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Domestic benchmark indices opened higher today taking cues from the US and other Asian equities and led by gains in infrastructure, metal and pharmaceutical companies. At 9:56 AM, the BSE Sensex was trading at 33,968, up 120 points, while the Nifty50 Index was ruling at 10,512, up 34 points. The Nifty Metal Index rose 0.6%, tracking higher global commodity prices. Copper prices, often used as an indicator of global economic growth, held onto gains to trade near a four-year high following strong import numbers from China earlier this week. The Nifty Pharma Index, up 0.6%, continued to gain for the second consecutive session led by gains in shares of Lupin, Dr. Reddy's Laboratories and Sun Pharmaceuticals. Shares of Reliance Communications rose 21% as the company plans to sell its wireless infrastructure assets, including spectrum, tower, fibre, and media convergence nodes, to Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Jio Infocomm.  Shares of Jaiprakash Power Ventures rose 13% on reports Canadi

The Power Transmission & Distribution Business of L&T Construction has bagged orders worth Rs1,600cr for various projects as follows: • It has secured an order from the Saudi Electricity Company for construction of 380kV Double Circuit Overhead Transmission Line between Qassim - 2 and Madina East Bulk Supply Point Substations. This is one of the longest lines in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, with a route length of more than 400 km. • In UAE, orders have been won for design, supply , installation , testing and commissioning of three 132/11kV Substations and associated works, one each from Dubai Electricity ft Water Authority, Shamal Development LLC and Meraas Development LLC. • In the domestic market, the business has secured a major order for EPC construction of 250MW (AC) solar plant in Rewa district of Madhya Pradesh. These order wins would improve its order book and give it revenue visibility going ahead. We believe divestment of non-core assets and acceleration in domest

Prataap Snacks (PSL) forays into sweet snacks segment by launching a new umbrella brand ‘Rich Feast’ through its wholly owned subsidiary. The first product under the new brand is ‘Yum Pie’, a three layered treat with sponge cake, flavoured jam and chocolate. The company has set up a fully automated manufacturing plant by its wholly owned subsidiary Pure n Sure Bites Pvt Ltd in Indore (M.P.) to manage the production of ‘Yum Pie’. Mr. Amit Kumat, MD & CEO of Prataap Snacks said, “Our new brand ‘Rich Feast’ marks our entry into sweet snacks category where we see a lot of untapped growth opportunity. With this, we will now get into a bigger macro-snack category from only being a salty snacks player. We intend to grow the Rich Feast brand further with new launches in the coming time.” PSL is one of the fastest growing companies in the Indian organized snacks market (third largest market share in the extruded snacks). Higher presence in smaller towns and outlets, value proposition a

Shares of  Tata Steel  are seen gaining after reports said the company's workers struck a deal with German industrial company Thyssenkrupp to secure steel plants and jobs. Thyssenkrupp could halve its stake in the planned European steel joint venture with the company if they list it on the stock market by end of 2024, a board member of the German industrial group said on Friday in a media report. Shares of the company ended 0.5% lower at Rs711.20 on Friday. Tata Steel, a part of the illustrious Tata Group, is an Indian steel manufacturing multinational company. It is a leading player in the domestic market and its production capacity of 27.5MTPA is spread across 26 countries. Click Here For Free Trial :

Indian equity indices extended gains led by Infosys, SBI, ICICI Bank and TCS. At 2:07 PM, BSE Sensex was trading at 33,929, up 173 points and the broader Nifty50 index was ruling at 10,485, up 45 points. In broader markets, the BSE Miidcap and BSE Smallcap indices were up 0.28% and 0.67%, respectively. TCS was up 1% after report indicated that the company renewed $2.25 bn deal with Nielsen till 2020 and also after Accenture earnings. Shares of Navin Fluorine International extended gains for the sixth consecutive session and rose over 3% after the company revealed its Rs115cr capacity expansion plan. Shares of SRS Ltd were up 3% after the company said it is in the process to sell its grocery retail business for Rs320 mn. Shares of eClerx Services extended gains and rose nearly 4% on the company's share buyback plan. Among sectors, PSU Bank, IT, Nifty Auto and Nifty FMCG were up, while Nifty Metal index was down 0.42%. The latter was the sole laggard among sectoral indices. Infos

Motherson Sumi’ s promoter Samvardhana Motherson International sold 1.37% stake in the firm for over Rs1,079cr, through an open market transaction, as per media reports. HDFC  has approved the sale of 100% of its equity share capital of HDFC Developers and HDFC Realty to Quikr India for a total consideration of Rs101.99cr and Rs254.98cr respectively. VIP Clothing  to allot 1.65cr shares at Rs26 each via rights issue. Canara Bank  plans to sell 4% stake in Can Fin Homes. The bank will hold 26% stake after the sale. Reliance Power  has approached the Delhi HC seeking early allocation of coal to its power plant in Maharashtra. NHPC  approved amending the company's MoA to enable it to apply to power regulator CERC for trading license. The decision is in-line with the Power Ministry's plan to make NHPC an aggregator for meeting the demand of peaking power. Havells India  announced its foray in the water purifiers segment aiming at Rs100cr revenue in the first year of operations.

