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Falling Crude Oil Prices, IPO Buzz, and Top Stocks in Focus Today
Fri, 21 Aug Pre-Open

On Thursday, Indian share markets witnessed selling pressure throughout the day and ended deep in the red, tracking weak global cues.

At the closing bell on Thursday, the BSE Sensex stood lower by 394 points (down 1%).

The NSE Nifty closed lower by 96 points (down 0.8%).

HDFC and Axis Bank were among the top losers.

The BSE Mid Cap index ended up by 0.9%. The BSE Small Cap index ended up by 0.7%.

On the sectoral front, losses were largely seen in the telecom sector and banking sector.

Hotel, Sugar & Power Stocks in Focus

Hotel stocks such as EIH, Indian Hotels, Lemon Tree, and Chalet Hotels witnessed buying interest yesterday, buoyed by the possibility of hotels reopening in the national capital after a stringent Covid-19 induced lockdown since March 2020.

According to reports, the Delhi Disaster Management Authority on Wednesday approved re-opening of all hotels in the capital besides allowing weekly markets on a trial basis.

Other hotel and resort industry stocks such as Mahindra Holiday, Country Club Hospitality Hotels, Westlife Development, Kamat Hotels, TajGVK Hotel, Asian Hotels and Oriental Hotels gained in the range of 2-3%.

Meanwhile, shares of most sugar companies were trading on a positive note yesterday even as the government raised sugarcane floor price by 3.6%.

The Union Cabinet on Wednesday decided to increase the minimum price sugar mills pay to sugarcane growers, also known as Fair and Remunerative Price (FRP), by Rs 10 per quintal to Rs 285 for the next marketing year starting October 2020, according to an official statement.

Stocks from the power sector also witnessing huge buying interest as the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) relaxed the borrowing limits for the state government-owned power distribution companies (discoms) as a one-time measure.

Currently, discoms can borrow only up to 25% of their previous year's working capital under the limits stipulated in the UDAY scheme. Borrowing were tied to discoms' operational performance to ensure discipline.

The limit, however, has now been relaxed for a one-time lending. This would help those discoms that have exhausted their borrowing limits and will assist power retailers to clear their dues to generation and transmission companies to help reduce stress in the sector.

Stocks such as Tata Power, Power Finance Corporation, and REC were among the top gainers from the power sector on the back of above news.

Tata Power share price was also in focus after the company exhibited its current business structure along with plans to achieve the aim of becoming one of the top 2 energy companies in India in the future.

Airbnb Files for IPO

In latest news from the IPO space, short-term home rental company Airbnb Inc said it filed confidentially for an initial public offering with US regulators, setting the stage for one of 2020's marquee US stock market debuts.

San Francisco-based Airbnb said in July that customers had booked more than 1 million nights in a single day for the first time since March 3, in part as US travellers shy away from hotels and prefer to drive to local vacation rentals.

Companies can confidentially submit an IPO registration with the US regulator. If Airbnb moves forward with the IPO, the filing would be made public closer to the time of the listing.

The collapse of Airbnb's core home-rental business due to the COVID-19 pandemic had prompted Airbnb to suspend marketing activities for the year and cut about 25% of its workforce.

In other news, Equitas Small Finance Bank's initial public offer (IPO) will be done once normalcy in business operations is restored after the delay caused by disruptions due to the spread of Covid-19 pandemic, said the promoter of the bank Equitas Holdings.

Earlier this year in February, the company had received in principle approval from markets regulator for an IPO worth Rs 5.5 billion and an offer-for-sale (OFS) of 80 million equity shares by the holding company.

How the above developments pan out in the coming months remains to be seen. Stay tuned for more updated from this space.

Global Stock Market Drivers

Asian and European share markets fell on Thursday, after the US Federal Reserve's latest meeting minutes highlighted doubts about the recovery of the world's largest economy and knocked Wall Street indices from recent record highs.

The Fed's minutes from its July meeting, which were released on Wednesday, highlighted doubts about the US economic recovery, showing that the swift labour market rebound seen in May and June had likely slowed.

Several Fed policymakers said they may need to ease monetary policy to help get the economy through the coronavirus pandemic.

Despite the dovish minutes, US Treasury yields and the dollar rose with investors focusing on parts of the minutes that showed policymakers downplaying the need for yield caps and targets.

Crude Oil Prices Fall amid Demand Concerns

Crude oil prices fell on Thursday on demand concerns driven by cautious views from OPEC+ producers and the US Federal Reserve regarding economic recovery from the coronavirus pandemic.

At the time of writing, Brent crude was down 44 cents, or 1%, at US$ 44.93 a barrel, and West Texas Intermediate (WTI) US oil fell 44 cents to US$ 42.49 a barrel.

The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies, known an OPEC+, said on Wednesday that the pace of oil market recovery appeared to be slower than anticipated with growing risks of a prolonged second wave of the pandemic.

The group pressed oil nations pumping above output targets to cut more in August-September due to concerns about the strength of recovery in demand.

Prices were also pressured after several US. Fed members said additional monetary policy easing may be needed because a rebound in employment was already slowing.

The US Energy Information Administration (EIA) said on Wednesday that US fuel demand fell by more than 2 million barrels per day (bpd) to 17.2 million bpd in terms of product supplied.

We will keep you updated on the latest news from this space. Stay tuned.

To know what's moving the Indian stock markets today, check out the most recent share market updates here.

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