Housing finance stocks cracked amid heavy selling pressure
Markets witnessed a volatile trading session with across-the-board selling pressure witnessed in all the major HFC names with Indiabulls Housing Finance, Repco Home, Gruh Finance, HDFC Ltd tumbling 16.5%, 8.7%, 6.7%, & 4.2%, respectively.Nifty Bank index relatively outperformed the Nifty index, but both indices shed 0.4% & 1.25%, respectively, at the close. The market breadth ended heavily in the favor of the declines with advance/decline ratio closing at 2:5x. Tracking the derivative data points, both Nifty & Bank Nifty witnessed a rise in open interest with a fall in the underlying price, indicating a build-up of short positions.On the options front, heavy call writing was witnessed in Nifty at-the-money and out-of-the-money strikes from 10300CE to 10500CE, hinting a continued selling pressure for the index at the higher level.India Vix ended the day 10% higher at 19.8.
UltraTech Cement drops 3% post Q2FY19 numbers
Shares of UltraTech Cement were trading down 3% in afternoon session on Friday after its Q2FY19 numbers missed street expectation.UltraTech Cement has reported a weak set of numbers for Q2FY19 on the operating front. Revenue in the quarter was in-line but PAT disappointed.The company has reported a revenue growth of 20% yoy to Rs8,151.5cr against an estimate of Rs7,936.4cr. The company, however, has reported a decline of 11.3% yoy in PAT to Rs375.7cr, 17% lower than the estimates. Read more.UltraTech Cement Ltd share price is currently at Rs3,585.50, down Rs144.9, or 3.88%, from its previous close of Rs3,730.40 on the BSE.The scrip opened at Rs3,640 and has touched a high and low of Rs3,646 and Rs3,529.05, respectively. So far, 7,01,149 (NSE+BSE) shares have been traded on the counter. The current market cap of the company is Rs1,02,447.06cr.
Lupin gets five observations in gSpiriva pre-approval inspection;
Lupin has announced that its Pithampur Unit-3 (Indore) has recently been inspected by the USFDA and has received five observations. The GMP inspection was pre-approved in nature for Lupin’s Tiotropium DPI ANDA. This inspection was conducted between October 8-18, 2018. The company has said that these observations are procedural in nature.Tiotropium DPI is sold by Boehringer Ingelheim Pharmaceuticals under the brand Spiriva (in powder form). Spiriva is indicated in the treatment of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). It is a patented drug and was approved by the USFDA in 2004. Boehringer Ingelheim Pharmaceuticals is also in a litigation battle against Lupin over Spiriva.While Lupin is seeking an approval on this drug, five observations at the facility delay the final approval by some time. Note that this is not the same facility for which the company has received a warning letter.
RBI extends FY19-20 gilts to bridge fiscal deficit
As the 2019 general elections loom large, the PM Narendra Modi-led government is skidding towards meeting its fiscal deficit target of 3.3% of the GDP this fiscal.After announcing its decision to reduce market borrowing target for FY19, i.e., borrowing Rs70,000cr less from the market than the budgeted Rs6.05lakh cr, concerns were raised about how the government will meet its target.
The government, however, was confident about fulfilling its target and is now making efforts to meet the same. Thus, it has asked the country’s apex bank the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to convert two securities maturing in 2018-2019 and 2019-20 having a total face value of Rs6,155cr to two longer-tenor securities maturing in 2025-26 and 2023-24, respectively.Though the government does not have to worry about repaying these right away, recovery pressure will probably continue to haunt it, requiring the government to resort to this stunt in the future.Meanwhile, how will this affect the markets? When the government needs money, it borrows from its banker, the RBI, which in turn, takes money from lenders such as banks, insurance companies, and mutual funds.
