 "National Stock Exchange")
The markets got off to a strong start on the first trading day of the Feburuary F&O series after the Bank of Japan's negative interest rate policy stance led to a rally in global stocks while firming up of crude oil prices also boosted sentiment.
The S&P BSE Sensex ended up 401 points at 24,870 and the Nifty50 ended up 139 points at 7,563.
In the broader market, the BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices ended up 1%-2% each. Market breadth ended strong with 1560 gainers and 1026 losers on the BSE.
"On the global front the rebound in crude oil prices and the policy stance by the Bank of Japan boosted sentiment. Further, markets are rewarding corporates with robust earnings while those with lower-than-expected earnings are witnessing selling pressure," said Mayuresh Joshi, Fund Manager, Angel Broking.
The rupee firmed up by 36 paise to 67.87 against the US dollar at the Interbank Foreign Exchange market on fresh selling of the American currency by exporters. The rally in the domestic equities also boosted sentiment.
Oil extended a recent rally in Asia today on hopes of Russia-OPEC talks. US benchmark West Texas Intermediate was up 21 cents, or 0.63%, at $33.43 and Brent for March gained 26 cents, or 0.77%, to $34.15.
ECONOMY
In the first nine months of 2015-16, the Centre’s fiscal deficit touched almost 88 per cent of the Budget Estimates (BE) for the full financial year, showed official data released on Friday. In 2014-15, the deficit had exceeded the BE by this time of the year.
The government’s fiscal deficit in the April-December period touched Rs 4.9 lakh crore, or 87.9 per cent of the Rs 5.5 lakh crore estimated in the Union Budget. This means the government will have to keep the excess of its expenditure over income at 12.1 per cent of BE in the remaining three months of this financial year.
SECTORS & STOCKS
All sectoral indices on the BSE ended in the green led by Consumer Durables which gained 3.3%.
Coal India ended up 4.7% after media reports suggested that the coal ministry is devising a plan to clear off the stock, which may include reduction of prices as well.
Meanwhile, oil exploration majors ended higher after oil prices bounced back. RIL, ONGC and GAIL jumped between 1.7%-2.8% each.
NTPC ended down 1.5% while L&T ended up 2.3% ahead of their third quarter earnings.
Among other shares, Engineers India ended marginally down. The offer for sale by the government as a part of its disinvestment drive got oversubscribed.
RESULTS REACTION
Bharti Airtel fell 0.6% after posting 22% decline in its net income at Rs 1,117 crore in the third quarter on the back of higher interest and spectrum costs. It registered a net income of Rs 1,436 crore in the same period last year.
Car maker, Maruti Suzuki ended flat as the profits missed street expectations. It clocked a 27% y-o-y surge in net profit in Q3 FY16. Profit for the quarter stood at Rs 1,019 crore against Rs 802 crore in the same quarter last year. Also, the margins contracted on account of higher spend in advertisement.
ICICI Bank trimmed losses to end 1.2% lower after it reported a net profit of mere 4% in the third quarter at Rs 3,018 crore on account of higher provisioning. RBI has articulated the objective of early recognition of NPA resulting pressure on asset quality.
Syndicate Bank slipped 3.8% after it posted a loss of Rs 139 crore for the third quarter ended December 2015 on a sharp rise in provisioning for bad loans. It had posted a net profit of Rs 305 crore in October-December 2014.
Yes Bank surged 11% after the results beat the street expectations with recording profit growth of 25% year-on-year at Rs 676 crore on strong net interest income growth.
Muthoot Finance jumped 3.2% after it reported 21% rise in net profit for the quarter ended December, aided by its Sri Lankan subsidiary Asia Asset Finance.
Vedanta soared 6.6% on reports stating that the board is likely to discuss the merger of Cairn India with Vedanta. Vedanta reported a steep 98.9% fall in its consolidated net profit at Rs 17.91 crore for the third quarter ended December, weighed down by challenging market conditions.
Titan surged 7% after it posted 18% growth in profits to quote Rs 225 crore and increase in revenues by 17 percent to Rs 3426 crore as it pushed discounts to prop up sales in December.
Just Dial slumped 15% after the company reported 16% year on year (YoY) drop in its net profit at Rs 26.99 crore for the third quarter ended December 31, 2015 (Q3FY16).
State Bank of Bikaner and Jaipur jumped 9% after it reported 26.2% rise in its net profit at Rs.206.13 crore for the December quarter on higher income from retail operations and fall in bad loans.
IRB Infrastructure ended up over 3% after it beat street expectations as its Q3 net increased 27% to Rs 169 crore, compared to Rs 133 crore in the corresponding quarter of the previous year.
Jay Shree Tea & Industries gained 15% after the company reported an over 10-fold year-on-year (yoy) jump in net profit at Rs 14.14 crore for the third quarter ended December 31, 2015 (Q3FY16) on back of strong performance by sugar segment.
GLOBAL MARKETS
Asian markets ended higher on Friday after the Bank of Japan's policy stance on negative interest rate policy. Japan's benchmark Nikkei ended up 2.7% while Hang Seng and Straits Times ended up 2.5% and China's Shanghai Composite ended up 3%.
