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Indian benchmark share indices settled higher in a choppy trade on Thursday led by gains in index heavyweights RIL, HUL and Bajaj Finance. Sensex settled at 51,531.52, up 222.13 points or 0.43%, while Nifty advanced 66.80 points or 0.44% at 15,173.30.
RIL, up over 4%, was the top Sensex gainer followed by Sun Pharma, Power Grid and Bajaj Finance. Titan, L&T, ONGC and HDFC were among the laggards. Of 30 Sensex shares, 12 closed in the red.
State-run engineering firm BHEL on Thursday said it has bagged an order from the Indian Navy for supplying two Super Rapid Gun Mounts (SRGM), main guns standardised for all warships of the Indian Navy.
BHEL has indigenised these guns and has established dedicated, intricate manufacturing and inspection facilities at its Heavy Electrical Equipment Plant, Haridwar for production, installation & commissioning and lifecycle support of these guns, Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd (BHEL) said in a statement.
Pencilling in a gross domestic product (GDP) growth in the third and fourth quarters, State Bank of India (SBI) Research on Wednesday revised its contraction forecast for the current fiscal year to 7%.
The agency had earlier forecast a 7.4% contraction in 2020-21 GDP numbers. In April-September, the economy contracted 15.7% but the second half may see a surprise 2.8% growth, if the SBI analysis turns out to be correct. (Full report)
Coal India on Thursday reported 21.4% year-on-year decline in net profit to ₹3084.10 crore for the year ended 31 December 2020. The company had posted a net profit of ₹3921.81 crore in the corresponding quarter of last year.
The company reported a net profit of ₹227.44 crore for the quarter ended in December. Ruchi Soya Industries had posted a net profit of ₹7,617.43 crore in the year-ago period because of an exceptional gain of ₹7,466.06 crore.
The company reported a consolidated loss of ₹490.73 crore in the third quarter ended in December 2020. Ujjivan Financial Services had registered a net profit of ₹74.97 crore in the year-ago quarter.
Leading footwear brand Bata India has reported 77.66% decline in its consolidated net profit to ₹26.41 crore for the quarter ended December 2020, on account of lower revenue from operations.
The company had net profit of ₹118.26 crore in the year-ago period.
Revenue from operations of the company stood at ₹615.62 crore for the quarter under consideration, down 25.90%, against ₹830.82 crore for the same period year ago, Bata India said in a filing to BSE.
Titan derives a lion’s share of its revenues from the jewellery business, which had understandably suffered a setback due to covid-19 restrictions in previous quarters. What’s more, the company told analysts, in its post earnings conference call, that jewellery revenues for January increased 28% year-on-year. That’s nothing to sneeze at. Plus, the base for the current quarter is favourable considering that jewellery revenues had declined 5.8% in last year’s March quarter. (Full report)
The company reported a 76.64% increase in consolidated net profit at ₹153.70 crore for the third quarter ended December 2020. Page Industries Ltd had posted a net profit of ₹87.01 crore during the October-December period a year ago, PIL said in a BSE filing.
Glenmark Pharmaceuticals Limited (Glenmark) has received final approval by the United States Food & Drug Administration (U.S. FDA) for Clindamycin Phosphate Gel USP, 1%, the generic version of Cleocin T®1 Gel, 1%, of Pharmacia & Upjohn.
IT firm HCL Infosystems reported a loss of ₹34.32 crore for the quarter ended December 2020. The company had posted a consolidated net profit of ₹14.5 crore in the year-ago period. The company's Board of Directors has also approved the sale of its wholly-owned subsidiary HCL Infotech Ltd to Novezo Consulting at a purchase price based on the enterprise value of HCL Infotech as of the date of the share transfer.
During the 3QFY21, Asian Granito India Ltd (AGIL) reported revenue of ~ ₹384 crore (up 29% y-o-y) on back healthy volume growth (overall improvement in demand). On the EBITDA front, the company has reported ~ ₹50 crore and EBITDA margin at 12.9%, which is up by 161bps y-o-y due to lower operating cost. On the bottom-line front, PAT grew by ~124% to ₹26 crore.
