L&T commissions 360 MW Bheramara Cycle Power Plant in Bangladesh

Larsen & Toubro Limited (L&T) said that it has successfully commissioned and handed over the 360 MW state-of-the-art Bheramara Combined Cycle Power Plant Project to North West Power Generation Company Limited (NWPGCL), the wholly  owned subsidiary of Bangladesh Power Development Board, on Jan 5, 2018.

Larsen & Toubro Limited is India's largest engineering & Construction Company generating 48 percent revenue from infrastructure in FY17.  The company generated 34 percent revenue from international markets in the fiscal 2017.  The company’s order book was Rs. 2.57 lakh crore as of the second quarter FY2018.

Shares of Larsen & Toubro Limited is currently trading at Rs. 1,332.40, down by Rs. 5.85 or 0.44% on the NSE, at 15:00 hours of trade.

HCC joint venture wins Rs. 484-cr order for Pune metro, Shares rise

Hindustan Construction Co. Limited (HCC) on Monday announced that its joint venture comopany AL Faraa has bagged a contract worth Rs. 484 crore from Maharashtra Metro Rail Corpn for the Pune metro project.

The contract comprises construction of 8 elevated stations on line II of the Pune metro rail project. The work constitutes general & structural civil works of the station buildings & architectural and site development. The 14.66 k.m long elevated Line-II of Pune Metro has 16 stations out of which 8 stations will be built by HCC. The project is to be completed in 3 years.

At 14:22 hours, shares of Hindustan Construction were trading at Rs. 43.35 per share, up Rs 1.40 or 3.34 % on the NSE. 

Apollo Micro Systems Limited’s IPO opens on January 10

Apollo Micro Systems Ltd, a Hyderabad-based company, offering integrated solutions to the aerospace, defense-space, home land security and transportation sectors, on Thursday announced that it will launch its Rs. 156 core IPO on 10 January.

This Initial Public Offer will be the first one to be launched in 2018. The company has set a price band of Rs. 270 to 275 per share for the offer. The IPO will close on 12 January.

In the financial year 2017, the company reported revenue of Rs. 211.8 crore, up 33 percent from the previous fiscal.

In the year 2017, the Indian primary market has seen 36 Initial public offers with companies raising a record Rs. 67,147 crore, as per data from the Prime Database.

Idea Cellular raises Rs 3,250 crore from promoter group

Idea Cellular Ltd. will raise Rs 3,250 cr, by selling shares to the Kumar Mangalam Birla-led promoter group by issuing 32.66 cr equity shares on a preferential basis at Rs 99.50 apiece to all or any of Birla TMT Holdings Pvt Ltd, Oriana Investments Singapore, Elaine Investments Singapore, Surya Kiran Investments Singapore, the company said in the exchange filing.  It also set up a panel to consider options to raise an additional Rs 3,500 crore via a preferential issue, a QIP or a rights issue.

Fresh equity funding will allow Idea Cellular to better defend its revenues and market share. The proposal appears to be driven by merger conditions, and not by instant cash crunch or any covenant breach, it added.

The Preferential issue is likely to be completed by early February. Promoter holding in Idea Cellular to increase to 47.2 percent from 42.4 percent, after the preferential issue.

Shares of Idea Cellular closed at 2.85% to Rs 105.55 in NSE on the back of this announcement.

PNB sells entire stake in Principal Financial Group JV

Punjab National Bank (PNB) has sold its whole stake in the JV with Principal Financial Group to give full ownership of Principal PNB AMC and Principal Trustee Co. Pvt. Ltd in India. The Principal Financial Group would purchase PNB’s minority stakes in their joint ventures.  The agreement is depending on regulatory approval.

According to the website of PNB, the second largest public sector bank by market cap, it holds 21.38% in Principal PNB Asset Management Co. and 30% in Principal Trustee.

Principal PNB Asset Management Co. is the investment manager to Principal Mutual Fund.

Shares of PNB was trading at Rs.167.85 up 0.87% at NSE, mid-noon hours, Wednesday

Maruti Suzuki, Tata Motors, Bajaj Auto ahead in December Auto Sales

Year 2017 marked a significant move for auto sales, aided by the continued growth in the Auto sector by the sales figures of Dec 2017.  The primary reason for the growth on Y-o-Y basis was the effects of demonetization on Dec 2016.

