Closing bell : Indian shares after an early advance swung in and out of positive territory through the day before sharply ending down in volatile trade on Tuesday.

NSE Nifty 50 index - which has fallen 23 per cent this month - dropped further by 2.50 per cent to end at 8,967.05 points, while the benchmark S&P BSE Sensex fell 2.58 per cent to 30,579.09.

The Sensex hit an intraday high of 32,047.98 and a low of 30,394.94. Similarly, the Nifty touched an intraday high of 9,403.80 and a low of 8,915.60. The market breadth was negative as 1,652 shares declined, against the advance of 777 shares, while 166 shares were unchanged.

The metals and mining stocks, which have sunk 36 per cent this year, dropped 1.03 per cent further on Tuesday with JSW Steel leading the loss.

Shares of Yes Bank surged over 59 per cent after Moody's upgraded its rating on the company, changing its outlook to “positive”.

The Nifty Private Bank index was down more than four per cent.

India's volatility index climbed 6.81 to scale a fresh 11-year high.

The Nifty Media index fell 5 per cent with Zee dropping over 20 per cent.

How YES Bank shares give windfall gains to marquee investors

An investment in YES Bank is already giving windfall gains to a few high networth individuals (HNIs) and institutions that were allotted shares under the bank’s recently announced restructuring scheme. Read more here

New business models will see HFCs enjoy double-digit growth in FY21: Brickwork report

Housing finance companies (HFCs) will begin to see double-digit growth next fiscal, aided by reworked business models, a steady pace in loan securitisation and adoption of new strategies such as co-lending with banks, according to a report by Brickwork Ratings (BWR).

HFCs grew at a CAGR of over 20 per cent during 2013-18, but their lending considerably dropped in the second half of FY19 to less than 10 per cent. This sharp decline was a result of the sector undergoing a severe bout of liquidity crisis as investor confidence dipped post IL&FS fiasco in September 2018.

Maruti Suzuki expands its commercial network portfolio with Tour range

Maruti Suzuki India on March 16 announced the expansion of its commercial network portfolio.

Maruti’s commercial network will now also sell the extensive Tour range of vehicles, namely Tour H1 (hatchback), Tour H2 (hatchback), Tour S (sedan), Tour V (van) and Tour M (MPV), the company said in a release.

Its commercial network already retails light commercial vehicle Super Carry and the van Eeco.

Alembic Pharma gets EIR from USFDA for API facility at Karakhadi

Alembic Pharmaceuticals on Tuesday said it has received an EIR from the US health regulator after inspection of its active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) facility at Karakhadi in Gujarat.

“The company has received Establishment Inspection Report (EIR) from the US Food and Drug Administration (USFDA) for the inspection carried out by them at our API facility at Karakhadi,” the drug firm said in a filing to the BSE.

Shares of Alembic Pharma were trading at Rs 533.75 apiece on the NSE, down 0.59 per cent from the previous close.

Moody’s upgrades Yes Bank rating by a notch; outlook positive

Acting quickly on the fast evolving capital position under the RBI-mandated restructuring of Yes Bank, rating agency Moody’s on Monday upgraded its ratings with a positive outlook.

Earlier in the day, Yes Bank announced that seven banks led by SBI have invested Rs 10,000 crore, boosting its core capital.

Later, Reserve Bank Governor Shaktikanta Das said if needed the central bank would give additional liquidity support to the crippled lender.

The central bank had superseded Yes Bank board on March 5 and placed it under an administrator.

“We today upgraded Yes Bank long-term foreign currency issuer and foreign currency senior unsecured MTN programme ratings to Caa1 from Caa3 and (P) Caa1 from (P) Caa3, respectively,” Moody’s Investors Service said in a late evening statement.

Accordingly, the credit outlook has also been changed to positive from negative.

‘Caa’ ratings are below investment grade.

Nifty call: Go long with stop-loss at 9,100

The Indian benchmarks are trading positively today, despite mixed cues from the Asian markets. The Nifty spot and the Sensex spot indices are up by one per cent each so far. Among the major Asian indices, the Nikkei has closed marginally higher whereas the Shanghai composite closed with a loss of 0.3 per cent. On the other hand, the Hang Seng is up by nearly 0.5 per cent. Read more on the technicals here

Broker's call: Natco Pharma (Sell)

Nacto Pharma is an R&D focussed, vertically integrated pharmaceutical company with an experienced management team and presence across multiple speciality therapeutic segments.