The Reserve Bank of India, vide letter dated December 19, 2017, has placed Bank of India under prompt corrective action framework. The RBI has placed prompt corrective action framework consequent to the onsite inspection under the risk based supervision model carried out for the year ended March 2017. This is in view of high net NPA, insufficient CET1 capital and negative return on asset for two consequent years. The prompt corrective action would ensure overall improvement in risk management, asset quality, profitability, efficiency, etc of the bank. The Bank reported net NPA ratio of 6.5% in H1FY18 which has improved as compared to 7.6% in H1FY17. The CRAR and CET-1 stand at 12.2% and 7.2% respectively, in H1FY18. The Return on Asset for FY16 and FY17 are -0.94% and -0.24% respectively on account of provisioning of stressed assets. The Net Interest Margins (NIM) in H1FY18 stood at 2.07%. The stock is trading at a price of Rs174.45, down by 3.75% or Rs6.80, on NSE at 3.15pm. Click

Competition Commission of India (CCI) approved the proposed amalgamation of Bharat Financial Inclusion Limited with IndusInd Bank Limited. The Scheme remains subject to the receipt of approval from the Reserve Bank of India and other statutory and regulatory approvals, including the approvals of the Stock Exchanges, SEBI, the National Company Law Tribunal, and the respective shareholders and creditors of BFIL and the Bank. IndusInd Bank to react positive on this news as the Amalgamation is getting closer with is positive for the Bank. This will be a win-win deal as both companies will gain competitive advantage, realise synergies, and better their financial performance in the medium-to-long term. The deal is accretive to growth, margins, ROA, and capital for the Bank. The stock trades at ~3x FY20E P/BV. We have positive outlook on the stock. IndusInd Bank Ltd is currently trading at Rs1666.9, down by Rs5.35 or 0.32% from its previous closing of Rs1672.25 on the BSE. The scrip o

Equity benchmark was trading higher, on the back of positive global cues and BJP's win in Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh state elections. At 12:11 PM, the BSE Sensex was trading at 33,712, up 111 points, while the Nifty50 was ruling at 10,422, up 34 points. All BSE sectoral indices were trading in the positive zone. Among them, consumer durables index gained the most by 1.45%, followed by auto 1.39%, metal 1.02% and infrastructure 0.86%. Kridhan Infra stock gained 14% on the back of multiple block deals. Share price of Confidence Petroleum surged 3% as it has commissioned two new auto LPG dispensing stations in Tamil Nadu. KEC International has secured new orders of Rs2,424cr across all its business units. The stock was up 4%. Suzlon Energy stock advanced 2% as it has received 252 MW wind power projects from a leading global utility. Bharti Airtel stock is trading marginally higher after the company said that it has signed an agreement with Millicom International Cellular S.A.

Asian indices were mostly higher tracking the record close in the US markets on Friday as investor sentiment got a boost due to strengthening expectations of a tax rate cut in the US increased. Lawmakers are expected to vote on the tax-cut bill this week. Among sectors, technology and automobile companies were the top gainers, while steel companies lagged. At the time of filing, Nikkei was at 22781.4 up 1.01%, Hang Seng was at 28990 up 0.49%, Taiex was at 10512 up 0.44%, Shanghai Composite was at 3280 up 0.43%, Straits Times was at 3420.1 up 0.09% and Kospi was at 2478.9 down 0.11%. Click Here For Free Trial :

Shares of  Future Consumer  snapped a four-day losing streak and were up nearly 8%. The stock hit a lifetime high of Rs70.40 earlier today. It was the best performer among Nifty 500 constituents for the day, and has gained 17% so far in the month. Last week, brokerage firm Morgan Stanley initiated coverage on the stock with an 'overweight' rating, and a price target of Rs95. The stock is currently trading at Rs68, up by Rs4.5 or 7.09% from its previous closing of Rs63.5 on the BSE. The scrip opened at Rs64.7 and has touched a high and low of Rs70.3 and Rs63 respectively. Click Here For Free Trial :

