Sensex, Nifty end at fresh record closing high; Midcap underperforms

Benchmark indices ended at fresh record closing high today, backed by ICICI Bank, Reliance Industries and HDFC.

The 30-share BSE Sensex was up 88.90 points at 34,592.39 and the 50-share NSE Nifty gained 30.10 points at 10,681.30, but Midcap index underperformed.

Investors, however, remained wary as four senior sitting judges of the complaint that Supreme Court as administration of the country’s top court was not in order.

KEI Industries shares rallied 10 percent as Motilal Oswal has initiated coverage with Buy rating on the stock and target price at Rs 537, implying potential upside of 44 percent as the company is expected to be major beneficiary of key government initiatives.

Karnataka Bank has reported profit growth of 27.6 percent at Rs 87.4 crore for quarter ended December 2017, up from Rs 68.5 crore in year-ago. Net interest income grew by 20 percent to Rs 451.6 crore from Rs 376.5 crore YoY.

Dredging Corporation of India gained nearly 4 percent after bagging order of Rs 88.51 crore from Cochin Port.

Tata Global Beverage shares gained nearly 4 percent as media report indicated that the company is looking to divest its 41 percent stake in Amalgamated Plantations Pvt. Ltd —India’s second largest producer and supplier of tea with estates in Assam and the Dooars region of West Bengal.

3i Infotech’s third quarter profit surged 37 percent sequentially to Rs 22.8 crore from Rs 16.6 crore and revenue growth was muted at 1 percent. Revenue from operations increased to Rs 237.5 crore from Rs 235.1 crore YoY.

Motilal Oswal has initiated coverage with Buy call on MAS Financial Services and target price of Rs 740, implying 18 percent potential upside as it is an efficient player in high growth product segment. The stock rallied nearly 5 percent intraday.

HT Media has reported a 36.1 percent growth in profit at Rs 124.4 crore for October-December quarter, compared to Rs 91.4 crore in year-ago, driven by operational performance.

Shares of logistics companies were in focus with trading higher by up to 10% in intra-day trade in otherwise range-bound market. Mahindra Logistics, Tiger Logistics and Snowman Logistics up in the range of 8% to 9%, while Future Supply Chain Solutions, Patel Integrated Logistics, Blue Dart Express, Gati and Gateway Distriparks up between 1% and 3% on BSE.

Indiabulls Real Estate was up 3% to Rs 263 on BSE after the company entered into a binding and definitive agreement to acquire a prime and newly constructed commercial building in Gurugram. The stock is trading close to its 52-week high of Rs 270 touched on August 7, 2017 in intra-day deal.

Dish TV India has dipped 8% to Rs 77 on the National Stock Exchange (NSE) in intra-day trade after the company said that it is evaluating the impact of reported insolvency proceedings initiated against certain entities of the Videocon group on its proposed merger with Videocon d2h.

Here are some picks from the week gone by.

Company: KSK Energy CMP: 19.70 Mastermind