MARKET OUTLOOK- 23rd MARCH 2015

Dear Customer,

 

Markets always tend to be interesting with something or the other happening all the time. Our Morning Mantra is released before the opening bell and it includes the market commentary along with Corporate & Global news for the day.

 

• U.S. stocks rallied on Friday, with the Nasdaq Composite Index closing at its highest level in 15 years.

Dow Jones	18127.7	+168.6	+0.94%
Dow Futures	18033.0	+148.0	+0.83%
Hangseng	24477.0	+101.8	+0.42%
Nikkie	19769.7	+209.5	+1.07%
SGX Nifty	8624.0	+11.5	+0.13%

 

• Asian stocks extended a six-month high after global equities capped their biggest weekly advance since July 2013. Crude oil declined, while wheat traded at a two-month high.
• Market is expected to open on positive note and likely to remain strong during the day.
• India's southwest monsoon is expected to be normal this year, predicts a joint study by the Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry and private weather forecaster Skymet. One of the bigger concern currently is decline in rural income and consumption. As such this time it will be more important and positive for corporate dependent on rural economy.
• Aditya Birla group is likely to merge its two loss-making unlisted entities — Aditya Birla Retail, which runs the retail chain More, and Madura Fashion & Lifestyle — with Pantaloons Fashion & Retail, a listed entity. (BS)
• E Sreedharan, known for his role in the development of the Konkan Railway and Delhi Metro Rail said that building metro rails under the Build-Operate-Transfer (BOT) or public private partnership (PPP) models is not viable. Metros, he said, are highly capital intensive. For example, if it is an elevated type of Metro, the cost will be something like Rs 200 crore per kilometer. If it is an underground one, it is around Rs 450 crore per kilometer, Sreedharan told IIT Madras students. He said the PPP model was tried in the case of three Metros in India. One was the Airport-line in Delhi Metro, where the entire civil cost was undertaken by the government and only the system cost and the trains were run by another party. Within one and half year, the private partner ( Reliance Infra) abandoned the project.  In case of Mumbai Metro phase I, first line of 11 kilometers, inspite of a very heavy ridership, the revenue was not even able to meet the interest liability of the loan taken by the private partner.(Reliance Infra). For Hyderabad Metro, the first attempt to get a private partner was not successful and now L&T has taken up the project. "Since L&T is a very prestigious organisation, they will finish the work. But they will have to pay a very heavy price for taking that private venture," said Sreedharan.
• In a major blow to Jindal Steel & Power , the government said it was rejecting three of its successful bids in the recently-concluded coal block auctions, along with one by Balco.
• Finance Minister Arun Jaitley sought to squelch growing talk of a rift between the government and Reserve Bank over a number of Budget proposals while central bank Governor Raghuram Rajan said he backed the concept of a independent body to manage the government's debt. 
• The Delhi high court restrained Glenmark Pharmaceuticals from manufacturing, marketing or selling its anti-diabetes drugs Zita and Zita-Met, saying it has "prima facie" infringed the patent of US drug major Merck Sharp and Dohme (MSD), said media reports. (ET)
• Indian banks will be able to convert debts of defaulting publicly traded borrowers into equity, SEBI said, clearing the way for lenders that are struggling with a surge in bad-loan provisions to wrest management control of defaulters and also in some cases allow distressed firms to improve their cash flows by lowering interest costs.
• NSEL Investors Associations today asked the government to pass the final order for merger of FTIL and NSEL and quickly supersede the current board of FTIL.
• New Delhi Municipal Corporation deferred a decision on starting the process of auctioning the Taj Mahal Hotel, which means the Tatas' Indian Hotels CompanyBSE -4.27 % may get yet another extension to continue operate the hotel for four to five months.
• The Delhi high court on Friday restrained Glenmark Pharmaceuticals from manufacturing, marketing or selling its anti-diabetes drugs Zita and Zita-Met, saying it has "prima facie" infringed the patent of US drug major Merck.
• Gayatri Projects wins order worth `137 cr from Chhattisgarh govt
• Kalyani Forge plans to invest `200 cr on upgrading units
• Federal Bank  - Institution Desk: In this report we have tried to soothe the investors’ concerns regarding Federal Bank’s asset quality and the impact of slide in crude oil prices. We have also listed appropriate measures taken by the management to tackle the problems. We have retained Buy rating on Federal Bank with a target price of Rs183. Asset quality – cautious approach yields results: The cautious approach towards corporate lending has started yielding results. Despite aggravated slowdown in the economy, average loan slippage ratio for the past six quarters (2QFY14 to 3QFY15) eased to 1.6% as against an average of 2.9% in the six quarters prior to this (4QFY12 to 1QFY14). Reduction in loan slippage is more appreciable as the bank did not increase its loan book size in FY14. Reduction in loan slippage is witnessed across various segments. Its major area of concern is loan slippage in the large corporate segment, which, in our opinion, the management has addressed efficiently. The bank has consciously allowed a run-off and did not renew a few of its big-ticket size corporate accounts where it was not comfortable with the quality or adequacy of security on those assets. As a result, large corporate loan book declined 22% in FY14 over FY12.