Benchmark indices mildly recover after sharp fall, as investors eagerly awaited exit polls results later today after the end of second phase of Gujarat Assembly elections. The Sensex languished below the 33,000 level after skidding below that level in mid-morning trade. At 1:28 PM, the BSE Sensex was trading at 33,050, slipping 3 points, while the broader Nifty50 index was trading at 10,181, down 12 points. The selling pressure was broad-based, as the BSE Midcap Index fell 0.29% and the BSE Smallcap Index declined 0.28%. On the economy front, India's inflation based on the wholesale price index, stood at 3.93% for the month of November 2017, as compared to 3.59% for the previous month and 1.82% during the corresponding month of the previous year. Power, Consumer Durables, Utilities, IT and Industrial Index were the top losers on the BSE, while Pharma, Oil and Gas, Energy, Auto and Telecom were the top gainers. Capital goods stocks declined. BEML (-1.42%), Siemens (-1.18%), T

India’s largest paints company, Asian Paints Limited (APNT), announced acquisition of 100% stake in Reno Chemicals Pharmaceuticals And Co sme tics Private Limited (Reno) for a cash consideration of Rs159.52cr. This was announced to the stock exchanges on December 12, 2017. APNT is India’s largest and Asia’s fourth largest paints company with more than 50% market share in India. The company operates in 16 countries and has 25 paint manufacturing facilities in the world. APNT bought 4,950 equity shares of Reno at Rs3,22,258 per share totalling Rs159.52cr. The purchase entailed 100% equity share capital of Reno and was done in cash. APNT plans to use Reno’s land and buildings to meet its own infrastructure requirements. APNT has been on a buying spree in 2017. Its other acquisitions this year include Sleek International Private Limited (49% stake for Rs50cr in December 2017) and Sri Lanka’s Causeway Paints Lanks Private Limited (100% stake for cash consideration of Rs387cr). To cater

The board of directors of  SAIL  in its meeting held on December 12, 2017, has approved the proposal for signing of a legally non-binding term sheet with ArcelorMittal S.A for entering into a joint venture for Automotive steel business. Definitive agreements in this regard will be finalized in due course subject to financial viability.   Shares of SAIL closed down by half a percent. The stock opened at Rs 80.25 it hit an intra-day high of Rs 81.30 and an intra-day low of Rs 79.05. Steel Authority of India (SAIL) is a leading steel manufacturer with market share of ~20% in India.  Its capacity as of  FY17 stands at 13.8MTPA.   The company expects sales of ~16MT in FY18E, which would aid revenue growth in the near term. This would also be backed by government’s investment in steel intensive segments like infrastructure. Thus, we expect company to post 16% CAGR in revenue over FY17-19E. However, lower exposure to exports as compared to its peers prevents it from reaping exp

A joint bid by Aion Capital Partners and  JSW Steel  has emerged as the strongest contender for acquiring  Monnet Ispat and Energy Ltd , as per media reports. Tata Steel, Vedanta and SSG Capital also considered bidding for Monnet Ispat but it is considered as unlikely that they submitted bids. Sajjan Jindal-led JSW Steel has been eyeing distressed assets in the steel industry after successfully turning around Ispat Industries. The offer from Aion-JSW is said to be a cash deal making it a compelling proposal for lenders. Monnet Ispat owns a 1.5 million tonne integrated steel plant along with 230 MW captive power plant. Lenders led by the State Bank of India currently control 51% of the company, while the promoters hold 25.2%. The company owes the lenders ~ Rs10,300cr. Monnet Ispat is currently trading at Rs34.35, up by Rs1.05 or 3.15% from its previous closing of Rs33.3 on the BSE. The scrip opened at Rs34.5 and has touched a high and low of Rs34.6 and Rs33.8 respectively. The stoc

Bharti Airtel said an affiliate of private equity firm Warburg Pincus will acquire up to a 20% stake in its DTH arm Bharti Telemedia for about USD 350 million (around Rs2,310cr). Two promoter entities of InterGlobe Aviation plan to offload shares worth at least Rs1,245cr through the offer for sale route on Wednesday. Asian Paints said that it has Reno Chemicals Pharmaceuticals and Co sme tics for an amount of Rs159.5cr. Kalpataru Power received new orders worth Rs875cr. Punj Lloyd has received orders for laying and construction of steel pipeline along with associated facilities for Dharma-Angul section of Jagdishpur-Haldia-Bokaro-Dhamra Pipleline Project (JHBDPL) PH-II worth Rs276cr from GAIL. It has also received an order for upgradation of Yargi-Kalewa Road section in Myanmar of two lane with Earth shoulders on EPC mode worth Rs1,177cr, in joint venture with Varaha Infra from NHAI. Dr Lal PathLabs has approved, acquisition of a Proprietorship Concern. i.e. 'Satya Pathology an