Share markets in India closed on a negative note yesterday. Losses were seen across most sectors with stocks in the realty sector and stocks in the metal sector leading the losses.

At the closing bell yesterday, the BSE Sensex stood lower by 253 points (down 0.8%) and the NSE Nifty closed down by 100 points (down 1%). The BSE Mid Cap index ended the day down 1.6%, while the BSE Small Cap index ended the day down by 2%.

Top Stocks in Focus Today

From the pharmaceuticals sector, market participants will be tracking Lupin share price today. The stock of the company witnessed buying interest yesterday as the company received final approval for its Desoximetasone Topical Spray, 0.25%, 30 ml, 50 ml, and 100 ml from the United States Food and Drug Administration (USFDA) to market a generic version of Taro Pharmaceuticals USA Inc.'s Topicort Topical Spray, 0.25%.

BHEL share price will be in focus today as the company said it has commissioned first unit of 110 MW of the Kishanganga hydro-electric project of NHPC in Jammu and Kashmir.

Shilpa Medicare share price will also be in focus today. The stock witnessed buying interest yesterday after it stated that the US Food and Drug Administration (USFDA) issued an Establishment Inspection Report (EIR) for the company's formulations manufacturing facility (SEZ unit) located at Jadcherla, Telangana.

From the automobile sector, market participants will keep tabs on Tata Motors share price as the company plans to bring in new products in order to have presence in around 95% of Indian passenger vehicles market by 2020. The company currently sells a range of vehicles from hatchback to SUVs playing in about 70% of the market in India. With the addition of new products and enhanced play in the segment, the company would be able to ramp up its market share, which currently stands at around 7%.

US Steel Tariff Won't Hurt Domestic Steel Industry: ICRA

In the news from the steel sector, domestic credit rating agency ICRA in its latest report has said that Donald Trump's recent move to impose a 25% tariff on all steel imports is unlikely to have any significant impact on the domestic steel industry in the medium term.

According to the report, the impact of import tariffs may not be significant in the medium-term due to reasons like global steel demand (ex-USA) is expected to increase by 25 MT in calendar year (CY) 2018.

It noted that India's steel exports to the USA market remained a meagre 0.7 MT in CY2017, accounting for less than 1% of India's domestic demand. Therefore, it pointed out that Indian steel mills should be able to find an alternate market for its nominal US export volumes without much difficulty.

Note that the tariffs levied by the US will take effect on March 23, 2018 and would be effective on all countries except Canada and Mexico which together comprises about a quarter of the total US imports.

From the IPO Space...

At the closing hours yesterday, the initial public offering (IPO) of Bandhan Bank Ltd was subscribed around 6 times. The IPO comprises a fresh issue of 97.66 million shares, which at the upper end of the price band will fetch the company Rs 36.6 billion. The proceeds from the fresh issue will be used to augment the bank's tier-I capital base to meet future capital requirements of the bank.

While Bandhan Bank concluded its subscription offer yesterday, Sandhar Technologies Ltd had its first day of subscription offer yesterday.

Sandhar Technologies is engaged in the business of designing and manufacturing a diverse range of automotive components, parts and systems which are focused on safety and security systems of vehicles.

The company manufactures its products from 31 manufacturing facilities across eight states in India, two manufacturing facilities in Spain, and one manufacturing facility in Mexico. This apart, it also has an overseas assembly and packaging centre located in Poland and a R&D centre located in Gurugram, Haryana.

The company's customer profile consists of 79 Indian and global original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) across various segments and global automotive component suppliers such as Autoliv, Bosch, and CTS.

To know our view on this IPO, you can read our IPO note on Sandhar Technologies Ltd (requires subscription).

GAIL Stake Buyout

In the news from energy sector, state-owned Indian Oil Corp (IOC) and Bharat Petroleum Corp Ltd (BPCL) may buy 26% stake each in gas utility GAIL India Ltd, paying the government over Rs 200 billion each to become integrated energy firms.

Following Finance Minister Arun Jaitley's 2017 Budget announcement of creating integrated oil majors, IOC and BPCL have submitted separate proposals to buy the government's 54.89% stake in GAIL.

Reports stated that as the government is not looking at actual merger of oil companies but only transfer of its ownership to a cash rich PSU, the best option would be to split the 54.89% holding in GAIL equally between IOC and BPCL.

The move comes after Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC) bought out government's 51.11% stake in refiner Hindustan Petroleum Corp Ltd (HPCL) for Rs 369.15 billion.

Finance Minister in 2017-18 budget had unveiled government's plan to create integrated public-sector oil majors "through consolidation, mergers and acquisitions".

IOC share price and BPCL share price closed the trading day yesterday down by 3.7% and 4% respectively, while GAIL share price closed up by 0.4%.