India’s largest carmaker Maruti Suzuki India Limited clocked a 10.3% jump in sales for Dec driven by demand for its vans and compact cars. The car maker sold a little over 1.3 lakh units v/s to 1.17 lakh in the same month a year ago, as per the company’s exchange filing. Total domestic sales rose 12.1% to 1.19 lakh units while export sales fell 6.2% to 10,780 units.

Mahindra & Mahindra Limited’s (M&M) sales grew 8% percent to 39,200 vehicles in Dec 2017, led by strong demand for its commercial vehicles.

In the 2-wheeler segment, TVS Motors Limited reported a significant growth of 35% in total sales, in which exports surged to 55% during the period, whereas Eicher Motors Limited, reported 17% growth led by spike in demand for its two-wheelers, aided by stellar growth in their exports. 

Bajaj Auto sales grew by 30% in December on Y-o-Y basis, on account of strong exports. Sale of commercial vehicles rose 187% to 63,785 units compared to that a year ago. Sale of motorcycles also grew 13%. Motorcycle sales within India grew only 6% while two-wheeler exports rose 20%

Top upcoming IPOs of 2018: NSE, IRTC, ICICI Securities and more

More than 150 initial public offers (IPO) hit the Indian stock market in 2017, raising USD 11.6 billion, however, for the New Year-2018 a few top upcoming IPOs, among others,  st to hit the market which include:

NSE: National Stock Exchange, the country's biggest exchange filed DRHP with Sebi in Dec 2016 and is set to enter the market this year. However, the approval for the Rs. 10,000 crore offer has been pending with SEBI, on account of co-location through which the exchange is alleged to offer preferential entrée to some broker.

IRCTC:  Indian Railway Catering & Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) will go public this year after resolving its issues relating to service charges.

ICICI Securities: ICICI Securities intends  Rs. 3000 - 4000 crore IPO issue which comprises sale of 20 per cent  stake by ICICI Bank which equals to 64,428,280 equity shares with a reservation of 32.21 lakh equity shares for individual & HUF shareholders of the bank.

Hindustan Aeronautics: Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) got SEBI nod for IPO in October 2017. Through the stake sale, the company aims to sell 36.2 million shares and garner a total of Rs. 2000 to Rs. 2500 crore.

HDFC AMC:  HDFC Asset Management Company has received the approval for stake sale via IPO offering. The company has listed its insurance arm in 2017.

Astron Paper makes stellar debut on NSE; Stock rise

Astron Paper & Board Mill Limited made a strong debut and was locked in upper circuit at Rs.120.75, up 141 percent against its issue price of Rs 50 per share on the NSE, while on the BSE, it froze at Rs. 120.  The company listed at Rs. 115 on the NSE and at Rs. 114 on the BSE. A combined 6.11 million shares changed hands and there were pending buy-orders for 3,15,927 shares on the NSE and BSE.

Last week, the company’s IPO to raise up to Rs 70.00 cr, got subscribed by over 243 times as at the end of last day of bidding, backed by stellar demand across categories. The issue received bids figuring to 340.6 cr, shares as against the size of 1.4 cr, shares implying subscription of 243.29 times.

The retail investors bid for a total of 36.27 cr, shares. Non Institutional category witnessed the highest demand, as investors bid for a total of 290.3 cr, shares as against 73.15 lakh shares reserved for them implying a subscription of nearly 400 times.

Markets regulator SEBI on Thursday allowed all exchanges to provide trading in stocks and commodities from October 2018. NSE and BSE Stock exchanges can now launch commodity products on their platforms.  It has also decided to put a 10% cross-shareholding cap in MFs.

The new step may have an impact on the shareholding pattern of UTI Asset Management Co (AMC), requiring its promoters to lower their stake to 10% or below in next one year.

State Bank of India, Punjab National Bank, Bank of Baroda and LIC of India are having their own mutual funds together holding 18.24% stake each in UTI Asset Management Company.

The regulator has decided that any shareholder owning at least 10% stake in an AMC will not be allowed to have 10% or more stake in another mutual fund house operating in the country.  The move enables in strengthening the governance structure for mutual funds and helps avoid any conflict of interest.