Key takeaways:  a) Total revenues declined by 11.6 per cent with sales of formulations degrowing by 19.7 per cent on a y-o-y basis. Read more here

Yes Bank continues to rally for 3rd day; shares jump over 50%

Shares of Yes Bank on Tuesday further jumped over 50 per cent after Moody’s upgraded the company’s ratings.

Rallying for the third consecutive day, the company’s scrip zoomed 56 per cent to Rs 57.90 on the NSE. The scrip has jumped nearly 100 per cent in three days.

Yes Bank shares had on Monday also jumped sharply by over 45 per cent after announcement of a restructuring plan.

The rating agency upgraded the company’s ratings and also changed its outlook to positive.

Broker's call: Marico (Buy)

After the requisite (albeit admittedly delayed) price action in its largest brand, Parachute (about 30 per cent of sales), Marico's overall volume growth outlook appears relatively better than peers, barring HUVR and Nestle.

Further, demand for brands like Parachute, Saffola, VAHO and youth products are unlikely to be significantly affected by the Coronavirus. Read more here

Coronavirus-led economic slowdown to weigh heavily on several key sectors: Moody’s

Coronavirus’s global spread will significantly slow down economic growth, which will, in turn, amplify its financial impact on several key corporate sectors, according to Moody’s Investors Service.

Global travel-related sectors have been hardest hit as coronavirus restricts movement, and disrupts supply chains, said Moody’s in a new global report.

The assessment by Moody’s is based on its baseline scenario, which assumes normalisation of economic activity in the second half of the year, and the ability of some companies to withstand the effects of the virus depending on its duration.

YES Bank short-squeeze: Delivery now allowed for last Friday sellers

A short-squeeze due to delivery and settlement chaos in YES Bank triggered a 45 per cent rise in its share price. After the short-squeeze, the depository participant NSDL said on Monday that it will allow delivery of those of those players who had sold on Friday. Read more here

Market update: Equity benchmark Sensex jumped nearly 500 points in early trade on Tuesday amid value-buying in recently-hammered stocks even as investors fretted over an impending economic global recession led by Covid-19 pandemic. After gyrating over 1,000 points in a highly volatile opening session, at 10.45 am, the BSE barometer was trading 478 points or 1.52 per cent higher at 31,868.  Similarly, the NSE Nifty advanced 166 points, or 1.81 per cent, to 9,3630.

On a net basis, foreign institutional investors sold equities worth Rs 3,809.93 crore on Monday, data available with stock exchanges showed. Tata Steel was the top gainer, followed by Maruti, Sun Pharma, HUL, ONGC and Reliance Industries, while HDFC twins, ICICI Bank, Kotak Bank and Titan were the top laggards. According to traders, despite heightened volatility amid fears of an economic recession, investors began bottom fishing at lower levels. Elsewhere in Asia, bourses in Shanghai, Hong Kong and Japan were trading on a positive note, while those in Seoul were in the red. In overnight trade, Wall Street indices collapsed in their worst day since 1987, with the S&P 500 and Nasdaq dropping about 12 per cent and the Dow sinking nearly 13 per cent on new coronavirus (Covid-19) scare. The number of deaths around the world linked to the virus has topped 7,000, after Italy announced a new surge in fatalities, with over 1,75,000 infections recorded globally so far.

Sundaram Fin Holdings to hike stake in IMPAL

Shares of NSE-listed Sundaram Finance Holdings and India Motor Parts & Accessories (IMPAL) will remain in focus as the the board of the former approved buying further stake in the latter.

In a release to the exchanges, Sundaram Finance Holdings said upon acquisition, the stake in IMPAL will increase to 21 per cent from 18.52 per cent. The deal size has been pegged at ₹15 crore, Sundaram Finance Holdings said in a notice to the stock exchanges. IMPAL shares on Monday closed at ₹396.05.

