Heena Sharma Blog

  The BSE barometer Sensex scripted history on Thursday, January 21, when it scaled Mount 50,000 for the first time. The 30-pack index galloped from 40,000-mark hit on October 8, 2020 to 50,000 in just 74 sessions and from 45,000 level (scaled on November 4, 2020) in mere 32 trading days. When the index had plummeted to the lows of 25,000 at the peak of the Covid-19 crisis, there was little to no one who had envisaged such a meteoric rise from the index's three-year low. A plethora of factors have fuelled such a rally in the index, ranging from liquidity push by the central bankers to FII buying, and recovery in economic growth. Latest developments on the Covid-19 vaccine front and a change of guard in the United States too lent confidence to investors to keep ploughing money in the market. Read More

Shares of most information technology (IT) companies were trading flat with negative bias on Monday as investors turned cautious after the US President Donald Trump said late on Saturday he would announce new restrictions on visas within a couple of days to block the entry of certain foreign workers and protect Americans struggling with a job market devastated by the coronavirus pandemic . “We’re going to be announcing something tomorrow or the next day on the visas,” he told Fox News Channel. Asked if there would be exclusions from the new restrictions, Trump said very few. Read More

The second wave of Covid-19 is the biggest tail risk for the markets with 52 per cent of the fund managers surveyed by BofA Securities in May agreeing to the possibility. Permanently high unemployment, the break-up of the European Union (EU), and systemic credit event are the other tail risks cited. Vaccine breakthrough, the survey findings suggest, was the most likely V-recovery catalyst. A total of 223 panelists with $651 billion worth of assets under management (AUM) globally participated in the survey between May 7 and May 14, BofA said. Read More

The Bharti Airtel stock was up 9 per cent and hit a fresh all-time high after the company reported a better than expected performance in the March quarter, led by India's wireless segment. The price hikes that came into effect in December resulted in a 14 per cent jump in average revenues per user (ARPU) on a sequential basis. The metric at Rs 154 is the highest in 12 quarters. This helped the company report a 10 per cent uptick in India business and an 8 per cent increase at the consolidated level. India accounts for three-fourths of Bharti’s consolidated revenues. With wireless subscribers almost at the same level as in Q3FY20, revenue growth for the India mobile business on a sequential basis was driven entirely by the increase in ARPUs. Most brokerages had expected a 7-10 per cent sequential growth in ARPUs. Bharti’s wireless segment operational performance was better than Reliance Jio according to analysts at IIFL. Read More

Shares of multiplex operators PVR and Inox Leisure hit their respective 52-week lows in the early deals on the BSE on Friday amid reports that the Maharashtra government could extend lockdown in Mumbai, Pune and other hotspots in the state till May 31. That apart, media reports suggest OTT (over-the-top) platform Amazon Prime Video has acquired seven Bollywood and regional films, including Amitabh Bachchan-Ayushmann Khurrana starrer 'Gulabo Sitabo' and Vidya Balan-starrer 'Shakuntala Devi' for direct-to-digital premiere. PVR (Rs 851) and Inox Leisure (Rs 193) slumped 4 per cent each in the early morning trade, falling below their previous lows of Rs 870 and Rs 200, hit on May 6 and April 28, 2020, respectively. Read More

The S&P BSE Sensex is set to report its biggest quarterly fall in history of the stock market, with the benchmark index slipping 31 per cent during January-March 2020 quarter till Monday. The markets have entered a ‘bear phase’ on the back of panic triggered by the rampant spread of coronavirus ( COVID-19 ). Typically, a fall of 20 per cent or more from the peak level for a stock or an index is considered as a bear market territory for that traded unit. On the other hand, the Nifty 50, which declined 31.9 per cent, is likely to record its sharpest quarterly fall since June 1992 quarter when it fell 32.2 per cent during the quarter, while the Sensex had tanked 28.1 per cent during the same quarter. For the financial year 2019 - 2020 (FY20), the Nifty50 (down 28.8 per cent) and Sensex (down 26.5 per cent) recorded an over 25 per cent fall till Monday, March 30 – their worst performance in over a decade. Earlier in FY09, the S&P BSE Sensex had recorded 37.9 per cent fall,...

