Nifty ends FY19 above 11,600, Sensex gains 127 pts; metal stocks surge

At close, the Sensex was up 127.19 points at 38,672.91, while Nifty was up 53.90 points at 11,623.90. About 1429 shares have advanced, 1185 shares declined, and 162 shares are unchanged. 

Indiabulls Housing, HPCL, Vedanta, Grasim Industries and UPL were the top gainers on the Nifty, while losers were GAIL, IndusInd Bank, Eicher Motors, Bajaj Auto and Bharti Infratel.

Except PSU Bank, all other sectoral indices ended higher led by metal, which gained over 2 percent followed by pharma, auto, energy, infra, IT and FMCG.

Buzzing: Shares of Indiabulls Integrated Services gained 5 percent after the redemption of preference shares and appointment of a new Independent Director.

Colgate Palmolive declares second interim dividend: The company declared second interim dividend of Rs 7 per equity share of Re 1 for the financial year 2018-19.

A meeting of the board of directors of the company is scheduled on 27/05/2019 to consider and approve audited financial results for the quarter and year ended March 31, 2019. 

Buzzing: Shares of Tata Metaliks rallied more than 6 percent after the company allotted equity shares and convertible warrants worth Rs 403.79 crore to parent company Tata Steel.  

HDFC Securities Initiates Coverage With Buy Call on Mastek

Software firm Mastek shares gained 2 percent intraday after HDFC Securities initiated coverage with a buy call on the stock and expects it to return 50 percent.

Mastek is well placed to generate revenue/EPS CAGR of 15/16 percent over FY19-21E (despite US softness and Brexit uncertainty) and is available at attractive valuations of 8.3x FY21 versus midcap average of around 13x, the brokerage house said.

Stake in Majesco US (around Rs 79 per share), net cash position (Rs 82 per share) provides additional comfort, it added.

Hence the brokerage initiated coverage with a buy rating and a price target of Rs 660, based on 11x FY21E EPS.

Buzzing: Capacite Infraprojects shares gained 1.5 percent after Emkay initiated coverage with a buy call and target price at Rs 288, implying 28 percent potential upside from current levels.

Market Update: Benchmark indices erased all its early gains and trading at day's low point.

At 11:03 hrs IST, the Sensex is up 39.32 points at 38585.04, while Nifty is up 15.30 points at 11585.30. About 1153 shares have advanced, 861 shares declined, and 130 shares are unchanged.   

The Nifty is starting the new series with 16.9 million shares, which is relatively higher than the open interest seen at the inception of the last series. Continued positive momentum in the Nifty may be the reason behind fresh build up of open interest in the next series. However, the roll spread in the Nifty inched further high and ended around 100 points. The current roll spread is one of the highest ever seen in the Nifty in points terms. Data indicates continued rollover of long positions in the index

The Bank Nifty is also starting the new series with significantly higher open interest compared to the last series. OI at inception is highest since August 2018 for Bank Nifty. The roll spread in banking index also remained high around 130 points during settlement.

The Nifty rolls were near 66.73 percent, higher against 3-month (3M) average of 62.94 percent. Market wide rolls were at 85.4 against the 3M average of 85 percent.

Highest rollover was seen in Wockhardt, OFSS, United Breweries, GSFC and Ceat while rollover activity was relatively low in RBL Bank, Arvind, Marico, Petronet and Container Corporation.

Among index stocks, Sun Pharma, Yes Bank, Grasim and Titan witnessed high rolls into the April series while HDFC Bank, L&T, Gail and JSW Steel witnessed relatively low rolls into the next series. (Source: ICICIDirect)

State-owned e-commerce firm MSTC's shares listed on March 29 at a discount to the issue price despite positive market sentiment. The tepid response to the issue and reduction in price band could be the reason for the weakness in stock price.

The stock opened at Rs 115 on the National Stock Exchange, 4 percent lower than the issue price of Rs 120 while on BSE, it started the trade at Rs 111, a discount of 7.5 percent.

Credit Suisse on Bank of Baroda: The research house maintained underperform rating but raised target to Rs 115 from Rs 105 per share.

It remain cautious on slower growth and await further clarity on outlook & management continuity at the merged company.

Research house cut EPS estimate by 23-38% as its incorporate merged numbers.

Buzzing: Shares of Andhra Bank surged almost 2 percent after the public sector bank issued equity shares worth Rs 3,256 crore to the government.

Gold Update: Gold inched up on Friday, but was on track for its first weekly decline in four weeks after posting its steepest fall in more than seven months in the previous session on a strong dollar.

PNB to offload its stake in PNB Housing: Punjab National Bank has entered into agreements for sale of 1,08,91,733 equity shares held in PNB Housing Finance (PNBHF) to General Atlantic Group at a per share price of Rs 850 aggregating to Rs 925.80 crore.

Also, sale of 1,08,91,733 equity shares held in PNBHF to VardePartners at a per share price of Rs 850 aggregating to Rs 925.80 crore.

Meanwhile,  PNB would continue to hold strategic stake of 19.78 percent of the paid up capital of PNBHF.

Crude Update: Oil prices rose on Friday, pushed up by ongoing supply cuts led by producer club OPEC and US sanctions against Iran and Venezuela, putting the crude markets on pace to post their biggest first quarter gain since 2009.

Market Opens: It is a strong start for the April F&O series on Friday with Nifty above 11,600 level.

At 09:18 hrs IST, the Sensex is up 171.30 points or 0.44% at 38717.02, and the Nifty up 49.60 points or 0.43% at 11619.60.  About 592 shares have advanced, 203 shares declined, and 50 shares are unchanged. 

The gainers are IOC, Indiabulls Housing, Hindalco, Wipro, Tech Mahindra, RIL, BPCL, Can Fin Homes, Vodafone Idea, Jet Airways, PFC, REC while losers include Axis Bank, IndusInd Bank, Eicher Motors, SBI life and Motherson Sumi.

All the sectoral indices are trading in green led by metal, energy, infra, IT, pharma and auto.

Rupee Opens: The Indian rupee gained in the early trade on Friday. It opened higher by 10 paise at 69.24 per dollar versus previous close 69.34.

Market at pre-open: The benchmark indices are trading positive in the pre-opening session on Friday.

At 09:02 hrs IST, the Sensex is up 138.14 points or 0.36% at 38683.86, and the Nifty up 55.50 points or 0.48% at 11625.50.

Yes Bank, Kotak Mahindra Bank, HDFC Bank are trading higher in the pre-opening session.

Asian markets trade higher: Asian shares posted narrow gains on Friday on revived hopes of progress in US-China trade talks, while global bond yields moved higher after a prolonged slide on worries about the economic outlook.

Wall Street ends higher?:US stocks climbed on Thursday as Treasury yields rose off 15-month lows, with investors optimistic about the latest round of US-China trade talks.

SGX Nifty: Trends on SGX Nifty indicate a negative start for the broader indices in India, a fall of 25 points or 0.21 percent. Nifty futures were trading around 11,645-level on the Singaporean Exchange.