News

Anand Tandon, Market Expert

On Markets“The last time we met, I had indicated that perhaps one should start buying a bit at that time. I guess I was over-conservative, because the market has since rallied again. But I don’t know how far the rally can last. We are again up against valuations which are stretched. Look, the market has gone back to almost the same level it was at before the war. And the issue is that the war brought with it rising fuel prices, a weaker currency, perhaps a potential slowdown in the economy, and earnings cuts, all of which are likely to be visible in the current quarter, not in the quarter gone by, especially if the problem in the Middle East, in West Asia, continues. So I don’t see what the excitement is about.”

“We are again nudging the upper end of the valuation band for the index. And that will mean that while you may be able to find a few stocks here and there which are relatively cheap and haven’t moved up, by and large, I think the market is not at a level where you should be rushing to buy at this stage. Luckily, it appears that the war may perhaps resolve itself faster than I had anticipated. We’ll see how it goes. For now, at least, the players there are making the right noises. So if it were to get sorted out, then clearly that is some relief. There aren’t that many sectors that offer themselves up for investment, even today, if you look at it, because what we’ve seen is mostly a rebound from the fall. And as I said, the earnings growth, to me, still looks tepid. The other markets around the world—are looking a lot more attractive. So if you are actually looking at India from a little distance, you would wonder what it is that you are looking to buy. And therefore, the problem remains that for Indian investors as well.”

Alok Agarwal, Head of Quant & Fund Manager, Alchemy Capital Management

On Metals

“Metals is our top sectoral bet. Multiple things are going in its favour. The fact is that natural resources are really required for the majority of the growth areas in the markets—be it any kind of electronics, semiconductor chips, EVs, solar panels, or data centres. The majority of those things require these kinds of natural resources as well. A lot of these natural resources, especially on the non-ferrous side—silver, copper, and to an extent aluminium as well—are in deficit. The demand, more importantly, is turning out to be a little more inelastic. The most important part is that despite the deficit and high demand, their supply is becoming far more difficult to catch up. Just to make a case in point, for example, silver—in the last 10 years, without supply chain issues—the total supply has actually declined by 2.5% over 10 years put together. No one can imagine that with supply chain issues, exports almost kind of banned in China, and demand rising because of higher adoption of AI, EVs, as well as solar panels, the deficit is expected to go into a sixth year for that commodity, as per the Silver Institute. Likewise, for copper and aluminium as well. So the majority of these kinds of metals, which are really required for industrial growth and AI growth, are in a zone where the deficit is there and likely to persist.”

Sudip Bandopadhyay Market Expert

On Groww

“We have been liking Groww, that is one company where we believe there is significant potential for growth in revenue as well as margins. They have the largest number of customers on their broking side of the business, and the potential for using the same customer base to provide other services like mutual fund distribution, insurance, wealth management, loan against shares. All this margin funding, all this is significant. We believe there is significant scale up possible in Groww, and that should be picked up from a long-term perspective.”

On MCX

“As far as asset management companies are concerned, it’s a long-term growth story. These corrections, which we have seen in the recent past, can be a good opportunity for picking up or building long-term portfolio, but these are not cheap, and don’t expect miracles in the short term from these stocks.

The other segment, which we definitely like, in spite of the high valuation, is exchanges. MCX, for obvious reasons, what’s happening in the commodities, commodity options coming into play. So MCX, in spite of the valuation, is a favourite. BSE continues to remain a favourite and also the upcoming NSE listing should add a lot of payment to BSE stock, both in terms of valuation pickup and also, in terms of NSE, will start trading in BSE, which will create a lot of excitement around BSE as far as creating volumes are concerned. If I have to pick one I will go for still MCX.”

Alok Agarwal, Head of Quant & Fund Manager, Alchemy Capital Management

On MCX

“Let me put it this way—MCX and BSE are both plays on capital markets, and MCX indirectly is also a play on the metal side, which is our top sectoral bet. If we look at the last decade, India, which is a savers’ economy, saw the majority of savings being channelled through bank deposits. Banks made use of those low-cost deposits to earn higher net interest margins, and we saw how banks delivered great returns in the last decade. Fast forward to the post-COVID era, we realise that most savers are channelling money more towards capital markets. We see that banks are witnessing lower deposit growth, whereas SIP numbers are rising. So the amount in capital markets is only going up. Financialisation of savings is picking up.

