A bout of volatility was witnessed as key benchmarks bounced back from the day's low in mid-afternoon trade. IT shares corrected for fourth consecutive day. The Nifty managed to hold the 13,800 mark. Investors remained cautious ahead of the Union Budget on Monday.
At 14:23 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was up 57.91 points or 0.12% to 46,932.27. The Nifty 50 index lost 9.25 points or 0.07% to 13,826.80.
The broader market traded higher. The S&P BSE Mid-Cap index rose 0.30%. The S&P BSE Small-Cap index gained 0.20%.
The market breadth was positive. On the BSE, 1571 shares rose and 1203 shares fell. A total of 153 shares were unchanged.
Farmer Protest:
The media reported that scuffles broke out at Singhu border on Friday between protesting farmers and locals who were demanding that the area be vacated. The police had to resort to lathicharge and fire tear gas shells to disperse the crowd. Police barricades were also reportedly broken, reports added.
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The protest started on 26 November 2020. The farmers are demanding a complete rollback of the new farm reform laws and a guarantee on the Minimum Support Price (MSP) system being retained. Multiple rounds of talks between the Centre and the farmers' union leaders have ended in a stalemate.
Numbers to Track:
In the foreign exchange market, the partially convertible rupee appreciated to 72.9675 compared with its previous closing of 73.05.
The yield on 10-year benchmark federal paper fell to 5.949% from its previous closing of 5.933%.
MCX Gold futures for 5 February 2021 settlement rose 0.56% to Rs 48,896.
The US Dollar index (DXY), which tracks the greenback's value against a basket of currencies, rose 0.26% to 90.69.
In the commodities market, Brent crude for March 2021 settlement added 12 cents to $55.65 a barrel. The contract slipped 0.51% or 28 cents to settle at $55.53 in the previous trading session.
Buzzing Index:
The Nifty IT index fell 1.46% to 24,932.25, extending declined for fourth day. The index has lost 5.88% in four sessions.
Larsen & Toubro Infotech (down 4.17%), Mphasis (down 2.21%), MindTree (down 2.04%), Infosys (down 1.62%), Wipro (down 1.55%), TCS (down 1.5%), Tech Mahindra (down 0.82%), Info Edge India (down 0.59%), Coforge (down 0.5%) and HCL Tech (down 0.42%) declined.
Earnings Impact:
Dr. Reddy's tumbled 4.29% at Rs 4666.95. On a consolidated basis, Dr. Reddy's Laboratories posted a net profit of Rs 19.80 crore in Q3 FY21 as against a net loss of Rs 569.7 crore in Q3 FY20. The drug maker's consolidated revenue increased 12% year on year to Rs 4930 crore in Q3 FY21. R&D expenses were at Rs 410 crore, representing 8.3% to revenues.
The company reported impairment charge of about Rs 600 crore during the quarter. In January 2021 there had been an additional generic launch for the product Nuvaring, which led to considerable erosion in the value of this product for the company, and accordingly the firm took an impairment charge of Rs 320 crore. In addition, considering the current market dynamics, the firm took an additional impairment charge of Rs 280 crore on the intangibles pertaining to other products. The firm had an impairment charge of Rs 1320 crore in Q3 FY20 and Rs 78.1 crore in Q2 FY21.
Cummins India jumped 4.70% to Rs 667.05 after the company's consolidated net profit jumped 20.2% to Rs 240.10 crore on a 1.7% fall in net sales to Rs 1406.66 crore in Q3 FY21 over Q3 FY20. With respect to future outlook, the company said that it expects gradual recovery of demand in upcoming quarters. With market conditions continue to remain uncertain and visibility for end market recovery still somewhat limited, the company is not providing a full year revenue guidance for FY 2021.
Indian Oil Corporation added 2% to Rs 94.50 after the PSU's company standalone net profit jumped 110% to Rs 4,916.59 crore on a 1.22% rise in revenue from operations to Rs 1,46,598.83 crore in Q3 FY21 over Q3 FY20. The company said the average gross refining margin (GRM) for the period April- December 2020 fell 11.38% to $ 2.96 per barrel against $ 3.34 per barrel for the same period of the previous year.
Bharat Electronics gained 1.33% to Rs 133 after the PSU company posted a 25% rise in consolidated net profit to Rs 278 crore on a 4% rise in net sales to Rs 2269.93 crore in Q3 FY21 over Q3 FY20.
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