Sensex Closes Firm; NTPC Surges 2.3%

Thu, 23 Mar Closing

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Indian share markets continued to trade higher owing to firm global cues with energy stocks leading the gains, while financial stocks and auto stocks bounced back. At the closing bell, the BSE Sensex stood higher by 164 points, while the NSE Nifty finished up by 56 points. Meanwhile, the S&P BSE Mid Cap and the S&P BSE Small Cap finished up by 1% and 0.9% respectively.

Cairn India share price surged 2.7% after the government cleared a policy for extending the term of more than two dozen oil and gas production contracts signed prior to 1999 in a bid to bolster energy security. The move is expected to fetch an additional investment of about US$5.43 billion.

NTPC share price finished on an optimistic note (up 2.3%) after it was reported that the company is seeking to buy the federal government's stake in hydro-power producer SJVN Ltd. to boost the share of non-fossil fuel generation capacity.

The stake purchase will aid state-run NTPC meet its goal of reducing the share of its generation capacity relying on fossil fuels to 70% by 2032 from about 97% now. It will also help India raise funds for the national exchequer and narrow its fiscal deficit.

SJVN share price jumped on the news, rising as much as 6.4% before finishing up by 0.5%.

Asian stock markets finished higher today with shares in Japan leading the region. The Nikkei 225 is up 0.23% while China's Shanghai Composite is up 0.10% and Hong Kong's Hang Seng is up 0.03%. European markets are mixed. The DAX is higher by 0.16%, while the CAC 40 is leading the FTSE 100 lower. They are down 0.22% and 0.15% respectively.

The rupee was trading at Rs 65.42 against the US$ in the afternoon session. Oil prices were trading at US$ 48.35 at the time of writing.

Moving on to news from bank stocks. Axis Bank share price finished the trading day on a marginally positive note (up 0.7%) after it was reported that the company is planning to raise US$16.2 million or Rs 1.06 billion by floating bonds through its Dubai financial centre branch.

In this regards, the board of directors of the Bank has passed resolution approving allotment of 1 year senior fixed rate notes of US$ 16,200,000. The bonds are to be floated under its medium term note (MTN) program through its Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC) branch.

Earlier in February, the bank had said it planned to raise US$10 million through the MTN program from DIFC.

The company also dismissed rumors about the resignation of its CEO Shikha Sharma. The bank has been under fire from several quarters after reporting a fall in third quarter profits along with income-tax investigation on some of its branches post notebandi.

The bank's stock has surged 17% in a month amid speculation that some of its peers such as Kotak Mahindra Bank, ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank and IndusInd Bank are eyeing a merger or an acquisition. However, all the banks have denied on the matter.

Rising to the menace of bad debts, the Reserve Bank of India is pondering over initiating tough measures against willful defaulters. Gross NPAs have risen at an alarming rate over the past 1 year. While RBI's proactive measure to tighten NPAs is proactive, banks need to take their share of blame. In our recent The 5 MinWrapUp edition, we had highlighted how the banks return ratios had deteriorated due to its profits written off on account of NPA provisions.

Bad Loans Inventory Bloats Up

Twenty-nine state-owned banks were allowed to write off a total of Rs. 1.14 trillion of bad debts between financial years 2013 and 2015. Due to this, the banks have very little incentive to put their house in order.

In another development, Bank of India share price finished up by 0.6% after it was reported that the company has sold its entire stake of 5% (1.25 million shares) in TransUnion CIBIL (TUCIBIL) to TransUnion International Inc (TUI). The deal was concluded at the rate of Rs 1525.00 per equity share for a total consideration amount of Rs 1.90 billion.

In news from automobile stocks, TVS Motor Company is reportedly planning to launch new models and invest in product development and capacity expansion that will grow its market share in two-wheelers. The company will earmark about Rs 3.5 billion capex for 2017-18 for new product development and capacity expansion on expected revival in the two-wheeler demand in the first half of coming fiscal.

In 2017-18, it plans to introduce at least two new models - a scooter and a motorcycle. Also, it is likely to come out with upgrades and new variants of existing models.

The two and three-wheeler manufacturer hopes to achieve one-fifth market share in two-wheelers over the next two years. The company has a 14% market share as of February 2017 on a total volume of 16 million units. It hopes to sustain its share in that range against a targeted 15%.

TVS Motor share price finished the day down by 1.4% on the BSE.

Automobile stocks finished on a strong note with Tata motors share price and Hero Motocorp share price leading the gains.

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