Closing bell: Equity indices on Friday ended flat in a listless trade.

The 30-share BSE index Sensex risen 37.67 points or 0.10 per cent to close at 39,058.06, while the 50-share NSE index Nifty closed at 11,583.90, up 1.30 points or 0.01 per cent.

The Sensex hit an intraday high of 39,241.61 and a low of 38,718.27. Similarly, the Nifty touched an intraday high of 11,646.90 and a low of 11,490.75.

Among NSE sectoral indices, PSU Bank index gained the most by 3.39 per cent, followed by banking 0.99 per cent, IT by 0.76 per cent and private bank by 0.41 per cent. On the other hand, metal index fell 0.56 per cent, auto 0.37 per cent, FMCG 0.23 per cent and pharma 0.06 per cent.

Yes Bank, SBI, ICICI Bank, Cipla and Sun Pharma gained up to 11 per cent.

On the other hand, Bharti Infratel, Tata Motors, Titan, JSW Steel and UltraTech Cement were among the top losers, shedding up to 8 per cent.

Rights issue pricing puts selling pressure on Piramal Enterprises

Piramal Enterprises (PEL) has come under massive selling pressure on the bourses today. Traders booked profit to subscribe to the rights issue of PEL at a later date, which is substantially lower than the prevailing market price.

The share price of PEL crashed by 17.3 per cent in intra-day trading today to touch a low of ₹1,425 on the BSE from its previous closing price of ₹1,723. Nearly 7 million PEL shares were traded on the BSE and the National Stock Exchange (NSE) till 2.49 pm. The share had witnessed some recovery and was trading at ₹1,586 post 2.30 pm.

Tata Elxsi, Hexaware, UBI to be excluded from F&O

Shares of Hexaware Technologies , Tata Elxsi and Union Bank of India will be excluded from futures and options trading from December 27, 2019, the NSE said in a release.

Based on the SEBI’s stock selection/exclusion criteria, contracts on these companies will not be issued on expiry of existing contract months, the NSE said.

However, the existing unexpired contracts of expiry months October, November and December would continue to be available for trading till their respective expiry and, new strikes would also be introduced in the existing contract months, NSE circular added.

NSE sectoral indices

SBI Q2 net surges 219% to Rs 3,012 cr

State Bank of India 's standalone net profit surged to Rs 3,012 crore  in second quarter ended September 30, 2019 against Rs 945 crore in  the year ago period. The profit includes an exceptions item of Rs 3,484 crore on account of partial sale of its investment in subsidiary SBI Life Insurance Company. Read more here

Bajaj Auto will continue to push new products, says Rakesh Sharma

Bajaj Auto will continue with its new product introduction strategy, even as the automobile industry is grappling with one of the worst slowdowns in recent times. Read more here

Piramal to raise Rs 5,400 crore through rights issue

Piramal Enterprises Limited will raise fresh capital Rs 5,400 crore (US$ 770 million) through a rights issue and preferential allotment of compulsory convertible debentures (CCDs).  The company plans to raise Rs 1,750 crore ($ 250 million) through the preferential allotment of CCDs (at a conversion price of Rs 1,510 per share) to Canadian institutional investor, Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec (CDPQ).

The rights issue of Rs 3,650 crore ($520 million) at Rs 1,300 per share, is intended to give an opportunity to all its existing shareholders to participate in the capital raise at an attractive price. "The promoters will participate in and are committed to the success of the rights issue," said a company statement.

Nifty call: Stay on the sidelines for a decisive breakout

Equity markets across the globe seems to be sluggish. The Indian stock market is no different. Both the Nifty and the Sensex, are moving within a range, and continue to consolidate for the fourth straight day.

On checking the market breadth of the Nifty 50 index, one can see that the number of stocks that have gained and lost are almost equally split as shown by advance – decline ratio, which stands at 26 – 24. Click here to read the technical call

Airtel launches startup accelerator programme

Bharti Airtel on Friday announced the launch of its startup accelerator programme to support the growth of early-stage Indian tech startups.

With the advent of its startup accelerator programme, Airtel aims to support the creation of a vibrant startup ecosystem that contributes to "Digital India".

Through this, early startups get access to Airtel's online and offline distribution network, deep market understanding and ecosystem of global strategic partners.

Also, Airtel has developed strong in-house capabilities around machine learning and artificial intelligence, which could be leveraged to aid the growth of startups. Furthermore, startups

also get access to advisory services from Airtel's executive team.

InterGlobe Aviation shares tumble 7 per cent after Q2 earnings

Shares of budget carrier IndiGo’s parent InterGlobe Aviation on Friday tumbled 7 per cent after the company posted a net loss of Rs 1,062 crore for the September quarter.

On the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), it dropped 6.98 per cent to Rs 1,550. On the NSE, the company’s scrip tumbled 6.84 per cent to Rs 1,551.

