Nifty hovers at 18,300; breadth remains strong

Indices traded sideways with small gains in afternoon trade. The Nifty hovered at 18,300 mark. Auto, realty and oil & gas stocks were in demand while healthcare and banks shares were under pressure.

At 13:24 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, rose 67.7 points or 0.11% at 61,290.88. The Nifty 50 index gained 42.05 points or 0.23% at 18,297.80.

In the broader market, the S&P BSE Mid-Cap index rose 0.29% while the S&P BSE Small-Cap index added 0.75%.

The market breadth was strong. On the BSE, 2,310 shares rose and 1,222 shares fell. A total of 131 shares were unchanged.

 

COVID-19 Update:

In last 24 hours, India reported 2,58,089 fresh COVID cases, as per the health ministry's data. The country reported 385 new deaths taking the death toll to 4,86,451. The country recorded 1,51,740 recoveries, taking the total number of recoveries to 3,52,37,461. The active cases comprise 4.43% of the total infections, while the national COVID-19 recovery rate has decreased to 94.27%, the ministry said.

Economy:

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman held a Pre-Budget stakeholder's consultations with BJP's State party representatives, on 16 January 2022.

BJP National Spokesperson Gopal Krishna Agarwal said, representatives from 25 states participated in this discussion. The representations were from industries, professionals, business communities, academicians, economists, tribal communities, and backward classes and women.

Nifty Results Today:

UltraTech Cement (down 0.41%) will announce its financial results for the quarter ended December 2021.

Gainers & Losers:

Hero MotoCorp (up 5.5%), Tata Motors (up 3%), ONGC (up 2.89%) and Bajaj Auto (up 2.38%) were top gainers in Nifty 50 index.

Axis Bank (down 1.47%), Hindalco Industries (down 1.28%), HDFC Bank (down 1.24%), Britannia Industries (down 1.17%) and Cipla (down 0.82%) were top losers in Nifty 50 index.

Stocks in Spotlight:

Maruti Suzuki India rose 2.42% after the car major announced price change across models owing to increase in various input costs. The weighted average price increase in ex-showroom prices (Delhi) across models is 1.7%. The new prices are effective from Saturday, 15 January 2022.

HCL Technologies slumped 5.35%. The IT major reported 5.4% rise in consolidated net profit to Rs 3,442 crore and revenue increased by 8.1% to Rs 22,331 crore in Q3 FY22 over Q2 FY22. As compared with Q3 last year, net profit fell 13.6% but topline rose 15.7% in the last quarter. In dollar terms, the company's net profit was $458 million (up 3.8% QoQ) and its revenue was $2,977 million (up 6.7% QoQ) in Q3 FY22. Total Contract Value (TCV) of new deal wins in Q3 FY22 was at $2,135 million, up 64% YoY. In constant currency terms (cc), the company's revenue growth was 7.6% QoQ, highest in the last 12 years. Attrition (on the last 12-month basis) was at 19.8% in Q3 FY22 as against 10.2% in Q3 FY21 and 15.7% in Q2 FY22.

HDFC Bank fell 1.17%. The private sector bank's net profit rose 18.08% to Rs 10,342.20 crore on 8.33% increase in total income to Rs 40,651.60 crore in Q3 December 2021 over Q3 December 2020. Net interest income (NII) (interest earned less interest expended) for the quarter ended 31 December 2021 grew by 13% to Rs 18,443.50 crore from Rs 16,317.60 crore for the quarter ended 31 December 2020. Core net interest margin was at 4.1%.

The ratio of gross NPAs to gross advances stood at 1.26% as on 31 December 2021 as against 1.35% as on 30 September 2021 and 0.81% as on 31 December 2020. The ratio of net NPAs to net advances stood at 0.37% as on 31 December 2021 as against 0.40% as on 30 September 2021 and 0.09% as on 31 December 2020. The bank's provisions and contingencies (excluding tax provisions) fell 12.30% to Rs 2,993.98 crore in Q3 December 2021 over Rs 3,414.13 crore in Q3 December 2020.

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