Equity and commodity futures market brokers have approached markets regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) over opening of their offices. While exchanges are open on Monday, brokers in the major tier-2 cities and trading hubs like Indore are stuck as police don't allow them to open their own offices due to country-wide lockdown amid coronavirus (Covid-19) scare. State governments like Maharashtra, Gujarat and Rajasthan have already declared exchange industry services under essential category. Hence, opening of offices in these three states should not be a problem. In a letter addressed to Sebi chairman Ajay Tyagi, brokers' association Anmi (Association of National Exchanges Members of India) has urged to explicitly declare brokers under essential services to enable them to work smoothly. Read More

Shares of YES Bank slipped 20 per cent to Rs 43.15 on the BSE on Friday, extending its Thursday’s 13 per cent fall, after new equity shares allotted to investors through preferential issue were permitted to trade on the exchanges. With the past two days’ decline, the market price of YES Bank has more than halved from the level of Rs 87.95 touched on Wednesday, March 18, in the intra-day trade. It had hit an all-time low of Rs 5.55 on March 6, on the BSE. “A 1,000 million equity shares of Rs 2 each issued at a premium of Rs 8 issued to non-promoters on a preferential basis pursuant to YES Bank Reconstruction Scheme, 2020, approved by Ministry of Finance, are listed and permitted to trade on the Exchange with effect from Thursday, March 19, 2020,” BSE said in a notice dated March 18, 2020. YES Bank had raised Rs 10,000 crore pursuant to allotment of shares to State Bank of India (SBI) and other investors including HDFC, ICICI Bank, Axis Bank, Kotak Mahindra Bank under the Reco...

After much delay, YES Bank is scheduled to announce its results for the third quarter ended December 2019 (Q3FY20) on Saturday, March 14. The results assume significance in the backdrop of recent developments that saw the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) supersede the board of directors of YES Bank and appointed Prashant Kumar as the administrator. The apex bank also put under moratorium all deposits with YES Bank till the first week of April. So, what do analysts expect the bank to unveil on Saturday? “ Quality of book / accounts; actual deposit base; details on the amount of money needed to meet the capital adequacy norms and get new investors on board; and an honest admission of the troubled assets of the bank are the four key things investors should monitor,” says Siddharth Purohit, an analyst tracking the sector at SMC Global. The moratorium on withdrawal of deposits till April and the proposal to write down the additional capital tier-1 (AT-1) bonds, analysts say, has not ...

Newsflow around State Bank of India (SBI) stepping in to rescue the cash-starved YES Bank has triggered a fresh sell-off in the state-owned bank's counter. While YES Bank tanked 80 per cent in intra-day deals, SBI lost over 10 per cent. The developments have also cast a shadow on the listing of the bank's credit card arm - SBI Cards & Payment Services - which was expected to list at up to 50 per cent premium against the issue price. While analysts continue to remain bullish on SBI Cards from a long-term perspective given its healthy business outlook and huge penetration scope, the recent developments may have an impact on SBI Cards' listing. That said, they advise using the overhang to buy the stock for the long-term. "If YES Bank gets amalagamated with SBI, just like Global Trust Bank (GTB) with Oriental Bank of Commerce (OBC) back in 2004, then it will be negative for both YES Bank shareholders as well as SBI shareholders. SBI then would have to tak...

Benchmark indices were trading extremely weak, down over 2 per cent, on Friday in line with a coronavirus -led sell-off in global markets. Global share prices are headed for the worst week since the darkest days of the world financial crisis in 2008 as investors braced for the coronavirus to become a pandemic and rapidly spread around the world. The S&P BSE Sensex was down 1,1111 points, or 2.8 per cent, at 38,630 levels after opening at over five-month low. Tech Mahindra (down 5%), Tata Steel, Tata Finance, and HCL Tech (all down 4%) were the top losers in the Sensex pack. All the constituents of the 30-pack index were in the red. The broader Nifty50 index plunged 325 points, or 2.8 per cent, to 11,308 levels. All the Nifty sectoral indices were painted red. Nifty Metal, Nifty IT, and Nifty Realty indexes were trading with over 3 per cent cut each. In the broader market, the S&P BSE MidCap index slid 426 per cent, and the S&P BSE SmallCap index was down 408 ...

Goldman Sachs Group boosted its gold forecast to $1,800 an ounce as the coronavirus , depressed real rates and increased focus on the US election continue to drive demand for the metal as a haven. The bank raised its 12-month projection by $200, and said “in the event that the virus effect spreads to Q2, we could see gold top $1800/oz already on a 3-month basis.”

Shares of Vodafone Idea jumped 48 per cent to Rs 4.49 on the BSE on Wednesday on the back of heavy volumes on report that the government is unlikely to invoke bank guarantees for now. Till 12:29 pm, a combined 355 million shares changed hands on the counter on the NSE and BSE. In the past seven trading days, the stock has tanked 42 per cent after the Supreme Court dismissed the petitions of telcos seeking a staggered option to pay their Adjusted Gross Revenue (AGR) related dues. According to a report by The Economic Times, the government is unlikely to invoke Vodafone Idea’s bank guarantees for now, even as the officials of the telecom and finance ministries met Cabinet secretary Rajiv Gauba to discuss ways to ensure that the sector retains three private players, officials said. The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has sought legal opinion including that of Solicitor General Tushar Mehta on whether to invoke bank guarantees of companies in case they fail to pay their ...