The natural beneficiary is the capital market plays. Within that, the pecking order in terms of those who have a larger and longer hold on investors is: first the exchanges, followed by wealth managers, and then asset managers. We are playing that cycle. We do think we are still in the middle or early-middle phase of that cycle. A larger part of that migration is still pending, and we do see significant growth coming in. Within the sector, since it is consumer-facing, our preference is for exchanges that gain market share. We saw how BSE, with less than 1% market share in options, has now moved north of 20%. MCX happens to be one of the monopolies on the commodity side—whether it is gold, silver, or crude—so that also helps it grow faster than the segment.”

Rupee Ends At 92.92/$ Against Thursday’s Close Of 93.20/$

Shahina Mukadam, Independent Market Expert

One more year holding will not be a problem and the stock has given you a good run up in the last couple of days. In terms of order book, very strong order book. They have got more than six gigawatt orders on hand, so sufficient scope to continue their 60% growth that they are reporting. Valuations also are reasonable. They are on the slightly higher side, so the upside is going to be little bit capped, but you could continue to hold with stop losses.

Zen Tech Receives Arms Manufacturing Licence From Govt Of India For 12.7mm, 23mm, 30mm And 40mm Cannons

Shares rise 7%

Sudip Bandopadhyay Market Expert

Bajaj Consumer It has been on our radar for quite some time. The management change was very interesting and what is more interesting reminds that the non-core business, which is they have started growing, and we believe that there is significant potential for non-almond oil products to be pushed through the same distribution channel and through the same facilities. They are focusing on that that part of the business is growing rapidly, and that’s a very interesting development. We will keep watching the space.

Godrej Consumer As of now, we do like Godrej Consumer, after very long time of underperformance, I’m not talking about the market price, I am talking about the business and the performance, first time when they came up with a business update the initial signs of very clear good performance is visible. International business, that is has shown clear signs of turnaround and progress. India business is also doing well. We are watching the Godrej Consumer and we are liking Godrej Consumer at this stage. None of these FMCG stocks are cheap. If you are building your portfolio for a long-term perspective, do look at acquiring some of these FMCG stocks. But remember that the next quarter can be very volatile. The raw material prices are expected to go up. Inflation is going to creep up, and monsoon is supposed to be below normal, at least the first forecast. There may be some pressure on the first quarter, but if you’re building portfolio for long-term, these dips are good opportunity to buy.

Ashish Kyal, CMT, Author, Waves Strategy Advisors:

As far as the stock goes, we can see some sharp recovery from the lower levels in Afcons Infra, but still, the volatility can be very high. My suggestion would be continue to hold over here for now, maintain a stick stop loss of around ₹312 levels, and on the upside, ₹390 can be the target for the stock.

Shahina Mukadam, Independent Market Expert

I would put it in the risky category more because it has got a strong promoter that is Shapoorji Pallonji, at the same time there is an issue in terms of liquidity at the promoter group level. They have pledged shares of Afcons to improve their liquidity. They have got certain debentures that are coming for payment in the next couple of months. I would say, the overall risk is from the promoter group. It is a good stock promoter at the same time, that is a risk that is overhanging over the next couple of months. I would say that it is better to at least get out of half your quantity, if not the full, and you can relook it after a couple of months. Because in terms of, projects, they have got very good projects, hi-tech projects, both domestic as well as international. If you look at the order book and compare it to their current turnover, it’s almost three times. They have got sufficient orders to keep them going for the next couple of years. At the same time, I would say that there is an issue for the shorter term so one should switch at least half the quantity.

Ashish Kyal, CMT, Author, Waves Strategy Advisors:

If we look at the overall IT space, we can clearly see that has gone through a lot of correction over the past few months, and we are still not seeing any kind of a reversal momentum. Having said that, Infosys, I would suggest continue to hold because the worst might be behind us right now. You can average, to some extent, at current levels, but do not expect any kind of strong momentum emerging overnight. Your holding time has to be at least more than a year. And then we can expect the stock eventually move towards the level of ₹1,500 on the upside. On the downside of very important support for Infosys is going to be around ₹1,220, levels, so average it out here, but expect it to be at least for a year or more.

