Sensex slips 477 pts from day's high, ends 63 pts lower; IT stocks decline

All that happened in the markets today

Shedding all its morning gains, the domestic equity market ended in the negative territory on Tuesday amid sell-off in IT stocks and telecom major Bharti Airtel.

The S&P BSE Sensex slipped 477 points from day's high to settle at 30,609.30, down 63 points or 0.21 per cent. Bharti Airtel ended nearly 6 per cent lower at Rs 559 apiece on the BSE after its promoter, Bharti Telecom, sold 2.75 per cent stake in the telecom services provider through open market deals today. READ MORE

NSE's Nifty ended at 9,029.05, down 10 points or 0.11 per cent. Volatility index, India VIX, dropped over 3 per cent to 31.37 levels. 

Broader market, however, outperformed the frontline indices. The Nifty Midcap100 index surged over 1.3 per cent to 12,836 points and the Nifty SmallCap index added 0.76 per cent to 3,880-mark. 

On the sectoral front, IT and pharma stocks declined while auto and metal stocks advanced. The Nifty IT index fell nearly 2 per cent to 13,575 levels. The Nifty Metal index, on the other hand, gained 2.7 per cent to 1,756. 

Buzzing stocks

Avenue Supermarts, the D-Mart retail chain operator, declined 5 per cent on the BSE on profit-booking after the company’s January-March quarter (Q4FY20) results disappointed investors on the margin front. Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) margin contracted 68 basis points to 6.67 per cent in Q4FY20 from 7.35 per cent in Q4FY19, hit by higher depreciation and employee costs. READ MORE 

ITC ended nearly 3 per cent higher after the company announced it had entered into an agreement with the spices major Sunrise Foods to acquire a 100 per cent stake in the company. READ MORE

Global markets

Asian shares climbed on Tuesday while US stock futures breached a major chart barrier as investors brushed past Sino-US trade tensions to more stimulus in China and a re-opening world economy.

Japan’s Nikkei took the lead with a rise of 1.7 per cent to its highest since early March when the economic impact of the coronavirus was just becoming clear. MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan advanced 1.6 per cent, while South Korea rose 1.5 per cent.

Chinese blue chips firmed 0.8 per cent after the country’s central bank said it would strengthen economic policy and continue to push to lower interest rates on loans.

Further, E-Mini futures for the S&P 500 climbed 2% to clear the 3,000 chart level. European stocks, too, traded higher. 

In commodities, oil prices rose, supported by growing confidence that producers are following through on commitments to cut crude supplies while fuel demand picks up with more cars back on the road as coronavirus lockdowns ease.

(With inputs from Reuters)

4:15 PM

Technical view by Nagaraj Shetti, Technical Research Analyst, HDFC Securities

Nifty continued to show lackluster movement today and closed the day on a slightly negative note. A small negative candle was formed that placed beside the similar type of candle of Friday's session. This action indicates a range movement in the last three sessions, after a sharp upside bounce of May 20.

Currently, Nifty is placed at the key overhead resistance of 9,150-9,180 levels in the last few sessions and we observe an emergence of intraday weakness from near the resistance. On the daily chart, we notice a formation of consistent lower highs within a larger range bound movement. Currently, Nifty is making an attempt to form another lower high formation above 9,150 levels.

The formation of hammer type candle pattern on the weekly chart signal that any minor weakness from here could be a buying opportunity in the short term. Immediate supports to be watched at 8,950. A sustainable move above 9,150-9,180 is likely to lift Nifty towards 9,500 levels in the short span of time.

4:04 PM

MARKET COMMENT | Vinod Nair, Head of Research at Geojit Financial Services

After opening up by more than 1%, benchmark indices pared gains to close flat, with a negative bias. However, global market cues were positive, on the back of additional stimulus measures and slow reopening of economies globally. The unabated rise of infections continues in India, which throws up further uncertainties with regards to extension of lockdown measures. Globally, commodity markets were strong and the metal index outperformed in today’s trade. This was driven partly due to measures announced to support the Chinese economy, which accounts for a major portion of the global demand for metals.

3:48 PM

SECTOR WATCH | Auto, metal stocks rally

3:45 PM

MARKET AT CLOSE | Losers and gainers on the S&P BSE Sensex

3:36 PM

CLOSING BELL

The S&P BSE Sensex slipped 63 points or 0.21 per cent to end at 30,609 while NSE's Nifty ended at 9,029, down 10 points or 0.11 per cent.

