Benchmark equity indices Sensex and Nifty extended their gains for the second straight session on Monday, driven by optimism over the India-US trade deal and robust buying in public sector banks, consumer durables, and realty stocks.
Market sentiment is likely to remain cautious as investors position themselves for the upcoming Union Budget and the US Fed's interest rate decision, where expectations are muted.
Benchmark stock indices Sensex and Nifty closed on a flat note in a choppy session on Wednesday as gains in PSU banks and auto shares were offset by losses in IT stocks.
Among the Sensex constituents, Asian Paints, Tech Mahindra, HCL Technologies, Tata Steel, Maruti Suzuki India, Sun Pharmaceuticals, Tata Consultancy Services, ICICI Bank, Bajaj Finance, UltraTech Cement, Mahindra & Mahindra and Tata Motors Passenger Vehicles were the laggards. However, Eternal, Titan, Adani Ports, Bharat Electronics Ltd, State Bank of India, Bajaj Finserv, NTPC and Bharti Airtel were among the gainers.
Utilities in the power sector present an interesting investment case at this moment. Most power stocks have lost substantial ground in the past 12 months.
Notwithstanding the recent sharp decline in the stocks of public sector companies, analysts at Jefferies remain bullish on this segment. State Bank of India, Coal India, and NTPC are their top picks in this space, they said in a recent note. The public sector undertaking (PSU) or state-owned enterprise (SOE) index, with a 70-percentage-point outperformance versus the National Stock Exchange Nifty50 over the past 12 months, comes after a decade of underperformance before 2020.
The power sector is always strongly correlated to economic activity and is receiving its share of investor attention as India's post-Covid-19 recovery continues. India's leading integrated power producer, the public sector undertaking (PSU) NTPC controls around 25 per cent of India's power capacity. It continues to increase installed capacity, in thermal as well as renewables (solar, wind, green hydrogen) and hydropower and pumped hydro, and also has backward integration into coal mining, and explored nuclear.
Power generation decelerated 4.7 per cent year-on-year (Y-o-Y) to 155 billion units (BU) in August 2024. This was the first downtrend in many years, albeit on a high base - generation had increased 19 per cent Y-o-Y to 163 billion units (BU) in August 2023. The dip was partly due to excess rainfall, which pared cooling demand and also reduced need for irrigation.
The government's decision to divest its stake in power PSU NTPC would be delayed as the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs could not meet on Thursday due to pre-occupation of key ministers.
Irked by the response of Reliance Industries on resolving an issue coming in the way of the gas contract, power PSU NTPC on Friday said it is talking to Mukesh Ambani led company to lift fuel alloted by the government.
'Those betting against PSUs will likely be punished in this upswing.'
In a development that could deliver a setback to Reliance Industries, the Bombay high court on Monday allowed power PSU NTPC to amend its petition, seeking implementation of a gas supply agreement.
In a letter to the state principal secretary (energy and petrochemicals) S Jagdeesan on September 4, RIL executive director PMS Prasad said NTPC is currently buying natural gas on spot basis, which could potentially increase the cost of power by about Rs 1,500 crore.
The government on Friday said it is expecting to raise about Rs 8,100 crore (Rs 81 billion) from the five per cent stake sale in power PSU NTPC through a Follow-on Public Offer (FPO).
The group of four ministers or G-4, headed by Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee, had its final meeting on Tuesday and decided to either withdraw and amend the Special Leave Petition or file separate affidavit or an interlocutory application this week, a top source said.In its present form, the government is seeking annulment of the part of the Ambani family MoU that provides for dividing gas from RIL's KG-D6 fields between companies run by brothers Mukesh and Anil Ambani.
RIL is relying upon the pleadings in RIL Vs RNRL case to support its defence against NTPC.
The last year has seen public sector undertakings (PSUs) outperforming the Nifty50, albeit by a small degree. But PSU valuations are still, on average, less than half of private sector peers at price-to-equity or PE 8.7x for the Nifty PSU Index versus 20.9x for the Nifty50. There are several reasons for lower valuation.
