Closing bell: The equity indices Sensex and Nifty were broadly flat on Wednesday as escalating border tensions with China, and a spike in coronavirus cases both at home and abroad quelled hope of a continuation of the past month's recovery.

The Nifty 50 index ended down 0.33 per cent at 9,881.15 while the Sensex edged 0.29 per cent lower to 33,507.92. The small and midcap indices gained 0.5 per cent and 0.11 per cent respectively. The India Volatility Index was up 1.53 per cent to 33.47.

All the sectoral indices ended with both positive and negative bias, except Media index (up 1.71 per cent) and Realty index (up 0.76 per cent).

Maruti Suzuki was up 4.05 per cent and ended the top Nifty gainer while the laggard was Bharti Infratel, losing 4.49 per cent.

Interest waiver on loan moratorium: Apex court defers the matter to August

The Supreme Court on Wednesday deferred the plea to consider waiver of interest on interest for loan EMI (Equated Monthly Instalment) during six months moratorium period. However, it has asked the Centre and Reserve Bank of India to consider the matter.

A bench led by Justice Ashok Bhushan heard the plea seeking relief and then listed the matter for next hearing in August. It has sought clarity on whether banks can come up with new guidelines on this matter.

Sectoral indices at 2.45 pm

Maruti partners with Karur Vysya Bank for flexible financing schemes

Car market leader Maruti Suzuki India (MSI) on Wednesday said it has partnered with Karur Vysya Bank to offer simpler and flexible financing schemes for new customers.

Through the partnership with the bank, the company is seeking to offer prospective buyers special scheme of up to 100 per cent on road funding with six months holiday period on all models, except van EECO), loans for both salaried and self-employed customers and repayment period up to 84 months, Maruti Suzuki India said in a statement.

Bajaj Auto says it has become the largest 2-wheeler and 3-wheeler manufacturer in terms of revenue in India

Bajaj Auto has emerged as the largest two-wheeler and three-wheeler manufacturer in India in terms of revenue, post the announcement of its corporate results for FY 2019-20, the company claimed on Wednesday.

Bajaj Auto Ltd. posted revenues of Rs 29,919 crores in FY 2019-20 with operating EBITA margins of 17.6 per cent at Rs 5,253 crores and profit before tax (PBT) of Rs6,580 crores. The company has clocked a CAGR of 10 per cent over the last decade (2010 – 2020), with revenues moving up from Rs 11,509 cr. in FY 2009-10 to Rs 29,919 cr. in FY 2019-20, it said in a statement.

The shares are current trading 1.05 per cent down at Rs 2,690 in afternoon trade.  

Nifty Call: Buy with a stop-loss at 9,890 levels

The Sensex and the Nifty commenced the session in a negative note amid weak Asian markets. The Nikkei 225 has fallen 0.5 per cent to 22,455 while Hang Seng index has climbed 0.6 per cent to 24,501 levels in today's session.

After initial choppiness, the Sensex and the Nifty started to trend upward, advancing about 0.5 per cent. The market breadth of the Nifty is biased towards advances. Read more on the technicals here

AIIB approves USD 750 mn loan to India for COVID-19 response

Beijing-based Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) on Wednesday said it has approved a USD 750 million (around Rs 5,714 crore) loan to India to help the government strengthen its battle against the adverse impact of COVID-19 on poor and vulnerable households.

“Cofinanced with the Asian Development Bank, the budgetary support will go toward bolstering economic aid for businesses, including for the informal sector, expanding social safety nets for the needy, and strengthening the country’s health care systems,” the multilateral agency said in a statement.

Reliance Jio to capture 48% market share by FY25, says Bernstein report

Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Jio is likely to capture 48 per cent of Indian mobile subscriber marketshare by 2025 with over half a billion users, Bernstein said in a report on Wednesday.

“At our last model update in December, we proclaimed Reliance Jio the new king of Indian telecommunications. Since then, we have seen a multitude of international investors reach the same conclusion,” the analyst said in the report.

Wonderla Holidays forays into food takeaway and home delivery; shares surge 5%

Wonderla Holidays Limited launched their first-ever takeaway and home delivery venture with their first "Wonder Kitchen" outlet at Kengeri, near to satellite town Bangalore, 16 km away from Wonderla Amusement Park.

Wonder Kitchen is a multi-cuisine outlet serving vegetarian and non–vegetarian dishes. The Start-up has associated with Swiggy and Zomato for online orders and home delivery. The outlet will operate from 11 am to 9 pm and will do the delivery within the 5 km radius.

The shares surged to the day's high, gaining as much as 5 per cent to Rs 137.50.

Titagarh Wagons enters into a strategic alliance with ABB; shares surge 5%

Shares of Titagarh Wagons surged 5 per cent to lock in at upper circuit of Rs 32.75 per share based on the news of it had entered into an exclusive cooperation agreement with ABB to address the propulsion equipment business for the Indian Railways.

