PremiumAfter three days of stellar gains, benchmark indices on Thursday ended flat in a volatile session amid F&O expiry. Sensex gave up 50,000 mark, hit at open, and Nifty slipped below the 15,000 level. Sensex hit a high of 50,375, and a low of 49,535.98 intraday.
After a three-day rally, benchmark indices ended flat in a volatile session amid F&O expiry. Sensex came off the day's high of 50,375, and ended at 49,766, with meagre gains of 32 points. Nifty ended at 14,895, up 0.2%.
On the sectoral front, metals and pharma led the rally, while auto, IT, and FMCG ended in the red.
Indian markets had opened on a positive note on global cues Sentiment was, however, positive in global markets as US President Joe Biden laid out a $1.8 trillion social-support plan and after the US Federal Reserve said it was too early to consider rolling back emergency support for the economy.
Bajaj Auto March-quarter profit rose to ₹13.32 billion rupees vs ₹13.10 billion a year ago. Total revenue from operations rose to ₹85.96 billion from ₹68.16 billion. The board has recommend a dividend of ₹140 per share.
Rahul Bajaj has resigned as non-executive chairman of the company, while Niraj Bajaj has been appointed chairman with effect from 1 May.
The government has allowed faster customs clearance for oxygen related medical devices necessary for critical covid-19 patients for a period of three months to meet the rising demand due to the escalating second wave of the coronavirus pandemic.
Earlier there was a legal requirement to do labelling before the goods are cleared by the customs authority at the port of entry. Now for speedy clearance of these goods, the labelling has been allowed to be done post customs clearance but before retail sale. (Full report)
“Indian markets opened on a positive note following upbeat Asian market and positive overnight global cues as the U.S. Federal Reserve decided to leave short-term interest rates anchored near zero as it buys at least $120 billion of bonds each month. During the afternoon session, benchmarks managed to keep their head above water on back of buying in metals, pharma and chemicals stocks. Some solace came in as government allowed import of 17 medical devices for three months with mandatory declarations immediately after custom clearance and before sale of such products in the domestic market. To meet rising demand in the ongoing pandemic, the government has allowed import of medical devices like nebulizer, oxygen concentrators, oxygen cannister, oxygen cylinders, oxygen generators and ventilators. On sectoral front, metals, pharma, chemicals and financials stock led the rally while auto, IT, FMCG traded in red."
The multiplex chain operator on Thursday reported a consolidated loss of ₹93.69 crore for the fourth quarter ended March 2021, as the COVID-19 pandemic impacted the film exhibition business.
The Competition Commission of India (CCI) has approved acquisition by Tata Digital Limited of up to 64.3% of the total share capital of Supermarket Grocery Supplies Private Ltd (SGS) and its sole control over Innovative Retail Concepts (IRC), the company that runs BigBasket.
Asian and European markets rallied Thursday as traders welcomed blockbuster earnings from Wall Street titans and after the Federal Reserve painted a rosy picture of the US economic outlook, repeating a pledge to stick to its guns with an ultra-low monetary policy. The pan-European STOXX 600 index rose 0.5%.
Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index closed up 0.8%., while Shanghai's Composite rose 0.5%. Japan's Nikkei 225 was closed for a holiday.
The two-wheeler major will announce its March quarter earnings on Thursday. The company had reported a 23% rise in standalone net profit at ₹1,556 crore for the quarter ended December.
Reliance Jio Infocomm Ltd is expected to report a sequential decline in revenue for the March quarter, with key metric such as average revenue per user (Arpu) likely to fall as much as ₹12-14, as operators scrapped interconnect usage charge (IUC), which contributes 7-8% in revenues across the industry, from 1 January.
The Mukesh Ambani-led telecom operator had clocked an Arpu of ₹151 during October-December, up from ₹145 a quarter ago.
“Arpu should see about 8% quarter-on-quarter moderation as IUC fell to zero from January 2021 (from six paise per minute) for all operators, impacting Jio’s Arpu by ₹12-14, and because of lower number of days during the quarter. This, however, will be partly offset by an uptick due to customer upgrades to high-value recharges," Morgan Stanley said in a report. (Full report)
Goldman Sachs on Thursday said it will commit an additional $10 million towards supporting relief and recovery efforts amid continued surge in covid infection cases and deaths in India.
