Indices trade sideways; Europe opens higher

Indices traded sideways with decent gains in afternoon trade. The Nifty traded above its crucial 11,300 mark. Buying was broad based with pharma stocks at the fore.

At 13:21 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, added 321.1 points or 0.84% at 38,361.77. The Nifty 50 index gained 104.65 points or 0.93% at 11,318.50.

The broader market continued to outperform the benchmarks. The S&P BSE Mid-Cap index gained 1.49% while the S&P BSE Small-Cap index rose 1.51%.

Buyers outnumbered sellers. On the BSE, 1729 shares rose and 875 shares fell. A total of 168 shares were unchanged.

Foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) bought shares worth Rs 397.32 crore, while domestic institutional investors (DIIs), were net sellers to the tune of Rs 438.62 crore in the Indian equity market on 7 August, provisional data showed

 

COVID-19 Update:

Total COVID-19 confirmed cases worldwide stood at 19,862,599 with 731,349 deaths. India reported 6,34,945 active cases of COVID-19 infection and 44,386 deaths while 15,35,743 patients have been discharged, according to the data from the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India.

Economy:

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday launched a Rs 1 lakh crore Agriculture Infrastructure Fund to support community farming assets across the country and said this would enhance India's ability to compete globally in the agriculture sector. The farm infrastructure will enable farmers get higher value for their produce as they will be able to store and sell at better prices as per market conditions, reduce wastage and increase processing and value addition. PM also released Rs 17,000 crore to nearly 8.5 crore farmers under the sixth installment of the PM-Kisan scheme.

AGR Case Hearing:

The Supreme Court (SC) will be hearing the adjusted gross revenue (AGR) case later today, 10 August. The apex court on 20 July reserved its order on permitting telecom companies to make staggered payments over 15 years. Both Vodafone Idea (up 2.72%) and Bharti Airtel (up 0.43%) requested for a 15-year window to clear the dues, while Tata Teleservices (up 1.45%) has sought 7-10 years.

Earnings Today:

Power Grid Corporation of India (up 1.51%), Shree Cement (up 1.81%) and Titan Company (up 0.79%) will announce their quarterly earnings today.

Among the other stocks, Akzo Nobel (up 0.62%), AstraZeneca Pharma (up 2.74%), Bank of Baroda (down 0.21%), Camlin Fine Sciences (up 2.56%), HEG (up 0.98%), IPCA Labs (up 6.4%), KEC International (up 0.63%), Meghmani Organics (up 1.85%), Ujjivan Financial Services (down 0.8%) and V-Mart Retail (up 0.52%) will also announce their quarterly earnings today.

Earnings Impact:

Cipla jumped 10.12% after the company's net profit rose 21% to Rs 578 crore on 9% increase in total revenue from operations to Rs 4,346 crore in Q1 FY21 over Q1 FY20. EBITDA in Q1 June 2020 was at Rs 1,049 crore, up by 16% from Rs 905 crore recorded in Q1 June 2019. EBITDA margin stood at 24.1% as 30 June 2020 as against 22.7% as 30 June 2019. Cipla said that it has achieved zero net debt position led by strong collections and improved EBITDA. India business grew by 16% YoY with strong growth across the three businesses. Overall South African business continued the strong growth momentum to deliver growth of 17% on a YoY basis in local currency; private business continues to outpace the market. The US business reported $135 million led by Albuterol ramp-up; 14% QoQ growth. The company's R&D investments amounted to Rs 200 crore, representing 4.6% of the total revenue from operations.

