Sensex, Nifty to edge up; Tamilnad Mercantile Bank, PVR, Tata Steel, Tata Power shares eyed

The BSE Sensex and the NSE Nifty are set to open modestly higher Thursday, following firm cues from Asian peers and positive closing on Wall Street overnight. The positive trends on SGX Nifty also indicated a gap-up opening for the domestic bourses, with SGX Nifty futures trading 53 points, 0.3%, higher at 18.043 levels on the Singapore Stock Exchange at 8:20 AM. 

Investors will react to macro data released by the commerce and industry ministry, which showed that the trade deficit widened by 139% year-on-year (YoY) to $27.98 billion in August 2022 as compared with $11.71 billion in the same month last year. Merchandise imports jumped 37.28% YoY to $61.90 billion, while exports rose marginally by 1.62% to $33.92 billion during the month under review.

Among individual stocks, Tamilnad Mercantile Bank will be in focus as the shares of the private lender will make its market debut today. The ₹831.6-crore IPO is expected to list at a flat or moderate premium over the issue price of ₹525, given the low response to the public offer.   

Snapping four sessions gaining streak, the Indian equity benchmarks ended lower on Wednesday, weighed down by higher-than-expected U.S. inflation, which stoked fears that the Federal Reserve will raise rates aggressively in its policy meeting later this month. During the session, the 30-shares Sensex dropped as much as 1,154 points, or 1.9%, to slip below psychological levels of 60K to 59,417, and the Nifty50 fell 299 points, or 1.65%, to touch an intraday low of 17,771.  Reversing most of early losses, the Sensex closed at 60,347, down 224 points, and the NSE Nifty settled 66 points lower at 18,004. The top losers of the BSE Sensex pack were Infosys, Tata Consultancy Services, Tech Mahindra, HCL Technologies, and Larsen & Toubro. On the other hand,  IndusInd Bank, Power Grid Corporation of India, NTPC, State Bank of India, and Kotak Mahindra Bank were notable gainers.

Stocks to watch

Tata Power, Tata Motors: The power arm of Tata Group has signed a power purchase agreement (PPA) with Tata Motors to develop a 4-MWp solar project at Tata Motors' Pune commercial vehicle manufacturing facility.

Tata Steel: The steel major said that its board has approved a proposal to raise ₹2,000 crore through debt securities. The company will issue debt securities in the form of non-convertible debentures (NCDs) on private placement basis.

PVR: Four investors in multiplex major are expected to sell around 7.7% stake in the company via block deal today. The offer price for the block deal will be in the range of ₹1,852 to ₹1,929 per share, as per report.

HFCL: The fiber optic cable manufacturing company has received the advance purchase orders worth ₹447.81 crore, including ₹341.26 crore from Bharat Sanchar Nigam (BSNL) and ₹106.55 crore from RailTel Corporation of India.

KPI Green Energy: The company has secured an order of 4.20 MW (comprising 4.20 MW wind turbine and 3 MWdc solar) under wind-solar hybrid power project.

Glaxosmithkline Pharmaceuticals: Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) of India has sold 2.04% stake in the company via open market transactions. With this, LIC's shareholding in the company declined to 4.35%, from 6.4% earlier.

NSE F&O ban: Indiabulls Housing Finance, RBL Bank, and Delta Corp will be under the NSE F&O ban list on Thursday as their derivative contracts have crossed 95% of the market-wide position limit.

Here are the key things investors should know before the market opens today:

Wall Street ends higher

After sharp sell-off in the previous session, the U.S. indices closed higher in choppy trade on Wednesday amid bargain-hunting by investors in beaten-down stocks. A better-than-expected report on wholesale prices also lifted sentiments. The U.S. producer price index dropped for the second straight month by 0.1% in August, after falling by 0.4% in July. In the previous session, the indices registered their biggest single-day loss in two years after data showed that inflation rose higher than expected in August, igniting fear that the Federal Reserve would raise official interest rates by 0.75% next week.

In the cautious trade, the Dow Jones Industrial Average ended 0.1% higher, the S&P 500 added 0.3%, and the Nasdaq Composite rose 0.7%.

Barring China, Asian shares rebound

Shares in the Asia-Pacific region opened mostly higher on Thursday, barring China, after strong selling in the previous session triggered by fears of more aggressive rises in interest rates following higher-than-expected U.S. inflation. The U.S. Consumer Price Index (CPI) inflation increased by 8.3% over the year to August, from 8.5% in the previous month, paving the way for aggressive interest rates hike by the Federal Reserve. The U.S. Fed, in its meeting next week, is expected to raise interest rates again by 0.75% for the third straight month. 

Japan’s benchmark index Nikkei 225 rose 0.46%, South Korea’s Kospi added 0.15%, and the Straits Times in Singapore climbed 0.5%.

Similarly, Taiwan’s Weighted index traded higher by 0.45%, Australia's ASX 200 surged 0.6%, and the Hang Seng index in Hong Kong added 0.3%.

Bucking the trend, markets in mainland China were trading lower, with the Shanghai Composite and the Shenzhen Component falling by 0.7% and 1.5%, respectively.

FIIs turn net sellers, DIIs net buyers

Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) turned net sellers in the Indian equity market on September 14, while domestic institutional investors (DIIs) emerged as net buyers. As per the exchange data, FIIs net sold shares worth ₹1,397.51 crore, while DIIs net purchased stocks worth ₹187.58 crore.

Crude prices steady

The crude prices were steady in early trade on Thursday after American Petroleum Institute (API) reported a large build in crude stock of 6.035 million barrels this week. However, concerns about global supply when a European Union oil embargo on Russian oil takes effect in early December limited losses. 

In early Asian trading hours on Thursday, the Brent oil for November delivery fell 0.1% to $94.03 per barrel, while the U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude October futures rose 0.1% to $88.56 a barrel.