Stock Market Live: Sensex trades lower, Nifty below 14,900 dragged by banks, metals & pharma stocks

Buzzing | BEML shares gain over 3% on export orders worth $23 million

The share price of state-run BEML Ltd gained over 2 percent on Wednesday after the company said it received export orders worth USD 23 million from Cameroon and Bangladesh for construction equipment under the Government of India-Lines of Credit. The stock price of BEML has surged over 43 percent in the last one month. It has risen more than 44 percent in 2021. Read more.

Antique resumes coverage on Minda Industries with ‘hold’ rating

Antique Stock Broking has resumed coverage on Minda Industries with a ‘hold’ rating, and a price target of Rs 580 for the stock. The Antique note stated that the company “has expanded its presence in the faster-growing segments like sensors, infotainment systems, airbags, embedded systems, etc. The recent realignment of business domains will lead to the centralization of functions, like procurement, finance, marketing, technology, etc., thus resulting in benefits of scale. Minda has also increased its focus on exports and international sales”. More here

GMM Pfaudler shares gain after acquisition of assets of HDO Technologies 

Shares of GMM Pfaudler jumped 8 percent in intra-day deals on Wednesday after the firm acquired assets of HDO Technologies for Rs 58.46 crore in liquidation. The stock rose as much as 7.8 percent to the day’s high of Rs 4,550 per share on the BSE. However, it pared some gains to currently trade around 3.5 percent higher at Rs 4,361. This facility, spread over 11.9 acres with 7 manufacturing bays, is located in Vatva, Ahmedabad. In a press release, the company said,” we have participated in the e-auction process for the sale of assets (factory land, building, plant and machinery, office equipment, computers, furniture and fixtures, vehicles and capital work in progress) owned by HDO Technologies.”

SBI Cards shares decline 4% as Carlyle sells 4% stake via block deal

Shares of SBI Cards and Payment Services fell over 4 percent on Wednesday after over 4 crore equity shares of the firm changed hands via a block deal. According to reports, private equity firm Carlyle is selling a 4 percent stake in the country’s second-largest credit card firm for around Rs 3,728 crore. The sale price has been fixed at Rs 981.80-1,022.10 apiece, down 3.9 percent than Tuesday’s closing price of Rs 1,022. In 2017, the private equity firm had acquired a 26 percent stake in SBI Card from the GE Group for Rs 2,000 crores and later clocked huge gains via a partial exit in the SBI Cards IPO.

Standout Brokerage Report: Credit Suisse initiates coverage on UBL with target price of Rs 1,525

Credit Suisse has initiated coverage on United Breweries Ltd (UBL) with a target price of Rs 1,525. The firm expects a very strong pullback post-COVID in beer in FY22 and sees no structural headwinds going forward. Watch video for more

Motilal Oswal on Nazara Technologies IPO

We like Nazara given its leadership in highly underpenetrated mobile gaming, wide product portfolio and strong relationship and network. Nazara is expected to witness strong growth for next 2-3 years given its recent acquisitions and first mover advantage. The issue is valued at 5.5x FY21 P/BV and 7.6x FY21 EV/Sales on an annualized and post-issue basis. The issue is a first of its kind listing and has no peer comparison in India. We believe that the market would like to give premium valuation to emerging growth stories like mobile gaming. We recommend Subscribe.

Manish Hathiramani, Proprietary Index Trader and Technical Analyst, Deen Dayal Investments

The markets are still in a sideways patch. We need to either get past 15,300 on the upside or break 14,700 on the downside. Until then, we will witness choppy trading and lackluster sessions. Traders need to exercise extreme caution in these times as the risk-reward ratio is skewed in favor of risk.

Momentumisers: COFORGE surges 17% in last 5 days; here’s why

COFORGE Ltd has advanced by quite a bit over the last five days and seen 17 percent growth during the period outperforming the Nifty IT index which advanced by as much as four percent. This is backed by volumes because in the last five days the average volumes are up as much as 129 percent compared to daily average volumes on monthly basis in the last one month. Similarly, delivery is also high by 65 percent in the same aspect. At present, a substantial rise is seen in COFORGE and if you consider the 20-day moving average (DMA), its closer support is around Rs 2,600 and that’s a good 10 percent from where it is currently at. The reason why a surge is seen is that COFORGE specifically has been able to differentiate itself when it comes to its peers as well as the fact that we have seen improving growth prospects and that’s possibly another reason a surge is seen in COFORGE. Watch video for more

Direct tax collections as on March 16 show signs of recovery

Direct tax collections as on March 16 show signs of recovery, sources informed CNBC-TV18. According to them, the gross direct tax collections as on March 16 came in at Rs 10.22 lakh crore, which is a decline of 2.3 percent (y-o-y). The net direct tax collections stood at Rs 8.20 lakh crore, showing a marginal decline of 5.5 percent ( y-o-y). The advance tax collections stood at Rs 3.74 lakh crore, while the net corporate tax collections as on March 16 came in at Rs 3.99 lakh crore.