Divi's Laboratories surged 12% after the company's consolidated net profit jumped 81% to Rs 492 crore on a 47% increase in total income to Rs 1748 crore in Q1 FY21 over Q1 FY20. Profit before tax in Q1 June 2020 stood at Rs 661 crore, up by 77% from Rs 373 crore in Q1 June 2019. Forex gain for the current quarter amounted to Rs 5 crore as against a loss of Rs 6 crore during the corresponding quarter of the last year. Divi's Lab said that the company has been able to have near normal operations during the quarter and there was minimal impact due to COVID-19 pandemic. It added that while a significant part of the ongoing capex programs has been completed during the last financial year, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, there has been delay in implementing the balance part of the capex programs taken up by the company due to non-availability of workmen of some contractors implementing the projects. The company has seen improvement subsequently in terms of some of the technicians of contractors reporting for duty and materials arriving at site. It expects to complete the capex programs by second half of the financial year.

Container Corporation of India (CONCOR) slumped 14% after the company's consolidated net profit dropped 78% to Rs 49.29 crore in Q1 June 2020 over Q1 June 2019. Net sales for Q1 June 2020 stood at Rs 1194.20 crore, fall 28% compared with Rs 1654.76 crore in Q1 June 2019. The company registered a 78% fall in profit before tax to Rs 71.79 crore in Q1 June 2020 as against Rs 325.34 crore in Q1 June 2019. Total tax expenses declined 77% year on year to Rs 22.5 crore in Q1 June 2020.

Affle India hit an upper circuit of 10% at Rs 2025.95 after the company's consolidated net profit jumped 42.3% to Rs 18.77 crore on 20% increase in net sales to Rs 89.77 crore in Q1 June 2020 over Q1 June 2019. Profit before tax came at Rs 20.11 crore in Q1 June 2020, rising 23% from Rs 16.35 crore in the same period last year. EBITDA grew by 20.3% year on year to Rs 22.5 crore in quarter ending June 2020. The company EBITDA margin remained unchanged at 25% in Q1 June 2020. The firm said that the growth has been broad-based coming from both cost per converted user (CPCU) business and non-CPCU business. The CPCU business continued its positive momentum delivering a total of 1.7 crore of converted users in Q1 FY21.

Amara Raja Batteries gained 3.43%. The company's consolidated net profit tanked 55.6% to Rs 62.49 crore on 36.6% drop in net sales to Rs 1,151.22 crore in Q1 June 2020 over Q1 June 2019. Consolidated profit before tax (PBT) slumped 60.8% to Rs 83.49 crore in Q1 June 2020 as against Rs 213.03 crore in Q1 June 2019. The company's performance during the quarter came against the backdrop of severe disruptions in manufacturing, supply chain, and sales and distribution operations due to COVID-19 lockdown. Despite the challenges, Amara Raja Batteries managed the demand and supply by implementing completely new standard operating procedures across operational branches and units.

Birla Corporation fell 6.93% after consolidated net profit tanked 53.2% to Rs 65.77 crore on 35.1% decline in net sales to Rs 1,221.97 crore in Q1 June 2020 over Q1 June 2019. Revenue for the quarter declined as sales by volume dropped 33.9% to 2.4 million tons (mt). EBITDA slumped 37% to Rs 252 crore in June 2020 as against Rs 402 crore in June 2019 amid severe disruptions in key markets and manufacturing centres due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Global Markets:

European markets opened higher while most Asian stocks were trading higher on Monday. Investors shrugged off concerns over rising tensions between the United States and China. Japanese and Singaporean markets are closed for public holidays.

Investors continued to monitor the US fiscal stimulus after talks between the White House and Democrat lawmakers broke down.

In US, the S&P 500 retreated from a near six-month high in choppy trading on Friday with data showing a sharp slowdown in US employment growth, while US-China tensions escalated with President Donald Trump's move to ban WeChat and TikTok.

US President Donald Trump signed two executive orders banning WeChat, owned by Chinese tech giant Tencent, and TikTok in 45 days' time while announcing sanctions on 11 Chinese and Hong Kong officials.

Trump signed a series of executive orders to extend unemployment benefits after talks with Congress broke down. The orders would provide an extra $400 per week in unemployment payments, less than the $600 per week passed earlier in the crisis.

Powered by Capital Market - Live News