Besides, Sebi has also decided to emerge with a fresh consultation paper on Investment Advisor so as to segregate advisory and the role of a distributor.

Indiabulls Housing Finance raises Rs 895 crore through NCDs

India’s second largest private housing finance company,  Indiabulls Housing Finance Limited has allotted its II-tranche of Secured, Redeemable, NCDS (Non-Convertible Debentures ) of face value Rs 10,00 lakh each aggregating to Rs. 895.00 crore on Dec 27, 2017. The NCDs will be listed on both the NSE and BSE. 

Shares of Indiabulls Housing Finance ended at Rs. 1207.80, up by 15.15 points or 1.27% on the NSE, on Thursday’s closing.

India-bulls Housing Finance Limited is the II-nd largest private housing finance company in India, regulated by the National Housing Bank (NHB).

Canara Bank goes on equity capital raising plan

Shares of Canara Bank rose 0.9% to Rs 377.90 on BSE in the morning hours after it has announced that the bank approved raising additional equity share capital.

The state-owned Canara Bank has announced that it has approved raising additional equity share capital of Rs 90 crore QIP route, by issuing up to 9.00 crore equity shares of face value Rs. 10.00 each.

The net profit Canara Bank's fell 27.1% to Rs 260.18 crore on 1.6% fall in total income to Rs 11,994.64 crore in Q2 Sep 2017 Y-o-Y.

The Govt of India held 66.3 percent stake in Canara Bank according to the shareholding pattern as at 30 Sept 2017.

L&T bags orders worth Rs.3355 CR.

Larsen & Toubro Limited (L&T) on Tuesday announced that its buildings and factories buz of L&T construction has obtained orders valued Rs 3,355 crore.

The orders comprise design & construction of India Int. Convention & Expo Centre (IICC) in the national capital.

The business also bagged a contract to construct a major retail development in Navi Mumbai for IKEA. The construction for the proposed expansion will commence in early 2018, the company said.

Shares of the L&T were trading at Rs 1,265.45 apiece, down 0.09%, from the previous close on BSE.

Infosys share price hits over 1-year high; on joining HPE-Cloud28+community's vast network

Shares of IT major Infosys Limited rose 2.23% to Rs 1,044.80 on Friday, its highest since October 20, 2016. The stock broke above a resistance at Rs 1,020, the 38.2% Fibonacci retracement level of the downtrend from June 3, 2016, high of Rs 1,279.3 to August 22, 2017 low of Rs 860.

Infosys has joined Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE)-driven Cloud28 plus community & digital platform. By leveraging the Cloud28+community's vast network of service providers, Skava (the wholly-owned subsidiary of Infosys) aims to expand its market presence in countries where business and regulatory considerations call for private & hybrid cloud deployments working with local partners.

Some analysts have turned bullish on the stock in the last one month, with ‘strong buy’ recommendations rising by two to 11 and ‘buy’ ratings by one to 11. The stock has 17 ‘hold’ recommendations, seven ‘sell’ and one ‘strong sell’.

Infosys is a global leader in technology services and consulting. The company enables clients in 45 countries to create and execute strategies for their digital transformation.

Lodha Developers intends to raise USD 1 billion via IPO

Realty major Lodha Developers is looking to raise up to One billion dollars through an initial public offering (IPO) that is expected to be launched next year, as per reliable sources from the company. The company has hired Citic CLSA, Kotak & Morgan Stanley for the IPO, and it is further expected that more banks likely to join the syndicate

Lodha Group has more than 30 real estate projects in London, Mumbai, Pune and Hyderabad covering over 40 million sq. ft of area. It has a land bank of 350 million sq. ft for future development.  The company group has achieved sales bookings of nearly Rs.8500 cr, last year from both domestic market and London.

The BSE Realty Index is up 97% since the start of the year.

HDFC Bank approves Rs.24,000 Cr from share sale

The top Indian banking and financial services company HDFC Bank today approved a mega-fundraising plan of Rs 24,000 crore to fund its expansion, by selling shares to domestic & international investors including a preferential issue to its parent company HDFC Ltd.

The fundraising plan of HDFC Bank was declared subsequent on its parent company Housing Dev Finance Corpn said that it has approved to raise Rs 13,000 cr, for its fundraising plans.