The additional funding for India will focus on support for front line health facilities that are leading the fight against covid-19 in cities such as Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Mumbai and New Delhi, including ongoing vaccination efforts.
Oil prices extended gains on Thursday after rising 1% the previous session, as bullish forecasts on recovering demand this summer outweighed concerns about the impact of rising covid-19 cases in India, Japan and Brazil.
Brent crude for June rose 42 cents, or 0.6%, to $67.69 a barrel by 0622 GMT, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude for June was at $64.22 a barrel, up 36 cents, or 0.6%.
Shares of United Breweries Ltd are about 10% away from its pre-covid highs seen in February 2020. What’s more, valuations are not cheap. At Wednesday’s closing price of Rs1206.65 apiece, the stock trades at 58 times estimated earnings for financial year 2022, based on Bloomberg data.
Additionally, the second covid-19 wave is likely to weigh on demand in the foreseeable future. Dolat Capital Market Pvt. Ltd said in a report on 28 April, “Barley price inflation (about 15% year-on-year) and second wave of covid-19 in key beer season are near-term dampener." The brokerage has reduced its financial year 2022 estimates to factor the impact of covid in the half year ending September (H1FY22).
Canada’s largest pension fund Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, US based Capital Group and domestic institutional investors SBI Mutual Fund and HDFC Mutual Fund are the top anchor investors in PowerGrid Infrastructure Investment Trust public issue.
PowerGrid Invit has raised nearly ₹3480 crore from anchor investors ahead of its public issue, which opened on Thursday. It has decided to allot 348.07 million shares at ₹100 a share to 47 institutional investors.
Among the anchor investors are SBI Mutual Fund (MF), HDFC MF, Tata MF, Fidelity Funds, Tata AIA Life Insurance Company, Tata AIG General Insurance Company, SBI Life Insurance Company, UTI MF, ICICI Prudential MF, Sundaram MF, Rainbow Investments Ltd and CPP Investment Board Private Holdings.
Shares of telecom services provider Tata Communications Ltd fell more than 2% in Thursday's opening trade on the NSE reacting to its muted March quarter earnings. Operating margins and revenue growth both missed expectations.
Revenue at Rs470 crore, was down 3.5% sequentially and below analysts estimates impacted by decline in voice business and data business. The former was down 17% quarter-on-quarter and the latter fell by a percent sequentially. Analysts attribute the decline in data revenue to longer deal conversion and execution cycle due to Covid19 and the moderation of UCC traffic. According to analysts at Motilal Oswal Financial Services Ltd, the decline in EBITDA margins of the data segment, which forms a chunk of the overall EBITDA, can be attributed to a fall in revenue, coupled with higher marketing expenses and one-time catch up costs. (Full report)
The company has acquired a substantial stake in EV two-wheeler maker Revolt Intellicorp for ₹150 crore to foray into the fast-expanding electric vehicle business. It will have a 50% board presence in the Gurugram-headquartered Revolt Intellicorp Pvt Ltd with Rajiv Rattan heading the company's board as its chairman.
As many as 3,79,257 more people tested positive for Covid-19 in the last 24 hours, taking the cumulative caseload to 1,83,76,524, said the Union health ministry on Thursday morning.
This is the biggest spike in new cases the country has see as it continues to reel under an alarming second wave.
Maharashtra continues to be the biggest contributor to the daily tally as the state saw 66,358 new cases on Wednesday. It was followed by Kerala with 35,013 cases while Uttar Pradesh reported 29,824 new infections.
The country has been seeing a huge spike in daily fatalities too with 3,645 more people succumbing to the disease in the last 24 hours. The cumulative death toll in India now stands at 2,04,832.
The Indian Rupee surged 16 paise to 74.20 against the US dollar in early trade on Thursday.