Around 2005, IT firm Mindtree bagged Microsoft as a customer, for a one-off project worth not more than $250,000. Over the next one and a half decades, rainmakers at Mindtree mined the account to make it the company’s No.1 client. The Microsoft account generated nearly 29% of the company’s revenues in the quarter ending December 2020, up from about 20% two years ago. And now, there is growing unease, at least among equity analysts. (Full report)
State-run RailTel Corp of India Ltd will issue nearly 87.15 million shares to raise over ₹800 crore via an initial public offering. The subscription for offer will open on Tuesday and close on Thursday.
The price band for the issue has been fixed at ₹93-94 a share. On upper band price, the firm will raise as much as ₹819.24 crore. (Full report)
Given the rising cost of inputs, the Street had pencilled-in an operating margins contraction of 60-80 basis points (bps). One basis point is one hundredth of a percentage point. However, the company's operating margin contracted by 110bps in Q3FY21. (Full report)
The rupee opened on a flat note and edged higher by 3 paise to 72.81 against the US dollar in opening trade on Thursday, amid positive domestic equities and sustained foreign fund inflows.
At the interbank forex market, the domestic unit opened at 72.81 against the US dollar, registering a rise of just 3 paise over its previous close.
On Wednesday, the rupee had settled at 72.84 against the American currency.
IT services firm Happiest Minds Technologies Ltd posted a 97% year-on-year increase in net profit to ₹42.15 crore for the third quarter-ended December. The Bengaluru-based company's revenue grew 14.6% to ₹201.29 crore during the same period.
Tata group firm Titan Company reported an 11.81% increase in consolidated net profit to ₹530 crore for the third quarter ended in December 2020, led by income growth in the jewellery division. The company had posted a net profit of ₹474 crore in the corresponding period last fiscal.
Privatisation-bound Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd (BPCL) will buyout Oman Oil Company's shares in the Bina refinery project for about ₹2,400 crore. BPCL holds a 63.68% stake in Bharat Oman Refineries Ltd (BORL), which built and operates a 7.8 million tonne oil refinery at Bina in Madhya Pradesh.
Drug firm Aurobindo Pharma reported an over four-fold jump in consolidated net profit to ₹2,946.32 crore for the quarter ended December 2020, mainly on account of exceptional gains. The company had posted a net profit of ₹705.31 crore in the corresponding period of the previous fiscal.
Indian benchmark share indices opened lower on Thursday tracking weak cues from global peers. Sensex opened at 51,165.84, down 143.55 points or 0.28%, while Nifty retreated 33.25 points or 0.22% at 15,073.25.
Asian equities pulled back after a strong run-up in recent weeks as investors took a breather while keeping abreast of progress in US stimulus talks and the rollout of vaccines.
Indian stocks traded lower in the pre-opening session on Thursday. At 9:05am, Sensex was at 51,179.05, down 130.34 points or 0.25%, while Nifty slipped 52.20 points or 0.35% at 15,054.30.
Equity indices closed with mild losses for the second straight session on Wednesday, weighed by selling in banking counters, as domestic sentiment remained subdued despite a bullish trend overseas.
After swinging 666.64 points intra-day, the 30-share BSE Sensex settled 19.69 points or 0.04% lower at 51,309.39.
Similarly, the broader NSE Nifty slipped 2.80 points or 0.02% to close at 15,106.50.
Asian equities pulled back on Thursday after a strong run-up in recent weeks as investors took a breather while keeping abreast of progress in US stimulus talks and the rollout of vaccines.
Hong Kong fell, having climbed more than 6% in just under two weeks, while Sydney, Singapore, Manila and Wellington were also down. Tokyo, Shanghai, Seoul and Taipei were all closed for holidays.
The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq ended slightly lower on Wednesday dragged down by financial shares and the continuing sell-off in some big tech stocks even as energy shares rose.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 61.97 points, or 0.2%, to 31,437.8, the S&P 500 lost 1.35 points, or 0.03%, to 3,909.88 and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 35.16 points, or 0.25%, to 13,972.53.
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