What to watch: Receipt of dues may lift Sadbhav Engineering

Sadbhav Engineering on Monday said it has received ₹457.7 crore in the second tranche of payment in connection with the sale of seven road projects to Indinfravit.

The company till now has received ₹1,291 crore and units of Indinfravit Trust worth ₹724.3 crore. Sadbhav Infrastructure Project, subsidiary of Sadbhav Engineering, in July 2019 had inked a pact with Indinfravit to sell 100 per cent stake in nine operational projects for an enterprise value of ₹660 crore.

Luxury hotels take a beating as virus crimps travel plans

India’s luxury and upscale hotels are in dire straits. The travel ban and lockdown imposed by many countries to contain the spread of coronavirus has dealt a body blow to the sector. Not only will it miss out a good part of the peak business season this year, the sector is staring at the possibility of losing out the next season as well. Read more here

IOC plans LPG bottling plant in Mizoram

State-owned Indian Oil Corp (IOC) is looking to set up an LPG bottling plant in Mizoram, besides upgrading 100 retail outlets across the Northeast in the next financial year, a senior official said.

The company is currently in talks with the Mizoram government for setting up the bottling plant in the state, said G Ramesh, chief general manager of the IOC.

The company would upgrade 100 retail outlets across the Northeast at an estimated cost of about Rs 50 crore in the next financial year, he added.

With record overseas borrowings, rupee fall could hurt India Inc

The Indian rupee has declined about 4% against the dollar in the last month and it couldn’t come at a much worse time for the companies faced with a record amount of offshore debt due next quarter.

The spread of the coronavirus has caused historic declines in asset prices globally, with investors increasingly bracing for a global recession and a jump in corporate defaults. Indian borrowers had been loading up on foreign currency-denominated debt amid a squeeze in rupee credit markets, and have to repay $7.5 billion of overseas bonds and loans in the April-June period, the most ever in a quarter.

Bank Nifty down 2.44%

The Bank Nifty is down 2.44 per cent to trade at 9,057.05 points after RBI leaves rates unchanged.

Opening bell: The benchmark indices, Sensex and Nifty, opened on a positive note on Tuesday. The Sensex was quoted at 31,615.72, up 225.65 points or 0.72 per cent. The Nifty was up 86.95 points or 0.95 per cent at 9,284.35.

However, it could not sustain to trade positive tracking Asian peers. At 9.23 am,   the Sensex was quoted at 30,940, down 449 points. The Nifty was down 75 points to trade at 9,122.

Elsewhere, Asian shares fell in a topsy-turvy session following one of Wall Street's biggest one-day routs in history as headlines about the coronavirus outbreak and its global economic impact whiplashed investor sentiment.

Earlier, Wall Street suffered its most significant drop since the crash of 1987 on Monday after unprecedented steps taken by the Federal Reserve, lawmakers and the White House to slow the spread and blunt the economic hit of the coronavirus failed to restore order to markets.

Bank of Japan pumps $30 billion through 3-month dollar operation, largest amount since 2008

The Bank of Japan offered $30.272 billion in its 84-day dollar funding operation, it said on Tuesday.

The takeup was the largest amount since the BOJ offered $30.584 billion in 84-day dollar funding operation on Dec. 2, 2008, during the market turmoil after the global financial crisis.

Asian stocks fall after historic Wall Street rout

Most Asian shares fell on Tuesday a day after Wall Street's historic market rout, with fleeting initial gains evaporating as the coronavirus remained a major risk to economic growth.

MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan gave up early gains to trade 0.43% lower. Read more here

Day Trading Guide for March 17, 2020

Given below are supports and resistances for Nifty 50 futures and seven key stocks that can help in your intra-day trading:

₹999 • HDFC Bank

₹583 • Infosys

₹147 • ITC

₹60 • ONGC

₹1015 • Reliance Ind.

₹223 • SBI

₹1696 • TCS

9118 • Nifty 50 Futures

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

Tube Investments of India (₹471.1): Sell

The stock of Tube Investments of India has potentially turned the trend bearish as it has breached a crucial support.

During 2019, the stock was largely consolidating between ₹325 and ₹420 post a rally that lifted the price from ₹215 levels. Click here to read more on the technicals