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Indian Indices End Lower, LIC IPO, Stocks in Focus, and Top Cues to Track Today
Thu, 9 Apr Pre-Open

Indian share markets ended on a negative note yesterday, tracking weakness in global markets owing to coronavirus outbreak.

While Indian share markets opened on a negative note yesterday, losses were recovered thereafter as investors banked on hopes of more government stimulus and lockdowns to combat the virus spread. The gains were, however, again wiped out amid panic selling as coronavirus fears mounted.

At the closing bell yesterday, the BSE Sensex stood lower by 173 points, while the NSE Nifty closed down by 43 points.

The BSE Mid Cap index and the BSE Small Cap index ended up by 1.9%.

Sectoral indices ended on a mixed note with stocks in the IT sector and realty sector witnessing selling pressure, while healthcare stocks witnessed buying interest.

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 last month amid the corona crash.

Note that the coronavirus impact has shaken markets worldwide. 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?


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.

Speaking of the stock market crash, the coronavirus outbreak has led to a lot of uncertainty in capital markets across the globe with economic activity in various countries coming to a near halt due to lockdowns.

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Top Stocks in Focus Today

From the banking sector, State Bank of India (SBI) share price will be in focus today as the lender slashed its marginal cost-based lending rate (MCLR) by 35 basis points across all tenors.

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.

From the engineering sector, shares of VA Tech Wabag will also be in focus today as the company has secured a five-year Operation & Maintenance (O&M) contract in Al Madina Al Shamaliya (AMAS) sewage treatment plant in Kingdom of Bahrain.

Market participants will also track ABB India share price as the company 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.

LIC IPO Amid Coronavirus

In news from the IPO space, Life Insurance Corporation of India's (LIC) Managing Director Vipin Anand said he does not see any major shift in the insurer's IPO plan following the virus outbreak.

He said that the IPO in any case is a time-consuming thing, which is going to be there, adding that the progress will entirely depend on when LIC resumes operations full-time.

Anand said that LIC has over Rs 33 lakh crore of assets at this point in time, which is one of its biggest advantages.

Earlier this week, reports stated that the coronavirus pandemic is likely to dent the valuation of LIC and may adversely impact the proposed stake sale.

The report further added that the main concern is regarding the unusual spike in death claims due to the COVID-19 outbreak, which along with moratorium on premium payments is likely to put a strain on the insurer's financials.

The LIC IPO, tipped to be the largest IPO in the country ever, was proposed in the Budget for 2020-21.

According to initial estimates, the government had pegged the valuation of a 10% stake sale in LIC at around Rs 600-800 billion.

However, there has been a significant downward revision in those figures due to the coronavirus outbreak. Reportedly, this amount can be lower by as much as 40-50%.

How the IPO performs in the stock market remains to be seen. Meanwhile, we will keep you updated on all the developments from this space.

Maruti Suzuki Lowers Production

India's largest carmaker Maruti Suzuki has lowered production by 32% in March. The auto major said that it produced a total of 92,540 units in March as against 136,201 units in the year-ago period.

Passenger vehicle production stood at 91,602 units as against 135,236 units in March 2019, a dip of 32.3%.

Production of mini and compact segment cars, including Alto, S-Presso WagonR, Celerio, Ignis, Swift, Baleno and Dzire stood at 67,708 units as against 98,602 units in March last year, down 31.3%.

Production of utility vehicles such as Vitara Brezza, Ertiga and S-Cross declined by 14.2% to 15,203 units as compared to 17,719 units a year ago.

In February, the automaker had cut its production by 5.4% to 1,40,933 units.

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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