· Indian financial stocks lose appeal for FPIs
· Voda Idea dials pension funds in cash hunt
· Share deal of Shree Cement raises eyebrows
· Nestle gets mixed views on March quarter numbers
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 a negative start this morning as Nifty futures traded some 90 points lower on Singapore Exchange. Asia stocks also bounced back after Wednesday’s slump. Wall Street rebounded overnight after a two-day decline. The dollar has stabilized and US Treasury yields fell. Crude oil added to losses, as an increase in US crude inventories compounded concerns around a choppy global demand recovery.
That said, here’s what else is making news.
Banking and financial services stocks, which often serve as a proxy for macroeconomic recovery, are losing their appeal among foreign investors following a record rise in Covid cases in the country. FPIs sold some Rs 5,896 crore worth of financial services stocks in the first fortnight of April 2021, according to the NSDL data. The outflow in financial services was the highest among all sectors for that period.
Vodafone Idea has approached pension funds including Norway’s Government Pension Fund Global and three Canadian ones such as Canada Pension Plan Investment Board to raise around $1 billion to keep its flagging India operations afloat, people familiar with the matter said. The company is also considering reaching out to an Australian pension fund. The cash-strapped India telecom joint venture between the Aditya Birla Group and UK’s Vodafone Group has roped in BofA Securities as investment banker.
Proxy advisory firm InGovern Research Services said NBI Industrial Finance, a listed entity controlled by BG Bangur and family, sold shares of some unlisted companies which owned Shree Cements shares worth more than Rs 3,000 crore to other privately-owned promoter group firms for Rs 89 crore in FY17. BG Bangur and family own Shree Cements, the second-largest cement producer in terms of market value. The company did not take shareholders’ permission for the transactions, which came to light recently nor published the valuation report, InGovern said in a letter to market regulator Sebi.
Indian Premier League franchise Chennai Super Kings (CSK) is making a comeback on the investor radar, even as the 14th edition of the cricket league is under way amid a second wave of the Covid pandemic. CSK’s unlisted shares are trading at Rs 75-80 apiece in the unofficial market, marginally lower than about a month ago, but still higher than the Rs 45-55 levels they had dropped to in June last year. The impact of the pandemic on sporting events in 2020 had led research firm Duff & Phelps to lower the brand value of CSK.
AND LASTLY, brokerages have a mixed view on Nestle India even as the company reported 14.6% growth in net profit for the March quarter from the year-ago level, beating estimates. Nomura, Edelweiss and HSBC have retained ‘buy’ but Investec, Emkay Global and IDBI Capital have retained ‘hold’. CLSA has retained ‘outperform’ and Ambit has retained a ‘sell’ rating on the stock. The maker of Maggi noodles and KitKat chocolate reported a profit after tax of Rs 602 crore for the quarter. Revenues in the quarter rose 8.9% from year ago level to Rs 3,600 crore.
NOW Before I go, here is a look at some of the stocks buzzing this morning…
In a first, two housing finance companies HDFC and Indiabulls Housing Finance have entered a pact to co-lend under which the former will retain 80% of the loan on its books while the balance will be on Indiabulls’ books.
In a global first for the steel industry, Tata Steel has used a blockchain platform pioneered by HSBC to complete a trade finance transaction with a UAE-based company.
Covid’s second wave has hit SpiceJet so badly that the airline said it has been forced to partially outsource its ground handling operations at Mumbai airport to a private company.
M&M is scouting for land in Punjab, and some other states to set up a new manufacturing facility to meet future demand as its existing plants are operating over 100% capacity.
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!
