Sensex Trades Weak; SBI & Adani Ports Top Losers
Stock markets in India are trading lower after US Federal Reserve raised interest rates and took a more hawkish tone in forecasting a slightly faster pace of tightening for the rest of the year. While concerns about US-China trade frictions have also kept market participants on edge. Losses are largely seen in information technology stocks and PSU stocks.
The BSE Sensex is trading down by 228 points and the NSE Nifty is trading down by 74 points. Meanwhile, the BSE Mid Cap index is trading down by 0.6% while, the BSE Small Cap index is trading down by 0.3%. The rupee is trading at 67.33 to the US$.
Indian investors are not unfamiliar with sharp market corrections. But a long bull market tends to erase the memories of the previous turmoil.
Of course, it is typically the small and midcap stocks that bear the maximum toll of a sharp market correction. They are the first ones to nosedive. But when markets are in a state of panic, fear feeds upon itself.
And there is no reason why this may not repeat in the coming market correction. You must remember that during such times, even the stocks of some of the strongest business tend to succumb to weak sentiments. The crash of 2008 saw some of them correct by over 50%!
Can Bellwethers Correct by 50%?
But should you lose confidence during such periods of underperformance?
Tanushree Banerjee, Editor of The 5 Minute WrapUp, goes by the wise words of Howard Marks...
- "Every investor who's unwilling to throw in the towel on outperformance, and who chooses to deviate from the index in its pursuit, will have periods of significant underperformance. In fact, since many of the best investors stick most strongly to their approach-and since no approach will work all the time-the best investors can have some of the greatest periods of underperformance."
In such an environment, it makes sense for investors to be selective while buying stocks. Focus on value and the underlying fundamentals of the business. Then, they need not worry about the market.
In the news from the engineering sector. In the latest development, Larsen & Toubro (L&T) has won orders worth Rs 13.9 billion across various business segments.
L&T Hydrocarbon Engineering (LTHE), a wholly owned subsidiary of engineering and construction major Larsen & Toubro, has won new orders in excess of Rs 7.5 billion in its Construction Services business vertical.
The business has secured an order, with a value of approximately Rs 4.5 billion, for pipelines & associated works in the southeastern region of India and received an award for additional works, worth approximately Rs 3 billion, from an existing contract.
Besides, Water & Effluent Treatment Business has secured orders worth Rs 4.3 billion. Further, Smart World & Communication Business has secured an order worth Rs 2.1 billion.
Notably, diversification continues to help L&T negotiate and get better terms and margins for projects. Apparently, this is because it is less desperate to win orders as compared to a company which are present in only a couple of sectors. Its reputation, extensive technical prowess, and large skilled workforce have enabled L&T to command a certain premium from customers and vendors alike.
Whether a further addition to these new projects provides a cushion to its profitability will be an interesting thing to watch out for going forward.
To know more about the company, you can access to L&T's latest result analysis and L&T stock analysis on our website.
L&T share price was trading down by 0.6% at the time of writing.
Moving on to the news from the power sector. As per an article in a leading financial daily, Tata Power's wholly-owned subsidiary --Tata Power Renewable Energy (TPREL) has entered into a Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) with GE to provide solar rooftop solutions for six manufacturing and services sites in India.
Tata Power will install solar rooftop projects at manufacturing sites located at Durgapur in West Bengal, Pallavaram and Hosur in Tamil Nadu, multi-modal manufacturing site at Pune and upcoming factory at Marhowra in Bihar and maintenance facility at Roza in Uttar Pradesh.
The project would be executed on a build-own-operate basis.
Reportedly, the installation of the solar rooftop projects will help to generate over 1 million kWh of electricity per year and will lead to an average tariff reduction of around 30%.
GE will also be able to curb the emission of over 13,000 kg of carbon dioxide per day, the reports noted.
Tata Power share price was trading down by 0.5% at the time of writing.
Disclosure: Equitymaster Agora Research Private Limited (hereinafter referred as 'Equitymaster') is an independent equity research Company. Equitymaster is not an Investment Adviser. ...
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