Sensex closed 25 points lower, while Nifty ended 0.2% higher
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Sensex, Nifty end flat
Benchmark equity indices ended flat on Wednesday, erasing the stellar gains made at open. Both Sensex and Nifty had topped their respective psychological levels intraday before giving in to the volatility during the session. Sensex had hit the day's high of 38,140 points, but fell to the low of 37,551.
Sensex closed at 37,663 points, down 24.56 points from previous close. Tata Steel and Maruti Suzuki were the top gainers on the index, while HDFC Bank and RIL were the prominent laggards. While 21 stocks advanced on the index, 9 declined.
Nifty ended at 11,116 points, up 0.2%. Tata Steel and Hindalco were the biggest gainers on the index. While 34 stocks rose, 15 fell on the Nifty today.
Nifty Metal gained 4% on positive global cues.Nifty Auto rose 1.8%.
Asian shares mixed
In Asia, the Shanghai Composite Index gained 0.2% to 3,377.56 while the Nikkei 225 in Tokyo lost 0.3% to 22,514.85. The Hang Seng in Hong Kong rose 0.6% to 25,102.54. Australia ASX closed 0.50% lower at 6,135.90.
Credit disbursal for small businesses picks up
Credit worth ₹40,473 crore has been sanctioned for small businesses, under PM Mudra Yojana scheme during the first four months of the current fiscal. Out of this, 87% of the loans have been disbursed, official data showed.
Despite a slow start in the beginning of the financial year due to the lockdown, demand is gradually picking up, a banker told Mint.
As much as 52.83 lakh loans have been sanctioned between April and July across public and private sector banks, regional rural banks and non-banking financial companies.
Airtel, Amazon Web Services sign pact to offer cloud solutions to businesses
Bharti Airtel Ltd and Amazon Web Services (AWS), the cloud services subsidiary of e-commerce giant Amazon.com, on Wednesday announced a strategic partnership to provide a basket of cloud solutions to large, small and medium businesses.
The partnership will enable Airtel and AWS integrate their capabilities to offer customers cloud services at a large scale. It will focus on developing products that secure remote working, which “many organisations have not taken seriously as of yet", said Harmeen Mehta, Airtel’s chief operating officer (CIO) and head of cloud and security business.
Global governments' IT spend to decline 0.6% in 2020: Gartner
IT spending by governments globally is likely to decline 0.6% year-on-year to $438 billion in 2020, according to research firm Gartner.
Government spending will represent 16% of total enterprise IT investment across industries, which is seen at $2.7 trillion in 2020, down 8% y-o-y.
IT services will continue to be the largest IT spending segment among governments in 2020 at $152.7 billion, while software spending will see the strongest growth at 4.5% in 2020.
BSE MidCap outshines, up 0.5%
PI Industries hits all-time high post earnings
Shares of PI Industries hit an all-time high of ₹1966 after the company's consolidated net profit jumped 43.2% to ₹145.50 crore for the quarter ended June.
The shares, however, gave up some gains and were at ₹1907.10, up 4.12% from the previous close.
Net sales rose 40.60% to ₹1,060.10 crore in Q1.
Wait of centuries has ended: PM Modi after Ram temple ‘bhoomi pujan’
Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Wednesday the wait of centuries has ended and India is creating a golden chapter in Ayodhya.
After performing ‘bhoomi pujan’ of the Ram temple, Modi said, “Many people made sacrifices for the Ram temple. I pay my respects to all of them."
The construction of the Ram temple is an instrument to unite the country, he said, adding that it will lift the economy of the entire region.
Rupee close
Rupee gains 11 paise to close at 74.94 against US dollar
Prathamesh Mallya of Angel Broking on gold
Gold has been really precious for investors in 2020 with an astounding double digit returns of 34 percent YTD in dollar terms and still continues its shine. The liquidity push by Central Banks across the globe has been a deciding factor for premium in gold prices as the pandemic continues to ravage global economy. The easy money policy is resulting in to chasing higher yields on asset classes which are considered to be safe in times of uncertainty, and nothing like gold, the safe haven asset which has historically been a go to investment for investors. Unless, global economy starts its recovery path, precious metals will continue to shine for the rest of 2020.
