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Sensex Trades Marginally Lower; Dow Futures Down by 80 Points
Fri, 18 Dec 12:30 pm

Share markets in India are presently trading marginally lower.

The BSE Sensex is trading down by 106 points, down 0.2% at 46,783 levels.

Meanwhile, the NSE Nifty is trading down by 41 points.

Infosys and HCL Technologies are among the top gainers today. IndusInd Bank and ONGC are among the top losers today.

The BSE Mid Cap index is trading down by 0.5%

The BSE Small Cap index is trading down by 0.3%.

On the sectoral front, stocks from the finance sector are witnessing most of the selling pressure.

On the other hand, stocks from the software sector are witnessing most of the buying interest.

US stock futures are trading lower today, indicating a negative opening for Wall Street indices.

Nasdaq Futures are trading down by 24 points (down 0.2%) while Dow Futures are trading down by 80 points (down 0.3%).

The rupee is trading at 73.49 against the US$.

Gold prices are trading down 0.3% at Rs 50,235 per 10 grams.

Speaking of the precious yellow metal, how lucrative has gold been as a long-term investment in India?

The chart below shows the annual returns on gold over the last 15 years...


As you can see, barring just two years - 2013 and 2015, gold has delivered positive returns in 13 of the last 15 years.

The recent price volatility in the bullion market has rattled many traders. Even with the recent volatility in prices, gold remains among the best performing commodities this year to combat the fallout from the coronavirus pandemic.

To know more about gold, check out our article on how to invest in gold here: How to Invest in Gold?

Moving on to stock specific news...

Among the buzzing stocks today is TCS.

Country's largest software exporter Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) opened its Rs 160 billion share buyback offer for investors today. TCS has decided to buyback up to 53.3 million equity shares and the floor price for this offer has been fixed at Rs 3,000 per share.

The offer, as per the schedule, will close on January 1, 2021.

This is the third share buyback offer from the company after August 2018 and May 2017.

Going by the past trends and historic data, TCS has given record breaking compounded returns to every investor with an average 35-50% acceptance ratio.

Based on the market regulator's mandate that companies have to reserve 15% of the buyback for small shareholders with holdings of less than Rs 200,000 as on the record date, means TCS has to buy Rs 24 billion from retail shareholders.

Note that the buyback is to be made under the tender offer route, and is open to all eligible shareholders of the company holding equity shares either in physical or electronic form, as on the record date which is November 28.

It is also in line with the company's shareholder-friendly capital allocation practice of returning excess cash to shareholders thereby increasing shareholder value in the longer term, and improving the return on equity.

We will keep you posted on more updates from this space. Stay tuned.

At the time of writing, TCS share price was trading up by 1.6% on the BSE.

Speaking of the stock markets, India's #1 trader, Vijay Bhambwani talks about how trading will change post the coronavirus pandemic, in his latest video for Fast Profits Daily.

In the video below, Vijay shares how the old way of trading will be obsolete soon and will be replaced by a new, faster, and more tech savvy way of making fast profits in the markets.

How should you be ready for this change?

Tune in here to find out more:

Moving on to news from the energy sector...

BPCL Board Approves Buying Out Oman Oil's Stake In Bina Refinery

Privatization-bound Bharat Petroleum Corporation (BPCL) on December 17 said its board has approved buying out Oman Oil Company's stake in the Bina refinery project in Madhya Pradesh on mutually agreeable terms.

The BPCL board at its meeting also approved a proposal to approach the Madhya Pradesh government for acquiring 26.9 million warrants held by it in Bharat Oman Refineries (BORL).

Note that BORL became a subsidiary of BPCL in March this year when it converted warrants into shares. In addition to the equity investment in BORL, BPCL had subscribed to 0% compulsorily convertible debentures of Rs 10 billion and share warrants of Rs 15.8 billion, which on conversion would turn BORL into a subsidiary of BPCL.

Besides, the meeting approved the merger of Bharat Gas Resources (a wholly-owned subsidiary of BPCL) with BPCL. BPCL incorporated BGRL for handling the natural gas business in June 2018.

It won the license to retail CNG to automobiles and piped natural gas to households and industries in 13 Geographical Areas under round 9 and round 10 of City Gas Distribution (CGD). BGRL is planning to put up an LNG import terminal along the east coast of India.

How this pans out remains to be seen. Meanwhile, stay tuned for more updates from this space.

And 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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