 "Markets snap 4-day losing streak as European equities bouce back")
After the carnage on Dalal Street in the previous session markets staged a recovery in late trades on Friday to end flat tracking a rebound in European stocks.
The S&P BSE Sensex ended at 22,986, up by 34 points while the Nifty50 closed at 6,981 levels, up by 5.
The broader markets fell in today’s trade thus underperforming their larger peers. BSE Midcap and Smallcap tripped 0.7% and 1.2% respectively.
According to Dipen Shah, Senior Vice-President & Head of Private Client Group Research, Kotak Securities,"Going ahead, global concerns will remain at the centre-stage and will likely dictate market sentiments. On the domestic front, we need to closely watch the budget where the FM has a difficult task of supporting growth while maintaining fiscal prudence.
He further said, "Quarterly results declared over the past few days have also not met up to the muted expectations and that also impacted sentiment"
Although the local markets snapped a four day losing streak, investors are desperately seeking for some affirmative cues as concerns about global economy’s health and disappointing earnings could haunt the markets.
Acute falls in global equities this week have dashed the hopes of a pre-budget rally, instead hurting the sentiment. Investors now await the Chinese markets to reopen on Monday after a week-long holiday.
Later today, on macro-economic front, the government is set to unveil the Index of Industrial Production (IIP) data for the month of December alongside the consumer inflation data for the month of January.
CRUDE OIL
Oil prices jumped more than 5% today, a day after reaching towards 13-year lows after hopes rekindled as OPEC producers' club was open to working towards cutting output to stabilise volatile crude markets. The US benchmark West Texas Intermediate (WTI) for delivery in March was up $1.47, or 5.61%, at $27.68 and Brent crude for April advanced $1.68, or 5.59%, to $31.74 a barrel.
KEY STOCKS & RESULT IMPACT
Tata Motors was the stellar performer for the day after Deustche Bank upgraded the company’s status to ‘Hold’ from ‘Sell’ despite the automaker reporting a 2% marginal dip in net profit at Rs 3,507.54 crore for the quarter ended December 31, 2015. The stock rallied 8.3%.
Auto major Mahindra & Mahindra today reported 14.13% decline in standalone net profit to Rs 807.99 crore for the third quarter ended December 31, hit by weak sales in the tractor segment. However, net sales during the period under review stood at Rs 10,900.39 crore as against Rs 9,310.41 crore in the year-ago quarter, up 17.1%. The stock ended 3.7%.
Adani Ports reported a Q3 PAT at Rs .645 crore against Rs 512 crore y-o-y, up 26%. However, the stock ended 5.2% lower.
Sun Pharma ended 2% up on better-than-estimated net profit for the quarter ended December 2015. Consolidated net profit for Dec 2015 quarter stood at Rs 1,417 crore against average analysts’ estimate of Rs 1,167 crore. The pharma major had posted a net profit of Rs 395 crore in the same quarter last fiscal.
Shares of Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) on Friday fell 4.5% after the company reported its lowest quarterly profit in more than 15 years.
Shares of Bharat Heavy Electricals (BHEL) slumped 13% after the state-owned company reported a huge loss of Rs 1,102 crore compared to a net profit of Rs 212.60 crore in the quarter ended December 31, 2014.
Shares of Tata Steel dropped 3%. According to media reports, credit ratings agency Moody’s has downgraded the status on Tata Steel on the back of weaker than expected operating performance in India, Europe, and Southeast Asia.
Healthcare major Apollo Hospitals Enterprise today reported 14.96% rise in standalone net profit to Rs 109.23 crore for the December quarter. The stock lost 1%.
Among the companies expecting to announce their December quarter results include HPCL (ended 1% up), BPCL (closed 5% down), Nestle India (ended 4% down), Sun TV Network (1% up)
