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Indian Indices End Higher, RBI Press Conference Highlights, and Top Cues in Focus Today
Mon, 20 Apr Pre-Open

Indian share markets finished on a strong note on Friday after the RBI announced some key measures to inject the much-needed liquidity.

At the closing bell on Friday, the BSE Sensex stood higher by 986 points (up 3.2%) and the NSE Nifty closed higher by 298 points (up 3.3%).

The BSE Mid Cap index ended up by 2.1%, while the BSE Small Cap index ended the day up by 2.4%.

On the sectoral front, gains were largely seen in the finance sector, banking sector, and auto sector.

Note that, the recent correction has made the valuations of many stocks further attractive. The icing on the cake is the dividend yields these stocks provide.

Richa Agarwal, editor of Hidden Treasure, has written a detailed piece on these 8 stocks.

She believes, a healthy dose of dividends from the most consistent businesses can be your best bet. You can read everything about high dividend stocks here.

Speaking of Indian share markets, the coronavirus impact has shaken markets worldwide. And Indian stock markets have felt the full impact too.

For the BSE Sensex, FY20 was the second worst year post FY08, the year of the global financial crisis.

Good Time to Start Investing Now?

HYPERLINK "https://www.equitymaster.com/5MinWrapUp/charts/index.asp?date=04/02/2020&story=1&title=Good-Time-to-Start-Investing-Now&utm_source=TM&utm_medium=website&utm_campaign=MCOM&utm_content=market-commentary" https://www.equitymaster.com/5MinWrapUp/charts/index.asp?date=04/02/2020&story=1&title=Good-Time-to-Start-Investing-Now&utm_source=TM&utm_medium=website&utm_campaign=MCOM&utm_content=market-commentary <>


Naturally, there is an atmosphere of fear all round.

Is it time to sell stocks now? Will the correction get worse?

History has shown that after years like the one we had just now, the next 3 years are good for the markets.

In fact, these corrections are the rare times when you find businesses with solid fundamentals at reasonable valuations.

If you can find good businesses that can survive the current crisis, you will do well in the long run.

Now, before we move on to other news, we would like to share that Equitymaster's birthday is around the corner. We will be starting our 25th year as an organisation, next week on 22nd April.

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Shaktikanta Das Announces Additional Liquidity Measures

Reserve Bank of India Governor Shaktikanta Das announced additional liquidity measures on Friday, including reducing reverse repo rate, to support the economy hit by COVID-19.

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) slashed the reverse repo rate by 25 basis points to 3.75% even as it kept the repo rate unchanged at 4.4%.

RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das announced several steps to improve liquidity for non-banking finance companies as they were finding hard to raise funds.

Das announced the launch of second instalment of TLTRO - TLTRO 2.0 for easing credit to NBFCs.

The governor said the central bank will conduct targeted repo operations for an amount of Rs 500 billion to begin with in tranches of appropriate sizes.

Das said the funds will have to be made in bonds, CP, NCD of NBFCs with 50% of it going to small and mid-sized NBFCs within one month of availing the credit from RBI.

Here are some highlights from the RBI's press conference...

  • NPA classifications will exclude the three-month moratorium period till May-end. NBFCs will be allowed to grant relaxed NPA classification to their borrowers.
  • LCR requirement is brought down from 100% to 80% with immediate effect.
  • Banks are asked to maintain additional provisioning of 10% on standstill accounts. Moreover, banks are asked not to announce dividends until further notice.
  • NBFCs' loans to delayed commercial real estate projects can be extended by a year without restructuring. Loans given by NBFCs to real estate companies will get similar benefit as given by scheduled commercial banks.

What effects the above measures have on Indian stock markets and the Indian economy remains to be seen. Stay tuned for more updates from this space.

FPIs and Mutual Funds Trim their Stake in IRCTC

In news from the travel support services sector, institutional investors, led by foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) and mutual funds (MFs), have booked profit in Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) by trimming their stake by over three percentage points in the March quarter.

According to the latest shareholding pattern data, total institutional holdings in IRCTC declined to 3.86% as on March 31, 2020. In the December quarter, they held 6.91% stake in the company.

MFs' stake has more than halved from 4.78% to 2.05%, while that of FPIs has dipped to 1.7% from 1.99%.

Meanwhile, individual/public investors increased their stake to 7.05% in March quarter from 3.98% in December quarter.

Note that, stock price of IRCTC saw a strong run-up at the bourses and moved up over 100% in first two months of the current calendar year.

IRCTC had also entered the list of top 100 companies with the highest market capitalisation during this bull run.

Reports state that the decision by Indian Railways to stop passenger services further till May 3 is set to wipe out IRCTC's ticket earnings and a huge share of its revenue through service charge. Around 80% of the tickets booked by the railways is through the IRCTC online platform.

TCS March FY20 Results

From the IT sector, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) share price will be in focus today as the company posted a mix set of numbers last week, with the IT services firm missing estimates on the revenue front even as it improved its operating margin in Q4FY20.

Though earnings were less affected by the pandemic, the firm's double-digit revenue growth streak, in constant currency (CC) terms, came to a halt.

For Q4FY20, it reported consolidated net profit of Rs 80.5 billion, a 0.8% sequential decline, and 0.9% year-on-year (YoY) fall.

Revenue for the quarter stood at Rs 399.5 billion, up 0.2% sequentially and 5.1% YoY.

Net profit for the year rose 2.8% to Rs 323.4 billion. Operating margin stood at 24.6%, a slight miss from its intended range.

Like Wipro, which did not provide revenue guidance for the next quarter owing to uncertainty, the Tata Group firm also said maximum impact of the crisis would be felt during the first quarter of the current financial year (Q1FY21).

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


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