Morning market quote from Dr. V K Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist at Geojit Financial Services

“The FOMC meet outcome expected today is likely to have an impact on markets. The Fed is likely to emphasize it’s highly accommodative stance and signal that inflation is not a concern. That will be positive. Any departure from this stance can be negative. The US 10 year yield, firm at around 1.62%, will deter equity bulls from going aggressive. The second wave of Covid cases in parts of the country, though not serious, is an area of concern. Issues relating to the Astra Zenaca vaccine in parts of Europe is another concern. FIIs turning buyers again is positive but that is negated by DII selling. In brief, investors have to be cautious”

Opening Bell: Sensex opens flat, Nifty holds 14,900; FMCG stocks jump, banks drag

Indian Indices opened flat on Wednesday, tracking a decline in Asian peers as investors awaited the Federal Reserve’s meet. Investors remained cautious about whether the central bank will maintain near-zero interest rates amid the economy’s post-pandemic recovery. At 9:18 am, the Sensex was down 22 points at 50,341 while the Nifty was up 5 points at 14,915. Gains in IT and FMCG stocks were capped by losses in the banking and metal sectors.

Getting positive reactions from market; seeing strong demand continuing: Orient Electric

The Orient Electric stock had a great start in 2021 with a 33 percent gain so far. Motilal Oswal is positive on the stock. They have initiated coverage with a Rs 350 target. Rakesh Khanna, Managing Director and CEO of Orient Electric shared his views on the same. “Market has been behaving fairly positive for some time. Q3FY21 was good not only for us but for the entire industry and the FMCG sector has been doing well. Partly because of pent-up demand, partly because people have been staying more home,” he said. He sees fairly strong demand continuing till now. “To some extent, it will be a part of pent-up demand and to some extent, it will be a part of the change of behavior,” he mentioned. More here

Tepco shares slump 10% after regulator slams breaches at nuclear station

Tokyo Electric Power (Tepco) shares dropped around 10% after Japan’s atomic regulator found safety breaches at the company’s Kashiwazaki Kariwa station and the industry minister said it will not be able to restart the plant soon. Tepco shares had surged in recent months on hopes it would be able to restart Kashiwazaki Kariwa, the world’s biggest nuclear station, after years of trying to convince regulators and local residents it had learnt the lessons of the Fukushima disaster ten years ago. Regulators used their most serious evaluation – known as a red evaluation – of Tepco’s breaches that included failure to protect nuclear materials and security missteps that could have allowed unauthorized personnel access to sensitive areas of Kashiwazaki Kariwa.

RBI slaps Rs 2 crore fine on SBI for contravention of norms

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Tuesday imposed a penalty of Rs 2 crore on State Bank of India (SBI) for contravention of norms, including specific directions to the lender on remuneration to its employees in the form of commission. The penalty has been imposed for contravention of certain sections of Banking Regulation Act and its specific directions of RBI issued to the bank on payment of remuneration to employees in the form of commission, according to a release. It said the action is based on deficiencies in regulatory compliance and is not intended to pronounce upon the validity of any transaction or agreement entered into by the bank with its customers. More here

Kalyan Jewellers IPO subscribed 60% on day 1; retail portion booked 1.1 times

The initial public offering (IPO) of Kalyan Jewellers has been subscribed 60 percent so far on March 16 (Tuesday), the first day of the bidding process. The issue has received bids for 5.72 crore equity shares against the offer size of 9.57 crore shares, as per data available on exchanges. The reserved portion for retail investors was subscribed 1.1 times and that of non-institutional investors was subscribed 20 percent at end of day. Qualified institutional buyers have put in bids for over 1 lakh shares compared to the reserved portion of over 2.72 crore equity shares. The IPO comprises of issuance of fresh equity up to Rs 800 crore and an offer for sale (OFS) worth Rs 375 crore. The last day for subscribing to the issue is March 18.

First up, here is quick catchup of what happened in the markets on Tuesday

Indian indices ended on a flat note but in the red on Tuesday as gains in IT and FMCG stocks were capped by losses in metals and banks. The Sensex ended 31 points lower at 50,363 while the Nifty fell 19 points to settle at 14,910. Broader markets, however, outperformed benchmarks with the midcap and smallcap indices up 0.3-0.4 percent each. On the Nifty50 index, Asian Paints, Dr Reddy’s, HUL, HCL Tech, and Bharti Airtel were the top gainers while Cipla, Tata Steel, ICICI Bank, BPCL and SBI led the losses. Among sectors, the Nifty IT index rose the most, up 1.3 percent followed by the FMCG index, which gained 1 percent. Meanwhile, Nifty Auto was also in the green for the day. However, losses in Nifty Bank and Nifty Metal down around 1 percent each capped the gains. Nifty Fin Services also lost 0.7 percent during the day.

Welcome to CNBC-TV18’s Market Live Blog

Good morning, readers! I am Pranati Deva from the market’s desk of CNBC-TV18. Welcome to our market blog, where we provide rolling live news coverage of the latest events in the stock market, business and economy. We will also get you instant reactions and guests from our stellar lineup of TV guests and in-house editors, researchers, and reporters. If you are an investor, here is wishing you a great trading day. Good luck!