MARKETS: Metal, realty stocks shine in choppy trade; Sensex ends 163 pts up
All that happened in the markets today
 "Stock brokers (Photo credit: Kamlesh Pednekar)")
Stock brokers (Photo credit: Kamlesh Pednekar)
Metal and realty stocks led from the front in trade on Wednesday - a day that was marked with volatility. India VIX - a guage of volatility on the NSE - ended nearly a per cent higher at 22.92 levels.
After a firm start that saw the Nifty50 reclaim the 12,000 mark, the benchmark indices succumbed to profit booking with the S&P BSE Sensex and Nifty 50 hitting an intra-day low of 40,150.48 levels and 11,775.75 levels, respectively. Both these indices had hit an intra-day high of 40,976.02 and 12,018.65, respectively on Wednesday.
At close, the benchmark indices settled higher for the fourth consecutive session. The S&P BSE Sensex was at 40,707 levels, up 163 points or 0.4 per cent with PowerGrid, Bharti Airtel, and Tata Steel ending the day as top gainers on the 30-share index. IT counters such as TCS and HCL, on the other hand, ended as top drags.
NSE's Nifty50, on the other hand, ended at 11,938 levels, up 41 points or 0.38 per cent.
"Indices managed to close in the Green today but not without its share of hiccups over rumours on waiver of interest on loans. Banks & Metals provided support even as we saw profit booking in several stocks during afternoon trade. Select PSU names were sought after by funds in todays volatile session," said S Ranganathan, head of research at LKP Securities.
Meanwhile, Sebi chairman Ajay Tyagi today said that it sees no merit in increasing the 10 per cent investment cap on a single stock for actively-managed mutual fund (MF) schemes.
“The 10 per cent cap is meant for diversification cap. Just because some scrip is outperforming doesn’t mean you raise the ceiling. For the sake of diversification, the 10 per cent ceiling is something which stays,” said Ajay Tyagi, chairman, Sebi while addressing the media at a market summit organized by industry body CII. READ ABOUT IT HERE
In the broader market, the S&P BSE MidCap index closed at 14,808.5 level, up 33 points or 0.23. The S&P BSE SmallCap index, on the other hand, closed at 14,900 level, up 5 points.
Stimulus package
The government, according to a Reuters news report, is reportedly working on the next stimulus package to support the economy amid positive signs of a fall in Covid-19 cases, a senior finance ministry official said on Wednesday.
The government has received suggestions from various ministries and sectors on needed measures, Tarun Bajaj, economic affairs secretary at the ministry of finance, told a virtual conference.
Meanwhile, Union Minister Prakash Javadekar said, "Union Cabinet has approved productivity linked bonus and non-productivity linked Bonus for 2019-2020. Over 30 lakh non-gazetted employees will benefit by this and total financial implication will be Rs 3,737 crores."
Global markets
Global stocks and bond yields rose on Wednesday as Washington moved closer to agreeing a coronavirus stimulus package, pinning the dollar at its lowest for a month.
The MSCI world equity index, which follows shares in nearly 50 countries, gained 0.1 per cent, buoyed by a 0.5 per cent gain for Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan.
(With inputs from Reuters)
3:45 PM
Market Statistics
3:42 PM
Top Drag :: Nifty FMCG index settles nearly a per cent lower
3:41 PM
Top Gainer :: Nifty Realty index outperforms markets
3:39 PM
Sectoral trends at Close
3:37 PM
Sensex Heatmap at Close
3:36 PM
![]()
Closing Bell
>> At close, the benchmark indices settled higher for the fourth consecutive session. The S&P BSE Sensex was at 40,707 levels, up 163 points or 0.4 per cent with PowerGrid, Bharti Airtel, and Tata Steel ending the day as top gainers on the 30-share index. IT counters such as TCS and HCL, on the other hand, ended as top drags.
>> NSE's Nifty50, on the other hand, ended at 11,938 levels, up 41 points or 0.38 per cent.
3:28 PM![]()
UltraTech Cement trades firm on strong operational performance in Q2
UltraTech’s consolidated net profit more than doubled at Rs 1,234 crore in Q2FY21, as against Rs 579 crore in Q2FY20. Net sales however, grew a modest 1 per cent to Rs 10,231 crore from Rs 9,486 crore in the corresponding quarter of the previous fiscal. Ebitda (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortisation) margin improved to 27.7 per cent from 21.8 per cent. READ MORE
3:22 PM
BUZZING STOCK:: Bharti Airtel at day's high, up 3%
3:18 PM
MARKET UPDATE:: Sensex regains momentum
3:10 PM![]()
Cabinet decisions :: Cabinet approves Rs 3,737 cr bonus for Govt staffers
3:03 PM![]()
NEWS ALERT :: Govt working on next set of stimulus measures, says DEA Secy Tarun Bajaj
3:01 PM
![]()
Anand Rathi on Federal Bank
Given the bank’s strong capitalisation, coverage and liquidity than its regional peers, it is better placed to withstand Covid’19-related stresses. However, with expected higher slippages, higher credit costs would keep the bank’s earnings weak in the medium term. We estimate a 0.4% RoA for FY21, and 0.9% for FY22.
Our Oct’21 sum-of-parts target price (0.7x FY22e book value, Rs8 a share for Fedfina and IDBI-Federal Life) works out to Rs60 a share. Risk: Lumpy slippages from the corporate book.
3:00 PM![]()
Jefferies on telecom sector
During 2QFY21, we expect Bharti Airtel's India mobile revenues to grow 3% QoQ on the back of better offline retail sales and better 4G adds, with slight margin expansion. While we expect Bharti Infratel's core revenues to remain muted, we think EBITDA will grow 4% QoQ due to a pick-up in energy margins. Timing of the next tariff hikes will be key for Bharti Airtel. Updates on merger and tenancy outlook will be key for Bharti Infratel.
3:00 PM![]()
Jefferies on OMCs
In 2QFY21, we expect HPCL to report the strongest marketing performance among the OMCs on the back of lower decline in marketing volume and sharply higher marketing margins y/y. IOCL's profitability should show the steepest jump boosted by inventory gains (inventory loss in base qtr). Recovery in refining margins from decade lows along with sustainability of strong marketing margins are key to stock price recovery from cyclical lows.
2:59 PM![]()
Elara Capital on HUL
We cut our earnings by 16% for FY21E, 13% for FY22E and 13% for FY23E, led by gross margin contraction of 157bp in FY21E. We expect sales growth to accelerate from 3-5% to 9% in FY22E, led by recovery in discretionary, OOH-related products (20% of sales) and distribution growth of Horlicks and Boost portfolio of ~20% YoY that will be executed in FY22 once systems are integrated. We downgrade to Reduce from Accumulate with a lower TP of INR 2,161 (down 9.5%) on 50x (unchanged) Q2FY23E EPS of Rs 43.
Topics : Markets Bajaj Finance Bajaj Finserv UltraTech Cement Colgate-Palmolive Hindustan Zinc L&T Infotech MARKET WRAP
Don't miss the most important news and views of the day. Get them on our Telegram channel
First Published: Oct 21 2020 | 7:56 AM IST
