Indian share markets continued to witness volatile trades during closing hours today and ended on a flat note.
At the closing bell, the BSE Sensex stood lower by 8 points.
The NSE Nifty closed lower by 5 points.
Hindalco and UltraTech Cement were among the top gainers today.
The SGX Nifty was trading at 11,243, down by 3 points, at the time of writing.
The BSE Mid Cap index ended down by 0.2%.
The BSE Small Cap index stood flat.
On the sectoral front, losses were largely seen in the telecom sector and banking sector.
Metal stocks, on the other hand, witnessed buying.
Asian stock markets ended on a mixed note today. As of the most recent closing prices, the Hang Seng ended down by 0.85% while the Nikkei ended up by 0.12%.
The rupee is trading at 73.80 against the US$.
Gold prices are trading up by 0.5% at Rs 50,400 per 10 grams.
Gold prices edged higher today and erased some losses as the dollar retreated from a two-month peak ahead of the US presidential debates and progress on the US stimulus bill.
With gold prices rising again, is it time to buy gold?
Also, speaking of the precious yellow metal, how lucrative has gold been as a long-term investment in India?
The chart below shows the annual returns on gold over the last 15 years...
As you can see, barring just two years - 2013 and 2015, gold has delivered positive returns in 13 of the last 15 years.
Even with the recent volatility in prices, gold remains among the best-performing commodities this year to combat the fallout from the coronavirus pandemic.
Moving on to news from the IPO space...
State-owned defense company Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders hit the initial public offering market today. The issue will close on October 1, 2020.
The price band of the IPO has been fixed at Rs 135-145 per share for the issue which consists of an offer for sale (OFS) of 30.5 million equity shares by the Government of India.
The company will raise nearly Rs 4.4 billion via the public issue and all the money will go to the government as it is a part of the government's divestment program.
Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders is a defense public sector undertaking (PSU) shipyard under the department of defense production, Ministry of Defence (MoD) with a maximum shipbuilding and submarine capacity of 40,000 deadweight tonnage (DWT). The company is engaged in the construction and repair of warships and submarines for the MoD and is used by the Indian Navy and commercial clients.
It is the only public sector defense shipyard to build destroyers and conventional submarines for the Indian Navy.
The company has a strong order book worth Rs 541 billion, which is to be executed in the next six to seven years. Furthermore, the company also expects the Indian government's 'Atmanirbhar Bharat' plan to positively impact private and public shipyards in the coming years as domestic manufacturing picks up.
Mazagon Dock IPO was supposed to launch in September 2019 but the plan was shelved due to low demand.
To know more about the company, you can read our note on the IPO here: Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders IPO: Should You Apply? (requires subscription).
How the above IPO sails through remains to be seen. We will keep you updated on the latest developments from this space. Stay tuned.
In news from the real estate space, the Indian stock market regulator has made fund-raising exercise even easier for the listed Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs) and Infrastructure Investment Trusts (InvITs). This has been done to address the 'situation emerging out of the coronavirus pandemic', the regulator said in two circulars issued on September 28, 2020.
Instead of an earlier cap of six-months between two institutional placements, now the listed REITs and InvITs can raise equity capital through the institutional placement route two weeks after a previous such exercise.
Earlier, the mandated time gap was six months between two institutional placements.
Also, changes have been made with respect to the pricing of units by REITs and InvITs for preferential issues.
The units allotted on a preferential basis using the pricing method set out by the regulator shall be locked-in for a period of three years, as per the circulars.
All allotments arising out of the approval of the same unitholders need to follow the same pricing method. For the computation of the lock-in requirement, the units held by the sponsors and locked-in for three years in the past, in accordance with REIT and InvIT Regulations, shall be taken into account.
The above developments will mean more fundraising exercise in the Indian markets by REITs and also mean more REITs lining up for listing on the bourses.
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