Key benchmark indices gathered further momentum and hit fresh intraday high in mid-afternoon trade. At 14:17 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was up 288.45 points or 0.98% at 29,653.75. The Nifty 50 index was currently up 95.70 points or 1.05% at 9,215.10. The rally was led by gains in HDFC Bank and Reliance Industries. Domestic stocks rose in tandem with global markets after centrist Emmanuel Macron pulled in the highest number of votes among candidates in the first round of the French presidential election on Sunday.
The Sensex rose 316.03 points, or 1.08% at the day's high of 29,681.33 in mid-afternoon trade. The index rose 27.69 points, or 0.09% at the day's low of 29,392.99 at the onset of trading session. The Nifty rose 99.15 points, or 1.09% at the day's high of 9,218.55 in mid-afternoon trade. The index rose 11.15 points, or 0.12% at the day's low of 9,130.55 at the onset of trading session.
Among secondary barometers, the BSE Mid-Cap index was currently up 0.77%. The BSE Small-Cap index was currently up 0.92%. Both these indices underperformed the Sensex.
The market breadth, indicating the overall health of the market, was positive. On BSE, 1,620 shares rose and 1,178 shares fell. A total of 170 shares were unchanged.
UltraTech Cement was up 3.95% at Rs 4,125.50. The company's consolidated net profit declined 11.24% to Rs 726 crore on 2.59% growth in net sales to Rs 6922 crore in Q4 March 2017 over Q4 March 2016. The result was announced during market hours today, 24 April 2017.
The company's consolidated profit before interest, depreciation and tax (PBIDT) fell 1.74% to Rs 1577 crore in Q4 March 2017 over Q4 March 2016. UltraTech said that work on setting up the 3.5 million tonnes per annum (MTPA) integrated cement plant at Dhar, Madhya Pradesh is on track. Commercial production is expected to commence from Q4 of FY 2019. With this expansion and the acquisition of the cement plants of Jaiprakash Associates, the company's cement capacity will stand augmented to 95.4 MTPA, including its overseas operations.
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HDFC Bank was up 2.20% at Rs 1,529.70. The stock hit a high of Rs 1,538 and a low of Rs 1,497.10 so far during the day.
Index pivotal Reliance Industries was up 2.27% at Rs 1,431.50. The stock hit a high of Rs 1,431.85 and a low of Rs 1,407.80 so far during the day. The company will announce Q4 results today, 24 April 2017. Meanwhile, RIL commenced commercial production from its coal bed methane (CBM) block SP(West)-CBM-2001/1 from 24th March 2017 and is currently supplying CBM for commissioning the Shahdol Phulpur Pipeline (SHPPL). The production from RIL's Sohagpur CBM fields will gradually ramp-up in the next 15-18 months making RIL among the largest unconventional natural gas producers in India.
CBM is an environmental friendly natural gas extracted from coal-bed and has become an important source of unconventional gas in many parts of the world. RIL was awarded the licence to explore two adjacent CBM blocks SP(West) and SP(East) with an area of 995 square kilometers in the round 1 of CBM block bidding by the Government of India in 2001.
RIL has drilled more than 200 wells connected to two gas gathering stations in the first phase of development. RIL expects to drill 600-800 wells further and develop associated infrastructure over the next phases of development.
Reliance Gas Pipelines (RGPL), a wholly-owned subsidiary of RIL, laid a 302 kilometers Shahdol Phulpur gas pipeline that connects Sohagpur CBM fields from Shahdol to Hazira- Vijaipur-Jagdishpur (HBJ) pipeline Network of GAIL at Phulpur. With this new pipeline network these CBM gas fields are now connected with the Indian gas grid. The announcement was made after market hours on Friday, 21 April 2017.
Most IT stocks edged higher. Hexaware Technologies (up 1.23%), Tech Mahindra (up 0.50%), TCS (up 0.47%), Persistent Systems (up 0.43%), MindTree (up 0.38%) and Oracle Financial Services Software (up 0.24%), edgd higher. Infosys (down 0.41%), Wipro (down 0.84%) and MphasiS (down 1.24%), edged lower.
IT services company HCL Technologies (HCL) was up 1.26% at Rs 822.75 after the company announced an agreement to acquire Urban Fulfillment Services, LLC, (UFS), a provider of mortgage business process and fulfilment services. UFS is a Limited Liability Company incorporated in USA, founded in 2002. With over 350 highly skilled professionals, UFS operates out of 3 centres in the US, engaged in providing mortgage business process and fulfilment services to its customers. HCL will be acquiring 100% stake in UFS. The total cash consideration for this transaction is up to $30 million, including contingent payments subject to certain financial milestones. Mortgage servicing is a regulated activity in USA and the transaction would require regulatory approvals for obtaining the licenses. The announcement was made during trading hours today, 24 April 2017.
FMCG shares were mixed. Dabur India (up 0.65%), Marico (up 0.62%), Bajaj Corp (up 0.56%), Britannia Industries (up 0.41%), Tata Global Beverages (up 0.17%) and GlaxoSmithKline Consumer Healthcare (up 0.05%), edged higher. Hindustan Unilever (down 0.01%), Nestle India (down 0.23%), Procter & Gamble Hygiene & Health Care (down 0.51%), Godrej Consumer Products (down 0.61%) and Jyothy Laboratories (down 1.84%), edged lower.
Overseas, European markets rallied while most Asian stocks were trading higher after the centrist Emmanuel Macron won the first round of the French presidential election. The two candidates will now face off in a 7 May 2017 runoff.
Tension on the Korean peninsula, however, concerned investors. North Korea reportedly arrested an American citizen in Pyongyang. The hermit state also indicated that it was prepared to sink a US aircraft carrier to showcase its military prowess.
US markets ended Friday's session lower ahead of the French vote, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average shedding 0.15% and the S&P 500 Index losing 0.30%.
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