Stocks in focus: HDFC Bank, Laurus Labs, Lakshmi Vilas Bank, Larsen & Toubro

With domestic markets at their all-time high levels, investors turned to book profits which resulted in the sharp sell-off in domestic equity markets yesterday. Technical analysts say that immediate support is at 12,800 levels for Nifty. If the index managed to stay above the same, it could start gaining again, however, a fall below these levels could signal a trend reversal. “The Nifty sustaining at the immediate support at 12800 levels in the next 1-2 sessions could open chances of upside bounce in the market and also more upside in the near term,” said  Nagaraj Shetti, Technical Research Analyst, HDFC Securities.

Analysts are now advising a ‘buy on dips’ strategy. “As per the broader formation of the market, until the market is not breaking 12500 levels, the short term trend of the market would remain corrective in nature. The strategy should be to buy on dips. The 12850 and 12550 levels act as major support for the index, while on the higher side, 12980 and 13050  would be hurdles for the index,” said Shrikant Chouhan, Executive Vice President, Equity Technical Research at Kotak Securities.

Lakshmi Vilas Bank: The troubled private sector lender will merge into DBS Bank India from tomorrow and the bank’s shares and debentures listed in the stock exchanges will be written off. In the last seven days the shares of Lakshmi Vilas Bank have tanked 50%.

HDFC Bank: The largest private sector lender reached a new high on Wednesday as its market capitalisation crossed the Rs 8 lakh crore mark. Shares of the bank have gained 16% in the last one month.

Larsen & Toubro: L&T Construction, the construction arm of L&T, has secured a large contract. The value of such a contract would be between Rs 2,500 crore to Rs 3,000 crore. L&T will construct India’s longest road bridge across river Brahmaputra connecting Dhubri in Assam to Phulbari in Meghalaya.

Laurus Labs: Laurus Labs informed the bourses on Wednesday that it has signed a definitive agreements with Eight Roads Ventures and VenturEast Proactive Fund and VenturEast Life Fund III, to acquire 72.55% stake in Richcore Lifesciences Private Limited, a Biotechnology Company, subject to completion of conditions precedent, by way of cash consideration of Rs 246.67 Crores.

Union Bank of India: The bank said that it will hold an Extraordinary General Meeting on December 30. The meeting is being convened to obtain shareholders’ approval for raising of equity capital upto Rs 6,800 crore during this fiscal year by way of a public issue.