Supreme Court final hearing in BPSL insolvency case on 8 September
The Supreme Court on Wednesday said it will hold the final hearing in the Bhushan Power and Steel Ltd insolvency case on 8 September. The top court has directed all parties to file their affidavits, replies and rejoinders within four weeks.
Bhushan Power was part of the original dirty dozen cases identified by the RBI to be referred to bankruptcy courts. JSW Steel, with an offer of ₹19,700 crore for the bankrupt steel mill, was the highest bidder for the asset. However, the Enforcement Directorate, which is pursuing an investigation into alleged money laundering by the company under its previous management, attached the assets of the steel mill, stalling its sale.
Bajaj Auto launches upgraded version of KTM 250 DUKE bike
Bajaj Auto on Wednesday said it has launched an upgraded version of premium motorcycle KTM 250 DUKE priced at ₹2.09 lakh, ex-showroom Delhi.
The new bike now comes with full fresh LED headlamp unit with DRLs, dual-channel ABS with 'Supermoto' mode and one touch start functionality, Bajaj Auto said in a statement
Gujarat Gas down 2% after weak June quarter
Shares of Gujarat Gas declined 2% as the company's consolidated net profit slumped 74.8% to ₹59.07 crore for the quarter ended 30 June.
Net sales fell 59% to ₹1,082.92 crore in Q1.
Sensex view
Gold tops ₹55,000
Gold prices on Wednesday crossed record high of ₹55,080 per 10 gram in futures trade as speculators created fresh positions on firm spot demand.
On the Multi Commodity Exchange, gold contracts for October delivery traded higher by ₹529, or 0.97 per cent, at ₹55,080 per 10 gram.
Maruti Suzuki up 2%; launches new S- Cross
Maruti Suzuki India on Wednesday announced the launch of the new petrol variant of the S-Cross at a price range of ₹8.39-12.39 lakh. The S-Cross is the most expensive vehicle the company has to offer and was the first product to be launched from the Nexa chain of premium dealerships in 2015.
Oil prices rise as US crude inventories show large drop sharply
Oil prices rose on Wednesday after data showed a sharp decline in US crude stocks although gains were capped by concerns over fuel demand amid spike in covid-19 cases.
Brent crude was up 0.7% at $44.74 a barrel. West Texas Intermediate oil was up 26 cents to $41.96 a barrel.
Crude inventories fell 8.6 million barrels in the week to August 1 to 520 million barrels, compared with analysts' expectations for a drop of 3 million barrels, according to data from the American Petroleum Institute.
PM Modi attends 'bhoomi pujan' for Ram Temple at Ayodhya
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday took part in the 'bhoomi pujan' at Ram Janambhoomi site in Ayodhya.
All in attendance sat around the havan fire maintaining social distancing norms.
Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, Governor Anandiben Patel and Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh Chief Mohan Bhagwat were among others present at the site for the ceremony.
Income Tax department tempers down scrutiny
The Income Tax department has tempered down its scrutiny of tax returns in 2018-19 after a spike in the year before, the period in which returns filed for the demonetisation year of 2016-17 was processed, data released by the finance ministry showed.
Data tweeted by the department late on Tuesday night showed that it chose only 0.25% of all the returns filed in 2018-19 for scrutiny, compared to 0.55% in 2017-18.
Sensex's movement so far today
Godrej Properties reports loss in Q1 against profit in the same quarter last year
MCX’s Q1 may be scoring over BSE, but its stock is pricey
Since July 28, when MCX unveiled its Q1 numbers, its stock gained 13%. But investors in BSE saw their fortunes dip a marginally post its Q1 numbers this week. In fact, the divergence between MCX' and BSE shares have been stark this year. MCX gained about 60% in 2020, while the BSE stock has remained flat.
Jyoti Roy, DVP- Equity Strategist, Angel Broking, on PI Industries
PI industries reported Q1FY21 numbers which have come in significantly above street and our expectations. Company reported a 40.6% yoy growth in revenues for the quarter to Rs. 1,060 cr. EBIDTA for the quarter was up by 50.3% yoy to ₹229.2 cr. while EBIDTA margins expanded by 140bps yoy to ₹229.2 cr.
Growth was driven by both exports and domestic revenues which grew by 23% and 76% yoy respectively. The management has highlighted that both domestic and export supplies have picked up pace with all manufacturing facilities being operational and capacity utilization building back to pre-COVID levels. Contribution from recently acquired Isagro too has also added to growth during the quarter. The company has also successfully completed a ₹2000 cr. QIP recently, proceeds of which will be used for strategic growth initiatives both organic and inorganic.
