Trendlyne Marketwatch
Trendlyne Marketwatch
18 Mar 2025, 04:04PM
Market closes higher, HUL gets approval to acquire Minimalist's parent firm for Rs 2,670 crore
By Trendlyne Analysis

 

 

Nifty 50 closed at 22,834.30 (325.6, 1.5%) , BSE Sensex closed at 75,301.26 (1,131.3, 1.5%) while the broader Nifty 500 closed at 20,657.20 (368.9, 1.8%). Market breadth is ticking up strongly. Of the 2,469 stocks traded today, 1,883 were on the uptrend, and 545 went down.

Indian indices closed higher after rising throughout the day. The Indian volatility index, Nifty VIX, fell 1.5% and closed at 13.2 points. Ircon International closed 5.6% higher after its joint venture with Badri Rai and Company secured a Rs 1,096.2 crore contract from the Government of Meghalaya.

Nifty Smallcap 100 and Nifty Midcap 100 closed higher. Nifty Media and Nifty Realty Indices were among the top index gainers today. According to Trendlyne’s sector dashboard, Hotels Restaurants & Tourism emerged as the top-performing sector of the day, with a rise of 3.2%.

Asian indices closed higher, except for Indonesia's IDX Composite, which closed lower. European indices are trading higher. US index futures are trading lower, indicating a negative start to the trading session. Brent crude futures are trading higher as China plans more stimulus and Trump vows more strikes on Yemen's Houthis amid Red Sea attacks.

  • Money flow index (MFI) indicates that stocks like Aavas Financiers, Avanti Feeds and Tata Steel are in the overbought zone.

  • Godfrey Phillips India, Elgi Equipments, and Graphite India rise 19.4%, 14.3%, and 13.9% over the past week, outperforming the Nifty 50 index by 18.4, 12.9, and 12.5 percentage points.

  • Religare Enterprises is rising as its board of directors commissions a governance review of the company and its subsidiaries, Religare Finvest and Religare Housing Development Finance Corp.

  • Hindustan Unilever rises as it secures approval from the Competition Commission of India (CCI) to acquire a 90.5% stake in Uprising Science, Minimalist's parent company, for Rs 2,670 crore. HUL aims to integrate Minimalist into its beauty & wellbeing portfolio through this acquisition.

  • India imports most of its steel in the flat steel segment. The 25% US tariff, effective March 12, 2025, is expected to divert trade and increase imports into India, adding pressure to domestic prices. Sehul Bhatt, Director-Research at Crisil Intelligence, says this will reduce exports from trade partners as local production rises. However, India is unlikely to face a major impact, as only 2% of its finished steel exports in the first nine months of this fiscal year went to the US.

  • Hindalco Industries rises sharply as the Indian Government imposes an anti-dumping duty on aluminium foil imports from China up to 80 microns in width.

  • Shilpa Medicare rises sharply as its arm, Shilpa Biologicals, partners with Switzerland-based mAbTree Biologics AG to co-develop a novel immuno-oncology therapy. The therapy aims to improve immune response in cancers, including lung and head-neck carcinomas.

  • Manappuram Finance is rising as its board of directors schedules a meeting on March 20 to consider and approve raising funds through the issue of shares, warrants or any other equity-linked securities.

  • Siddhartha Mohanty, CEO of Life Insurance Corporation of India, announces plans to enter the health insurance sector with an acquisition in its final stages. The deal is expected to be finalized by March 31, though LIC will not hold a majority stake in the acquired insurer. This move aims to strengthen LIC’s position in the insurance market by leveraging its vast customer base and distribution network.

  • Star Cement rises sharply as its subsidiary, Star Cement Meghalaya, emerges as the preferred bidder for the composite license of Boro Hundong Limestone Block in an e-auction conducted by the Assam Government.

  • Indian Renewable Energy Development Agency (IREDA) rises sharply as its board of directors increases the borrowing limit for FY25 to Rs 29,200 crore from Rs 24,200 crore. The additional Rs 5,000 crore will be raised through bonds, term loans, external commercial borrowings, and credit lines from international agencies.

  • Mahindra & Mahindra is rising as it signs a share purchase agreement to acquire a 57% stake in its step-down subsidiary, Mahindra – BT Investment (Mauritius), for $14.3 million (approximately Rs 123.8 crore).

  • Maruti Suzuki India discontinues its mid-size sedan, Ciaz, contributing to a further decline in mid-size sedan sales. Wholesales in the segment fell 30% YoY to 51,171 units during Apr-Feb FY25. Meanwhile, SUV demand continues to rise as sedan sales decline.

  • One97 Communications (Paytm) rises sharply as its subsidiary, Paytm Money, receives approval from the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) to operate as a Research Analyst.

  • UBS maintains its 'Buy' rating on Hindustan Aeronautics with a lower target price target of Rs 4,800 from Rs 5,700. The brokerage expects FY26 to be a turning point for defence orders. It anticipates that HAL’s subsidiary, Hindustan Aeronautics Next-Gen Aerospace's (HNAL) order book will triple by FY27, with steady execution over FY26 and FY27. It projects a 19% CAGR in revenue and earnings over FY25-27.