After market hours on Thursday, the company posted a net loss of Rs 1,062 crore for the September quarter, mainly on account of higher costs related to operating lease liabilities.

Pledged shares: Now, pay higher margin to deal in F&O

Are you an avid futures & options (F&O) trader? Then you may have to pay an extra margin of 35 per cent to deal in shares where promoters pledged their holding by more than 25 per cent of the total equity capital of the company and have a market capitalisation of over ₹1,000 crore.

The other criteria to attract the higher margin included concentration of top 25 clients in trading during the last 30 days is 30 per cent or more and if the price variation between high and low of scrip is greater than 40 per cent in the previous three months.

The higher margin norm will be implemented from November 1. Read more here

Personal tax tweak is fine, but mutual funds too need freedom from DDT

So, to give a boost to the sagging economy, is a rebate on personal income tax next on the cards?

If a section of the media is to be believed, the Centre is planning to hike the taxable income limits, especially the Rs 10-lakh slab, which attracts a 30 per cent rate at present. However, the tax cut may come with some strings, like scrapping some tax-breaks, including the one offered on house rent payments and interest earned on some bank deposits.

But mutual fund investors suffer DDT, even for receiving dividends from monthly dividend paying funds.

Hybrid funds such as Tata Hybrid Equity Fund, HDFC Balanced Advantage Fund, ICICI Prudential Equity and Debt Fund and L&T Hybrid Equity Fund pay routine dividends on monthly basis. These schemes are great hits with retired people and those looking for monthly income to meet their routine expenses. Read more here

Rupee technicals: Rupee bullish above 71.2

The rupee trimmed its gain on Thursday, as it closed the day lower by 0.16 per cent at 71.02 against the dollar. The demand for dollar dampened the Indian currency. This comes after the rupee closed positive for six consecutive trading sessions. Click here to read more on the technicals

Why India’s whistleblower protection programme is not as effective as that in the US

A whistleblower in India is protected under Indian law, but it is not as effective as it is in the US, where a separate entity takes care of such incidences. Click here to read more on the insight

UTI AMC picks up Citigroup, ICICI Sec to manage IPO

Citigroup Inc. and ICICI Securities Ltd. are among banks selected for UTI Asset Management Co.s planned initial public offering in Mumbai, according to people familiar with the matter.

HSBC Holdings Plc., SBI Capital Markets Ltd. and Kotak Mahindra Bank Ltd. are also picked to arrange the Indian mutual funds share sale, said the people, who asked not to be identified as the information is private. The offering could raise about 26 billion rupees ($366 million), the people said.

What to watch: SBI, RCap, HDFC AMC results in focus

Aavas Financiers, Arvind, Astec Life, Atul, CUMI, Easun Reyrolle, HDFC AMC, Heidelberg, Hikal, Honeywell, Huhutamaki, Ion Exchange, Infibeam, IRB Invit, Jubilant Life, Kothari Sugars, Mahindra EPC, Marico, NRB Bearing, Prajay Engineers, R Systems, Ratnamani Metals, Reliance Capital, SH Kelkar, Strides Pharma, SBI, Shriram City Union, Supreme Ind, Suraj, Tata Coffee, Tecil Chem, Timken, V2 Retail and Zuari Agro will declare their quarterly results on Friday.

Tata Motors: Results, fund-raising eyed

The board of Tata Motors will meet on Friday to consider July-September quarter results and fund-raising plans. The board may consider raising funds by way of issue of one or more instruments, including equity shares, convertible securities of any description or warrants or debt securities, through preferential issue, private placement, rights issue or any other methods or combination thereof. Shareholders would be closely monitoring the details of the fund-raising plans and results.

Opening bell: Equity benchmarks opened Wednesday with marginal gains in line with Asian peers. Asian shares inched up on Friday, tracking small gains in world markets as positive earnings offset economic growth concerns.

The Sensex is up 34.06 points at 29,054.45, while Nifty is up 31.05 points at 11,613.65.

Day Trading Guide for October 25, 2019

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

₹1235 • HDFC Bank

₹635 • Infosys

₹248 • ITC

₹141 • ONGC

₹1436 • Reliance Ind.

₹262 • SBI

₹2082 • TCS

11611 • Nifty 50 Futures

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

Today's pick - Castrol India (₹144.5): Buy

The stock of Castrol India jumped 7.8 per cent accompanied by above average volume on Thursday, decisively breaking above a key medium-term resistance at ₹137. Investors with a short-term view can consider buying the stock at current levels as the outlook is bullish. Read more here

Asian shares inches up tracking modest global gains

Asian shares inched up on Friday, tracking small gains in world markets as positive earnings offset economic growth concerns, while sterling weakened as the prospect of a UK election added fresh uncertainty to Brexit dramas.

In early trade in Asia, MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was 0.13% higher. Australian shares added 0.66% and Japan's Nikkei ticked up 0.15%.

COMMENT NOW