Shahina Mukadam, Independent Market Expert:

Sentiment for IT stocks is bad. Having said that, after the correction, Infosys valuations have become attractive, and if you see the fourth quarter numbers also, while they expected to be subdued, they are going to be reasonable, in line with expectations. I would believe that the thrust towards AI is going to be there. We’ll have to watch as to what percentage contribution will come for this quarter and going forward in their guidance. But I would say Infosys along with other stocks like TCS, the largecap IT, they are stocks that you could add in your portfolio on corrections.

Positive On Metals Due To High  Demand Across Industries

Silver Expected To Enter Its 6th Year Of Deficit, Copper & Aluminium Deficits Likely To Persist

Positive On Metals Overall But Structurally Positive On Non-ferrous

Continue To Be Positive On  Both Gold & Silver

Positive On Wealth Management Cos

Morepen Lab Announces Successful Completion Of USFDA Inspection At Its Masulakhanna Facility, With Zero Observations

Shares of FMCG majors such as HULO, Colgate-Palmolive, Dabur India gained 3% to 7% today.

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Nifty 50 is currently at 24,353.05.

HUL, JSW Steel, Nestle India, Power Grid, Max Health are the top gainers. A total of 38 of the 50 stocks are trading with gains.

Morepen Lab Announces Successful Completion Of USFDA Inspection At Its Masulakhanna Facility, With Zero Observation

Nifty 50 is currently at 24,322

HUL, Nestle India, JSW Steel, Apollo Hospitals and Power Grid are the top Nifty 50 gainers.

A total of 37 of the 50 stocks are trading with gains.

Kalyan Jewellers Shares Recover Over 3% And Titan Turns Positive

DGFT Issues List Of 15 Banks Authorised By RBI To Import Gold & Silver w.e.f Apr 1-March 31, 2029

Includes Axis Bank, Bank Of India, Deutsche Bank, Federal Bk, HDFC Bank, Industrial & Commercial Bank Of China, ICICI Bank

IndusInd Bk, IOB, Kotak Mah Bank, Karur Vysya Bank, PNB, RBL Bank, SBI & Yes Bank Inclusive Too

Union Bk Of India, Sberbank Authorised By RBI To Import Only Gold w.e.f Apr 1-March 31, 2029

JSW Steel & POSCO Group To Form 50:50 JV, With Saffron Resources Becoming JV Entity

Proposed JV To Set-up A Greenfield 6 mtpa Integrated Steel Plant At Odisha

Shares of Bajaj Consumer Care surged 15% reacting to their March quarter results.

Its revenue was up 30.4% at Rs 326.55 crore while its EBITDA more than doubled, rising 139.6% to Rs 76.5 crore.

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Here are a couple of stock recommendations by Hemen Kapadia, Technical Associate, DRChoksey Finserv:

Buy APL Apollo Tubes with a stop loss of ₹2,040 and a target of ₹2,190

Buy Biocon with a stop loss of ₹340 and a target of ₹385

CRISIL Q1CY26:

Net Profit down 3.4% At `233.3 Cr Vs `241.5 Cr (QoQ)

Revenue down 2.2% At `1,058 Cr Vs `1,081.6 Cr (QoQ)

EBITDA down 6.2% At `318.6 Cr Vs `339.5 Cr (QoQ)

Margin At 30.1% Vs 31.4% (QoQ)

Net Profit up 46% At `233.3 Cr Vs `160 Cr (YoY)

Revenue up 30% At `1,058 cr Vs `813.2 Cr (YoY)

EBITDA up 37.3% At `318.6 Cr Vs `232 Cr (YoY)

Margin At 30.1% Vs 28.5% (YoY)

Gujarat Gas shares gained 8% after brokerage firm Nomura upgraded its recommendation to ‘buy’ from ‘reduce’.

It has a price target of Rs 390 apiece, implying an upside of 16% from its previous close.

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Aditya Birla Capital – AB Housing Finance to allot 12.3 crore Shares at ₹223.12/share to Advent International, raising  ₹2,750 crore.

Bajaj Cons Q4

Crompton Greaves Bags Order Worth ₹71.8 crore From Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Co

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