Manufacturing activity expands at fastest pace in 8 years in September: PMI

India’s factory activity expanded at its fastest pace in over eight years in September as a relaxation in coronavirus lockdown restrictions drove a surge in demand and output, a private survey showed on Thursday, though layoffs continued. Signs of recovery are welcome news for Asia’s third-largest economy, which is widely expected to mark its first full-year contraction since 1979 this year. The pandemic is spreading in India at the fastest pace in the world. The Nikkei Manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index, compiled by IHS Markit, jumped to 56.8 in September from 52.0 in August, above the 50-level separating growth from contraction for a second straight month. It was the highest reading since January 2012. 

Maruti’s total sales jump 31% and exports 9% in the month of September year-on-year

Puneet Chhatwal of Indian Hotels says co will see some bookings as we get into the wedding season.

Chemcon Speciality Chemicals debuts with strong listing of 115% premium over issue price

Chemcon Speciality Chemicals debuted on the stock exchanges with a strong listing of 115 percent at Rs 730.95 on the BSE, over its issue price of Rs 340. Shares rose as much as 118 percent from its issue price, at Rs 743.80. The specialty chemical maker’s IPO was subscribed 149 times on its final day of bidding (September 23). The funds raised from the fresh issue will be utilised to meet the working capital requirement, CAPEX towards the expansion of manufacturing facility and general corporate purposes.

CAMS lists at Rs 1,527 as against issue price of 1,340 on the BSE

The shares of Computer Age Management Services (CAMS) got listed at Rs 1,518 as against the issue price of Rs 1,340 on the BSE. The initial public offer (IPO) of CAMS got fully subscribed on the second day of the bidding process, and was subscribed nearly 47 times. The Rs 2,244-crore public issue received bids for 1.38 crore equity shares against the offer size of 1.28 crore equity shares. The portion reserved for retail investors was subscribed 1.7 times, while the reserved category of non-institutional investors segment received 32.3 percent subscription. The price band was fixed price band of Rs 1,229-1,230 per share.

Bajaj Auto September Auto Sales | The company’s total sales in September 2020 rose 10 percent to 4.41 lakh units as against 4.02 lakh units, YoY. Total sales were up 24 percent, MoM. Domestic sales increased 6 percent to 2.28 lakh units from 2.15 lakh units while exports grew 14 percent to 2.12 lakh units as against 1.86 lakh units, YoY. Two-wheeler sales rose 20 percent to 4.04 lakh units from 3.36 lakh units while three-wheeler sales declined 44 percent to 36,455 units from 65,305 units, YoY. 

Technical View | We are at a fulcrum point – trading above 11,350. It is imperative the markets close above this level for the bulls to take over. From here, we can achieve 11,600 and then 11,800. If we are unable to close past the 11350 marks and make a U-turn, we could drop back to 10,700-10,800, said Manish Hathiramani, Proprietary Index Trader and Technical Analyst, Deen Dayal Investments

Microfinance companies look attractive, says HDFC Securities

Despite a risky business, the microfinance companies have attracted investors over the years due to fast growth and high return ratios. The potential of further business growth due to under-penetration, fat spreads leading to high RoAE and cheap valuations have made microfinanciers a better investment option, analysts said. In the past two years, while broader credit growth has slowed considerably, microcredit growth has fared better. At present, active microcredit borrowers are just 4.3 percent of the population. 10 Indian states account for more than 80 percent of outstanding microcredit and the average outstanding per borrower is around Rs 39,300. More here

Opening Bell: Sensex opens 400 points higher, Nifty above 11,350; financials, auto stocks gain

Indian indices opened higher on Thursday following gains in Asian peers mainly led by banking and auto At 9:18 am, the Sensex was up 391 points at 38,458 while the Nifty rose 108 points to 11,355. Broader markets were also positive for the day with Nifty Midcap and Nifty Smallcap indcies up 0.9 percent and 1.4 percent, respectively. All sectors also witnessed buying in early morning deals. Nifty Bank surged over 1.5 percent while Nifty Fin Servcies and Nifty IT also rose over 1 percent each. The auto and metal indices gained 0.9 percent in trade. On the Nifty5- index, Bajaj Auto, IndusInd Bank, Adani Ports,  Tata Motors, and Tata Steel while ONGC, Eicher Motors, Nestle and GAIL were the only stocks in the red.

