firm reported 18 per cent rise in consolidated net profit to Rs 345.51 crore for the third quarter ended December 31.

The stock rose 5.13 per cent to trade at Rs 20.50 on the BSE. It gained 5.38 per cent to Rs 20.55 on the NSE.

Reliance Infrastructure (RInfra) on Friday reported 18 per cent rise in its consolidated net profit to Rs 345.51 crore for the quarter ended December 31, 2019.

The Anil Ambani-led company had clocked a net profit of Rs 293.77 crore in the corresponding quarter previous fiscal, it had said in a regulatory filing.

Banks lured by record-low borrowing costs binge on bonds

Rupee bond sales by Indian banks are off to the best start in five years as the lenders lured by record-low borrowing costs seek funds to bolster loans and capital buffers. Read more here

How has Budget impacted life insurance companies?

From expectations of a separate investment window for life insurance policies for the purpose of tax benefits to anticipating higher FDI limit, investors and analysts had pinned hopes on the Budget offering a big push to the insurance sector.  Read the full sectoral insight here

SC refuses to accept Vodafone’s proposal to pay ₹2,500 cr by today

The Supreme Court on Monday refused to accept telecom firm Vodafone’s proposal to pay ₹2,500 crore by today and ₹1,000 crore by Friday against adjusted gross revenue (AGR) dues and that no coercive action be taken against it.

A bench headed by Justice Arun Mishra declined to accept the proposal given by senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi, appearing for Vodafone, after he mentioned the matter.

Rohatgi said they are willing to pay ₹2,500 crore today and another ₹1,000 crore by Friday but no coercive action be taken against the company. He said the bank guarantee deposited with the government by Vodafone should also not be encashed.

Nifty call: Short the contract with stop-loss at 12,175

The Indian benchmarks have opened the week with a bearish bias. The Nifty spot and the Sensex spot indices are down by around 0.1 per cent. The Asian market is signalling mixed cues as the Nikkei 225 index has closed today’s session with 0.7 per cent loss whereas the Hang Seng index has gained by 0.6 per cent. Click here to read more

Telecom shares mixed; Voda Idea up over 11%

Shares of telecom companies were trading on a mixed note in early market hours on Monday.

While Vodafone Idea stock gained 11.34 per cent to Rs 3.83, Bharti Airtel stock was trading 0.27 lower at Rs 563.60 on the BSE. State-owned MTNL was down 9.40 per cent to Rs 9.35. Tata Teleservices was up 1.83 per cent to trade at Rs 3.34. Reliance Industries, parent of Reliance Jio Infocomm, was trading marginally up by 0.02 per cent to Rs 1,487 on the BSE.

Bharti Airtel, Vodafone Idea and Tata Teleservices are jointly liable to pay dues of over Rs 1 lakh crore, but they have informed the Department of Telecom (DoT) of making only partial payment, as per their representatives.

Even state-owned BSNL and MTNL have not paid the dues.

Bharti Airtel on Monday said it has paid Rs 10,000 crore to the DoT towards statutory dues.

Vodafone Idea on Saturday said it is assessing the amount that can be paid towards AGR dues, even as it flagged concerns over the continuation of its business. Reliance Jio on January 23 paid Rs 195 crore to the DoT to clear all AGR dues accounted till January 31, 2020.

Will delayed, weak Australian monsoon impact 2020 Indian monsoon?

Bushfire-ravaged and drought-stricken Australia has seen the monsoon set in at least a month behind schedule, but the humidity levels have not measured up typical of a 'classic monsoon.'

The 'wet season' (2019–20) has seen the latest monsoon onset since records commenced in 1957-58. The previous latest onset at Darwin Airport (where, by convention, the onset is measured) was January 25, 1973. Click here to read more about monsoon insight

NCLAT gives JSW Steel approval to acquire Bhushan Power

The National Company Law Appellate Tribunal on Monday allowed JSW Steel to acquire of Bhushan Power & Steel Ltd for Rs 19,700 crore by providing it immunity from prosecution.

