Weekly Markets: Dalal Street falls on inflation worries and repo rate hike; RIL, Adani Group, IDBI Bank and IndiGo in news

Major domestic equity indices fell during the week due to selling pressure as investors were worried over continued higher inflation and further aggressive monetary tightening by India’s central bank.

For the week, the Sensex plunged 2.63% to 54,303.44. The Nifty 50 index tanked 2.31% to 16,201.80. The BSE Midcap index fell 1.25% to settle at 22,490.32. The BSE Smallcap index dropped 2% to settle at 25,857.42.

Top losers among Nifty sector indices were IT [-2.64%], Metal [-2.42%], Bank [-2.24%] and FMCG [-2.21%] and Realty [-1.57%]. Top gainer was Auto [0.99%].

In cash segment, FIIs were net sellers and they sold for Rs 12,662.4 crore, while DIIs were net buyers and bought for Rs 9,611.4 crore during the week.


Company News

Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL): The oil-to-telecom conglomerate and Apollo Global Management has made a binding offer for Walgreens Boots Alliance’s international arm, Bloomberg reported citing sources. The investor group submitted a bid for the Boots drugstore chain this week that’s fully backed by committed financing, the people said, asking not to be identified because the information is private.

Adani Group: The group will develop integrated ammunition manufacturing facility in Uttar Pradesh. The company will be investing Rs 1,500 crore project spread over 250 acres as part of the UP Defence Industrial Corridor for this purpose. It will comprise state-of-art technology across small and medium calibre ammunition.

Meanwhile, West Bengal Industry Minister Partha Chatterjee said the state government has given its nod to Adani Enterprises for setting up a hyper-scale data centre at Bengal Silicon Valley in the New Town area on the outskirts of the city. The data centre will be set up on 51.75 acres of land.

The Adani Group and Apollo Hospitals are evaluating bids to take a majority stake in Metropolis Healthcare Ltd, according to Mint. Adani and Apollo’s deal with Metropolis could be at least worth $1 billion, Mint reported quoting two people familiar with the matter.

In other news, Adani Power has agreed to acquire infra firms Support Properties and Eternus Real Estate for Rs 280.1 crore and Rs 329.3 crore, respectively.

IDBI Bank: The Indian government may allow merges along with consortia bids as part of its attempt for the privatisation of the IDBI Bank, CNBC-TV18 reported citing sources. The government has allowed private equity investors to put in their bids for the IDBI Bank stake sale. The RBI has stayed the 26% voting rights cap for private bank promoters for IDBI Bank bids. Further discussions with RBI on IDBI Bank sale will continue.

Meanwhile, Canadian millionaire Prem Watsa is interested in acquiring a controlling stake in IDBI Bank, Hindu Businessline quoted sources. Fairfax India Holdings, Watsa’s investment arm, has reached an agreement with officials from the Finance Ministry to buy the government’s 45.48 percent interest in the bank.

Interglobe Aviation (IndiGo): The carrier and American Airlines launched codeshare agreement that allows American Airlines to sell seats on Indigo’s flights operating on Delhi-Bengaluru and Delhi-Mumbai routes. This comes nine months after the two companies announced that they have entered codeshare agreement. The two airlines plan to expand codeshare agreement to more than a dozen more destinations in India.

The company also announced that it will restore the flying allowance of its pilots to pre-pandemic levels. Layover and deadhead allowances for IndiGo pilots will be reinstated from July 31, 2022. However, the airline is yet to reinstate pre-covid salaries for them.

Vedanta Ltd: The company said it has pledged 5.77% stake in Hindustan Zinc Ltd for a term loan of Rs 8,000 crore. The announcement comes days after the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) approved the government’s 29.5% stake sale in Hindustan Zinc.

Bharti Airtel: The telecom major has informed the exchanges that Nxtra Data Limited, a subsidiary of the company had entered into an agreement for acquisition of 11.7% stake in Avaada MHAmravati Private Limited, a special purpose vehicle, formed for the purpose owing and creating captive power plant.