According to the agreement, Titagarh and ABB will work together to design, develop and manufacture state of the art 3 phase IGBT based propulsion systems for EMU/MEMU which would be manufactured in Titagarh’s plant at Uttarpara, Kolkata with specific components being supplied by ABB.

The agreement goes into effect immediately with the first units to be put into revenue service in less than two years.

Praj Industries up 4% on deal to co-develop yeast for production of lactic acid

Snapping a three-day losing streak, the shares of Praj Industries gained over 4 per cent to Rs 65.50 on Wednesday.

Earlier, Praj Industries and Lygos, Inc have signed a Memorandum of Understanding to co-develop Lygos’s proprietary yeast for the production of lactic acid.

As part of this MoU, Lygos will provide its proprietary yeast platform to Praj for jointly developing into various solutions for commercial applications.

Praj has already developed and offered bacterial fermentation technology to produce lactic acid and downstream products from the sugary feedstock. Lactic acid is also used in food and beverages, in cleaning agents as well as in the electronic industry.

The global lactic acid market size is estimated at around USD 1 billion as of 2019.

Noon trade update: The benchmark equity indices Sensex and Nifty continue to trade in a narrow range on Wednesday.

At noon, the Nifty was up 0.1 per cent at 9,923 while the Sensex was up 0.01 per cent at 33,641.

The Nifty Bank index was up 0.3 per cent at 20,351 while the Midcap and Smallcap indices were up 0.1 per cent and 0.6 per cent respectively. The India Volatility Index was up 2 per cent to 33.61.

All the sectoral indices were trading flat with both positive and negative bias, except Media index, which remains the top sectoral gainer, rising 1.6 per cent.

Maruti Suzuki was up 3.3 per cent and remains the top Nifty gainer while the laggard was Bharti Infratel, losing 2.5 per cent.

Bank of Maharashtra drops 11% on Q4 results

Bank of Maharashtra on Tuesday reported a 19 per cent fall in standalone net profit at ₹58 crore in the fourth quarter ended March 31, 2020, due to a jump in loan-loss provisions, including the Covid-19 pandemic-related regulatory package.

Reacting to the financials, the shares have dropped as much as 11.90 per cent to ₹10 in the early trade. Later it recouped losses to trade 4.41 per cent lower at ₹10.85.

HDFC AMC drops nearly 3% as Standard Life's OFS kicks off

Shares of HDFC Asset Management Company dropped over 3 per cent on Wednesday as one of the promoters, Standard Life Investments, announced an offer for sale (OFS) for selling up to 60 lakhs shares in the AMC, forming 2.82 per cent of total equity.

The two-day OFS will close on Thursday.

The sale price of the OFS shares was fixed at Rs 2,362 apiece, 7 per cent discount to Tuesday’s closing price of Rs 2,538.

The shares fell as much as 2.64 per cent in the morning trade to Rs 2,472.95.

Nifty media stocks gain over 1%; Network18 gains 5%

Media shares were trading with gains on Wednesday led by Network18 which rose by 5 per cent.

Shares of Dish TV (up 4.83 per cent), Balaji Telefilms (up 3.94 per cent), Zee Media (up 2.99 per cent), TV18 (up 2.61 per cent) and Zee (up 1.43 per cent) were the top gainers in the media index.

DB Corp (up 1.01 per cent), Sun TV (up 0.60 per cent), Jagran (up 0.51 per cent), and Saregama (up 0.38 per cent) too were trading higher.

The Nifty Media index was trading 1.25 per cent up at 1,331.35 at 11.12 am.

Benchmark NSE Nifty50 index was down 23.60 points at 9,890.40 while the BSE Sensex was trading 82.70 points lower at 33,522.52.

Amid lockdown, stock markets see a spike in activity

The key, they say, is in not spending time, but in investing it. With the pandemic-induced lockdown and the resultant work from home (WFH) offering plenty of time, many people have found a way to not just invest their time but also reap some dividends. Read more here

Rupee might head southwards 

he rupee (INR) has opened flat today at 76.21 against the dollar (USD). The local currency, which closed below the support of 76 yesterday, seems to be carrying the bearish bias today as well. It is best to exercise caution as long as it remains below 76.

Currently trading at 76.2, the domestic currency has its immediate support at 76.3. Below that level, the support is at 76.5. But if the rupee recovers, 76 can be a major hurdle. A rally above that level can take the exchange rate to 75.8. Subsequent resistance is at 75.6.

Billionaire Damani considers taking control of India Cements

Radhakishan Damani, who built a fortune rolling out his supermarkets across the country, is considering acquiring a controlling stake in India Cements Ltd., according to people familiar with the matter.

