The key indices reversed early gains and hit the day's low in morning trade. The Nifty managed to hold the 14,500 mark. At 10:28 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was down 187.64 points or 0.38% to 49,396.52. The Nifty 50 index lost 57 points or 0.39% at 14,538.60.
In the broader market, the S&P BSE Mid-Cap index rose 0.02% while the S&P BSE Small-Cap index shed 0.11%.
The market breadth was negative. On the BSE, 1065 shares rose and 1417 shares fell. A total of 144 shares were unchanged.
US President-elect Joe Biden unveiled a $1.9 trillion coronavirus plan Thursday to end "a crisis of deep human suffering" by speeding up vaccines and pumping out financial help to those struggling with the pandemic's prolonged economic fallout.
Biden proposed $1,400 checks for most Americans, which on top of $600 provided in the most recent COVID-19 bill would bring the total to the $2,000 that Biden has called for. It would also extend a temporary boost in unemployment benefits and a moratorium on evictions and foreclosures through September.
Meanwhile, U.S. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said an interest rate hike is coming "no time soon" and pushed back against suggestions that the central bank might start tapering its bond purchases any time soon.
More From This Section
The US Dow Jones 30 Futures futures were currently down 132 points.
COVID-19 update:
Total COVID-19 confirmed cases worldwide stood at 93,076,925 with 1,993,146 deaths. India reported 213,027 active cases of COVID-19 infection and 151,918 deaths, according to the data from the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India.
As per reports, China has placed over 22 million people on lockdowns after a new COVID wave has hit the country.
Economy:
The government said that over 545 lakh tonnes of Paddy have been procured during the ongoing Kharif Marketing Season. This is an increase of 26.48% against the last year corresponding purchase of around 431 lakh tonnes. Agriculture Ministry said, government continues to procure Kharif crops at its Minimum Support Price from farmers as per its existing MSP Schemes. The Ministry said, more than 73 lakh paddy farmers have been benefited from current Kharif Marketing Season Procurement Operations with MSP value of over one lakh three thousand crore rupees.
Earnings Today:
Hathway Cable & Datacom (up 1.46%),, Plastiblends India (up 0.71%), L&T Finance Holdings (down 0.61%), PVR (up 1.06%), Shoppers Stop (up 1.60%) and Yaarii Digital Integrated Services (down 1.38%) will announce Q3 earnings today.
Banking sector major HDFC Bank (down 1.06%) will announce Q3 earnings on Saturday (16 January 2021). Apollo Pipes (up 0.21%) and IRB InvIT Fund (up 0.34%) will also announce their quarterly earnings tomorrow.
Buzzing Index:
The Nifty Metal index was up 0.21% to 3,494.80. The index had declined 1.02% yesterday.
SAIL (up 6.77%), Jindal Steel & Power (up 1.45%), Tata Steel (up 0.93%) and Hindustan Zinc (up 0.92%) edged higher.
Hindustan Copper (down 1.45%), MOIL (down 1.09%), Hindalco Industries (down 0.98%), APL Apollo Tubes (down 0.89%), NMDC (down 0.68%) and Mishra Dhatu Nigam (down 0.60%) edged lower.
Earnings Impact:
HCL Technologies slipped 1.66% at Rs 1010.65. The IT firm's consolidated net profit rose 31.1% to Rs 3,982 crore on 6.4% rise in revenue from operations to Rs 19,302 crore in Q3 December 2020 over Q3 December 2019.
Sequentially, consolidated net profit rose 26.7% and revenue increased 3.80% in Q3 FY21 over Q2 FY21. EBITDA grew 9.9% to Rs 5,443 crore in Q3 FY21 over Q2 FY21. EBITDA margin improved to 28.2% in Q3 FY21 from 26.6% in Q2 FY21.
The company's revenue in constant currency grew 3.5% QoQ and rose 1.1% year-on-year (YoY). The company expects QoQ revenue to grow between 2% to 3% in constant currency for Q4 FY21, including DWS contribution. EBIT is expected to be between 21% and 21.5% for FY2021.
Tata Steel Long Products jumped 8.98% to Rs 780.90. The long steel maker reported a consolidated net profit of Rs 304.40 crore in Q3 FY21 compared with net loss of Rs 112.19 crore in Q3 FY20. Net sales during the quarter jumped 36.5% year-on-year (YoY) to Rs 1364.17 crore.
Powered by Capital Market - Live News