A two-member bench headed by Chairman Justice S J Mukhopadhaya, said that JSW Stwel will be immuned from the acts done by the former promoters of the Bhushan Power & Steel Ltd.

Airtel pays ₹10,000 crore to govt towards AGR dues

After Supreme Court rap and the government’s stringent deadline, Bharti Airtel on Monday said it had paid ₹10,000 crore to the telecom department towards statutory dues. Click here to read more

Moody’s lowers GDP growth rate for 2020 to 5.4 per cent

Amidst indications of the deadly coronavirus hitting global growth, international rating agency Moody’s Investors Service on Monday lowered the estimate for India’s economic growth rate for 2020 by 120 basis points (100 basis points make up one percentage point). Click here to read more

Oil India to move TDSAT against DoT seeking Rs 48,489 crore

State-owned Oil India is likely to move the TDSAT this week against the telecom department seeking about Rs 48,500 crore in past dues on the surplus bandwidth capacity it had leased to third parties, its Chairman and Managing Director Sushil Chandra Mishra has said. Read more here

Tata Power eyes ₹6,000 crore from asset sales

Tata Power expects to rake in ₹6,000 crore from the sale of some its assets in an effort to bring down its debt.

In September 2019, Tata Power had debt of ₹44,900 crore, which was more or less the same as in 2018. While debt can be an important tool in businesses, particularly capital-heavy ones such as power, industry watchers say the high level of cash reserves to go with the debt makes the company less risky to invest in. Tata Power has ₹22,600 crore in cash reserves. Click here to read more

Clariant Chemicals nine-month sales up by 10.1 %

Clariant Chemicals on Monday reported sales from continuing operations of Rs.587.8 crores for the nine months ended December 31, 2019, as compared to sales of Rs.533.8 crores for the nine months ended December 31, 2018, signifying a growth of 10.1 per cent.

The sales from continuing operations grew by 10.1%, at Rs.188.3 crores, for the quarter ended December 2019, as against Rs. 171.1 crores for the corresponding quarter in the previous year.

The company reported profit before tax of Rs.42.7 crores for the nine months ended December 31, 2019, as compared to profit before tax of Rs.19.3 crores for the nine months ended December 31, 2018 – which signifies a growth of 121.2%.

Consider a bear-call spread on Tata Steel

The Tata Steel stock rules at a crucial level. The stock finds a major resistance at Rs 508 and support at Rs 367. Immediate support appears at Rs 423 and a close below that could drag Tata Steel to Rs 391. Click here to read more

Morepen Labs' Q3 net up 21% led by stable performance in all business segment

Morepen Laboratories has reported a 21.3 per cent rise in its Net Pt·ofit after Tax (consolidated) in Q3 FY2019-20 at Rs. 10.81 crore as compared to Rs. 8.91 crore net profit registered in the corresponding quarter of the previous fiscal. Net sales Revenue (consolidated) during Q3 FY 2019-20 stood at Rs. 226.91 crore, registering a growth of 8.9 per cent as comp~red to the Net Sales Revenue of Rs. 208.46 crore in the corresponding quarter of the previous fiscal.

Total Revenue (Consolidated) in Q3 FY2019-20 rose toRs. 234.65 crore (Rs. 214.59 crore) registering a jump of 9.4 per cent. EBIDTA was up by 3.3 per cent in Q3' FY 2019-20 at Rs. 19.90 crores (Rs. 19.27 crores) and Cash profit during the same period was up by around 2.8 per cent at Rs. 19.36 crores (Rs. 18.84 crores). The Net Profit Before Tax (Consolidated) posted a growth of 19.7 per cent in Q3 FY2019-20 at Rs. 10.82 crore compared to Rs 9.04 crore in Q3 of previous fiscal.

Stock query: What are the prospects of Mahanagar Gas?

