-Sensex, Nifty, Nifty Bank, Midcap index post biggest monthly fall in 2019
-Nifty down 5.7 percent and Sensex 4.9 percent this month; worst July in 17 years
-Worst July for Nifty Bank in 19 years and Nifty Midcap in 17 years
-Sensex and Nifty close with minor gains amid volatility
-Nifty gains more than 1 percent from lows after breaching 11,000 intra-day
-Sensex back above 200-day moving average, up more than 350 points from lows
-Today’s gain for Midcap index is the biggest in more than a month
-Axis Bank posts biggest single-day fall in nearly 2 years; slippages at four-quarter high
-Reliance slips for seventh straight day, first seven-day consecutive fall in 14 months 
-Except Media and Realty, all sectoral indices close in the green
-IT top contributor to Nifty Gains while energy led by Reliance underperforms

Indian shares ended Wednesday's trade with gains, but still the benchmark equity indices, the BSE Sensex and NSE Nifty50, psoted biggest monthly fall in 2019. The Nifty dipped 5.7 percent this month and Sensex fell 4.9 percent this month, what is the worst July in 17 years. The Sensex settled higher, adding 83.88 points at 37,481, while Nifty was up 32.60 points at 11,118. Zee Entertainment, Axis Bank, Bharti Airtel, Titan Company and Bharti Infratel were among major losers on the Nifty, while gainers were IndusInd Bank, Yes Bank, IOC, Hero Motocorp and Tata Steel. All the sectoral indices ended in the green led by the metal, auto, pharma, IT, infra, FMCG and energy.

Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) has posted 41 percent fall in its June quarter net profit at Rs 3,596.11 against Rs 6,099.3 crore in the quarter ended March 2019. Revenue of the company was up 3.9 percent at Rs 1.50 lakh crore against Rs 1.45 lakh crore. 

Shares of Zee Entertainment Enterprises were slightly off lows as reports of the company's promoter meeting the regulator triggered hope that there could be some development related to the stake sale. Zee Entertainment's promoter Subhash Chandra likely met the regulator on Tuesday to share the status of the stake sale deal ahead of its deadline today, a CNBC-TV18 report said. The promoters of Zee Entertainment are expected to pare stake in the company by today and use proceeds to meet debt obligations. This, in turn, is expected to ease the redemption pressure on the company's shares, which were offered as collateral by the promoters against some non-convertible debentures issued by promoter entities. Shares of the company were 4.8 percent lower at Rs 362.70.

The Nifty Midcap 100 index hit an over 2-year low on Wednesday, on the back of a selloff in financials, information technology and automobile stocks. The Nifty Midcap index, which has fallen more than 16 percent in the last one year, fell to 15,510 intraday, its lowest level since January 27, 2017. The index slipped as much as 1.24 percent in today's trading session. READ MORE

Coffee Day Enterprises Ltd named SV Ranganath as interim chairman after founder VG Siddhartha was confirmed dead by the police on Wednesday. Ranganath is currently a non-executive independent director. The company has also set up a committee that will be vested with the powers of the chief executive and explore opportunities to deleverage the Coffee Day Group, the company said.

Despite challenging times for the real estate sector, the asset quality of the company has improved, says Chairman of Piramal Group Ajay Piramal. Since Real Estate Regulatory Authority (RERA) has come into play, there is distinction among developers. “Better developers will do better and the marginal ones will be under stress. So, we have consciously decided that we would only work with the better developers,” Piramal observed. READ MORE

ALSO READ | Sensex, Nifty pare losses; auto stocks lead

The ongoing demand slowdown and liquidity crunch present a picture of 'short-term despair amid medium-term hope' for India, said global brokerage Nomura in a report. Nomura believes India's GDP growth is yet to bottom out and expects it to further moderate to 5.7 percent in the June quarter from 5.8 percent in the March quarter. As per the global brokerage, high-frequency indicators suggest a further slowdown in economic activity in Q2, led by consumption and services, as a result of the ongoing shadow banking crisis and weak global growth. READ MORE

The Nifty Realty fell nearly 2 percent on Wednesday dragged mainly by Indiabulls Real Estate, Phoenix Mills and Sunteck Realty. The Nifty Realty was among the worst-performing indices on the NSE today, trading lower by 2.91 percent. Shares of Indiabulls Real Estate fell as much as 11 percent to Rs 79.10, intraday. Phoenix Mills shares declined over 5 percent, while Sunteck Realty's stock price was down by 4.6 percent, intraday. READ MORE

Shares of PNB Housing Finance fell about 6 percent, hitting its 52-week low, on Wednesday after the company reported a 11 percent jump in its net profit at Rs 284.50 crore for the June quarter but missed estimates. At 9.30 AM, the stock was trading 5.69 percent lower at Rs 675, while intraday, the stock fell as much as 6.2 percent to Rs 671. Jefferies said that although the company’s first-quarter profit rose, it missed estimates due to lower net interest income. Higher provision negated the lower operating expense, it added. READ MORE

Shares of Axis Bank fell nearly 7 percent on Wednesday after the private lender reported higher provisioning and slippages in the June quarter (Q1FY20). The bank's profit rose 95 percent year-on-year to Rs 1,370 crore, despite a decline in asset quality. The lender had reported a profit of Rs 701 crore in Q1FY19. READ MORE

 
Shares of YES Bank rebounded on Wednesday, rising 5 percent on likely short-covering a day after the private sector stock fell sharply on concerns that its exposure to Essel Group and Indiabulls Housing Finance may turn non-performing. Yes Bank shares have corrected by 18 percent this month and 51 percent in 2019 so far. Shares were up 3.66 percent at 11.23 am on NSE, quoting at Rs 89.20 per share. Meanwhile, the Nifty traded 43 points lower, or 0.39 percent down, at 11042.

