Market LIVE: Sensex slides 1200 points, Nifty falls below 17,200; Infosys falls 7%.

  • April 18, 2022, 11:07 a.m.

Indian indices witnessed a negative start on Monday. The markets declined in the last 3 trading sessions and the trend continued in early morning trade on Monday, dragged down by heavyweights like Infosys and HDFC twins. Commodity prices, inflation fears, and the prospect of more sanctions on Russia are likely to weigh on sentiments. Crude prices gained further on Monday, hovering around $113 per barrel. Investors will monitor the corporate earnings of companies expected to be declared this week. In Asia, shares declined in Japan and Shanghai, while those in South Korea and Australia advanced in early trade on Monday. 

Bank of Baroda, HDFC Bank, and Kotak Bank were the top losers in the BSE Bank index.

18 Apr 2022, 10:42:42 AM IST

More levers to grow VNB; valuations attractive: ICICI Securities on ICICI Prudential Life Insurance

We remain enthused with IPRU Life’s product and channel diversification strides, which have made the business considerably more robust than before. This is illustrated by the fact that the Rs 21.6bn FY22 VNB mix is split between 16% ULIPs, 43% by protection and 41% by non-linked savings. While volume growth has been volatile, product/distribution levers are available for VNB (volume and margin) growth, which should ensure > 15% RoEV. Current valuation at 2.2x or 1.9x FY23E/FY24E P/EV is attractive. Maintain BUY

18 Apr 2022, 10:27:42 AM IST

Domestic execution to improve; margin pressure remains: ICICI Securities in the Engineering and Capital Goods sector

We expect execution for both EPC and product companies to pick up further in Q4FY22 with strong demand and the resumption of stalled projects. However, margins are likely to be flat or under pressure due to the sharp rise in commodity prices, supply chain constraints, and higher logistic costs. By and large, ordering activity has been slow and below our expectations due to uncertainty in cost economics. However, certain pockets in the domestic market, e.g., civil infra, power T & D, railways and water, witnessed traction. We expect order finalisation in overseas markets to slow down due to geopolitical issues that have led to current volatility. Nevertheless, the tender pipeline remains very healthy. We factor in revenue growth of 9% YoY and 30% QoQ in Q4FY22E for our coverage universe, given the pick-up in domestic execution pace. Due to pressure on margins, EBITDA and PAT growth is expected to be 2% and 6% YoY (ex-BHEL). Our top picks are L & T, Siemens, and KEC International. We are also positive on GE T&D on expectations of improving performance and order inflow, which would be mainly from T&D capex under the RDSS scheme and expected orders of Rs800bn for the Green Energy Corridor.

18 Apr 2022, 10:19:07 AM IST

ICICI Securities on India's IT sector

We truly believe tech spending will always be viewed as a growth accelerator, but enterprises will also have to mitigate through a high-inflationary environment and geopolitical tensions. Given the scale of disruption and uncertainty in Europe, we believe companies having higher exposure to Europe will be impacted. In our coverage, tier-1, tier-2, and ER & D companies have an average exposure of 28%/19%/28% to Europe, respectively. With the Indian IT sector already trading at 28x 1-year forward P/E, we believe much of the growth and earnings expectations (digitisation, cloud migration etc.) over the next three years are already factored into share prices.

18 Apr 2022, 10:12:53 AM IST

The rupee slumped 24 paise to 76.43 against the US dollar in early trade.

The rupee declined 24 paise to 76.43 against the US dollar in the opening trade on Monday, tracking the strength of the dollar and elevated crude oil prices.

At the interbank foreign exchange, the rupee opened on a muted note at 76.41 against the American dollar, then fell and touched an early low of 76.43 in initial deals, registering a fall of 24 paise over its previous close.

18 Apr 2022, 10:07:58 AM IST

The Sensex plunges 1,186 points in early trade; the Nifty tests the 17,160 level.

Equity benchmark indices, which resumed trading after a long holiday, faced a heavy drubbing on Monday, with the Sensex plunging over 1,186 points in early trade.

The key index was dragged down by heavyweights Infosys and HDFC Bank amid a weak trend in Asian markets.

Stock markets were closed on Thursday for Mahavir Jayanti and Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar Jayanti, as well as on Friday on account of Good Friday.

The Sensex was trading 1,186.18 points lower at 57,152.75 in early trade. The Nifty tumbled 314.95 points to 17,160.70.

From the 30-share pack, Infosys, Tech Mahindra, TCS, HDFC, HDFC Bank, Wipro, and HCL Technologies were among the major laggards in early trade.

In contrast, NTPC, Tata Steel, M & M, Maruti, and Power Grid were among the gainers.

Shares of Infosys tanked 8.95 per cent to 1,592.05 on the BSE despite the country's second-largest software services firm last week reporting a 12 per cent year-on-year increase in consolidated net profit for the March quarter at 5,686 crore.

HDFC Bank declined 3.35 per cent to 1,415.75 even as the largest domestic private sector lender bank on Saturday posted a 22.8 per cent jump in its standalone net profit at 10,055.2 crore for the quarter ended March 2022.

Author : Rajdhani Delhi Representative

Rajdhani delhi representative

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