Key equity market barometers ended with minor gains after a see-saw session on Thursday. Trading was volatile on account of weekly index options expiry on the NSE. Investors booked some profits after the US and China signed a preliminary trade agreement, expectations for which had driven global equities to record highs.
The barometer BSE S&P Sensex rose 53.41 points or 0.13% to 41,926.14, as per the provisional closing data. The Nifty 50 index gained 10.75 points or 0.09% to 12,354.05, as per the provisional closing data.
In the broader market, the S&P BSE Mid-Cap index rose 0.77% while the S&P BSE Small-Cap index gained 0.74%.
The market breadth favored the buyers. On the BSE, 1475 shares rose and 1071 shares fell. A total of 167 shares were unchanged. In Nifty 50 index, 20 stocks advanced while 29 stocks declined and 1 stock was unchanged.
Economy:
India's trade deficit narrowed 22.3% to $11.25 billion in December 2019 from $14.49 billion in the same month a year ago. Imports fell 8.8% year-on-year to $38.61 billion, the 7th straight drop. Exports fell 1.8% year-on-year to $27.36 billion, the 5th straight annual fall.
In April-December, the trade deficit narrowed sharply to $118.10 billion from $148.23 billion the same period in the previous fiscal year, the Ministry of Commerce & Industry said in a statement on Wednesday, 15 January 2020.
Q3 Earnings:
Karnataka Bank (up 0.96%), Hathway Cable & Datacom (up 0.92%), Tata Metaliks (down 0.29%), Cyient (down 0.99%), 5Paisa Capital (down 1.34%), Aditya Birla Money (down 2.15%) and Rallis India (down 2.27%) are some of the companies that will announce their Q3 2019 results today.
Den Networks advanced 0.36% to Rs 55.50. The cable TV and broadband service provider reported a net profit of Rs 19.36 crore in Q3 December 2019 as against a net loss of Rs 32.38 crore in Q3 December 2018. The company reported a 3.1% rise in net sales to Rs 318.08 crore on YoY basis.
Sterlite Technologies fell 4.76% to Rs 125. The company reported a 63.85% decline in net profit to Rs 52.63 crore in the quarter ended December 2019 as against Rs 145.60 crore during the previous quarter ended December 2018. Company's net sales declined 9.9% to Rs 1202.66 crore in the quarter ended December 2019 as against Rs 1334.87 crore during the previous quarter ended December 2018.
Reliance Industrial Infrastructure slipped 0.98% to Rs 438.25. On consolidated basis, the company's net profit rose 12.8% to Rs 2.46 crore in Q3 December 2019 as against Q3 December 2018. Net sales fell 5.7% to Rs 19.98 crore on YoY basis.
Tinplate Company of India rose 2.62% to Rs 158.50. On standalone basis, net profit surged 198.9% to Rs 46.45 crore in Q3 December 2019 as against Rs 15.54 in Q3 December 2018. Profit before tax (PBT) stood at Rs 29.45 crore in Q3 December 2019 as against Rs 26.65 crore in Q3 December 2018, rising by 10.5%. Net sales fell 14.1% to Rs 494.69 crore in Q3 December 2019 from Rs 576.19 crore in Q3 December 2018.
Stocks in Spotlight:
Granules India surged 6.05% to Rs 145.55. The company's board will meet on 21 January 2020 to consider a proposal for buyback of equity shares.
Asian Paints fell 0.39% to Rs 1834.55 after the Competition Commission of India (CCI) ordered a probe against the company for unfair business practices. CCI ordered a probe against Asian Paints allegedly hindering the entry of JSW Paints by virtue of its dominance in the market for manufacture and sale of decorative paints. The order came after JSW Paints filed a complaint alleging that Asian Paints threatened various dealers in Karnataka, Telangana and Tamil Nadu from dealing with JSW Paints.
Alphageo (India) hit 10% upper circuit at Rs 201.45. The company has bagged two orders worth Rs 112 crore from ONGC.
Wockhardt jumped 5.11% to Rs 272.30. Indian drug regulator, DCGI, has approved Wockhardt's two new antibiotics, EMROK (IV) and EMROK 0 (Oral), for acute bacterial skin and skin structure Infections including diabetic foot infections and concurrent bacteraemia based on the Phase 3 study involving 500 patients in 40 centres across India. The new drug will target superbug like Methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), which is a leading cause of rising antimicrobial resistance (AMR). The statement was released during market hours today, 16 January 2020.
Camlin Fine Sciences was locked in a lower circuit of 5% at Rs 78.95 after the company said its manufacturing unit in Tarapur received closure notice from Maharashtra Pollution Control Board. The closure will be enforced within 72 hours from receipt of the closure direction on 15 January 2020. The direction was issued on account of certain alleged irregularities by the company in complying with Maharashtra Pollution Control Board (MPCB)'s terms and conditions.
Foreign Markets:
Most European shares declined while most Asian markets ended higher on Thursday. President Donald Trump signed an initial "phase one" trade deal with China on Wednesday that will roll back some of the tariffs on one another's goods and increase Chinese purchases of U.S. products. Investors were still concerned as many of the key structural issues at the crust of the trade conflict remain unresolved as the two sides enter "phase two."
In US, stock indexes closed higher on Wednesday afternoon, though the major benchmarks ended the day well off session highs, after President Donald Trump signed the first phase of a trade pact with China, marking a truce in the dispute over import tariffs which has unsettled markets world-wide and slower economic growth.
All three major benchmarks set record intraday highs, while the Dow and S&P 500 ended the session at record closing levels.
In economic data, US wholesale inflation rose 0.1% in December, according to the Labor Department's producer-price index. Year over year, producer prices rose just 1.3%, roughly half the rate in 2018.
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