The Indian stock market slipped from record highs to end lower on Thursday, dragged by banking shares, as investors remained cautious amid polling and Q4 results. Tepid sentiment in global peers also affected the domestic indices. Asian shares dipped on Thursday amid subdued trade after losses on Wall Street and some profit-taking ahead of a long Easter weekend. The BSE Sensex ended at 39,140, down 135 points, while the broader NSE Nifty50 settled at 11,753, slipping 34 points. Broader markets underperformed benchmark indices with Nifty Midcap slipping 1 percent, and Nifty Smallcap falling 1.6 percent. Reliance Industries, Tata Motors, JSW Steel, BPCL, and Wipro were other top gainers on Nifty. While Indiabulls Housing Finance, Yes Bank, Hindalco, Zee, and Vedanta fell the most on the index. All sectoral indices were trading in the red. Nifty Realty fell over 2 percent, while Nifty PSU Bank, Nifty Metal and Nifty Bank were down over 1 percent each.

Manish Chokhani, director of Enam Holdings, spoke to CNBC-TV18 about the general elections 2019 and its impact on the stocks. According to Chokhani, "Irrespective of the colour of the government that comes to power on May 23, there would be benefits for the economy because the foundation has been set for a number of things."

"The foundation for a stronger economy has been set for the next government to optimize on but the world is now a scarier place than it was because the debt levels in the world have reached ultimate limits, he said. For example, the Central Bank of Japan now owns 50 percent of the stocks in the country, they are top 10 shareholders", he added. READ MORE

In the end, Jet Airways could not avert a shutdown. Whether it is temporary or permanent, we will know soon. Only a new buyer can take Jet back to the skies. But the big question — is Jet still attractive to a potential buyer?

It would then be cheaper to start a new airline in the country than to take over liabilities of the airline – which has an inflated cost structure with top heavy management, cumulative debt of more than Rs 8,000 crore and account payables of additional estimated Rs 3,000 crore which are due to lessors, banks, airports and refunds & cancellations to guests.

While State Bank of India (SBI) – the lead banker in the consortium of banks looking after the sale process of Jet Airways — has not come out with an official list of suitors who have responded to the EOI for Jet Airways, market reports have indicated that Etihad, which currently holds 24 percent, in the airline is one of the suitors. American investment company TPG Capital and private equity firm Indigo Partners are reportedly the other two. READ MORE

"It is indeed a tragic day for the Indian aviation sector. Jet was the pioneer among private sector full-service carriers in India and consistently figured among the most-loved airlines for its warm hospitality and stellar service standards. Jet's failure follows a raft of other failures in the sector like Kingfisher, Deccan, Sahara etc. The national carrier Air India is a basket case kept alive by the government by infusing thousands of crores of taxpayers revenues. It is a wake-up call for the aviation authorities to seriously ponder as to why India is emerging as a treacherous graveyard for Indian carriers. It is a reflection not only on the sub-optimal  management of the operations by the owners of these carriers but also of the sheer neglect by the aviation mandarins of incessant pleas from the industry to introduce sensible & reasonable taxation & tarriff policies as well as other expenses charged by the airports"

SpiceJet will induct six more Boeing 737-800 NG aircraft on dry lease. These six aircraft are in addition to the 16 B737s and 5 Q400s that the airline will soon induct. The total number of planes to be inducted in the immediate future now stands at 27.  The airline has applied to the Directorate General of Civil Aviation for a No Objection Certificate (NOC) to import the planes. Subject to regulatory approvals the aircraft would begin joining SpiceJet’s fleet in the next ten days.

Headline earnings of Indian companies have persistently disappointed over the past eight years due to lost profits to global firms, poor investment decisions, risk aversion, and some policy actions. However, analysts are now expecting better earnings in the March quarter.

Morgan Stanley observed that most of these factors have reversed, setting the stage for a new earnings cycle. Softer rates, higher investments, recovery in risk appetite, a less overvalued rupee, higher capacity utilization and therefore a recovery in pricing power and a stronger macro growth outlook will drive the earnings this season. READ MORE

Brokerage firms are cautious on Wipro after the IT major posted a disappointing revenue performance in Q4 and below-par growth guidance of -1 percent to 1 percent for the June quarter. The company reported a 38.4 percent year-on-year (YoY) jump in net profit at Rs 2,493.9 crore for the fourth quarter ended March 2019. In the corresponding quarter last year, the company posted a net profit of Rs 1,803 crore.

Reacting to the results, most brokerages remained 'neutral' on the stock. However, they expect FY20 to be better for the company. According to Reliance Securities, Wipro’s FY20 forecast growth outlook appears better than FY19, even as BFSI growth is likely to be slower given a high base and macro volatility. Improved IT margin performance along with continuing cash return in the form of the buy-back is likely to restrict any major decline in stock price despite tepid revenue growth. READ MORE

The temporary suspension of Jet Airways' operations is leading to a loss of fleet and slots for the almost 26-year-old airline but simultaneously the crisis at Jet is increasing the fleet strength and route network of budget carrier SpiceJet.

SpiceJet has emerged as the top beneficiary as, firstly, since both the airlines fly the same aircraft model of Boeing 737, SpiceJet can get the de-registered planes of Jet Airways at a time comfortably and this has come at a time when one month back, almost 12 planes were taken out of its fleet because of safety concerns about the MAX 737 aircraft. READ MORE

CLSA on Thursday reiterated a ‘Sell’ rating on Wipro with an unchanged price target of Rs 220 per share due to its growth and execution challenges. Weak Q1FY20 guidance of -1.4 percent to 0.6 percent QoQ suggests growth challenges will persist for the company, CLSA said.

