Consumer Price Index or CPI inflation stood at 2.33% in November 2018, down from 3.4% in the Research Analyst (Economist) previous month. It was slightly above our estimate of 2.26%, but below consensus estimate teresa.john@nirmalbang.com of 2.6%. Food and beverage inflation declined 1.7% YoY, which was above our estimate of a +91 22 6273 8114 2.1% decline. Core inflation slowed to 5.7% from 6.2% in the previous month, and was below our estimate of 5.9%. The downside surprise in core inflation largely came from lower-thananticipated housing inflation, and soft prices in household goods and personal care segments. With CPI inflation ruling below 4% target of the Reserve Bank of India or RBI, we expect a change in its stance to neutral' at the February 2019 monetary policy committee (MPC) meeting, with a rate cut likely by April 2019. The newly appointed RBI Governor, Mr. Shaktikanta Das, is...

Declining market share in its home state of Kerala has been a wake-up call for SIB. To recoup the recent loss in market share, SIB now aims to leverage its existing customer relationship by cross selling. The bank has constituted a separate 'business development channel' in addition to its existing branch network to speed up the sourcing of retail products.

Mutual funds inflows at Rs 1.4 lakh crore in November Asian markets are trading in the green tracking cues from Wall Street overnight on the back of easing in tensions between the U.S. and China. Nikkei is trading higher by 0.99%, Hang Seng is trading higher by 1.15%...

Brent Crude oil price weakened by 18.6% MoM to average US$65.5/bbl in Nov'18 on the back of concern on demand growth and higher non-OPEC supply expectation for 2018 and 2019. OPEC expects global demand growth to be ~1.3mbpd while Non-OPEC supply is expected to increase by ~2.2mbpd. OPEC production declined marginally by 0.6% MoM to 33.1mbpd on the back of higher production from Saudi Arabia partially offset by Iran, Iraq and Libya. Non-OPEC production increased marginally by 0.6% MoM to 60.2mbpd owing to higher production from North Sea and Russia. US Crude oil inventory stood at 443mn bbls up 5.8% for the month of Nov'18. US Refinery utilization have improved by 4.2% MoM to average at 92.8% for the month of Nov'18. Also, Singapore Gross refining margin (GRM) declined by 4% MoM to US$4.8/bbl in Nov'18 mainly led by lower crack spreads from Fuel Oil, Gasoline and Gasoil. Gross Marketing margins remain at elevated levels for the month of Nov'18. Arab Light-Heavy differential declined by 4% MoM to US$2.3/bbl whereas Rupee appreciated by 2.5% MoM to Rs71.8/US$ in the month of Nov'18. On Natural Gas space, LNG prices remained higher at US$9.7/mmbtu owing to strong demand across countries like China, Japan, US and India. We expect Spot LNG prices to...

After a recent publication by a brokerage regarding corporate governance issues in Sun Pharma and a complaint filed by a whistleblower with SEBI, the management of Sun pharma conducted a call to address apprehensions among investors. While the first issue was addressed with case by case analysis, the question mark remains over the whistleblower's complaint for want of management action plan as the management awaits SEBI correspondence. Similarly, concerns regarding issues related to transactions with AML (related party distributor) and Loans and Advances to...

Way2Wealth Brokers Pvt. Ltd. (CIN U67120KA2000PTC027628) SEBI Rgn. No. : INH200002739 No. 14, Frontline Granduer, Walton Road, Bangalore-560001; Website: www.way2wealth.com Email: research@way2wealth.com...

Revenue in line lead price shows resilience Amara Raja Batteries Ltd (ARBL) is India's second largest Lead-acid battery manufacturer. Its segment includes automotive and industrial lead acid batteries, with market leadership in Telecom segment. ARBL has approved an investment of Rs540cr for the deployment of...

Exide Industries Limited (EIL) is a leader in storage battery business with a market share of 60% in India. Its segment includes automotive and industrial lead acid batteries. EIL is focussing on cost control initiatives and technological upgradation as strategies to improve bottom line. Newer cost effective brands like Boss/Dynex at competitive price are expected to support market share gain from the unorganized players....

approved acquisition of Heinz India jointly with Cadila Healthcare. The company will acquire four brands viz Glucon-D, Source: Bloomberg; As on 8.30 am IST...

Fund houses invested a large proportion of their assets in Large-cap^ stocks. About 85% of the assets (Rs 4,080* cr) was invested in Large Caps. Mid Caps^ faced a net outflow of approximately Rs200 cr in November 2018. Fund houses continued to increase their exposure to Small Cap^ stocks with a net inflow* of Rs900cr. About Rs1,265* cr was invested in Small Caps in October 2018....

Amnish Aggarwal | amnishaggarwal@plindia.com | +91-22-6632 2233 Prashant Biyani | prashantbiyani@plindia.com | +91-22-6632 2260 Poorvi Banka | poorvibanka@plindia.com | +91-22-6632 2426 Nishita Doshi | nishitadoshi@plindia.com | +91-22-6632 2381 Prabhudas Lilladher Pvt. Ltd. and/or its associates (the 'Firm') does and/or seeks to do business with companies covered in its research reports. As a result investors should be aware that the Firm may have a conflict of interest that could affect the objectivity of the report. Investors should consider this report as only a single factor in making their investment decision. Please refer to important disclosures and disclaimers at the end of the report....

of reduction in coal and diesel costs. However, given the stiff competition in the non-trade segment (having commodity nature), we strongly believe that majority of the reduction would be passed on. We maintain our Underweight...

The US markets ended in the green recovering from the lows of the day amid bargain hunting and light trading activity in absence of any triggers for the markets. The Dow Jones gained 34 points or...

India's current account deficit (CAD) in 2QFY19 stood at US$19.1bn (2.9% Of GDP) teresa.john@nirmalbang.com which was slightly higher than our estimate of US$18.3bn (2.7% of GDP). The CAD +91 22 6273 8114 widened from US$15.3bn (2.4% of GDP) in the previous quarter, and US$7bn (1.1% of GDP) a year ago. The widening of the CAD was on account of higher trade deficit which stood at US$50bn. Net services exports grew 10.2% YoY supported by software exports on the back of robust global growth. Net remittances also grew 23.3% YoY on account of strong global growth and high crude oil prices. The Balance of Payments stood at a deficit of US$1.9bn, better than US$11.3bn in the previous...