Sensex Today Live: Index ends 99 points lower; Axis Bank, SBI top losers
Sensex Today Live: Index ends 99 points lower; Axis Bank, SBI top losers
Sensex today: The benchmark indices pared morning gains to settle in red dragged by banking stocks after Punjab National Bank (PNB) uncovered more fraudulent transactions, while investors traded cautiously ahead of key economic data later this week.
The S&P BSE Sensex settled at 34,346, down 99.36 points, while the broader Nifty50 ended at 10,554, down 28.30 points.
The Nifty PSU Bank was the leading loser among NSE indices, dragged by a nearly 9 per cent decline in PNB shares after the public lender disclosed fraudulent transactions of over Rs 1300 crore in addition to the Rs 11,500 crore reported earlier.
Investor sentiment was also tepid ahead of the release of gross domestic product (GDP) and fiscal deficit for the December quarter.
A Reuters poll forecast GDP expansion at 6.9 per cent, the fastest in 2017.
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Sensex heatmap at close
Markets at close
The Sensex settled at 34,346, down 99.36 points, while the broader Nifty50 ended at 10,554, down 28.30 points.
All but two sectors trade in red
(Source: NSE)
Buy Larsen & Toubro with a target price of Rs 1,515
We project Sales/PAT CAGR of 12.2/17.5% over FY17-20E. Recovery in domestic business, strong order pipeline, sale of non-core assets, focus on improving RoE & working capital and healthy execution of large order backlog will drive the stock going forward. Hence, we upgrade the stock to BUY as we roll forward our valuation to FY20 with a SOTP based target price of Rs 1,515.
(Source: Geojit Financial Services)
Buzzing stocks
Shares of Ambuja Cement fell 4.8 per cent while ACC was down 2.2 per cent after the companies late on Monday said they had put on hold plans for a proposed merger.
Ambuja Cement intraday chart
(Source: BSE)
Lemon Tree Hotels IPO soon; CMD Patanjali Keswani has unusual take on shareholders
Lemon Tree Hotels is all set to launch its Initial Public Offering (IPO) worth Rs 1,000-1,200 crore by end of March.
"The public listing will enhance our visibility and brand image and provide liquidity to our shareholders," said Patanjali Keswani, Chairman & Managing Director, Lemon Tree Hotels.
PNB hits fresh 52-week low; bank makes a key disclosure late at night
The shares of Punjab National Bank (PNB) tanked nearly 9 per cent on Tuesday after the public lender informed bourses that the amount of fraudulent transactions could be Rs 1,300 crore more than the current estimate of about Rs 11,400 crore.
Market breadth
Market breadth turned negative in the afternoon trade. On the BSE, 1,700 stocks declined, 950 stocks rallied, while 134 stocks remained unchanged.
At 2:10 pm, the Sensex was trading 80 points down at 34,364.
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