The state-owned oil and gas producer said it is seeking foreign partners for yet-to-be-developed fields in lesser prospective areas but is shackled by uneconomic gas prices and tax structure. It has also said any "potential" restructuring of the company would not significantly affect
Gold prices today edged higher in Indian markets after a five-day decline. Gold futures on MCX were up 0.4% to ₹47,265 per 10 gram while silver futures rose 1.1% to ₹68534 per kg.
India Inc fears the second wave of the covid pandemic could set back the gains made by the Indian economy in the last two quarters following the ending of the lockdown measures imposed last year.
“As a consumer and businessman, I am worried about what the economy would look like in a few years going forward, considering that the impact of first wave one was already in a negative way. But we will get to know by the end of May, because right now we are in a rising tide of what we have to handle," said Vijay Shekhar Sharma, founder and CEO of Paytm, speaking at the Mint India Investment Summit 2021, which kicked off on Wednesday. (Full report)
The markets are performing just as expected. Beyond the level of 14700, it is now headed to 15000-15100 which should be the first pit stop. If we can sustain there, the next level should be the previous high of 15300-15350. A strong support for the Nifty is 14300 now and any downward correction can be utilized to enter the index for higher targets.
"The favorable global market scenario is playing an important role in this vaccine-powered hope trade. The FOMC meet, as expected, has kept rates and the bond-buying program unchanged, reiterating the accommodative stance. Sustained bond-buying has the risk of higher ' asset price inflation and froth in the market... Even while enjoying the bull run investors have to be guarded against potential froth and bubbles. The localised lockdowns & curfews have not impacted industrial activity much but there is a downside risk to GDP growth & earnings estimates. The pain in segments like aviation, hotels, restaurants and retail trade will linger for some time. Financials have emerged stronger after the initial good Q4 results."
Sensex soared 500 points to cross the 50,000 mark and Nifty gained 1% to top the 15,000 mark tracking global cues. Bajaj Auto, HUL and Titan are in focus as they will report their quarterly earnings today.
The virulent second covid-19 wave that is wreaking havoc in India is prompting consumers to cut back on discretionary spending, prioritize their health, shop online, and buy only essential goods, a trend that could take months to normalize, according to companies.
Consumers in India have once again turned to “cautious consumption", Deloitte said on Wednesday after it released findings of a 30-day global consumer survey. Indians accounted for the most number of people who reported feeling anxious during the second wave, among 18 countries surveyed by Deloitte.
Retail loans restructured under a central bank scheme announced last year were more than thrice the corresponding figures for corporate loans, initial numbers released by top private sector lenders showed.
HDFC Bank Ltd, ICICI Bank Ltd and Axis Bank Ltd collectively implemented retail debt recasts of ₹6,603 crore and just ₹2,109 crore of corporate loans under the scheme. On a standalone basis, only ICICI Bank implemented more corporate recasts than retail. However, HDFC Bank’s ₹5,456 crore retail loan recast tipped the scales. Axis Bank restructured ₹504 crore of retail loans and ₹341 crore of corporate loans. (Read more)
US President Joe Biden on Wednesday delivered a speech to a joint session of Congress that he used to promote a $1.8 trillion plan he said is needed to compete with China. He said the notion of “we the people" is actually “the government, you and I."
As Biden wrapped up his prime-time speech, he also spoke of the mob that on January 6 overran the Capitol building where he gave his address Wednesday night.
He said the United States is "on the move again", calling for trillions of dollars to rebuild the post-Covid US middle class and give new life to "forgotten" workers.
Indian equity markets are likely to rise on Thursday following global cues. Trends in SGX Nifty indicate a firm opening for domestic benchmark indices. On Wednesday, the BSE Sensex ended at 49,733.84, up 789.70 points or 1.61%. The Nifty closed at 14,864.55, up 211.50 points or 1.44%.
Oil prices extended gains on Thursday after rising 1% in the previous session as bullish forecasts for a demand recovery this summer offset concerns of rising covid-19 cases in India, Japan and Brazil.
Brent crude for June rose 0.37%, to $67.52 a barrel while U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude for June was at $64.12 a barrel, up 0.41%.
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