“Q4 revenue growth was in-line with expectations. The growth was led by consumer (5 percent constant currency QoQ), healthcare (2 percent) and the US (3 percent) while it was dragged down by technology (down 2 percent), communication (down 1 percent) and Europe (down 3 percent),” CLSA added. READ MORE

Jet Airways India slumped 34 percent on Thursday after the debt-ridden airline temporarily suspended all operations with immediate effect as its lenders failed to infuse interim funds required to keep the company afloat. Jet Airways shares tanked as much as 34.01 percent to Rs 158.70 intraday on the NSE. The airline, saddled with roughly Rs 8,400 crore of bank debt, has been teetering for weeks after failing to receive a stop-gap loan of about Rs 1,500 crore from its lenders, as part of a rescue deal agreed in late March. READ MORE

There has been a lot of buzz around Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) lately, firstly with Saudi Aramco initiating talks with the oil conglomerate to acquire up to 25 percent in RIL's refining and petrochemicals businesses. To discuss the outlook of RIL stock, CNBC-TV18 spoke with market expert SP Tulsian of sptulsian.com.

"It is difficult to talk in detail about structuring or timeline of the Reliance-Saudi Aramco news but investors should take this very seriously," Tulsian said.

With regards to Q4 earnings expectations, he said, " We are estimating GRMs of about $8.1 for Q4 and on sequential basis taking a call on petchem and refinery there could be a drop in absolute EBIT number. However, the drop in absolute EBIT number of Rs 450-500 crore will be largely get offset by Reliance Retail." READ MORE

Tata group and partner AirAsia Investments infused has Rs 500 crore in budget-airline AirAsia India, increasing Tata Group's stake in the airline to about 51 percent, reported The Economic Times, citing sources close to the development. As per the report, the investment helps the group to hold a controlling stake in two carriers including the Vistara. Prior to the deal, both Tata group and AirAsia had 49 percent stake each with Tata Trusts managing partner R Venkataramanan and group executive S Ramadorai holding the rest, the report said.

SpiceJet surged as much as 15 percent on Thursday while InterGlobe Aviation, the operator of IndiGo, advanced 4 percent, marking their fifth straight session of gains. The gains in the domestic aviation stocks come after rival Jet Airways temporarily suspended its operations on Wednesday. Meanwhile, Jet Airways shares tanked as much as 34.01 percent to Rs 158.70. On Wednesday, Jet Airways lenders failed to infuse interim funds required to keep the company afloat. READ MORE

Reliance Industries will report its March-quarter earnings on Thursday after market hours. The oil-to-telecom conglomerate is expected to report a fall in the Q4 revenue by about 4.4 percent to Rs 1.49 lakh crore from Rs 1.56 lakh crore from the December quarter, according to a poll conducted by CNBC-TV18.

The EBITDA for the quarter could decline by almost about 4 percent to Rs 20,515 crore and the profits could fall by about 3 percent on a quarterly basis at Rs 9,930 crore, according to the poll. The refining and the petrochemical businesses are expected to see a slowdown. 

The gross refining margins (GRMs) have been under a lot of pressure over the last many quarters and was also seen in the March quarter as well. GRMs are expected to fall by 10 percent on a quarterly basis to come in at $8.2 per barrel.

Mindtree on Wednesday said its consolidated net profit grew 8.9 percent to Rs 198.4 crore for the March 2019 quarter, from Rs 182.2 crore in the year-ago period. The Bengaluru-based company's revenue also increased by 25.6 percent to Rs 1,839.4 crore in the said quarter, as compared to Rs 1,464 crore in the year-ago period, Mindtree said in a regulatory filing.

Mindtree, which is facing a hostile takeover bid by infrastructure giant L&T, said its board has also declared an interim dividend of Rs 3 per equity share, and recommended a special dividend of 200 percent (Rs 20 a share) to "celebrate the twin achievements of exceeding $1 billion annual revenue milestone and 20th anniversary of the company" subject to shareholders' nod.

Benchmark indices opened at record highs as investors remain positive on Q4 earnings. The second phase of polling for the 2019 Lok Sabha elections also started today keeping the sentiment upbeat on hopes of BJP-led government coming back to power. Meanwhile, Asian shares were subdued after a negative performance on Wall Street, with the Good Friday and Easter holidays keeping investors on the sidelines. The S&P BSE Sensex gained as much as 211 points to hit a new high of 39,487.45, surpassing the previous high of 39,364, hit on April 16. Similarly, the Nifty50 index rose 69 points to hit a record high of 11,856, surpassing the previous high of 11,810.95, hit on April 16. Reliance Industries, Asian Paints, Tata Motors, HDFC, and ICICI Bank gained the most on Nifty, while Bharti AIrtel, Bharti Infratel, Hindalco, JSW Steel, and Tata Steel fell the most on the index. Sectoral indices were trading mixed in morning deals with Nifty Auto, and Nifty Banks gaining, while, Nifty IT, Nifty Metal, and Nifty Realty fell.

Morgan Stanley on Wipro

- Underweight call, target raised to Rs 255 from Rs 225 per share

- Q4 saw weaker IT services revenue but better EBIT

- Revenue growth guidance of -1 to +1 percent softer than expected

- Management alluded to better growth in FY20 vs FY19

- FY20/21 EPS estimates raised by 2-3 percent

HSBC on Reliance Industries

- Reports suggest Saudi Aramco in talks to acquire minority stake in downstream businesses

- Possible deal could partly de-risk company’s energy business in long-term

- Possible deal could accelerate its deleveraging plans in near term

- Maintain buy rating, target at Rs 1,500 per share

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