Key domestic barometers reversed early loses and hit the day's high in morning trade. At 10:26 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was up 315.45 points or 1% at 31,768.96. The Nifty 50 index was up 87.40 points or 0.95% at 9,293.
Bargain hunting emerged after the benchmark Nifty declined 6.64% in the past two consecutive sessions.
In the broader market today, the S&P BSE Mid-Cap index added 0.88% while the S&P BSE Small-Cap index rose 0.79%. Both these indices trailed the Sensex.
The market breadth was almost even. On the BSE, 874 shares rose and 872 shares fell. A total of 103 shares were unchanged. In Nifty 50 index, 40 stocks advanced while 10 stocks declined.
Foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) sold shares worth Rs 1,059.39 crore, while domestic institutional investors (DIIs) were also net sellers to the tune of Rs 995.30 crore in the Indian equity market on Tuesday, provisional data showed.
Economy:
The IHS Markit India Services Business Activity Index posted 5.4 in April, an extreme decline from 49.3 in March, and indicative of the most severe contraction in services output since records began in December 2005. Activity fell severely as a result of the nationwide lockdown, leading businesses to shut down their operations as demand collapsed.
Commenting on the latest survey results, Joe Hayes, Economist at IHS Markit, said: "The Indian services economy posted its worst ever month-on-month drop in business activity during April. The extreme slide in the headline index, which fell by over 40 points, shows us that the strict lockdown measures have led to the sector essentially grinding to a complete standstill. "The composite output index, which is a weighted average of manufacturing and services output, also signalled what is by far the worst contraction in economic activity since data collection began in late-2005. Historical comparisons with GDP data suggest that India's economy contracted at an annual rate of 15% in April. It is clear that the economic damage of the COVID-19 pandemic has so far been deep and far-reaching in India, but the hope is that the economy has endured the worst and things will begin to improve as lockdown measures are gradually lifted."
Q4 Results Today:
Adani Enterprises (up 1.39%), JM Financial (up 3.94%), Kansai Nerolac Paints (down 0.80%) and Yes Bank (down 1.32%) are some of the companies that will announce their Q4 March 2020 result today.
Earnings Impact:
Tata Coffee rose 1.61% to Rs 78.80 after the company's consolidated net profit jumped 34.7% to Rs 24.05 crore in Q4 March 2020 from Rs 17.89 crore in Q4 March 2020. Net sales rose 12.2% to Rs 516.74 crore in Q4 FY20 from Rs 460.52 crore in Q4 FY19.
SBI Life Insurance Company added 1.63% to Rs 727.30. The company's net profit rose 15.94% to Rs 530.67 crore in Q4 March 2020 as against Rs 457.68 crore in Q4 March 2019. Net premium earned increased by 4.67% to Rs 11,862.98 crore in Q4 March 2020 from Rs 11,333.02 crore in Q4 March 2019. Profit before Tax (PBT) jumped 8.22% to Rs 521.59 crore in Q4 March 2020 over Q4 March 2019.
Net profit rose 7.18% to Rs 1,422.17 crore in the year ended March 2020 (FY20) as against Rs 1,326.80 crore in the year ended March 2019 (FY19). Net premium earned jumped 22.60% to Rs 40,324.01 crore in FY20 from Rs 32,890.35 crore in FY19. Profit before Tax (PBT) increased by 2.96% to Rs 1,413.54 crore in FY20 over FY19. The annualized premium equivalent (APE), a measure of new business written by a life insurance company, rose 11% to Rs 10740 crore for FY2020 as compared to Rs 9700 crore for FY2019. While the individual protection APE recorded a 36% YoY growth to Rs 510 crore, group protection APE jumped 52% YoY to Rs 450 crore in FY2020.
Stocks in Spotlight:
Shares of public sector oil marketing companies declined after the government on Tuesday hiked the excise duty on petrol and diesel by Rs 10 and Rs 13 respectively. Hindustan Petroleum (down 6.27%), Indian Oil Corporation (down 3.62%) and Bharat Petroleum Corporation (down 3.03%) declined the most.
The Government notified that the changes will come into effect from 6 May 2020. Inspite of steep hike in excise duty the retail prices of petrol and diesel will remain unchanged as PSU OMCs will absorb the excise duty charges. Oil companies in India have not cut petrol and diesel prices since 16 March 2020, despite global crude oil prices falling to lowest in two decades.
V.S.T.Tillers Tractors jumped 6.53% to Rs 922. The company's total sales rose 51.04% to 1,089 units in April 2020 from 721 units in April 2019. Power tillers sales jumped to 761 units in April 2020, up 163.32% from 289 units sold in April 2019. Tractor sales, however, contracted by 24.07% to 328 units in April 2020 from 432 units in April 2019.
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