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Indian Indices Turn Volatile; Telecom & IT Stocks Under Pressure
Wed, 8 Apr 12:30 pm

Share markets in India are presently trading on a volatile note.

While Indian share markets opened on a negative note today, losses were recovered thereafter as investors banked on hopes of more government stimulus and lockdowns to combat the virus spread.

The gains were again wiped out amid panic selling as coronavirus fears mounted and presently, the benchmark indices are trading near the dotted line.

The BSE Sensex is trading up by 174 points, while the NSE Nifty is trading up by 43 points.

The BSE Mid Cap index is trading up by 2.3%, while the BSE Small Cap index is trading up by 2.1%.

Sectoral indices are trading mixed with stocks in the healthcare sector and automobile sector witnessing buying interest, while telecom stocks are witnessing selling pressure.

The rupee is currently trading at 76.07 against the US$.

Gold prices are currently trading down by 0.6% at Rs 44,800.

Speaking of Indian share markets, in the article titled How Corona Crash Hit Indian Financial Markets in March 2020 - 6 Charts, we dive deeper and look at how Indian financial markets performed in March 2020.

Also, speaking of the current stock market scenario, stock markets around the world witnessed one of the most painful correction phases in the month of March 2020.

Indian stock markets too mirrored the trend. In the month of March 2020, the Sensex fell as much as 23%.

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In news from the banking sector, shares of State Bank of India (SBI) slipped over 3% in early trade today after the bank slashed its marginal cost-based lending rate (MCLR) by 35 basis points across all tenors.

On Tuesday, India's largest public lender cut its MCLR for the 11th consecutive time in FY 2019-20, following rate cut announced by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to tackle the economic fallout from the coronavirus pandemic.

The one year MCLR will be 7.40% per annum with effect from April 10, 2020.

SBI has also cut savings rate by 0.25% to 2.75% on all deposits. The new rate will come into effect from April 15, 2020.

Selling pressure was also seen on the back of Uttam Galva Steels defaulting on loan worth Rs 6.6 billion in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic.

SBI, Oriental Bank of Commerce, Indian Overseas Bank and Vijaya Bank have exposure to the company.

Besides the PSBs, ArcelorMittal is one of the top creditors of the company. A large part of Uttam Galva's loans was taken over by ArcelorMittal from public sector banks after it made the bid for Essar Steel in 2018 and later won it after a long-drawn legal battle.

SBI share price is presently trading up by 0.2%.

Speaking of PSBs, which banks look the best match post the latest matchmaking of PSU banks?

Needless to say, most investors would also be worried about the level of NPAs and current and savings accounts (CASA) of the merged entities.

Lower NPA ratio and sustenance of high CASA, in the future, could signal the banks' fitness levels to lend more.

But what could go unnoticed is the efficiency potential of the merged entities.

Post-merger, the employee per branch ratio of the consolidated PSU entities could be in the range of 7 to 9 per branch. This would be almost half that of their private sector counterparts like HDFC Bank and Kotak Bank.

India's Top 6 Public Sector Banks Are Getting Fitter

HYPERLINK "https://www.equitymaster.com/5minWrapUp/charts/index.asp?date=09/03/2019&story=1&title=Indias-Top-6-Public-Sector-Banks-Are-Getting-Fitter&utm_source=TM&utm_medium=website&utm_campaign=MCOM&utm_content=market-commentary" https://www.equitymaster.com/5minWrapUp/charts/index.asp?date=09/03/2019&story=1&title=Indias-Top-6-Public-Sector-Banks-Are-Getting-Fitter&utm_source=TM&utm_medium=website&utm_campaign=MCOM&utm_content=market-commentary <>


Leaner operations would mean use of technology to support growth.

So, we would not be surprised if the PSU entities leverage technology at a much bigger scale than their private sector peers, in a few years.

Moving on to news from the engineering sector, shares of VA Tech Wabag are locked in the 5% upper circuit band today, a day after the company secured a five-year Operation & Maintenance (O&M) contract in Al Madina Al Shamaliya (AMAS) sewage treatment plant in Kingdom of Bahrain.

The company in its press release said that it secured 4.5 Million Bahraini Dinar order from Ministry of Works, Municipalities Affairs and Urban Planning in Kingdom of Bahrain towards Operation, Maintenance and Management of the Madinat Salman Sewage Treatment Plant and Long Sea Outfall for a period of 5 years.

Rating agency ICRA has revised its long term fund based facilities rating for the company to ICRA A (Negative) from ICRA A+ (Negative).

In other news, ABB India said that it has developed a standardized qualification criterion for two Internet of Things (IoT) related job roles in collaboration with the National Association of Software and Services Companies (NASSCOM).

This will help bring about uniformity and help in evaluation and hiring of people in high-skilled jobs in IoT Network Communications and IoT Cyber Security.

ABB India share price is presently trading up by 1.2%.

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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