HDFC Bank said that out of the total sum of Rs 24,000 crore, an amount of Rs 8,500 shall be through the issuance of equity shares, of face value of Rs.2/equity share. The balance amount left after HDFC’s infusion will be raised through the issuance of equity share/ convertible securities/ qualified institutional placement/ American Depository Receipt/ Global Depository Receipt and so on. Following the announcement, shares of HDFC Bank hit an all-time high of Rs 1,905, rising 1.05%.

Shares of HDFC closed 0.5% lower, prior to the announcement, in comparison to the benchmark BSE Sensex that closed 0.7% higher.

Housing Development Finance Corporation Limited (HDFC) said on Tuesday that company will raise Rs 13,000 cr to infuse capital into its banking arm HDFC Bank Ltd., by selling shares mainly to subscribe to a preferential issue.  Upto Rs. 8500 cr of the funds raised will be utilized to subscribe to the preferential allotment. The mortgage lender is also considering the acquisition and resolution of stressed assets in the country’s real estate sector.

Shares of HDFC closed 0.5% lower, prior to the announcement, in comparison to the benchmark BSE Sensex that closed 0.7% higher.

Top companies that contribute market-cap gain in 2017

Reliance Industries, HDFC Bank Ltd, Maruti Suzuki (India)Ltd, Hindustan Unilever Ltd and Bharti Airtel Ltd are recognized as the top five companies that have contributed more than half of the gain in market capitalization (M-cap) recorded by S&P BSE Sensex companies so far in the calendar year 2017. The S&P BSE Sensex ended at 33,463 on Friday, and has rallied 26 percent or 6,836 points so far in 2017. By comparison, these five stocks surged between 56% and 72% during the period.  Total M-cap of Sensex companies increased by Rs 11.49 lakh crore to Rs 58.16 lakh crore. Of these gain, the aforesaid five companies accounted for 63%, or Rs 7.18 lakh crore gain during the period.

ICICI Securities Ltd files DRHP for IPO

Capital market company, ICICI Securities Limited, a subsidiary of private sector lender ICICI Bank, has filed a DRHP with the market regulator Sebi for an Initial Public Offering (IPO) to raise an estimated Rs 3,000 – 4,000 cr.

The issue constitutes a public offer of up to 6.44 cr  equity shares with a face value of Rs. 5.00 each, representing about 20% of the company’s equity capital. The offer includes reservation of upto 32.21 lakh shares for individual investors and Hindu Undivided Family (HUF) and shareholders of ICICI Bank.

The ICICI Bank Board, on Nov 7 had approved the sale of a part of its shareholding in ICICI Securities.  The bankers to manage the issues include Citigroup Global Markets, CLSA, BoAML, Edelweiss Financial Services and IIFL Holdings. 

Yes Bank included in S&P BSE Sensex from Monday

Yes Bank Limited will be included the list of 30-most tracked stocks S&P BSE Sensex with effect from 18-December 2017,  Yes Bank stated in a regulatory filing.

The S&P BSE Sensex is the most tracked bellwether index of India Stock Market. It is designed to gauge the performance of the 30-largest, most liquid and financially sound companies across key sectors of the Indian economy that are listed at BSE Limited.

Shares of Yes Bank Limited closed 3.98% up at Rs. 316.05 on BSE, while the Sensex ended 216.27 points higher at 33,462.97.

Rupee climbs to 64.11 on exit poll findings win for BJP in Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh

According to the exit poll findings released yesterday, the BJP is set to keep up Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh from the Congress. This led to zoom the stock market to a great extent, impacting in turn the rupee sentiment.

The dollar lost some influence against the euro after the ECB left its policy rates and stimulus measures unharmed. The Bank of England also retained key interest rates unchanged.

The Indian currency jumped by 23 paise to 64.11, whereas bond yields edged lower in the morning after the exit polls indicated the country's ruling alliance would triumph elections in Modi’s home state but caution remained ahead of the actual results.

The benchmark Ten-year bond yield was down 1 bps at 7.12%, while the partially convertible rupee was at 64.15/dollar, with reference to its previous close of 64.34.

Meantime, in the opening stock trade Friday, the BSE Sensex barometer shot up 358.11 points to 33,605.11 while the NSE Nifty soared 110.20 points to 10,362.30.