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Sensex, Nifty further pare losses; PSU banks in demand

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The equity barometers further pared losses in mid-morning trade. PSU banks extended gains for fourth day. At 11:25 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was down 116.69 points or 0.30% at 38,290.32. The Nifty 50 index lost 37.30 points or 0.33% at 11,285.20.

In the broader market, the S&P BSE Mid-Cap index slipped 0.42% while the S&P BSE Small-Cap index was trading flat.

The market breadth was positive. On the BSE, 1200 shares rose and 1167 shares fell. A total of 108 shares were unchanged.

Buzzing Index :

The Nifty PSU Bank index rose 3.20% to 1,484.90, extending gains for fourth day. The index has added 5.1% in four sessions.

 

Bank Of Baroda (up 4.46%), SBI (up 4%), Punjab National Bank (up 3.35%), Bank of India (up 2.80%) and Indian Overseas Bank (up 2.42%) were the top index gainers.

Stocks in Spotlight:

Metropolis Healthcare was up 1.34% to Rs 1621. The medical diagnostics company's consolidated net profit slumped 89.3% to Rs 2.88 crore on 29.6% drop in net sales to Rs 143.13 crore in Q1 June 2020 over Q1 June 2019.

Metropolis said it conducted 2.65 million tests from 1.37 million patient visits. Cost rationalization program initiated in April 2020 to reduce fixed costs by 9%, semi-variable cost by 12% and variable cost by 21%. Goal for second quarter is to scale up Non-COVID 19 tests and subsequent revenues.

In June 2020, the company achieved 100% revenues (including COVID-19 testing) compared to June 2019. With improving Non-COVID 19 revenues and cost rationalization measures we have achieved near normal EBITDA margin of 25.2% for June 2020.

Separately, Metropolis Healthcare has received the approval to acquire balance equity stake of 35% in Metropolis Histoxpert Digital Services for a total cash consideration of Rs 32,648. The company also approved the acquisition of balance equity stake of 49% in Raj Metropolis Healthcare for a total cash consideration of Rs 82.33 lakh. Both the acquisitions are expected to complete within 3 months, the company said in the BSE filing.

JMC Projects jumped 8.57% to Rs 52.60 after the EPC company bagged new orders worth Rs 1,363 crore. The company said it won building projects in South India totaling Rs 1,169 crore and a water supply project in Bihar of Rs 194 crore.

Eicher Motors rose 1.72% to Rs 21,805.05 after the company said its shareholders approved the proposed 10-for-1 stock split. The record date for the purpose of sub-division of equity shares will be intimated in due course, the auto maker said.

Global Markets:

Most Asian markets declined on Wednesday following the overnight retreat on Wall Street the previous day.

Investor sentiment was soured by lack of progress on talks over more economic aid for the US economy, coupled with worries over the coronavirus pandemic and tensions between the US and China, prompting investors to sell and lock in profits from recent gains.

US stocks stumbled in late trade Tuesday, giving up early gains to end lower as a selloff in tech shares continued. Investors continued to assess the outlook for the US economy amid a decline in the number of new coronavirus cases recorded and a lack of progress toward additional coronavirus aid from Washington.

Enthusiasm around Russia's COVID-19 vaccine efforts faded throughout the day amid international skepticism about whether the vaccine was effective and safe, with doubts cast on the approach on testing.

The most important factor that surprised investors and caught some off guard was a sharp rise in Treasury yields. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note reportedly rose 7 basis points to 0.64% as investors shunned safe-haven assets.

That triggered a wave of gold selling and consequently, gold retreated on Tuesday from record territory and posted its steepest daily dollar slide in more than seven years, with December futures tumbling 4.6% to settle at $1,946.30 an ounce.

On MCX in India, October gold futures were down 2.41% to Rs 50,680 per 10 gram.

The jump in yields was driven by plans of the US Treasury to sell a record amount of sovereign debt this week.

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First Published: Aug 12 2020 | 11:26 AM IST

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