  • Engineers India secures an order worth Rs 252.9 crore from Numaligarh Refinery for engineering, procurement, and construction management (EPCM) services for the 360 KTPA Polypropylene Unit (PPU) project.

  • Santosh Kumar Yadav, Chairman & MD of KRN Heat Exchanger and Refrigeration, highlights the company's plans to increase its capacity sixfold by May 2025. It aims to achieve 80–85% capacity utilization within the next three years. He adds that the company will invest Rs 30-40 crore over three years to enhance line balancing.

  • DAM Capital reiterates its ‘Buy’ rating on Varun Beverages with a target price of Rs 670. The brokerage believes the recent share price correction offers an attractive buying opportunity for investors. It expects the company to achieve a 19% CAGR in sales over CY25-26, driven primarily by a 16% increase in sales volume during the same period.

  • Insolation Energy is rising as it secures two contracts worth Rs 372.2 crore. This includes a Rs 340.2 crore order from Rajasthan Renewable Energy Corporation (RRECL) for a rooftop solar project across government buildings in Jaipur, Dausa, and Churu. It also bags a Rs 32 crore order from Teerth Gopicon to supply 46,297 MONO crystalline solar modules.

  • Rites rises sharply as it bags a revised order worth $10.8 million (~ Rs 93.7 crore) from Ntokoto Rail Holdings to supply and commission diesel-electric locomotives, cape gauge bogies, traction motors, air brake control systems, among others.

  • Suvankar Sen, MD and CEO of Senco Gold, projects an EBITDA margin of around 7-8% and adjusted gross margins of 14-15% for Q4FY25. He anticipates a 20% revenue growth in FY25 and aims to maintain this level YoY. Sen adds that the company’s promoters started purchasing shares from the open market yesterday, acquiring a stake worth Rs 4 crore.

  • NBCC secures an order worth Rs 44.6 crore from the Mahatma Gandhi Institute for Rural Industrialisation (MGIRI) in Wardha, Maharashtra. This involves project management for the construction and development of infrastructure at MGIRI, including a hostel and a VIP guest house.

  • PC Jeweller is rising sharply as its board of directors approves the preferential issue of 51.7 crore shares to lenders, including State Bank of India, Union Bank of India, and Punjab National Bank, among others, to settle Rs 1,510 crore in debt.

  • Ircon International rises sharply as its joint venture with Badri Rai and Company secures an engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) contract worth Rs 1,096.2 crore from the Government of Meghalaya to construct a new secretariat complex in New Shillong City.

  • Bajaj Finserv is rising as its board of directors approves acquiring Allianz's 26% stake in insurance joint ventures (JVs), Bajaj Allianz General Insurance and Bajaj Allianz Life Insurance for €2.6 billion (~ Rs 24,600 crore).

  • The market opened on an upbeat note. Nifty 50 was trading at 22,613.75 (105, 0.5%), BSE Sensex was trading at 74,622.89 (452.9, 0.6%) while the broader Nifty 500 was trading at 20,406 (117.7, 0.6%).

  • Market breadth is surging up. Of the 1,988 stocks traded today, 1,632 showed gains, and 307 showed losses.

Riding High:

Largecap and midcap gainers today include PB Fintech Ltd. (1,454, 7.3%), Zomato Ltd. (218.19, 7.1%) and Indian Renewable Energy Development Agency Ltd. (145.95, 5.6%).

Downers:

Largecap and midcap losers today include Bharti Hexacom Ltd. (1,320.95, -2.5%), Abbott India Ltd. (29,731.70, -1.5%) and Bajaj Finserv Ltd. (1,844.65, -1.4%).

Volume Rockets

20 stocks in BSE 500 are trading on high volumes today.

Top high volume gainers on BSE included Mastek Ltd. (2,440.05, 15.5%), Triveni Turbine Ltd. (576.05, 13.2%) and Welspun Living Ltd. (128.82, 10.4%).

Top high volume losers on BSE were Hitachi Energy India Ltd. (11,954, -5.6%) and Crisil Ltd. (4,372.40, -0.5%).

Finolex Cables Ltd. (860.40, 9.6%) was trading at 14.3 times of weekly average. Ircon International Ltd. (145.92, 5.6%) and Ratnamani Metals & Tubes Ltd. (2,625, 5.5%) were trading with volumes 10.7 and 10.7 times weekly average respectively on BSE at the time of posting this article.

BSE 500: highs, lows and moving averages

2 stocks overperformed with 52 week highs, while 3 stocks tanked below their 52 week lows.

Stocks touching their year highs included - Kotak Mahindra Bank Ltd. (2,034, 2.1%) and SRF Ltd. (2,989.90, -0.7%).

Stocks making new 52 weeks lows included - Au Small Finance Bank Ltd. (504, 2.5%) and Nuvoco Vistas Corporation Ltd. (293.90, 1.8%).

14 stocks climbed above their 200 day SMA including Cholamandalam Financial Holdings Ltd. (1,658.70, 6.2%) and Godrej Agrovet Ltd. (765, 5.5%). 2 stocks slipped below their 200 SMA including Hitachi Energy India Ltd. (11,954, -5.6%) and Aether Industries Ltd. (849.50, -1.2%).

 
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