Market Today
The benchmark Sensex and Nifty indices are likely to open on a negative note on March 19 as trends in the GIFT Nifty indicate a weak start for the broader index with a loss of 77.50 points.
The benchmark indices ended on a positive note on March 18 and also erased some of the previous session losses with Nifty around 22,050 amid buying across the sectors, barring IT and FMCG.
At close, the Sensex was up 104.99 points or 0.14 percent at 72,748.42, and the Nifty was up 32.40 points or 0.15 percent at 22,055.70.
The pivot point calculator indicates that the Nifty 50 is likely to take immediate support at 21,953, followed by 21,904 and 21,825. On the higher side, the index may face resistance at 22,111, followed by 22,160 and 22,239 levels.
Stay tuned to Moneycontrol to find out what happens in the currency and equity markets today. We have collated a list of important headlines across news platforms, which could impact Indian as well as international markets.
GIFT Nifty
Trends in the GIFT Nifty indicate a weak start for the broader index in India, with a loss of 77.50 points or 0.35 percent. The Nifty futures were trading around the 22,059 level.
Trade setup for today: Top 15 things to know before the opening bell
US Markets
Wall Street’s main indexes closed higher on Monday, with megacap growth stocks such as Alphabet and Tesla supporting a rebound in technology-heavy Nasdaq while investors also waited anxiously for the U.S. Federal Reserve’s meeting this week.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 75.66 points, or 0.20% , to 38,790.43, the S&P 500 gained 32.33 points, or 0.63%, to 5,149.42 and the Nasdaq Composite gained 130.27 points, or 0.82%, to 16,103.45.
Asian Markets
Asian markets were trading lower on early Tuesday ahead of central bank monetary policy decisions from the Bank of Japan and the Reserve Bank of Australia.
All eyes will be on the BOJ amid expectations that the central bank could end its negative interest rate policy after 17 years.
Aditya Birla Sun Life AMC: Promoters to sell up to 11.47% stake in OFS
Promoters Aditya Birla Capital and Sun Life (India) AMC Investments on March 18 approved the sale of up to 2.01 crore shares of Aditya Birla Sun Life AMC, representing 7 percent of the issued and paid-up equity share capital of the company, through an offer for sale (OFS) to achieve minimum public shareholding of the ABSLAMC.
The offer will open on March 19 for non-retail investors and on March 20 for retail investors. There will be an option to additionally sell up to 1.28 crore shares or a 4.47 percent stake. The oversubscription option will represent 11.47 percent of the total issued and paid-up equity share capital or 3.3 crore shares of the company. The floor price for the offer is set at Rs 450 per share.
BofA Securities India, IIFL Securities, Jefferies India and Spark Institutional Equities are the brokers for the transaction.
According to SEBI, a 25 percent stake in all listed companies should be held by non-promoters. A high promoter holding can lead to an artificial mismatch between demand and supply as fewer shares are available for the public to buy and sell.
Tata Steel UK to shut down coke ovens at Port Talbot plant in Wales
Tata Steel has informed that its UK unit has decided to cease operations of the coke ovens at the Port Talbot plant in Wales, following a deterioration of operational stability. Tata Steel had previously stated that many of its heavy-end assets in Port Talbot are at their end-of-life capability.
Tata Steel UK will increase imports of coke to offset the impact of the coke oven closures, the company said.
Earlier this year, Tata Steel said that it is currently losing around 1 million pounds a day from its operations in the town and keeping a blast furnace open on the site and making steel from scratch would lead to a further loss of 600 million pounds.
Tata Sons to sell 0.65% stake in TCS for $1.1 billion
Tata Sons has offered to sell 2.34 crore shares of IT major Tata Consultancy Services Ltd (TCS) at Rs 4,001 per share through block deals to raise $1.1 billion, reported Bloomberg on March 18.
The floor price represents a 3.6 percent discount to the last traded price. On March 18, TCS’ shares on BSE closed 1.8 percent lower at Rs 4,144.25 while their intraday high was Rs 4,254.75.
As of December 31, 2023, promoters held a 72.41 percent stake in TCS, of which Tata Sons held 72.38 percent stake, while the rest is held by Tata Investment Corporation. Citigroup and JPMorgan are reportedly the joint bookrunners of the proposed share sale.
Dollar
The dollar was little changed on Monday ahead of a slew of central bank meetings this week, with the Bank of Japan widely expected to end negative interest rates and the market waiting for the Federal Reserve’s latest projections for rate cuts.
Gold Prices
Gold prices firmed after dipping to one-week lows on Monday as investors awaited a series of central bank meetings this week, including the U.S. Federal Reserve’s policy decision on Wednesday, to pick up on clues on inflation and interest rates.
Crude
Oil prices climbed about 1% to a four-month high on Monday on lower crude exports from Iraq and Saudi Arabia and signs of stronger demand and economic growth in China and the U.S.
FII and DII data
Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) net sold shares worth Rs 2,051.09 crore, while domestic institutional investors (DIIs) bought Rs 2,260.88 crore worth of stocks on March 18, provisional data from the NSE showed.
Stock under F&O ban on NSE
The NSE has added Balrampur Chini Mills to the F&O ban list for March 19, while retaining Aditya Birla Fashion & Retail, BHEL, Biocon, Hindustan Copper, Manappuram Finance, National Aluminium Company, Piramal Enterprises, RBL Bank, SAIL, Tata Chemicals and Zee Entertainment Enterprises on the said list.
With inputs from Reuters and other agencies