A significant support at around ₹750 provided base for the stock of Mahanagar Gas in July 2019. The stock subsequently resumed its uptrend, and has been in an intermediate-term uptrend since then.

Medium- as well as short-term trends are also up for the stock. Nevertheless, the stock encountered a key resistance at ₹1,245 levels early February this year and stared to move sideways with a downward bias. Read more here

Stock query: Coal India on a slippery slope

The stock of Coal India is in a downtrend across all-time-frames — short, medium and long term. In June 2019, the stock encountered a key resistance at ₹270 and resumed its long-term downtrend. Since then, it has been in a medium-term downtrend. Read more here

Why did Vodafone Idea tank 23% in a day?

The stock of  Vodafone Idea  tanked 23 per cent last Friday on the back of the Supreme Court order asking telecom companies to pay up their AGR (Adjusted Gross Revenue) dues. Read more here

Tata Elxsi IoT software powers Tata Motors' connected vehicle platform

Tata Elxsi, a global design and technology services company, partnered with Tata Motors in developing their unified Connected Vehicle Platform that powers the Nexon EV range of electric cars.

With a collaborative approach, Tata Motors and Tata Elxsi developed a cloud-based IoT Platform which provides Tata Motors with a common standard technology stack that delivers the scalability and high performance required to support the entire range of electric, commercial and passenger vehicles.

FII activities:   As per the data available with stock exchanges showed on a net basis, foreign institutional investors sold equities worth Rs 704.92 crore. In contrast, domestic institutional investors bought shares worth Rs 219.54 crore last Friday.

Why Granules India is still a good pharma pick

The stock of active ingredients and drug formulations maker Granules India has rallied almost 46 per cent from our last buy call given in March 2019, thanks to its favourable product mix and healthy show in the US market. Read more on the stock fundamentals here

USFDA completes inspection of Lupin's Aurangabad facility with Zero observation

Pharma major Lupin on Monday announced the successful completion of an inspection carried out by the USFDA at its Aurangabad, facility. The inspection was carried out between February 10-14, 2020. The inspection concluded without any observation.

Commenting on the outcome of the inspection, Nilesh Gupta, Managing Director, Lupin said, “We are encouraged with the successful inspection at our Aurangabad facility. We continue to enhance our standards of quality and compliance across our manufacturing operations and remain committed to upholding the highest quality standards across all our sites”.

Delhi HC orders attachment of assets and bank accounts of Dredging Corporation in ₹50 crore arbitral award case

A Delhi High Court order to attach all assets, including the bank accounts of Dredging Corporation of India Ltd (DCI), for payment of about ₹50 crore in arbitral awards to struggling private fleet owner Mercator Ltd has sent India’s biggest dredging contractor into a tizzy. Read the full story here

Rupee slips 10 paise to 71.47 against US dollar in early trade

The rupee declined by 10 paise to 71.47 against the US dollar in opening trade on Monday, amid sustained foreign fund outflows and weak opening in domestic equities.  The rupee opened weak at 71.45 at the interbank forex market and then fell further to 71.47, down 10 paise over its last close. The rupee had settled at 71.37 against the US dollar on Friday.

Daily Rupee call: Go long with stop-loss at 71.6

The rupee (INR) on Friday closed the week without much change against the dollar (USD). The local currency ended the week at 71.37 compared to previous week’s close of 71.40. Taking a broader view, it can be noticed that the exchange rate has been oscillating between 71.1 and 71.5. By looking at the daily price action, a definite trend is unlikely to be established anytime soon. Read more on the technicals here

Big Story | Attention NRI: Here’s how Budget 2020 impacts you

The recent Budget set the cat among the non-resident pigeons by tightening the norms on residency provisions for individual assesses. The intent behind these changes, the Budget Memorandum says, is to prevent tax abuse.