A good monsoon bodes well for the domestic business while the export order book of $1.5bn provides strong revenue visibility for the exports business. We remain positive on the future prospects of the company and PI Industries remains one of our top picks in the chemical space.
Delhi HC dismisses plea challenging ban on social media use by soldiers
Delhi High Court on Wednesday dismissed a plea that challenged the recent decision of the Indian Army to ban its personnel from using social networking platforms such as Facebook and Instagram.
Sensex constituents at noon
Nifty gainers and losers at noon
Markets erase some gains
Equity indices were off the day's high but were still trading firm. Metal, bank, IT and auto stocks led the gains
The Sensex was up 0.3% at 37774, while the Nifty was up 0.3% at 11133 points.
Proportion of youth with coronavirus triples in five months: WHO
Young people who are hitting nightclubs and beaches are leading a rise in fresh coronavirus cases across the world, with the proportion of those aged 15 to 24 who are infected rising three-fold in about five months, the World Health Organization said.
An analysis by the WHO of 6 million infections between February 24 and July 12 found that the share of people aged 15-24 years rose to 15% from 4.5%.
Godrej Consumer down 2%. Here's what analysts said on its Q1FY21 results
JM Financial Institutional Securities Ltd says “There is sequential (revenue) improvement, though, between April to June but management alluded to severe drag from execution challenges – these are sought to be addressed now that new CEO (Dharnesh Gordhon - ex-Nestle) has taken charge of the business."
Analysts at Kotak Institutional Equities say “Africa needs a fix and the company acknowledges the same," adding that GCPL’s optimism on revival in Africa is high but the Street’s confidence remains low.
Since the results were declared, the GCPL stock has lost about 3% on NSE.
Sameet Chavan, chief analyst-technical and derivatives, Angel Broking, on markets
Traders are advised to trade with a positive bias and look for buying opportunities in intraday declines...11250-11300 would be immediate target zone to watch out for. Yesterday we mentioned about the positive market breadth in falling market with midcaps showing a relative outperformance. The midcap space continued its momentum and now the banking and financial stocks too could participate to cover up for their recent underperformance. Thus, we continue with our advice to look for such stock specific opportunities which could provide good returns in the near term.
Info Edge jumps 6%
The board of directors of Info Edge (India) Ltd, parent firm of popular jobs portal Naukri.com, has approved raising up to $250 million ( ₹1,875 crore) via institutional share sale. The company has set a floor price of ₹3,177.18 per share for the so-called qualified institutional placement offering (QIP).
Cadila says covid vaccine found safe in early trial, Phase II starts tomorrow
Zydus Cadila today said its plasmid DNA vaccine to prevent covid-19, ZyCoV-D, was found to be safe and well tolerated in the Phase I clinical trial. The company will now commence Phase II clinical trials from Thursday.
Zydus Cadila said the doses of the vaccine administered to healthy volunteers in the Phase I clinical trial, which began on 15th July 2020, has been well tolerated. Previously, the vaccine was found to be safe, immunogenic and well tolerated in the pre-clinical toxicity studies.
Angel Broking says buy Bharti Airtel, ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank
The brokerage firm also advised buying Ipca Lab, IDFC First Bank, L&T Infotech. It recommended accumulating shares of Britannia Industries, Reliance Industries, PI Industries and Dr Reddy's Lab
Labour panel to meet Friday to examine government welfare schemes
The parliamentary panel on labour is likely to scrutinise the decisions taken by the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government aimed at helping migrant workers who left for their native places following the pandemic and the ensuing lockdown.
In a meeting scheduled for 7 August, lawmakers will take up the ₹20 lakh crore package announced by the Centre, the housing scheme for financially weaker sections both in the urban and rural areas, and other schemes announced for the poor.
The meeting will be held in two rounds, with representatives of ministries of urban development, rural development, skill development and entrepreneurship and consumer affairs, and food and public distribution, in attendance.
India's services activity contracts for fifth straight month in July
India's services industry, a key driver of economic growth, shrank for the fifth consecutive month in July as restrictions to stop the spread of covid-19 hit business activity and led to record job cuts.
