The benchmark indices continued to trade with modest losses in early afternoon trade. At 12:33 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was down 119.06 points or 0.25% to 46,771.28. The Nifty 50 index lost 34.25 points or 0.25% to 13,706.45.
Shares witnessed profit selling after a five-day rising streak during which the Sensex added 2.02% while the Nifty gained 1.95%.
In the broader market, the S&P BSE Mid-Cap index slipped 0.41% while the S&P BSE Small-Cap index shed 0.26%.
The market breadth was weak. On the BSE, 1023 shares rose and 1763 shares fell. A total of 150 shares were unchanged.
Foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) bought shares worth Rs 2,355.25 crore, while domestic institutional investors (DIIs), were net sellers to the tune of Rs 2,494.36 crore in the Indian equity market on 17 December, provisional data showed.
Coronavirus Update:
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Total COVID-19 confirmed cases worldwide stood at 74,905,155 with 1,661,115 deaths. India reported 313,831 active cases of COVID-19 infection and 144,789 deaths while 9,520,827 patients have been discharged, according to the data from the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India.
Buzzing Index:
Shares of IT companies were in demand after IT major Accenture Plc reported strong first-quarter results and raised business outlook for fiscal 2021.
The Nifty IT index traded 1.74% higher at 23,290.05. The index hit an all-time high of 23,408 in intraday today.
Infosys (up 2.48%), HCL Technologies (up 2.19%), Wipro (up 1.84%), TCS (up 1.73%), Coforge (up 1.69%), Larsen & Toubro Infotech (up 1.67%), Mphasis (up 1.51%) and Mindtree (up 0.59%) and Tech Mahindra (up 0.48%) advanced.
Accenture reported financial results for the first quarter of fiscal 2021, ended 30 November 2020, with revenues of $11.8 billion, an increase of 4% in U.S. dollars and 2% in local currency over the same period last year. Revenue growth for the quarter was reduced approximately 2 percentage points by a decline in revenues from reimbursable travel costs.
GAAP diluted earnings per share were $2.32, an 11% increase from $2.09 for the first quarter last year, including gains on an investment of $0.15 and $0.08, respectively. On an adjusted basis, EPS of $2.17 increased 8% from $2.01 for the first quarter last year.
Operating income was $1.89 billion, a 7% increase over the same period last year, and operating margin was 16.1%, an expansion of 50 basis points.
The company expects revenues for the second quarter of fiscal 2021 to be in the range of $11.55 billion to $11.95 billion, 1% to 4% growth in local currency, reflecting the company's assumption of a positive 3% foreign-exchange impact compared with the second quarter of fiscal 2020. For fiscal 2021, the company expects revenue growth to be in the range of 4% to 6% in local currency, compared with 2% to 5% previously, including a reduction of approximately 1 percentage point from a decline in revenues from reimbursable travel costs.
Stocks in Spotlight:
Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders jumped 6.99% to Rs 222. The company informed that the Basin Trials (BT) of the first Ship of Project 15B (Yard 12704, Vishakhapatnam) was successfully completed at MDL, in the presence of Overseeing and Trials teams of the Indian Navy. The Ship is slated to complete sea trials by April 2021.
Isgec Heavy Engineering rose 2.17% to Rs 316. The company has secured a new order from KPR Sugar & Apparels to set up a 10,000 TCD Sulphurless Sugar Plant, 40 MW CoGeneration Plant, 60 TPH Incineration Boiler and 7.5 MW Power Plant for Zero Liquid Discharge system for client's distillery plant on EPC basis. The order is valued at Rs 431 crore.
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