Sensex Trades Over 300 Points Lower; Dow Futures Down by 27 Points

Thu, 18 Feb 12:30 pm | Ayesha Shetty, TM Team

   Previous Close   

   Pre-Open   

   09:30 am   

   12:30 pm   

Share markets in India are presently trading on a negative note.

The BSE Sensex is trading down by 369 points, down 0.7% at 51,334 levels.

Meanwhile, the NSE Nifty is trading down by 95 points.

GAIL and ONGC are among the top gainers today. ICICI Bank and Shree Cement are among the top losers today.

The BSE Mid Cap index is trading up by 0.5%.

The BSE Small Cap index is trading up by 0.7%.

On the sectoral front, stocks from the energy sector, are witnessing most of the buying interest.

On the other hand, stocks from the banking sector are witnessing most of the selling pressure.

US stock futures are trading lower today, indicating a negative opening for Wall Street.

Nasdaq Futures are trading down by 68 points (down 0.5%) while Dow Futures are trading down by 27 points (down 0.1%)

The rupee is trading at 72.73 against the US$.

Gold prices are trading up by 0.3% at Rs 46,360 per 10 grams.

In global markets, gold rates were steady, up 0.4%, after dropping to lowest in two months in the previous session. On Wednesday, gold fell to US$ 1,769, the lowest intraday level since November 30, as a strong dollar and higher bond yields hurt the previous metal's demand as a haven asset.

Watch Now: 3 Little-known Stocks We are Super Bullish On

Gold was steady today in Indian markets after a five-day slide that pushed prices to nearly 8-month low. On MCX, gold futures were up 0.4% to Rs 46,407 per 10 grams.

Note that in the last five sessions, gold has skidded nearly Rs 2,000 per 10 grams in tandem with a decline in global rates.

To know more about gold, check out our article on how to invest in gold here: How to Invest in Gold?

Moving on to stock specific news...

Among the buzzing stocks today is GAIL.

Gas Authority of India (GAIL) is going to open its buyback programme on February 25, 2021 for up to 69.7 million fully paid-up equity shares of face value Rs 10 each, representing 1.5% of the total number of equity shares in the issued, subscribed and paid-up equity share capital of the company.

The share buyback will close on March 10.

The company will buy back shares from all the existing shareholders/beneficial owners of equity shares of the company as on the record date, January 28, 2021 on a proportionate basis, through the "tender offer" process at a price of Rs 150 per equity share for an aggregate consideration not exceeding Rs 10.5 billion.

The funds for the buyback will be met out of internally-generated cash resources of the company, it added.

GAIL is an Indian public sector natural gas processing and distribution company headquartered in New Delhi, India. It is a state-owned enterprise of the Government of India, under the administrative control of the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas.

How this buyback pans out remains to be seen. Meanwhile, stay tuned for more updates from this space.

At the time of writing, GAIL share price was trading up by 7.7% on the BSE.

Speaking of the stock markets, India's #1 trader, Vijay Bhambwani had talked about what it takes to become a professional trader and how you can make rapid profits in his last two videos for Fast Profits Daily.

In the next video, he goes a step further and covers the basics of intraday trading like stop losses and target prices and how you can use it to short sell in a profitable way.

Tune in to find out more:

Moving on to news from the banking sector...

IndusInd Bank Raises Rs 20.2 Billion Via Conversion of Warrants

lnduslnd Bank promoters IndusInd International Holdings (IIHL) said that it has converted warrants in the bank by investing Rs 20.2 billion. The investment was done by raising funds through a rights share sale to the holders of IIHL and from sale of some assets that the company held.

The promoter entities IndusInd and IIHL have also said that they have pledged 42.7 million shares or 5.6% of the equity with Catalyst Trusteeship, in a stock exchange filing.

IIHL has pledged the shares with Deutsche Bank and Barclays to raise funds which will be used to make investments and qualify as an operating company ahead of its listing.

As the group tries to overcome the complexities involved in the holding company, it plans to list IIHL in one of the international markets so that more than 600 shareholders from 34 different countries have a route to monetise or exit their ownership of IndusInd Bank.IHHL plans to list in September, likely in Mauritius. The decision will be made in April 2021.IIHL will also monetise some of its "noncore assets" to raise funds, which will be used to hike its stake by converting warrants in the bank into shares, the company said.

We will keep you posted on more updates from this space. Stay tuned.

Speaking of the banking sector, check out the monthly returns of major sectors for the month of March and October 2020 in the chart below.

In the chart above, you can see that banks were among the major losers with a cut of 34% in the month of March.

Cut to October they are the biggest gainers for the month with 11% returns!

If you're interested in knowing what could be the reason behind such a change in sentiment, you can read about it in one of the latest editions of Profit Hunter: Banks are booming in a Covid World

And 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...