Damani, the owner of Avenue Supermarts Ltd., has informally reached out to the cement manufacturers controlling shareholder, N. Srinivasan, to explore a takeover, the people said, asking not to be named as the information is not public.

Srinivasan, who controls about 29 per cent of the Chennai-based cement maker, is also exploring other investors to ward off any hostile bids, the people said, adding Damani has promised a friendly change in management and isn’t seeking a hostile takeover. No decision has been made on how Damani and Srinivasan will proceed, the people said.

A representative for Avenue Supermarts declined to comment, while a spokesperson for India Cements said the information isn’t correct, without elaborating.

FII Data: As per the provisional exchange data, on a net basis, foreign institutional investors sold equities worth Rs 1,478.52 crore in the capital market on Tuesday.

Fuel price hiked in an 11th straight day in a row

Petrol price on Wednesday was hiked by 55 paise per litre and diesel by 60 paise a litre, marking the 11th consecutive day of increase in rates that now totals to Rs 6.02 for petrol and Rs 6.4 for diesel.

Broker's call: KNR Constructions (Buy)

KNR’s revenue declined 5.6 per cent y-o-y to ₹680 crore, above estimate of ₹530 crore led by stronger execution in HAM projects.

EBITDA margins grew 160 bps y-o-y to 21.7 per cent (est: 18.8 per cent) led by improved revenue mix. While debt reduced marginally y-o-y to ₹230 crore (down ₹110 crore q-o-q), interest expenses grew by 93.1 per cent y-o-y to ₹14.5 crore due to higher average utilisation of debt and mobilisation advances and debt reduction only at end of the quarter.

Opening bell : It's a weak start for Indian equity indices on Wednesday.

Geopolitics also lurked as a worry with India reporting 20 of its soldiers had been killed in clashes with Chinese troops at a disputed border site. North Korea rejected a South Korea offer to send special envoys and vowed to send back troops to the border.

The Sensex was quoted at 33,417, down 188 points or 0.56 per cent. The Nifty eased 37 points or 0.38 per cent at 9,876.70.

Today's Pick| Godrej Agrovet (₹426.3): Buy

Breaking above a key medium-term resistance at ₹411, the stock of Godrej Agrovet surged 7.6 per cent on Tuesday with above average volume. This rally provides traders with a short-term perspective an opportunity to buy the stock at current levels. It took support at ₹265 in late March this year and reversed direction, triggered by positive divergence on the daily RSI. Click here to read the technicals

Day Trading Guide for June 17, 2020

₹990 • HDFC Bank

₹700 • Infosys

₹184 • ITC

₹83 • ONGC

₹1617 • Reliance Ind.

₹172 • SBI

₹2044 • TCS

9897 • Nifty 50 Futures

S1, S2 : Support 1 & 2; R1, R2: Resistance 1 & 2.

Dollar firm after retail sales jump fans recovery hopes

The dollar held firm against many of its rivals on Wednesday after US retail sales jumped far more than expected in May, while risk-sensitive currencies were hobbled by concerns about the coronavirus and diplomatic tensions in Asia.

Federal Reserve chairman Jerome Powell also doused some of the rosy expectations on Tuesday, as he painted a rather bleak picture of the US economy.

The dollar index stood at 97.003, having risen about 0.4 per cent on Tuesday.

Wall Street closes higher on signs of economic recovery

Wall Street advanced on Tuesday as the prospect of additional stimulus and a record jump in retail sales suggested the US economy could bounce back sooner than expected, five months into its pandemic-inflicted recession.

All three major US stock indexes posted their third consecutive daily gains.

The Dow and the S&P remain about 11 per cent and 8 per cent below their respective record closing highs reached in February, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq hovers about 1 per cent below its all-time closing high reached on June 10.

Data released by the Commerce Department showed retail sales jumped by a record 17.7 per cent in May, blowing past the 8 per cent increase analysts expected.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 526.82 points, or 2.04 per cent, to 26,289.98, the S&P 500 gained 58.15 points, or 1.90 per cent, to 3,124.74 and the Nasdaq Composite added 169.84 points, or 1.75 per cent, to 9,895.87.

Asia stocks given pause by virus surge, geopolitics

Asian share markets took a breather on Wednesday as a resurgence of coronavirus cases challenged market confidence in a rapid economic recovery, even as the rebound in US retail sales in May broke all records.

Geopolitics also lurked as a worry with India reporting 20 of its soldiers had been killed in clashes with Chinese troops at a disputed border site. North Korea rejected a South Korea offer to send special envoys and vowed to send back troops to the border.

It was enough to inject a note of caution into trading and Japan's Nikkei eased 0.7 per cent, after jumping almost 5 per cent on Tuesday for its biggest daily gain in three months. MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan went flat, having climbed 2.8 per cent the previous day, with most markets across the region little changed.

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