 "Stock market: A roller coaster ride for Indian equities")
Markets continue to suffer losses and have become range-bound at lower levels as participants fear an interest rate hike by the US Federal Reserve following strong US inflation numbers and Federal Reserve comments.
At 14:57 pm, the S&P BSE Sensex is down 119 points to trade at 25,655 and the Nifty50 is down 37 points to quote at 7,853.
Also, investors will watch out for the earnings from PSU banks, FMCG and pharma stocks along with movement of rupee and crude oil prices coupled with progress of monsoons.
Among the key companies, JSW Steel, PNB, Tata Communications, Crompton, Corporation Bank, Dalmia Bharat, PTC India, Torrent Power, Prabhat Dairy, Balkrishna Industries, Indian Hotels, Jk Lakshmi Cement, Majesco, Deccan Gold Mines, Digjam, IFB Industries, Indo Rama Synthetics, Kirloskar Oil Engines, Orbit Corp, Orient Green Power, Ratnamani Metals & Tubes, Ruchira Papers, Saint-Gobain Sekurit, Shaily Engineering, Skipper, Talbros Engineering, Universal Cables, Vinyl Chemicals (India) and Wanbury are due to slate the results today.
LEADERS & LAGGARDS
Shares of Maruti Suzuki and Mahindra & Mahindra (M&M) slipped 2% and 1% each after UK-based vehicle testing agency Global New Car Assessment Programme (NCAP) on Tuesday awarded zero star safety ratings to Maruti’s Celerio and Eeco models, as well as Mahindra’s utility vehicle Scorpio.
Shares of all three listed associate banks of State Bank of India (SBI) have gained by up to 5% on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) as media report suggests that SBI may merge its five associate banks and Bharatiya Mahila Bank (BMB) with itself.
Among the individual stocks, State Bank of Travancore rallied 5% to Rs 420, followed by State Bank of Mysore (4% at Rs 442) and State Bank of Bikaner & Jaipur (up 3% at Rs 526) on the BSE. All these banks ended higher in the range of 4%-13% on Wednesday.
Hindustan Unilever has received Competition Commission of India's nod to sell its rice export business to Delhi-based LT Foods. HUL is down 1% while LT Foods has gained 4%.
HDFC has decided raise Rs 1,500 crore by issuing debentures on a private placement basis. The stock is down 1%.
Sebi has sought clarification from the merchant banker of L&T Infotech, an arm of L&T, regarding the company's proposed initial public offering. L&T is trading is trading with marginal gains.
The Competition Appellate Tribunal (Compat) on Tuesday set aside the Rs 1,773-crore penalty imposed on Coal India by the Competition Commission of India (CCI). Coal India is trading with modest losses.
Tata Steel, the country's largest steel producer, has recalled its plan sent to the Bombay High Court for a merger of Tata Metaliks and Tata Metaliks DI Pipes with itself. The stock is trading with modest losses.
Balaji Telefilms falls 4% after the company said it reported a net loss of Rs.13.19 crore in March quarter as compared to net profit of Rs.9.59 crore a year ago.
Gujarat Gas Ltd rises 2% to Rs.530.05 after the company said it reported 189% jump in net profit in its March quarter earnings to Rs.58.08 crore from Rs.20.13 crore a quarter ago.
Mahindra Holidays & Resorts India rises 1% after the company said it reported 208% jump in net profit in its March quarter earnings to Rs.32.09 crore fromRs.10.42 crore a year ago.
OCL India has rallied 16% after the company reported a more than doubled net profit at Rs 134 crore for the fourth quarter ended March 31, 2016 (Q4FY16), due to higher realization and other income.
United Bank of India falls 5% after the bank reported a net loss of Rs.413.04 crore in March quarter as compared to net profit of Rs.104.52 crore a year ago.
Cupid hit upper circuit on Wednesday after the company informed bourses that it has executed agreement worth Rs 13.58 crore with PSI India. As per the terms of agreement, Cupid is required to supply 83.5 million units of male condoms to distribute in India. The share price of the company surged 2 per cent to Rs 317.70. Sensex was down 201 points at 25,572.
