>> Glitches at trading platforms anger traders
>> PSU stocks having their day in the sun
>> Good show at telecom spectrum auction
AND
>> Top firms queue up to bid for Shipping Corporation sale
Hi there. Welcome to ETMarkets Morning, the show about money, business and markets. I am Sandeep Singh.
Let’s start with a quick glance on the state of the markets.
Dalal Street looked set for further gains. Nifty futures traded nearly 100 points higher on Singapore Exchange at 7 am, as a solid show overnight on Wall Street lifted investor sentiment. The S&P500 logged its strongest one-day gain since June on Monday as bond markets calmed after a month-long selloff. In currencies, the dollar traded steady against major peers. Bitcoin rallied after a volatile weekend session. Oil slipped back to trade around the $60 a barrel level ahead of a key Opec-plus meeting this week that may return more supply to the market. Gold prices rose in the domestic market on Monday, but they were little changed in international markets this morning.
That said, here’s what else is making news?
PSU stocks are having their day in the sun on the exchanges. They are having their best phase on the bourses in four years as the government’s privatization plans and a rally in global commodity prices revived investor interest in them. Shares of state-owned companies have outperformed the broader indices so far this year with the total market value of these entities gaining by Rs 3.84 lakh crore, or 28%, since January 1 against a 5.8% advance in Nifty. The total market capitalisation of all PSUs hit the highest level since 2017 at Rs 19.45 lakh crore last Friday. Hindustan Copper was the best performer, having soared 157% so far in 2021. Others like MSTC, Bank of Maharashtra and fertilizer stocks have run up 60-80%.
For investors, it’s time to make hay while the sun shines
Trading glitches at top brokerages haunted stock investors. Traders using platforms of brokers such as Zerodha and HDFC Securities faced anxious moments on Monday morning as they were unable to execute transactions. The glitches — among the many in the past year or so — have piled on to the agony of market participants, who were at the receiving end of the shutdown at NSE, the longest by an Indian exchange — last week. Several traders and investors took to social media with the country’s largest broker Zerodha bearing the maximum brunt of their anger. Traders complained that they took positions during opening trades on Monday, but were unable to exit, which caused them losses.
Machines do have a habit of letting us down in critical times… Don’t they?
GST collections rose for the sixth successive month in February, official data showed on Monday even as higher e-way bills pointed that collections should remain firm in March as well. Total GST revenue grew 7% year on year to Rs 1.13 lakh crore in February, though it was a tad below January’s Rs 1.2 lakh crore collection as a fresh rise in Covid-19 cases dented collections in some states.
In a solid start to telecom spectrum auction, the government generated Rs 77,146 crore on Day One of 4G spectrum auction, which was over 71% more than what it had expected, with Reliance Jio Infocomm, Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea mostly bidding to renew airwave permits expiring in July. The sale will, however, fall short of the Rs 3.92 lakh crore that the government could have generated had all airwaves on offer been sold at base price. The government will get Rs 12,000-13,000 crore as upfront payment this fiscal through March 2021, and a similar amount next year.
US-based Safesea Group and Bain Capital-backed ship operator JM Baxi have submitted expressions of interest to participate in the privatisation process of Shipping Corporation of India, setting up a contest for the takeover of the Navratna PSU. India’s largest private ship operator Great Eastern Shipping is also interested in participating in the process.
NOW Before I go, here is a look at some of the stocks buzzing this morning…
Godrej Properties has emerged as the highest bidder for two Navi Mumbai plots e-auctioned by the government of Maharashtra’s city planning authority
SBI on Monday said it has reduced interest rates on home loans by up to 10 basis points and is offering loans starting from 6.7% rate.
BPCL will sell its entire 61.65% in Numaligarh Refinery for Rs 9,876 crore ahead of its own privatisation
Axis Bank’s deal to acquire a significant stake in Max Financial Services’ life insurance venture will be completed over the next 90 days with all due regulatory approvals in place, Max Life chief executive Prashant Tripathy said.
Do also check out over two dozen stock recommendations for today’s trade from top analysts on ETMarkets.com.
That’s it for now. Stay put with us for all the market news through the day. Happy investing!