Stocks of public sector undertakings (PSUs) have been on fire in the past year as investors cheered an improvement in key operating metrics and embraced counters of these state-owned enterprises, analysts suggest. The S&P BSE PSU Index has gained over 90 per cent in the past year, rising much higher than the S&P BSE Sensex, which has rose nearly 19 per cent during this period, according to ACE Equity data. The BSE PSU Index, reports show, has delivered a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 28 per cent (including dividends reinvestments) over five years and risen by almost 60 per cent in the past year.
There's a straightforward relationship between economic activity and power consumption. If economic activity increases, so does power consumption. Since the latest GDP (gross domestic product) data indicates India's growth rates exceeded expectations in the second half if the 2022-23 financial year (H2FY23) and GDP estimates of FY24 are strong, we would expect power consumption to rise as indeed it has. There is also a direct relationship between power consumption and National Thermal Power Corporation or NTPC's results since the public sector undertaking (PSU) is the largest power generator in India.
At around 3 pm on Wednesday, India's daily peak power demand touched 220 gigawatts (Gw)-the highest daily peak ever in the history of the country. The ministry of power in its estimates had projected country's power demand to cross touch 220 Gw during the months of April-June. With a cooler April due to unseasonal rains, the peak shifted to May.
rediffGURU Rohit Gupta, co-founder and COO of College Vidya, provides a list of competitive exams that can help you land a job in the public sector.
Shares of NTPC slid as much as two per cent on the BSE in the early trade on Thursday as the government's 9.5 per cent stake sale of country's largest power producer commenced on the bourses.
Benchmark equity indices Sensex and Nifty slumped over 1 per cent on Friday, tracking a weak trend in global markets and fresh foreign fund outflows. Falling for the third day running, the 30-share BSE Sensex tumbled 1,017.23 points or 1.24 per cent to settle at 81,183.93.
RIL has complained the to power ministry about NTPC's reluctance to sign an agreement to buy gas from it and said that the power PSU stands to lose Rs 15,000 crore (Rs 150 billion)on buying imported LNG.
The letter comes days after the government made it clear that the empowered Group of Ministers approved price of $4.2 per mmBtu for RIL's KG basin gas.
Among the 30 Sensex companies, Larsen & Toubro, Power Grid, NTPC, State Bank of India, Reliance Industries and HDFC Bank were the biggest laggards. Sun Pharma and Nestle were the only gainers.
The recent failure of PSU public issues lies in the present character and structure of the primary market
The second central public sector units (PSU) pay revision committee report has suggested a new classification of state-owned companies linking salaries and remuneration to productivity and performance.
The divergence shows lack of financial depth in the Indian stock markets.
The Supreme Court on Thursday refused to halt the Bombay High Court's decision that allowed Mukesh Ambani-led RIL to amend its plea on a gas supply deal with NTPC at a committed price citing government policy.
The government is selling over 41.22 crore shares or 5 per cent stake in NTPC.
Each year lakhs of engineering students vie for just about 800 jobs in this PSU . But it's worth a try!
The divestment process, however, will not be an easy affair as there are multiple stakeholders, including the employee unions, whose concerns will have to be addressed.
Govt to earn Rs 13,000 crore via stake sales in NTPC and IOC.
The government on Wednesday decided to allow private sector employees to apply for top management jobs in PSU companies like Indian Oil, NTPC and SAIL.Private sector executives who meet the eligibility criteria for top-level management positions for which the Public Enterprises Selection Board (PESB) conducts selections, will be considered as "non-internal" candidates. Most board-level appointments in PSUs have a five-year tenure.
From the Sensex pack, NTPC, Tata Motors, Larsen & Toubro, Bajaj Finserv, Bharti Airtel, HDFC Bank, Reliance Industries, Titan, Power Grid and State Bank of India were the major gainers. ITC, UltraTech Cement, Tech Mahindra, Tata Steel, Wipro, Tata Consultancy Services and JSW Steel were among the laggards.
'The Nifty index looks to be 20 per cent overvalued as per our model after moving up more than 10 per cent in the last two months.'
The Coal Ministry on Monday received a total 69 applications from various PSUs
Government-owned companies are more generous in rewarding their shareholders with dividends.
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