3:20 PM

Astec Life hits 52-wk high as ICRA reaffirms ratings, zooms 84% in 1 month

Shares of Astec LifeSciences hit a 52-week high of Rs 719, up 8 per cent on the BSE on Tuesday after the rating agency ICRA reaffirmed the long-term and short-term outstanding rating of Rs 455 crore line of credit (LOC) of the agrochemicals company. Godrej Agrovet, which is the promoter of the company, currently holds 61.18 per cent stake in the company. READ MORE  

3:07 PM

Fall from intra-day high today in BSE500 stocks

COMPANY	DAY'S HIGH(RS)	DAY'S LOW(RS)	LATEST(RS)	FALL(%)
CERA SANITARY.	2595.00	2165.00	2213.55	-14.70
I O B	8.10	7.10	7.17	-11.48
SADBHAV ENGG.	41.65	37.75	37.75	-9.36
ORIENT REFRAC.	145.85	132.50	134.50	-7.78
ZYDUS WELLNESS	1340.00	1234.00	1237.25	-7.67

2:59 PM

NEWS ALERT :: Maruti Suzuki partners with ICICI Bank to offer flexible EMI financing schemes

 

2:55 PM

BROKERAGE VIEW :: HDFC Institutional Equities on Avenue Supermarts

Maintains 'Sell'; Target price: Rs 1,750

4Q performance was certainly un-DMARTesque as one would’ve hoped D- MART to benefit from excessive hoarding of essentials by consumers during the Covid-19-led lockdown. Bigger disappointment was on the gross margin front as skew of lower margin Food/Non-Food FMCG increased by 670bp to 77.7% (implied) in 4Q. (Signficantly high given just 9 days of lockdown), Adj. EBITDA grew 4.7% to Rs. 3.94bn as lower GM impact trickled down the P&L. Despite this, APAT grew 43% YoY to Rs. 2.9bn. 
 

GMs/EBITDAM are likely to remain under pressure as essentials remain high in revenue mix till June-end (Per channel checks). To add to the woes, DMART may also have to contend with rising cost of retailing as 1. Contract labour comes at a premium and 2. Lower margin DMART Ready sales may inch up during the pandemic. We have cut our FY21 EPS by 11% to factor in lower GMs, we largely maintain FY22 estimates and our SELL recommendation with a DCF-based TP of Rs. 1,750/sh, implying ~35x FY22 EV/EBITDA. Stock currently trades at 77/52x FY21/F22 EV/EBITDA

2:50 PM

Stocks that hit 52-week low on BSE today

COMPANY	PRICE(rs)	52 WK LOW	CHG(%)
BAJAJ FIN.	1842.40	1838.00	-2.82
DCB BANK	62.20	58.10	2.89
INDIABULLS INTEG	32.00	32.00	-4.76
NESCO	392.40	381.10	0.62
POWER FIN.CORPN.	75.05	74.60	0.20

2:45 PM

MARKET CHECK | Top 5 gainers on the BSE at this hour

2:43 PM

BROKERAGE VIEW :: HDFC Institutional Equities on Trent

Maintains 'Add'; Target price: Rs 460

Trent, like peers will go through its COVID19 blues, however, its ability to navigate the crisis is strongest in peer set as the retailer remains well capitalized (Rs. 7.24bn of cash/eq). Ergo it remains best-placed to gain market share in the aftermath of the crisis. Note: Trent has already utilized ~Rs. 8/9.5bn raised recently (via Tata Sons). We maintain our ADD RECO with an SOTP-based TP of Rs. 460/sh (earlier: Rs. 490/sh). FY21/22 EBITDA cuts aren’t comparable as we have moved to IND-AS 116 accounting.

2:40 PM

India's first quarter GDP growth likely to be weakest since 2012: Poll

India's economy is likely to have expanded at its slowest pace in at least eight years in the January-March quarter, partly as a result of the coronavirus clampdown. Asia's third-largest economy began slowing last year, but a countrywide lockdown implemented by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on March 25 halted economic activity completely, the Reuters reported. READ MORE

2:33 PM

NEWS ALERT :: Vakrangee announces corporate agency tie up with LIC

2:28 PM

SECTOR ALERT :: Pharma stocks under pressure; Index slips 1%

>> Piramal, and Cadila Health, down 3% each, were top laggards on the index.

>> Sun Pharma, Cipla, Aurobindo Phaema, meanwhile, were down 2% each