The main stock indices firmed up and hit fresh intraday high in morning trade amid high volatiity. At 10:26 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was up 229.79 points or 0.68% at 34,186.48. The Nifty 50 index added 63.50 points or 0.63% at 10,110.15.
In the broader market, the S&P BSE Mid-Cap index gained 0.38% while the S&P BSE Small-Cap index rose 0.42%. Both these indices trailed the Sensex.
The market breadth, indicating the overall health of the market, was positive. On the BSE, 1099 shares rose and 888 shares fell. A total of 104 shares were unchanged. In the Nifty 50 index, 30 shares advanced while 20 stocks declined.
The U.S. Federal Reserve wraps its two-day meeting later on Wednesday. No major policy announcements are expected from the Fed, but the U.S. central bank will issue its first economic projections since December. The Fed's attempts to gauge the economic cost of widespread pandemic-related lockdowns as well as any hints of future stimulus will be watched by investors.
Traders remained cautious amid worries about the rising coronavirus cases in the country. India reported 1,33,632 active cases of COVID-19 infection and 7,745 deaths, according to the data from the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India.
Meanwhile, total coronavirus cases worldwide stood at 72,38,611 far with 4,11,277 deaths, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.
Buzzing Index:
The Nifty Metal index lost 0.62% to 2,009.90 as it extended losses for third day. The index has lost 1.94% in three sessions while the benchmark Nifty 50 index shed 0.34% during the same period.
Tata Steel (down 2.26%), NMDC (down 2.02%), Steel Authority of India (down 1.4%), Hindustan Copper (down 0.65%), JSW Steel (down 0.58%), Jindal Steel & Power (down 0.55%), National Aluminium Company (down 0.46%) and Hindustan Zinc (down 0.09%) declined.
Meanwhile, Hindalco Industries (up 1.16%) and Vedanta (up 0.91%) advanced.
Q4 Results Today:
Shriram Transport Finance Co.(down 0.31%), Indian Hotels Co. (up 1.57%), Mahanagar Gas (down 0.85%), Century Textiles & Industries (up 0.43%), Dhanuka Agritech (down 0.04%) are some of the companies that will announce their quarterly earnings today.
Earnings impact:
Hero MotoCorp fell 1.69% to Rs 2345.40 after consolidated net profit slumped 21.6% to Rs 604.63 crore on 20.4% fall in net sales to Rs 6,333.51 crore in Q4 FY20 over Q4 FY19.
Profit before tax stood at Rs 637.53 crore in Q4 March 2020, down by 44% from Rs 1,137.49 crore in Q4 March 2019. The company sold 13.23 lakh two-wheeler units during the fourth quarter, which is lower by 25.7% as compared to 17.81 lakh two-wheeler sold in the same period last year.
EBITDA declined 38.3% to Rs 660 crore in Q4 FY20 from Rs 1069 crore in Q4 FY19. EBITDA margin stood at 10.6% as on 31 March 2020 as against 13.6% as on 31 March 2019.
Mangalore Refinery & Petrochemicals (MRPL) fell 1.20% to Rs 32.90 after it reported a standalone net loss of Rs 1,596.44 crore in the fourth quarter. The company had reported a net profit of Rs 318.87 crore in the same period last year.
The total throughput of the refinery stood at 3.83 million tonnes in the Q4 March 2020 as against 4.29 million tonnes in the corresponding period of the previous financial year.
MRPL said that the outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic globally and resultant lockdown in many countries, including India from 25 March 2020 has impacted the business of the company in the fourth quarter. In terms of the future outlook, it said that there may be lower revenues and refinery throughput in the near future.
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