Following the global sell-off, Indian equity markets, too, settled lower on Friday after US military killed Iran Revolutionary Guards’ commander Qasem Soleimani in a surprise air-strike. The middle-east tensions sent Brent Crude Futures soaring, while market sentiment turned sour at D-Street.
Brent crude futures jumped nearly $3 on Friday after a US air strike in Baghdad killed top Iranian and Iraqi military commanders, sparking concerns of disruption to Middle East oil supplies. At 3:10 pm, Brent Crude Futures were at $68.62 per barrel-mark, up 3.5 per cent.
The S&P BSE Sensex, which hit an intra-day low of 41,348.68, recovered slightly in the fag-end of the session and settled 162.03 points, or 0.39 per cent, lower at 41,464.61 level. 20 of the 30 constituents ending the day in the red. Oil-linked stocks, such as paints, aviation, oil-marketing companies (OMCs), and financial counters remained under pressure.
In the intra-day trade, Hindustan Petroleum (HPCL) and Bharat Petroleum (BPCL), for instance, declined 2.9 per cent each on the BSE. Reliance Industries, Indraprastha Gas Ltd (IGL), and Indian Oil Corporation (IOC), too, slumped up to 0.7 per cent.
On the NSE, the Nifty50 lost 55.50 points, or 0.45 per cent, to settle at 12,226.65-mark. Sectorally, Nifty PSU Bank index slipped the most, down 2 per cent at close. Besides, Nifty Bank, Auto, Private Bank indices slipped over 1 per cent. On the upside, Nifty IT index advanced 1.3 per cent on the back of a weaker rupee.
In the broader market, small-caps traded in the green territory, while mid-caps followed benchmarks. The S&P BSE mid-cap index was down 0.44 per cent, while the S&P BSE small-cap index was up 0.01 per cent at close.
Continue Reading →
Continuing with their lacklustre performance for the third straight day, the equity benchmark indices settled on a flat note on Friday. While the day witnessed solid buying in bluechips such as Reliance Industries (RIL), HCL Tech, HDFC Bank and TCS, the gains in the index were capped by drubbing in counters including Sun Pharma, Bharti Airtel and L&T.
The S&P BSE Sensex ended just 13 points higher at 36,387, while NSE’s Nifty50 index held the crucial 10,900 level to close at 10,907, up 2 points. On a weekly basis, both the indices ended 1 per cent higher.
Sectorally, barring IT, all other indices ended in the red with the pharma stocks bleeding the most. The Nifty Pharma pack lost nearly 3 per cent to end the day at 8,690.
Shares of pharma bellwether Sun Pharma crashed to their six year- low of Rs 375.40 apiece in the early trade on Friday after news reports suggested fresh whistleblower documents were sent to Sebi. The stock plunged as much as 12 per cent on BSE. The company, however, in a BSE filing clarified that it was not privy to the news reported by MoneyLife. The stock, eventually, ended nearly 9 per cent lower at Rs 390.75.
Continue Reading →
The benchmark indices ended marginally lower on Thursday afternoon amid thin trade. The S&P BSE Sensex ended the day at 34,047, down 137 points while the broader Nifty50 index settled at 10,458, down 34 points.
The markets will remain closed on Friday, March 2, 2018, on account of Holi.
Among sectoral indices, Nifty PSU Bank index fell 1.87% on Thursday led by a decline in the shares of Indian Bank, Canara Bank and Bank of India.
Venky’s (India) continued its upward march for the seventh straight trading day, hitting a new high of Rs 4,530, up 15% on the BSE in an otherwise subdued market. The stock rallied 69% from Rs 2,673 on February 20, 2018, as compared to 1.3% rise in the S&P BSE Sensex.
Fortis Healthcare was trading flat on Thursday even after the company reported a consolidated net loss of Rs 191 million for the quarter ended December 2017 against a profit of Rs 4.5 billion year-ago periods.
Continue Reading →
Issue Summary
Avenue Supermarts Ltd (ASL) is an emerging national supermarket chain (D mart) , with a focus on value-retailing. According to Technopak, in Fiscal 2016 ASL was one of the largest and the most profitable F&G retailer in India. It offers a wide range of products with a focus on the Foods, Non-Foods (FMCG) and General Merchandise & Apparel product categories. ASL opened its first store in Mumbai, Maharashtra in 2002. As of January 31, 2017, it had 118 stores with Retail Business Area of 3.59 million sq.ft, located across 45 cities in Maharashtra (59), Gujarat (27), Telangana (13), Karnataka (7), Andhra Pradesh (4), Madhya Pradesh (3), Chhattisgarh (1), NCR (1), Daman (1) and Rajasthan (2). At the end of the nine months period ended December 31, 2016 and Fiscals 2016, 2015 and 2014, the company had 117, 110, 89 and 75 stores with Retail Business Area of 3.57 million sq. ft., 3.33 million sq. ft., 2.66 million sq. ft. and 2.14 million sq. ft., respectively.
Continue Reading →