Morgan Stanley is OVERWEIGHT on Reliance Ind, target at Rs 2,247/share

Voda Idea AGM: KM Birla says fund raise of Rs 25K cr sufficient for now

Debt-laden telecom operator Vodafone Idea Ltd (VIL) held its annual general meeting on September 30, to, among other things, seek shareholders’ approval to raise a previous borrowing limit of Rs 25,000 crore to Rs 1 lakh crore. At the meeting, shareholders questioned the company’s decision to spend money on rebranding and IPL marketing, even as it has been incurring losses. Vodafone Idea, rebranded itself as Vi (read as ‘we’) on September 7. Chairman Kumar Mangalam Birla whose Aditya Birla Group is joint promoter of VIL alongwith Vodafone Plc, said that tariffs continue to be the lowest in India, while data consumption in the country is the highest in the world. Here are the key takeaways from the AGM

Domestic gas price cut by 25%, negative for ONGC, OIL; positive for end users

The price of domestic natural gas for the second half of the financial year 2020-21 is cut by 25.1 percent to $1.79 per MMBTU as against the earlier price of $2.39 per MMBTU. The ceiling price for deepwater natural gas is set at $4.06 per MMBTU for the period starting October 1 until March 31, which was earlier at $5.61 per MMBTU. The sharp cut in the domestic natural gas price comes on the back of a cut in global prices, also impacted due to the coronavirus pandemic, which has lowered demand while production is higher. The impact of the price cut will be on companies like ONGC and Oil India which are into exploration and production of 80 percent of domestically produced natural gas in India. The move will impact both realisation and profitability of the companies, as crude prices have not recovered from their lows. More here

Here are a few global cues for today

Silver Lake co-investors to invest additional Rs 1,875 crore in Reliance Retail

Reliance Industries said in a filing to the stock exchanges that co-investors of Silver Lake will invest an additional Rs 1,875 crore into Reliance Retail Ventures, a subsidiary of Reliance Industries. This brings the aggregate investment by Silver Lake and its co-investors in RRVL to Rs 9,375 crore, which will translate into a 2.13% equity stake in RRVL on a fully diluted basis. This is the second investment by the private equity firm in Reliance Retail, having already bought 1.75 percent stake. Along with this, Silver Lake has also invested 2.08 percent in Jio Platforms, having invested Rs 10,202 crore in two tranches.

Brookfield REIT files papers with Sebi for IPO

Global investment firm Brookfield Asset Management has filed draft papers with market regulator Sebi for the initial public issue of its real estate investment trust (REIT). This would be the third REIT offering in country after the Embassy Office Parks REIT and the Mindspace REIT. The initial public offer consists of units of Brookfield India Real Estate Trust (Brookfield REIT) comprising fresh issuance aggregating up to Rs 3,800 crore and an additional component for an offer for sale, according to the draft papers filed with Sebi. Merchant banking sources said REIT is sponsored fully by Brookfield and the company is set to raise up to USD 600 million (around Rs 4,440 crore). More here

JUST IN: Reliance Ind receives subscription amount of Rs 1,894.50 Cr from Intel Cap & Rs 730 cr from Qualcomm for Jio Platforms

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

The Indian benchmark equity indices, Sensex and Nifty ended Wednesday’s volatile session flat as gains in FMCG, pharma and IT stocks were countered by selling metals and PSU Banks amid mixed global cues. The Sensex ended 94.71 points or 0.25 percent higher at 38,067.93 while the Nifty settled at 11,226.50, up marginally by 4.10 points or 0.04 percent. Broader indices underperformed the benchmarks as Nifty Smallcap and Nifty Midcap indices ended lower.

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