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Indian Indices Trade on a Flat Note; Oil & Gas and Automobile Stocks Drag
Mon, 24 Jun 12:30 pm

Share markets in India are presently trading on a flat note. Sectoral indices are trading mixed with stocks in the oil & gas sector, automobile sector and metal sector witnessing selling pressure while capital goods stocks and finance stocks are trading in green.

The BSE Sensex is trading up by 5 points, while the NSE Nifty is trading up by 3 points. The BSE Mid Cap index and the BSE Small Cap index are trading on a flat note.

The rupee is currently trading at Rs 69.48 against the US$.

The domestic currency opened 3 paise lower at Rs 69.58 against the US dollar in opening trade amid rising crude oil prices and foreign fund outflows.

Forex traders said the rupee was under pressure and was trading in a narrow range after media reports surfaced that Viral Acharya has quit as RBI deputy governor, six months before the scheduled end of his term.

Last week, the rupee gained 23 paise on likely FII inflow after dovish monetary policy from the Fed & ECB. Although it fell 14 paise against US dollar on Friday due to escalated US-Iran tensions which lifted crude oil prices.

In the news from the FMCG sector, shares of Emami slipped around 7% to hit over four-year lows of Rs 270, after huge block deals were encountered on the exchanges. Shares were trading at their lowest level since August 8, 2014 on the BSE.

Data showed that around 34.6 million shares, representing 7.6% of Emami's total equity capital, changed hands on the BSE through block deals.

Although the name of the buyers and sellers were not ascertained immediately, sources said the promoters may have offloaded shares in the open market.

As of March 2019, out of 62.7% promoters' holding in Emami, 47.7% stake were pledged with the lenders. According to exchange filings, Emami promoters have pledged shares with Axis MF AMC, Tata Capital Financial Services, IndusInd Bank, DCB Bank, Hero Fincorp and others.

Earlier in February, Emami had said its promoters sold 10% stake in the company for Rs 16 billion to reduce promoter debt which was used in creation of assets like cement, solar power etc.

Funds like SBI Mutual Fund, Premji Invest, Amundi, IDFC and others, were the buyers, thereby reducing the promoter holding in Emami to 62.7% from 72.7% as on December 31, 2018.

Emami share price is presently trading down by 5%. The stock is trading lower for the eight straight day and has fallen 25% in the past month.

To know more about the company, you can read Emami's Q4FY19 Result Analysis on our website.

Moving on to the news from the construction sector, JMC Projects share price is witnessing buying interest today as the company said it has won contracts worth Rs 5.1 billion for residential and commercial projects and factory works.

The orders include residential and commercial projects in south and west India totaling Rs 3 billion and factory works from a multinational client in east India worth Rs 1.1 billion.

JMC Projects, a subsidiary of Kalpataru Power, undertakes projects pertaining to civil engineering, and engineering, procurement and infrastructure works.

Speaking of the infrastructure sector, did you know India became the world's fastest highway building economy under Modi 1.0?

Tanushree Banerjee has shared some interesting data on this in one of the recent editions of The 5 Minute WrapUp...

In the last five years, India constructed approximately 39,000 kms of highways. That is a jump of nearly 60% from the UPA-2 tally.

The NHAI achieved the pace of building highways at 32 kms per day in FY19. Its target for FY20, at 40 kms per day is almost 25% higher.

What Would 40 kms a Day of Highway Building Mean for Infra Stocks?

What Would 40 kms a Day of Highway Building Mean for Infra Stocks?

And as per Tanushree, this uptrend in execution could be a big tailwind for infra companies. As she writes...

  • Now, I do not expect the 25% jump in road building to come in one fiscal.

    However, I believe it is important this trend of improvement in execution continues.

    And such a trend could be a big tailwind for many infra companies.

    Also, Modi 2.0's infra plans are not restricted to road building alone.

    Railways, waterways, drinking water pipelines, green energy, and affordable housing could also form a bulk of the Rs 100 lakh crore opportunity.

But does that mean investors should jump at the next hot infra stock?

No.

Because even if India's infra story sounds exciting, it is important to dig deeper and be careful.

There will be only a few stocks that will benefit the most from the transformation what Tanushree calls the Rebirth of India.

You can read Tanushree's article in its entirety here: How to Profit from Modi 2.0's Rs 100 Lakh Crore Infrastructure Plan

For information on how to pick stocks that have the potential to deliver big returns, download our special report now!

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