Life Insurance Corporation (LIC): Shares of LIC fell to a fresh low for the fourth day in a row as the regulatory lock-in on shares allotted to anchor investors in IPO ends today. SEBI eased the rules for LIC and kept the number of days at 30 days. The insurer’s shares have tumbled 34% from its issue price.

Infosys: The IT major Germany-based firm TK Elevator announced global and strategic collaboration. The seven-year deal is an extension of successful modernisation of TK Elevator’s IT infrastructure in Europe and Africa. Infosys will harmonise global service desk and workplace operations, offer network security and I.T. infrastructure services using its Cobalt-driven automation framework.

Coal India: The state-owned company floated an international competitive bidding e-tender, seeking bids for import of 2.41 million tonnes of coal. The coal is being sourced on behalf of the state generating companies and independent power plants. After the price discovery, CIL shall immediately execute a contract with the successful bidder for supply of coal.

Oil Refining companies: Russia’s Rosneft is holding back on signing new crude oil deals with two Indian state refiners, Reuters reported citing three sources with knowledge of the matter.”Rosneft is non-committal in signing a contract with HPCL and BPCL. They are saying they don’t have volumes,” said one of the sources.

Indian Energy Exchange (IEX): Shares of the company jumped over 5% after the power regulator CERC passed an order, allowing the company to sell long-duration contracts on its exchange. Now, the contracts have a maximum duration of three months and IEX can introduce monthly and quarterly contracts based on CERC norms. The decision is likely to lead to higher volumes for IEX.

Deepak Nitrite: Shares of the company fell 5% in intraday trading but pared some losses after some media reports said that the Gujarat government seemed to haved issued closure notice to the chemical intermediate maker due to the recent Nandesari explosions. The company shares ended 0.74% at Rs 1785.15 apiece.

YES Bank: The lender has initiated a process to set up alternate board after the bank has achieved significant progress in implementation of reconstruction scheme. The alternate board will operate under applicable laws and regulations as opposed to current board which operates under the ambit of the reconstruction scheme. It will conduct an Annual General Meeting on July 15 to consider relevant resolutions.

Ujjivan Small Finance Bank: The lender has approved the proposal to raise funds up to Rs 1,500 crore by way is issuance of non-convertible debt securities on a private placement basis, within one year from the date of seeking shareholders’ approval.The company will seek shareholders’ approval through a postal ballot in the coming weeks.


Economy News

The RBI’s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) unanimously increased the policy repo rate by 50 basis points to 4.90%, with immediate effect, after the assessment of the prevailing macroeconomic situation and outlook. 

Further, the standing deposit facility rate stands adjusted to 4.65% and the marginal standing facility rate and the Bank Rate to 5.15%. The MPC also decided to remain focused on withdrawal of accommodation to ensure that inflation remains within the target going forward, while supporting growth.


Global Markets

The US stock market ended lower after the data showed higher-than-expected retail inflation for May 2022. . For the week, the S&P 500 tanked 5.06%, the Dow slumped 4.58%, the Nasdaq plunged 5.60%

The report showed that headline retail inflation was 8.6% from a year earlier, higher than consensus estimates. May’s headline CPI-based inflation was also higher than April’s 8.3% reading, which dampened investor optimism of price increases to slow. Core retail inflation, which excludes food and energy, climbed 6% from a year ago, also faster than consensus estimates.

Japanese stock markets registered modest gains for the week, with the Nikkei 225 index gaining 0.23% and the broader Topix index advancing 0.51%. The rise was due to lower-than-expected contraction in the country’s economy by an annualized 0.5% compared to initial estimate of a 1% contraction.

Chinese markets rose, helped by looser monetary policy and the government easing its crackdown on the technology sector. The broad Shanghai Composite index rose 2.7% and the CSI 300 index climbed about 3.7%.