Mumbai: The NSE Nifty edged lower on Wednesday, retreating from record highs hit in the previous three sessions after a rise in bad loans at Axis Bank sparked concerns about the recovery of stressed assets in the country’s banking sector. Axis Bank contributed to most of the losses on the NSE index, and also led the losers on the NSE Bank index, which shed about 1.4%.
“The market decline is mainly because of the disappointing set of numbers brought in by Axis Bank,” said Deepak Jasani, head of retail research at HDFC Securities. “The rise in the bank’s bad loans provides a reality check on the non-performing loan situation at the ground level. State-run and private corporate-facing lenders are still not out of the woods as loan slippages continue to mount and that remains a concern,” Jasani said. Here are the latest updates from the markets:
■ 2.25pm: BSE Sensex inched down 10.50 points, or 0.03%, to 32,598.66, while the Nifty 50 fell 13.70 points, or 0.13%, to 10,220.75.
■ 2.20pm: UltraTech Cement Ltd posted a 28% fall in second-quarter profit, but beat street estimates, hurt by higher expenses, reported Reuters. Standalone profit fell to Rs431 crore for the second quarter, from Rs601 crore a year ago. The company shares were trading 0.41% up at Rs4105. They rose 2.2% intraday to hit Rs4180.
■ 2.17pm: NIIT Technologies Ltd’s September quarter consolidated net profit rose to Rs67.2 crore versus Rs58.9 crore last year. Shares of NIIT Technologies fell 1.27% to Rs626.15.
■ 1.43pm: BSE Sensex inched up 14.10 points, or 0.04%, to 32,623.26, while the Nifty 50 fell 9.05 points, or 0.09%, to 10,225.40.
■ 1.42pm: RIL, PowerGrid, ONGC and Wipro are the top gaining stocks with gains to the tune of 4.47%, 3.49%, 1.66% and 1.42%, respectively. Shares of Axis Bank and ICICI Bank fell 8.10% and 3.49%, respectively.
■ 1.20pm: BSE Sensex was trading lower by 17.06 points, or 0.05%, to 32,592.10, while the Nifty 50 fell 20.10 points, or 0.20%, to 10,214.35. Meanwhile, the SmallCap index was up 0.13% and the MidCap rose 0.09%.
■ 1.18pm: The European STOXX 600 edged up 0.1%, Germany’s DAX rose 0.13%, UK’s FTSE surged 0.28% and France’s CAC 40 jumped 0.12%.
■ 12.40pm: BSE Sensex fell 68.46 points, or 0.21%, to 32,540.70, while the Nifty 50 plunged 37.30 points, or 0.36%, to 10,197.15.
■ 12.35pm: Avenue Supermarkets Ltd fell 5% to Rs 1157.90 after brokerage firm Motilal Oswal Securities have downgraded the stock to Sell from neutral and lowered its target price to Rs 873 from Rs 882 a share.
■ 12.30pm: Power Grid Corp Of India Ltd rose 3.4% to Rs 211.90 after the company won bid for India Eastern Region transmission system that traverses the state of Bihar and includes setting up 3 new 400kV substations and a 400kV line
■ 11.42am: BSE Sensex was trading lower by 100.02 points, or 0.31%, to 32,509.14, while the Nifty 50 fell 41.85 points, or 0.41%, to 10,192.60.
■ 11.40am: Suven Life Sciences Ltd shares rose 0.79% to Rs223.20 after the company said it received product patent from Singapore related to new chemical entities for treating disorders associated with neurodegenerative diseases. The shares surged more than 3% after the news.
■ 11.30am: Reliance Industries Ltd shares were trading 2.45% up at Rs895.65. The stock rose as much as 2.6% to touch an all time high of Rs897.05.
■ 11.02am: BSE Sensex fell 99.48 points, or 0.31%, to 32,509.68, while the Nifty 50 lost 34.40 points, or 0.34%, to 10,200.50.
■ 10.55am: Kerala-based Muthoot Microfin, a subsidiary of the gold loan player Muthoot Fincorp, is planning an IPO in 2019. The company said the IPO will to support expansion of our microfinance business. As part of the IPO, the MFI is also planning to divest some equity to a PE player and plans to raise $50 million, the company said, adding last December it had raised $20 million from the Chicago-based PE firm Creation Investment.
■ 10.50am: Shares of MAS Financial Services Ltd made a strong market debut on Wednesday. The Gujarat-based non-banking financial company (NBFC) was listed on the stock exchanges at Rs660, up 43.7% from its issue price of Rs459 per share. The Rs2,275-crore initial public offer (IPO), which was open from 6-10 October with a price band of Rs456-459 per share, was subscribed 128.84 times.
■ 10.23am: BSE Sensex fell 133.13 points, or 0.41%, to 32,476.03, while the Nifty 50 lost 45.85 points, or 0.45%, to 10,188.60.
■ 10.20am: JBF Industries Ltd rose 8.6% to Rs214.50 after Mint reported that the company is in discussions with potential buyers for a stake sale which could lead to a change of management control in the Mumbai-based polyester maker.
■ 10.17am: Future Lifestyle Fashions Ltd jumps 9% to Rs373.25 after Economic Times reported that Flipkart in talks to buy up to 10% stake in the company. Other future group stocks too gained. Future Consumer rose 3.1%, Future Retail 2%.
■ 10.15am: Wipro Ltd rose 2.5% to Rs296.55. Wipro Ltd’s dollar revenue inched up 2.1% sequentially to $2.01 billion in the three months to September (0.3% rise in constant currency terms), higher than management’s earlier guidance, largely on account of higher spending by banking clients.
■ 9.25am: BSE Sensex opened lower by 100 points, or 0.31%, to 32,509.16, while the Nifty 50 fell 26.65 points, or 0.26%, to 10,207.80.
■ 9.23am: Axis Bank fell 6% to Rs483.15 after the bank’s earnings disappointed due to continued surge in bad loans. The bank reported a profit of Rs432.38 crore, compared with Rs319.08 crore a year ago and Rs1,305.60 crore a quarter ago. Axis Bank’s gross non-performing assets (NPAs) rose to Rs27,402.32 crore as on 30 September from Rs16,378.65 crore a year ago and Rs22,030.87 crore in June quarter. As the end of September, gross and net NPA ratio stood at 5.90% and 3.12% respectively.
■ 9.20am: Other banking stocks too fell after poor results from Axis Bank. Dena Bank fell 5%, Yes Bank 2.6%, ICICI Bank 2.6%, State Bank of India 2.5%, Syndicate Bank 2%, Canara Bank 1.4%, Punjab National Bank 1.3%, Bank of India 1.2%, Allahabad Bank 1.1%.
■ 9.17am: JBF Industries Ltd rose 8.6% to Rs 214.50 after Mint reported that the company is in discussions with potential buyers for a stake sale which could lead to a change of management control in the Mumbai-based polyester maker
■ 9.15am: The rupee opened at 64.93 a dollar. At 9.15am, the home currency was trading at 64.97 against the dollar, up 0.08% from its Tuesday’s close of 65.03.
■ 9.13am: The 10-year bond yield was at 6.76% compared to its previous close of 6.763%. Bond yields and prices move in opposite directions.
■ 9.10am: Asian currencies were trading mixed. South Korean won was up 0.21%, China renminbi 0.20%, Singapore dollar 0.13%, Thai baht 0.1%. However, Malaysian ringgit was down 0.16%, Philippines peso 0.14%, Taiwan dollar 0.04%. The dollar index, which measures the US currency’s strength against major currencies, was trading at 93.461, down 0.03% from its previous close of 93.486.
With inputs from PTI