The Nikkei/IHS Services Purchasing Managers' Index increased to 34.2 in July from 33.7 in June, however, it was still well below the 50-mark separating growth from contraction.
Bharti Airtel up 3%; may sign pact with Amazon Web Services to tap small, medium businesses
Bharti Airtel Ltd and Amazon Web Services (AWS), the cloud services subsidiary of e-commerce giant Amazon.com, are expected to sign a strategic alliance to capture small and medium enterprises, said a person aware of the matter.
The announcement is likely later on Wednesday, where Airtel’s chief operating officer and head of cloud and security business, Harmeen Mehta, and Puneet Chandok, president of commercial business, India and South Asia, Amazon Internet Services will be present.
Rains disrupt life in Mumbai
Normal life was disrupted in Mumbai after the city received heavy rainfall at isolated places for the last 12 hours. The India Meteorology Department (IMD) predicted heavy downpour for the day.
"Widespread rainfall with scattered heavy to very heavy falls and isolated extremely heavy falls most likely to continue over Konkan and Goa (including Mumbai) till August 6 and over Madhya Maharashtra (ghat areas) till August 5 and reduce thereafter," the IMD tweeted.
Crude oil steady after longest rally since June
Oil was steady near $41 a barrel in New York after the longest run of gains in six weeks on signs U.S. crude stockpiles extended declines.
The American Petroleum Institute reported crude inventories dropped by 8.59 million barrels last week, with gasoline stockpiles resuming draws, according to people familiar with the figures. Meanwhile, futures rose 1.7% on Tuesday after a massive blast at Lebanon’s main port rocked Beirut.
Indian rupee firm at 74.91 per US dollar
Indian rupee 14 paise higher at 74.91 per US dollar
Adani Ports up 2.4%
Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone (APSEZ) on Tuesday said it has raised $750 million (about ₹5,600 crore) by issuing fixed rate senior unsecured notes. The said notes are expected to be listed on Singapore Exchange Securities Trading Limited and the India International Exchange (IFSC) Limited.
Manish Hathiramani, technical analyst, Deen Dayal Investments, on markets
The Nifty has gone past its resistance of 11200 on opening. We need to see if we can sustain this level on a closing basis. If we can do that, the short term weakness would be nullified and the markets would then be headed to 11400. On the flip side if the markets break 11000 we would be back in a zone of short term weakness.
Axis Bank up 3%
The private sector lender has set a floor price of ₹442.19 per equity share for its proposed ₹10,000 crore qualified institutional placement (QIP).
Gold prices surge closer to ₹55,000, silver nears ₹70,000 per kg
Gold and silver prices climbed higher in Indian markets on Wednesday amid a global rally. On MCX, gold futures hit a new high of ₹54,797 per 10 gram after it rose 0.45%. Silver futures edged 0.09% higher to ₹69,861 per kg. In the previous session, gold futures on MCX had rallied about ₹900 or 1.7%, hitting ₹54,612 at intra-day high. Silver had surged ₹4200 or 6.4% in the previous session.
BSE MidCap
BSE Mid Cap rises 1.2% to 14,022 points
All Nifty sectoral indices in the green
Nifty Metal, Auto and Bank lead gains
Nifty at open
On the Nifty, prominent gainers were RIL and ZEEL, while Tech Mahindra and BPCL were prominent laggards
Markets open in the green
Indian equities opened strong on Wednesday. Sensex opened 255 points higher at 37951. Nifty opened at 11,177, up 82 points in early deals. On the Sensex, RIL, Axis Bank, Tata Motors top gainers.
Market pre-open
Indices up in pre-open trade, with Sensex up 300 points at 37,996 Nifty gained 65 points at 11,156.
Gold extends record rally
Gold scaled an all-time peak on Wednesday, extending a record run above the $2,000 mark on a weaker dollar and bets for more stimulus measures in the US to revive the economy.
US gold futures rose 0.7% to $2,032.30.
The US dollar, considered an alternative safe-haven, fell 0.3% against its rivals, making gold cheaper for holders of other currencies.
Stocks to Watch: Axis Bank, Bharti Airtel, Cadila
Axis Bank, Bharti Airtel, Cadila, Info Edge, Adani Ports, PNB will be in focus today.
Major companies which will announce earnings today are DLF, Godrej Properties, Canara Bank, Adani Gas, Jyothy Labs and Cadila Healthcare
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