Market spurts in early trade

Local stocks logged sharp gains in early trade on hopes of another stimulus package and positive global cues. At 9:23 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was up 552.90 points or 1.76% at 31,880.12. The Nifty 50 index was up 163.25 points or 1.78% at 9,317.65.

The S&P BSE Mid-Cap index was up 1.47%. The S&P BSE Small-Cap index was up 1.19%.

The market breadth, indicating the overall health of the market, was strong. On the BSE, 947 shares rose and 283 shares fell. A total of 52 shares were unchanged.

Stocks in news:

Tata Steel rose 1.59%. Tata Steel on Friday (24 April) said its board has approved proposal to raise up to Rs 5,000 crore through issuance of non convertible debentures (NCDs) on private placement basis in one or more tranches.

Titan Company gained 1.52%. BrickworkRatings (BWR) assigned 'A1+' rating for Titan Company's proposed commercial paper issue of Rs 900 crore. Further, the rating on the company's bank loan facilities of Rs 5000 crore was reaffirmed. The rating on the proposed long term cash credit of Rs 1000 crore was reaffirmed at 'BWR AAA/stable'. The rating on the short term gold metal loan of Rs 2735 crore and the rating on the proposed short term gold metal loan of Rs 1265 crore was reaffirmed at 'BWR A1+'.

ICICI Prudential Life Insurance Company jumped 10%. ICICI Prudential Life Insurance Company's consolidated net profit fell 31.52% to Rs 178.73 crore in Q4 March 2020 as against Rs 261.02 crore in Q4 March 2019. Net premium earned rose 4.16% to Rs 10,475.12 crore in Q4 March 2020 from Rs 10,056.32 crore in Q4 March 2019. Profit before Tax (PBT) declined 38.49% to Rs 170.90 crore in Q4 March 2020 over Q4 March 2019.

Sobha rose 1.18%. Mumbai-based Anamudi Real Estates LLP (AREL) purchased an additional 2.99 lakh equity shares, or 0.32% stake, of Sobha via open market on 22 April 2020. Following the transaction, AREL's stake in Sobha has increased to 5.19% from 4.87% held earlier. Sobha made the disclosure on Saturday, 25 April 2020.

Bank of Baroda (BoB) rose 1.94%. BoB on Friday (24 April 2020) said its board has approved raising up to Rs 13,500 crore by 31 March 2021 (FY21) and beyond if found expedient.

MindTree jumped 7.72%. On a consolidated basis, MindTree's net profit rose 4.7% to Rs 206.2 crore on a 4.3% increase in revenue to Rs 2050.5 crore in Q4 March 2020 over Q3 December 2019. Consolidated EBITDA for Q4 March 2020 stood at Rs 351.20 crore, rising 14.7% compared with Rs 3,063 reported in Q3 December 2019. EBITDA margin rose to 17.1% in Q4 March 2020 from 15.6% reported in Q3 December 2019.

Natco Pharma gained 3.4%. Natco Pharma announced closure of inspection with an Establishment Inspection Report (EIR) from USFDA for the pre-approval inspection conducted at its formulations facility in Kothur village, Telangana.

Global Markets:

Overseas, Asian shares inched higher ahead of a busy week for earnings and central bank meetings. The Bank of Japan is expected to expand monetary stimulus on Monday for the second straight month to ease corporate funding strains and finance huge government spending aimed at combating the deepening economic fallout from the coronavirus pandemic.

In US, stock indexes closed higher on Friday as investors digested economic data, mixed corporate results, and the latest economic aid package from Congress to combat the COVID-19 pandemic.

Investors were encouraged Friday by President Trump signing into law the much-awaited $484 billion coronavirus aid package that includes a second round of funding for small businesses under the Paycheck Protection Plan, or PPP.

The measure contains another $320 billion to help small businesses. It also has about $75 billion for hospitals, $25 billion for coronavirus testing and $60 billion for the Small Business Administration's Economic Injury Disaster Loan program.

In economic data, a final reading on consumer sentiment from the University of Michigan for April came in at 71.8 from 89.1 in March.

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