There are three key changes. One, to qualify as a non-resident (NR), certain categories of persons will have to be out of India for a longer period (about 240 days); earlier the time limit was about 180 days. Two, the norms for a person to qualify as resident but not ordinarily resident (NOR) have been changed. Three, an Indian citizen who is not liable to tax in any other country or territory shall be deemed to be resident in India. Click here to read in full the Big Story on the Budget and its impact on NRIs.

Stock trading call: Buy RSWM

Investors with a medium-term perspective can buy the stock of RSWM, a small-cap company, at current levels.

The stock has skyrocketed 30 per cent, accompanied by good volume over the past two trading sessions, to decisively break above a key resistance at ₹105. Click here to read more

Tata Steel hovers at key support

The downward pressure was evident as the stock of Tata Steel witnessed a gap down opening. It then continued to decline, resulting in the 21-day moving average crossing below the 50-day moving average. Read the full technicals here

Rally in RIL faces a hurdle

The stock of Reliance Industries rallied last week and has closed in the green for the second consecutive week. In the weekly chart, the price action hints that the bull trend might have resumed after a correction. The price has closed above the 21-day moving average, confirming that the near-term trend has become bullish. Read the full technicals here

Infosys has a strong resistance ahead

The stock of Infosys rallied last week and attempted to break out of the critical resistance at ₹800. Unable to breach the resistance, the stock price softened and closed at ₹786.4. It had registered an intra-week high of ₹799.2.  Read the full technicals here

Downtrend in ITC looks intact

The bearish trend in ITC continues as the stock closed with a loss, for the fourth consecutive week. The stock has already lost around 12 per cent year-to-date and the price remains well below the 21- and 50-day moving averages.  Read the full technicals here

SBI is in a sideways range

The stock of SBI has largely been trading between ₹310 and ₹325 for the past three weeks. The stock registered a one-month high of ₹331.8 last week, before closing at ₹319.4. Though the candlesticks in the weekly chart indicate that the stock is seeing a reasonable buying interest, ₹325 is acting as a major hurdle on the upside. Read the full technicals here

M&M to launch a tractor platform jointly with Mitsubishi

Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd is set to come out with a new range of tractors, developed in collaboration with Mitsubishi of Japan, to further strengthen its position both in the domestic and overseas markets. Click here to read more

Godrej Properties to buy railway land in Delhi for Rs 1,359 crore

Godrej Properties, one of India's largest land bank owner, on Monday announced that it will buy land from Railway Land Development Authority for developing a new project in the residential market of Ashok Vihar, Delhi.  

With the land acquisition value of Rs 1,359 crores will be paid in instalments over several years as stipulated in the tender documents. The residential land transaction is said to be one of the largest in India so far this year.

Asian shares ease off 3-week highs as coronavirus fears return

Asian shares stepped back from three-week highs on Monday as investors weighed the near-term hit on global growth from a fast-spreading coronavirus outbreak in China. However, expectations of further policy stimulus helped stem losses.

Trading is expected to be light as U.S. stocks and bond markets will be shut on Monday for a public holiday. Read more here

Opening bell: The equity indices opened on a flat note on Monday due to impact of coronavirus on the global economic growth.

The Sensex is up 60.72 points at 41,318.46, while Nifty trades higher by 18.35 points at 12,131.80 About 560 shares have advanced, 333 shares declined, and 70 shares are unchanged at BSE.

All other sectoral indices are trading in the green, while Nifty IT index is up 0.46 per cent.

Yes Bank, GAIL, ZEE, Eicher Motors and HDFC Bank are trading higher, while ONGC, Cipla, Hindalco, Coal India and Adani Ports have lost the most.

Key barriers limit upside in Sensex, Nifty

The domestic equity market indices — the Sensex and the Nifty — remained flat last week despite a rally in the US market.

Global indices such as the Nikkei and the FTSE ended the week in the red, amid volatility.

On the domestic front, a contraction in the December industrial output and a rise in CPI inflation kept benchmark indices choppy. In the coming truncated week, the Sensex and the Nifty could remain volatile and look for a clear directional move, as the indices are poised at crucial zone. Read more here