Tale of the Tape 

Hola Amigos. Markets were volatile AF again today!

Nifty and Sensex gave up all the morning gains to close marginally in the red. FYI - this is the Sensex’s longest losing streak since November. Midcaps (+0.3%) and Smallcaps (-0.4%) traded mixed. The advance-decline ratio was in favour of the bears (3:2). Check out the Stocktwits Sentiment Meter:

It was a mixed-bag kinda day for sectors. Pharma (+1.4%), Metals (+0.8%) and Real Estate (+0.8%) saw strong buying. IT (-1%) and PSU Banks (-0.9%) witnessed selling pressure.

Is Kotak Mahindra Bank set for a re-rating? Read our top story for all the deets.

Muthoot Finance (+6%) hit a new all-time high after posting great Q3 numbers. Meanwhile, Natco Pharma was the top NSE 500 loser after an abysmal Q3. More details below.

Jubilant Foodworks, SAIL & Tata Steel, and Mamaearth saw big moves. Check out their charts below to find out why.

SBI Cards gained +5% after Macquarie upgraded the stock; the brokerage sees a +16% upside from current levels.

TVS Supply Chain Solutions (-6%) was under pressure after 67.1 lakh shares (1.5% equity) changed hands in a block deal; the buyers and sellers were not immediately known.

Vodafone-Idea (+3%) will invest Rs 1,000-cr by March-end to expand its network coverage. PS - that’s as much as it spent in the first 9 months of this fiscal!

Oberoi Realty (-1%) was in focus after the SC stayed its joint venture land development proposal with Sahara.

Here are the closing prints:

Stock
Kotak Bank Hits A 2-Year High!

Kotak Mahindra Bank (+2%) hit a fresh 52-week-high after the RBI lifted restrictions placed on its credit card and digital businesses! ICYMI - the regulator had banned Kotak in April last year from issuing new credit cards and onboarding new customers through digital channels because of deficiencies in its IT system.

The ban took a toll on sentiment and its removal is now a possible re-rating event, experts say. FYI - the RBI move saw the lender’s outstanding credit cards fall to 5.02 million in Dec 2024 vs 5.95 million in March, a nearly 1 million drop! Yikes.

Kotak will now look to recover lost market share. For the unaware, unsecured lending is insanely profitable. So even though credit cards make up ~3% of the bank’s total loans, they have a key impact on the bottomline. Morgan Stanley says a “potential re-acceleration” in this area will help it manage margins and growth better than peers! 

Lastly, it’s also a question of vibes. Kotak mostly missed out on the 2024 rally; falling -6% last year. It’s been hit with ownership issues, change of guard and of course this RBI hangover. But analysts say its fundamentals are sound + valuations are juicy. Macquarie is currently projecting the highest core earnings growth for Kotak among its rivals in FY26. The brokerage has a target price of Rs 2,200 p/sh; +11% from current levels.

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