Indian Share Markets Open Marginally Higher; ONGC and M&M Top Gainers

Tue, 13 Apr 09:30 am | Yash Vora, TM Team

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Asian share markets are trading on a positive note today as investors anticipated the start of corporate earnings seasons.

The Nikkei is trading higher by 1.2% and the Hang Seng is trading up by 1.1%.

In US stock markets, Wall Street indices ended lower on Monday, with investors waiting for cues from the upcoming corporate earnings season and a key inflation report later this week.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.2% and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 50 points, or 0.4%.

Back home, Indian share markets have opened on a positive note, following the trend on SGX Nifty.

The BSE Sensex is trading up by 156 points. Meanwhile, the NSE Nifty is trading higher by 52 points.

ONGC is among the top gainers today. TCS, on the other hand, is among the top losers today.

The BSE Mid Cap index has opened up by 0.4%. The BSE Small Cap index is trading higher by 0.9%.

Barring IT stocks and power stocks, all sectoral indices are trading in green with stocks in the metal sector and energy sector witnessing most of the buying interest.

The rupee is trading at 75.05 against the US$. The domestic currency plunged below 75 against the US dollar on Monday to an eight-month low.

Gold prices are trading up by 0.1% at Rs 46,474 per 10 grams.

Speaking of the current stock market scenario, note that rising Covid-19 infections and fears of another lockdown spooked investors yesterday which dragged the benchmark indices lower by 3.5%.

In his latest video for India's # trader Vijay Bhambwani talks about the real reason behind yesterday's market crash and how you should react to it.

Tune in to the video below to find out more:

In news from the banking sector, bank credit grew 5.56% to Rs 109.51 lakh crore, while deposits rose 11.4% to Rs 151.13 lakh crore in the financial year ended March 31, 2021, data released by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) showed.

In the 2019-20 fiscal, advances had grown at 6.1% and deposits at 7.9%.

Though the interest rates of banks have reduced by 107 basis points from February 2020 to February 2021, the overall credit growth continued to moderate due to risk aversion and continued parking of excess liquidity with the RBI.

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In other news from the banking sector, Axis Bank customers can now send money abroad in over 100 currencies through their mobile application, the private lender said on Monday.

Announcing the addition of 'Send Money Abroad' feature to its Axis Mobile App, the lender said customers will be able to send money by following a simple two-step process given on the app.

To make the proposition richer, Axis Bank is also offering a preferential rate on digital channels.

With this features, the bank has made this an omni-channel experience for its customers, as there is complete integration between mobile banking and internet banking transactions, said the third-largest private sector lender.

Axis Bank share price has opened the day up by 1.5%.

Moving on to news from the power sector, Tata Power is among the top buzzing stocks today.

Tata Power Co has terminated its discussions with Malaysian oil and gas company Petroliam Nasional Berhad (Petronas) to raise capital for its renewable energy business through a proposed infrastructure investment trust (InvIT).

Tata Power's subsidiary, Tata Power Renewable Energy (TPREL), had last year initiated talks to raise US$ 500 - US$ 750 million for its renewable energy platform. The move was expected to reduce Tata Power's net debt to Rs 250 billion from over Rs 360 billion.

The talks had led to an understanding, with Petronas agreeing to invest Rs 35-38 billion for about 30-35% stake in the InvIT at an enterprise value of US$ 2.5 billion.

Besides Petronas, other institutional and financial investors were also to come on board in the future to invest in the InvIT.

However, Tata Group decided to terminate the deal last week when both sides were in final stages of discussions for negotiating a binding term sheet.

Tata Power is now looking for initial public offering (IPO) of its renewable energy business. The company plans to create a separate entity that will hold the renewable projects along with roof top solar projects and electric charging stations.

As per media reports, both sides were focussed on finalising the binding agreement. It was at that point it was relayed that the board was hesitant to proceed any further since it felt better valuations can be achieved through an IPO.

Tata Power share price has opened the day up by 1.2%.

Speaking of the power sector, it is interesting to note that the power exchanged in India is about 4.5% of the overall power production, as can be seen in the chart below:

As per Tanushree Banerjee, India's power sector is currently in transition. It is driven by increasing reliance on short-term contracts and electricity spot markets. This transition to the short-term market is happening due to quickly evolving industry dynamics.

Tanushree believes the Indian power sector will see a surge in spot power volumes due to certain factors.

In August 2020, Tanushree recommended a high quality stock from this space. Subscribers can read the report here (requires subscription).

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

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