Shares of Tech Mahindra fell nearly 5 percent after it reported a 15.3 percent fall in its June quarter net profit at Rs 959 crore against Rs 1,132.5 crore in the quarter ended March 2019. The stock fell as much as 4.8 percent to hit its 52-week low of Rs 609.30 per share on the BSE. At 9:55 AM, the stock was trading 3.7 percent lower at 617 as compared to 0.2 percent fall in the BSE Sensex at 37,313. Revenue fell 2.7 percent at Rs 8,653 crore against Rs 8,892.3 crore in Q4FY19 and dollar revenue slipped 1.6 percent at $1,247.1 million against $1,267.5 million QoQ. READ MORE

Policy missteps along with some cyclical factors have led to decline in equities in India, said Teresa Barger, co-founder and CEO of Cartica Capital on Wednesday.

“We think that there is a combination of cyclical factors and policy missteps in India and those could be reversed,” said Barger in an interview with CNBC-TV18 while speaking at length about how bad the situation is for the Indian market even as things become challenging for the global market.

“I would say India has had some excellent policy reforms but many of them have led a structural deflation and things like agricultural marketing reforms, roads, bankruptcy reforms, many of the great reforms have led to a fall in inflation,” she said. She added that larger rate cuts were required from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI). READ MORE

The State Bank of India (SBI) is looking to raise about Rs 6000 crore by selling a part of its stake in its credit card joint venture, reported The Economic Times, citing two people familiar with the development. SBI Cards Payment and Services Pvt Ltd or SBI Cards has already started talks with merchant bankers for the proposed initial public offering (IPO) which is pegged at about Rs 8,000 crore, said one of the sources, as mentioned in the report. SBI Cards is a 74:26 joint venture between SBI and Carlyle, a global private equity firm. READ MORE

Meanwhile, the State Bank of India shares traded 0.26 percent lower, quoting at Rs 326.70 on NSE at 10.15 am. 

Shares of coffee chain Coffee Day Enterprises hit a lower circuit of 20 percent for the second consecutive day on Wednesday after founder VG Siddhartha’s body was found early morning in Karnataka’s Netravathi River. CCD shares were trading 19.98 percent lower at Rs 122.75 per share on the NSE. In last two trading sessions, the stock plunged 40 percent, and in last one year it has tanked 54 percent. READ MORE

Indian shares continued downtrend falling further amid foreign fund outflows, disappointing corporate earnings and subdued global cues. The Sensex slipped 159 points, or 0.43 percent, to 37237.80 in initial trade. The Nifty also fell 47 points, or 0.42 percent, to 11038.30. The Nifty MidCap index declined 0.69 percent, while Nifty Bank also slipped more than half a percent. Among Nifty gainers, Hero MotoCorp, Maruti Suzuki, Sun Pharma, Bharti Airtel and UPL gained by up to 2.19 percent. Tech Mahindra, Axis Bank, Hindalco, BPCL and ONGC slipped by up to 3.64 percent. READ MORE

The Sensex settled 139.69 points lower, or 0.37 percent, at 37257.55 at 9.08 am, while the Nifty was down 51.35 points, or 0.46 percent, to trade at 11,034. The Bank Nifty slipped by 0.75 percent and the Nifty MidCap index was also down by 0.54 percent.

Jaguar Land Rover, Tata Motors’ British luxury car arm, is looking to explore 'strategic to tactical' partnerships to address its capex issues, Tata Sons’ chairman N Chandrasekaran told shareholders at the company’s 74th annual general meeting on Tuesday. Responding to shareholders' concerns about reports of discussions of a possible stake sale to French automaker PSA Group, Chandrasekaran clarified that the company is meeting “multiple players” to hold discussion. READ MORE

The Reserve Bank of India on Tuesday relaxed rules for foreign currency loans for durations of seven and 10 years. The move can be read as a sentiment boost for companies which are fighting liquidity crunch. Currently the RBI and Sebi mandate that no single bank should be over-exposed to a corporate and therefore the central bank’s borrowing relaxation may translate to diversified fund raising. READ MORE

IndiGo has launched its 13th anniversary sale and is offering discounted fares on nearly 10 lakh seats on international and domestic flights. The booking window ends on August 4. The airline has offered discounted fares for travel between August 15 and March 31, 2020 on 56 domestic and 19 international destinations. On international sectors, the airline has offered discounted all-inclusive fares starting Rs 3,499 while on domestic flights, IndiGo is offering all-inclusive fares starting from Rs 999. READ MORE

CLSA on Axis Bank: The brokerage maintained a 'buy' rating on the stock but cut its target to Rs 900 per share from Rs 1,000 earlier. It also added that improvement in asset quality trends is key to a re-rating.

CLSA on Tech Mahindra: The brokerage has an 'outperform' call on the stock but cut its target to Rs 740 per share from Rs 800 earlier. According to CLSA, deal wins should translate to a growth recovery over Q2-Q4 and margin resilience is likely to be tested more.

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