Hong Kong stocks plunged Wednesday as investors in the city returned from their Lunar New Year break to a global panic over the deadly coronavirus , though most other Asian markets were lifted by bargain-buying after recent losses. Healthy US data reinforced hopes for the global economic outlook and supported a rally across US and European markets, which provided a strong lead for Asia, while a record earnings report from Apple also helped the mood. Still, the focus remains on developments in the virus outbreak -- which has now killed at least 132 people and infected more people in China than SARS did 17 years ago -- and concerns about the impact on the world economy. Among the worst-hit sectors on global trading floors are firms linked to travel and tourism, as big-spending Chinese tourists stay at home with Beijing clamping down on people's movement. The outbreak carries echoes of the SARS crisis, which paralysed regional travel and battered local economies. Chinese ...

Punjab National bank (PNB) on Friday reported a profit of Rs 1,018.63 crore for the quarter ended June 30, 2019 (Q1FY20) against loss of Rs 940 crore registered in the corresponding quarter of the previous fiscal. Provisions and contingencies stood at Rs 2,023.31 crore, down 64.8 per cent against 5,758.16 crore logged in the year-ago period. Sequentially, the numbers droped 79.9 per cent. In the March quarter, figures stood at Rs 10,071.11 crore. It was a positive surprise from the bank as most analysts had projected loss for the period. For instance, analysts at Edelweiss Securities had forecast the public sector lender to report a loss of Rs 905.8 crore while those at Phillip Capital had estimated NII at Rs 4,316.5 crore, down 8 per cent YoY and a loss of Rs 1,006.9 crore. “ Business momentum is expected to be softer (albeit improving). The asset quality performance is likely to show some improvement… That said credit cost will be higher,” Edelweiss Securities had writt...

The benchmark indices are trading around 2 per cent lower tracking their Asian peers which sank on Thursday after Wall Street suffered its worst drubbing in eight months. A sinking rupee also added to investors' concerns. The rupee also slipped to a new record low of 74.48 against the US dollar so far in intra-day trade, down 26 paise from its previous close. Among the sectoral indices, the Nifty IT index has slipped over 3 per cent led by losses in the shares of Infosys and Tata Consultancy Services (TCS). The Nifty Metal index too has fallen over 4 per cent weighed by Tata Steel and Vedanta. Stock specific actions are likely to continue as the IT bellwether TCS is slated to announce its September quarter earnings later today. Majority of the analysts expect IT companies to report healthy numbers led by the ramp-up of recent large deal wins, improving the macro environment, and strong seasonality. CATCH ALL THE LIVE UPDATES Business Standard

The benchmark indices are trading over 1 per cent higher due to a firm rupee against the dollar. The rupee is trading on a firm note having risen to 74.05 against the greenback so far in intra-day trade. The Indian currency opened 24 paise firm at 74.14 earlier in the day after ending at a record low of 74.39 per dollar on Tuesday. Among the sectoral indices, Nifty Bank index is trading nearly 2.5 per cent higher led by a rise in YES Bank, Axis Bank and IndusInd Bank. The Nifty Auto index, too, is trading over 2.5 per cent higher led by Maruti Suzuki India. However, the Nifty IT index has slipped over 1.5 per cent weighed by Infosys and Tata Consultancy Services. In the broader markets, the S&P BSE MidCap index is trading around 3.5 per cent higher while the S&P BSE SmallCap has risen 3 per cent. Stock specific action will continue as firms like Bandhan Bank and ZEE are likely to declare their second-quarter earnings later in the day today. Investors will al...

Thus far in calendar year 2018, RIL has outperformed the benchmark indices to rally 36.85% Markets News : Reliance Industries on Thursday became the first company to cross Rs 8 trillion in terms of market capitalisation (market-cap), becoming the country's most valued firm At 1:59 pm, RIL's market capitalisation (m-cap) stood at Rs 8.01 trillion. In intra-day deals, the stock hit a new high of Rs 1,262.95, up over 1%, extending its gains over the past four trading days. Thus far in calendar year 2018, Mukesh Ambani-controlled RIL has outperformed the benchmark indices and rallied 36.85%. In comparison, the S&P BSE Sensex has gained 12.53% during this period. The company recently reported 17.9% year-on-year (y-o-y) growth in consolidated net profit at Rs 94.59 billion in June quarter (Q1FY19). During the June quarter, its consolidated revenue grew 56.5% yoy at Rs 1,417 billion. The company’s consumer businesses accounted for nearly 21% of consolidat...