Technical Experts’ View: Himanshu Gupta of Globe Capital suggests two stocks, one of them is Bajaj Finance. He said, “The stock gave a breakout in today’s session. I think it is headed towards Rs 3,400-3,420 so long positions can be initiated here. Stop loss can be kept at Rs 3,320.” Among pharma stocks, Aurobindo Pharma is one stock that is on the verge of very strong breakout. “One can initiate long position with a stop loss below Rs 874 and a target of Rs 905-920,” added Gupta. 

Stock Update: Prestige Estates’ shares surged over 9 percent to Rs 222.50 per share on the NSE. It remains the best-performing stock from the Nifty Realty index. The stock has gained about 50 percent from its 52-week low levels. 

Stock Update: Manappuram and Muthoot Finance’s shares gained as much as 6 percent during the day after RBI said that it will ease rules for advances against gold. Governor Shaktikanta Das said that the loan-to-value limit for gold loans for non-agri purposes has been raised to 90 percent from 75 percent earlier. This will be available till March 31, 2021. At 2:36 pm, Manappuram Finance traded 1.26 percent lower to Rs 157.25 while Muthoot Finance’s shares fell 4.44 percent to Rs 1,202.

Rupee Update: The Indian currency ended little higher on Thursday after the RBI-MPC kept the policy rates unchanged. The rupee ended at 74.92 against the US dollar as compared to Wednesday’s close of 74.94. 

Bank Index Update: The Nifty Bank index extended gains, to trade 1.14 percent higher. HDFC Bank surged 2.04 percent while ICICI Bank and Kotak Mahindra Bank rose over 1 percent higher. The stocks that traded in the red are Axis Bank, Punjab National Bank and Bandhan Bank. 

Market Experts View: Kuntal Sur, Partner and Financial Risk and Regulation Leader, PwC India basis the monetary policy

“RBI recognized the war against COVID-19 is a global phenomenon and this will push Indian’s growth in the negative territory. Recognizing the ample liquidity in the market, MPC voted unanimously in favor of status quo, leaving repo rate and reverse repo rate unchanged. The committee expects inflation to remain elevated in Q2, ease only in the second half of fiscal.

Going by the market expectations, RBI is setting up an expert committee headed by KV Kamath for corporate and personal loans resolution plans, which will look into sector specific financial parameters for restructurings. The committee also changed the weightage of Priority Sector Lending in favor of neglected districts and good news for startups and renewable energy sector as these are brought under PSL.”

Deepthi Mary Mathew, Economist at Geojit Financial Services: RBI acted judiciously by keeping the rates unchanged. The surplus liquidity in the banking sector and expectation of inflation rate to remain at the elevated levels in Q2FY21 guided RBI’s decision. 

One of the major announcements was with regard to raising LTV for gold from 75 percent to 90 percent. This would be beneficial to the Indian households in the wake of rising gold prices. (Source: Moneycontrol)

RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das announces Rs 10,000 crore special liquidity facility for Nabard, NHB

RBI in today’s policy meeting announced an additional special liquidity facility of Rs 10,000 crore for NABARD and National Housing Bank. Das said this additional funding will help NBFCs and housing sector tide over the liquidity crisis. 

RBI Policy LIVE Updates: Space for rate cut available but better to be judicious, says RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das

– Borrowing costs have dropped to the lowest in a decade due to abundant liquidity. CPs of NBFCs have softened to 3.8 percent

– OMOs, Twist, LTRO & TLTRO measures are being sterilised via reverse repo operations

– The FY21 real GDP growth expected to be negative, says Das but adds that early containment of the pandemic will help improve the outlook

– The ratio of forex reserves to external debt has increased from 76% to 85.5%

– The early signs of revival in May/June subdued in July due to renewed surge in COVID-19 cases

Breaking News: RBI’s MPC has decided to leave the policy rate unchanged at 4 percent and will continue its accommodative stance.

Existing rates: Repo Rate: 4%, Reverse Repo Rate: 3.35%, MSF Rate: 4.25%, Bank Rate: 4.25%, CRR: 3%. SLR: 18%

Keshav Lahoti, Associate Equity Analyst, Angel Broking Ltd on Inox Leisure

Q1FY21 was a nightmare for the multiplex industry. For the quarter, the company has not booked any amount for rent and CAM charges as it has evoked force majeure clause. Rent and CAM charges which is yet to be confirmed in writing for the quarter was Rs 86 crore. Although management was confident no liability for it will arise in future. In 41 screens at least 75 percent of work is already completed in each screen and is expected to be opened in this financial year for which Rs 28-30 crore more capex needs to be incurred. Company will restart the capex cycle once they reach normalcy. Multiplex industry missed the bus to start their operation in unlock 3.0 also. Even if they are allowed to be opened by the Ministry of Home Affairs then we believe all states will not allow to open theatres at one go in their respective states. Initially for a few months industry will have to function at lower occupancy as people will avoid visiting theatres due to fear of Covid-19. However from a long term perspective, we remain positive on the Multiplex Industry and Inox Leisure considering that stock has corrected more than 50 percent due to covid-19 and we don’t see any major change in the long term fundamentals of the Company.

Stock Update: Canara Bank’s shares fell as much as 1.59 percent lower to Rs 101.95 per share on the NSE after the public lender reported a standalone profit after tax of Rs 406 crore for the June quarter, helped by improvement in net interest income. The bank amalgamated Syndicate Bank with itself effective April 1, 2020.

