SGX Nifty Up 51 Points, Indigo Paints IPO, December Quarter Results, and Buzzing Stocks Today

Thu, 21 Jan Pre-Open | Monish Vora, TM Team

   Previous Close   

   Pre-Open   

Indian share markets ended at record-high levels yesterday with Nifty ending above 14,600-mark.

At the closing bell yesterday, the BSE Sensex stood higher by 393 points (up 0.8%).

The NSE Nifty closed higher by 123 points (up 0.9%).

Tata Motors and Adani Ports & SEZ were among the top gainers.

The BSE Mid Cap index ended up by 1.1%. The BSE Small Cap index ended higher by 0.6%.

On the sectoral front, gains were largely seen in the auto sector, IT sector and energy sector.

At 8:10 am today, the SGX Nifty was trading up by 51 points, or 0.35% higher at 14,695 levels. Indian share markets are headed for a positive opening today following the positive trend on SGX Nifty.

Gold prices for the latest contract on MCX were trading up by 0.3% at Rs 49,149 per 10 grams at the time of closing stock market hours yesterday.

To know more about gold, you can check out our detailed article on investing in gold here: How to Invest in Gold?

Speaking of stock markets, India's #1 trader, Vijay Bhambwani, talks about why he thinks Paytm could usher in a revolution in the Indian stock market, in one of his latest videos for Fast Profits Daily.

Three months ago, Vijay had recorded a video about how we trade is about to change forever where he was referring to the Robin Hood app. The app had caused quite a disruption in the US stock market and continues to do so.

BREAKING: Full Details of the #1 Investment of the Decade...

However, a similar kind of disruption in the Indian market could be happening as you read this. Paytm announced a few days ago that they would offer futures and options trading through their mobile app.

So, how big a disruption could this be and what does it mean for you?

Tune in here to find out more:

Top Stocks in Focus Today

Among the buzzing stocks today will be Ceat.

Ceat reported over a two-and-a-half-fold jump in its consolidated net profit to Rs 1.3 billion in the third quarter ended on December 31, 2020, riding on robust sales. The company had posted a consolidated net profit of Rs 525 million in the year-ago period.

The company's consolidated revenue from operations stood at Rs 22.2 billion in the quarter under review as against Rs 17.6 billion in the year-ago period, a growth of 26%, it added.

Commenting on the company's performance, Ceat's Managing Director Anant Goenka said, "This quarter's growth has been achieved on the back of new capacities across segments, particularly passenger car, two-wheeler and farm segments."

DCM Shriram share price will also be in focus as the company reported a 45% year-on-year (YoY) increase in its consolidated net profit at Rs 2.5 billion for the quarter ended December and announced a Rs 10 billion investment to grow its chemical business.

Total income stood at Rs 21.7 billion in the third quarter of this financial year (Q3FY21) as against Rs 22.2 billion in the corresponding period of the previous year.

The board declared an interim dividend of 275%, which is Rs 5.50 per equity share of the face value of Rs 2 each for the financial year 2020-21.

From pharma sector, drug firm Alembic Pharma reported a 24.9% rise in its consolidated net profit to Rs 2.92 billion for the December quarter mainly on account of robust sales.

The company had posted a net profit of Rs 2.34 billion for the corresponding period of the previous financial year.

Revenue from operations stood at Rs 13.1 billion for the quarter under review.

Market participants will also track Fairfax-backed IIFL Finance share price as the company said its home loan subsidiary IIFL Home Finance and Standard Chartered Bank have entered into a co-lending arrangement for extending credit to micro, small and medium enterprise (MSME) loans (loan against property).

Under this partnership, IIFL Home Finance and the Standard Chartered Bank will co-originate these loans and the IIFL Home Finance will service the customers through the entire loan life-cycle including sourcing, documentation, collection and loan servicing.

IPO Buzz: Indigo Paints IPO Oversubscribed on First Day

In news from the IPO space...

The IPO of Indigo Paints, the fifth largest decorative paints company in India, was oversubscribed on its first day of bidding yesterday.

The issue of the company was subscribed 1.3 times on its first day of the bidding during noon hours yesterday.

The public issue received bids for 73.51 lakh equity shares against offer size of 55.18 lakh shares (excluding anchor book).

The anchor book witnessed good response from investors, including global investors and domestic asset management companies.

The retail investors' reserved portion saw a subscription of 2.3 times and that of non-institutional investors 80%, while employee portion received 10% subscription and that of qualified institutional buyers 10% during market hours yesterday.

The company aims to raise Rs 11.7 billion through its public issue, of which it has already garnered Rs 3.4 billion from anchor investors.

The price band has been fixed at Rs 1,488-1,490 per share for the initial share sale.

At the upper end of the price band, the public issue is expected to fetch Rs 11.7 billion, which comprises Rs 3 billion through fresh issuance of shares and Rs 8.7 billion through offer for sale (OFS).

Half of the issue is reserved for qualified institutional buyers, 35% for retail investors, 15% for non-institutional bidders and there is a reservation of up to 70,000 equity shares for subscription for employees, who will get a discount of Rs 148 per equity share to the offer price.

How the above IPO sails through remains to be seen. Stay tuned for all the updates from this space.

In other news, the IPO of Indian Railway Finance Corporation (IRFC) was oversubscribed on the third and final day of bidding yesterday.

By noon hours yesterday, the issue received bids for 1,938 million shares, which was 1.55 times the issue size of 1,247 shares.

The company has already raised Rs 13.9 billion from 31 anchor investors.

The price range for the offer has been fixed at Rs 25-26 per share.

To know more, you can read our IPO note on IRFC here: Indian Railway Finance Corporation IPO: Should You Apply? (requires subscription).

HDFC Bank Gives Outage Control Plan to RBI

In news from the banking sector, HDFC Bank has submitted a plan to the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) outlining remedies for repeated glitches in the bank's technology platform over the past three years.

People aware of the matter said that the lender is awaiting a response from the regulator on when restrictions imposed in December on new card acquisition will be lifted.

The bank is working on multiple immediate and long-term solutions as part of its internal review. "The action plan that the bank is working on could take anywhere between 10-12 weeks to implement," said one of the persons. "From there on, it's up to the regulator to inspect the progress and take a call on lifting sanctions."

HDFC Bank, which issues nearly 150,000 credit cards a month, was directed by the regulator to stop doing so on December 12 until it had sorted out the problems. The bank also couldn't launch any new digital initiatives.

CEO Sashidhar Jagdishan had apologised to customers for the disruptions and asked them to continue transacting with the bank.

The RBI's move was a blow to the bank's ambition to expand its digital payments business, where it commands a 40% market share. HDFC Bank is a systemically important lender with a 10% share of the loans market and 26% of the credit card business.

The bank grew its credit card business by 32% sequentially in the December quarter.

To know what's moving the Indian stock markets today, check out the most recent share market updates here.

For information on how to pick stocks that have the potential to deliver big returns, download our special report now!

Read the latest Market Commentary

Indian Share Market Update: Top Gainers and Losers

What else is happening in the markets today? Dig in...