The pre-amalgamation standalone profit for the quarter ended June 2019 stood at Rs 329.07 crore. “We have reduced our expenses both in terms of operating as well as interest expenses. Our interest income has been retained to the earlier level even though our rate of interest has gone down. Here’s more on this

Technical Market Experts View: Shrikant Chouhan of Kotak Securities recommends two stocks

“Till the announcement of the policy, we are going to focus on stocks which are defensive and doing well, like pharmaceuticals. If you see the trend of Torrent Pharmaceuticals, Divi’s Laboratories or even Cipla, they are showing lot of strength. Cipla is very close to its all-time highest levels. The all-time high level for the stock is around Rs 755 and currently it is trading at Rs 735. So if the stock crosses Rs 755 then we may even see the stock crossing the levels of Rs 800. One can buy the stock today with a stop loss at Rs 715, and target at around Rs  755.”

“The other stock which we are bullish on is Tata Consumer Products, there is lot of momentum and it is also heading for the levels of Rs 500. The volume and momentum is increasing on a day-to-day basis. So here also we are of the view that it is a buy, keep target at Rs 500.”

The last meeting of the first MPC: An appraisal of the institution

Even as the external members of the Monetary Policy Committee walk into their last meeting, they must be reflecting on their own redundancy. The repo rate, the only instrument that the MPC can change, is irrelevant to the market at the moment and has been that way for the last four months.

The market is so awash with liquidity that the reverse repo rate is the operational rate. Indeed at times, the tripartite repo rate (which is the effective interbank benchmark) falls below even the reverse repo rate. Also, the MPC’s mandate was to keep the consumer price index at 4 percent, +/- 2 percent. But for the last six months, the CPI has been averaging 6.5 percent. Continue reading

Buzzing | Yes Bank’s shares surge over 4% after rumours of LIC buying stake, Moody’s upgrade

Yes Bank’s shares surged over 4 percent on Thursday after media reports indicated that the country’s largest insurer LIC bought shares of the troubled private lender. Also, Moody’s recent upgrade on the private lender is fuelling the rally. With this deal, LIC’s stake in the private bank has risen to 4.98 percent from 0.75 percent earlier, indicated reports.

Also, Yes Bank’s shares is the recent rating upgrade by Moody’s Investors Service.The credit rating agency has upgraded Yes Bank’s long-term foreign currency issuer rating to ‘B3’ from ‘Caa1’. It has also upgraded the bank’s long-term foreign and local currency bank deposit ratings to ‘B3’ from ‘Caa1. The outlook on the Bank has been changed to stable from positive, 

Buzzing | Hindustan Zinc shares rally over 7 after Citi raises target price

Hindustan Zinc stock price rose over 7 percent after global research firm Citi maintained buy call on the stock and raised the target price to Rs 240 from Rs 205 per share earlier. Citi believes that the company has largely tended to move in tandem with zinc LME and has a bullish view on silver. Strong dividend yield expectations augur well, Citi said.

It raised FY21-23 EBITDA Estimates by 9-18 percent.

Rupee Opens | Indian rupee opened higher by 12 paise at 74.82 per dollar against previous close of 74.94, amid buying in the domestic equity market.

Buzzing | JK Lakshmi Cement stock price falls over 5% after weak Q1FY21 earnings

Shares of JK Lakshmi Cement declined over 5 percent in the earl trade on Thursday after the company reported weak earnings for the quarter ended June 2020. The stock fell as much as 5.97 percent to Rs 280 on the BSE. The company reported a 5.80 percent decline in consolidated net profit for Q1FY21 to Rs 50.63 crore as against Rs 53.75 crore in the year-ago quarter impacted by lower sales due to the coronavirus lockdown.

Revenue from operations fell 19.78 percent to Rs 911.54 crore during the quarter under review, as against Rs 1,136.32 crore, YoY. Realizations during the quarter fell 3 percent, YoY, but rose 0.5 percent sequentially. Calculated EBITDA/ton was at Rs 750/ton.

Just In | Indoco Remedies gets approval from the US Food and Drug Administration (USFDA) for Olanzapine tablets, used to treat schizophrenia.

Technical View | The Nifty has opened around the 10,200 level and we need to see if it can get past that level on a closing basis. Only then can we think on the bullish side. Until then traders can use a favourable risk is to reward ratio trade and go short at current levels with a stop above 10,200 and a target of 10,800, says Manish Hathiramani, Index Trader and Technical Analyst, Deen Dayal Investments.

Opening Bell: Sensex opens over 150 points higher, Nifty above 11,150; HDFC, RIL up over 1%

Indian benchmark indices, Sensex and Nifty opened higher on Thursday ahead of the RBI Monetary Policy Committee meeting at 12 pm today. HDFC, RIL and ONGC contributed gains, trading over 1 percent higher each. Meanwhile, Maruti Suzuki, EIcher Motors, Axis Bank, Shree Cement and HDFC Life were the index top losers.

The Sensex opened 171 points higher to 37,834 while the Nifty50 index opened at 11,151, up 50 points. Broader market was in-line with the benchmarks, with Nifty Midcap100 and Nifty Smallcap100 index trading 0.46 percent and 0.54 percent higher respectively.

All sectors traded in the green during the opening session. Nifty Media posted the highest gains, trading nearly a percent higher.