Domestic shares mirrored weakness in other Asian markets. Investor sentiment was hit after US President Donald Trump on Wednesday accused Democrats of being unwilling to craft an acceptable compromise on stimulus, following reports of progress earlier in the day.
In the broader market, the S&P BSE Mid-Cap index gained 0.15% while the S&P BSE Small-Cap index rose 0.23%.
The market breadth was positive. On the BSE, 1240 shares rose and 1215 shares fell. A total of 157 shares were unchanged.
Foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) bought shares worth Rs 2,108.48 crore, while domestic institutional investors (DIIs), were net sellers to the tune of Rs 1,633.53 crore in the Indian equity market on 21 October, provisional data showed
COVID-19 Update:
The government has said that the country's COVID-19 recovery rate has reached 88.81%. In the last 24 hours, more than 61 thousand COVID patients have recovered. Currently, India's case fatality rate is at 1.51%, which is one of the lowest globally.
India reported 715,812 active cases of COVID-19 infection and 116,616 deaths while 6,874,518 patients have been discharged, according to the data from the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India. Total COVID-19 confirmed cases worldwide stood at 41,171,093 with 1,130,597 deaths, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.
Gainers & Losers:
Bharti Airtel (up 2.1%), Britannia Inds (up 2.04%), Tata Steel (up 1.77%), Bajaj Finance (up 1.4%) and Adani Ports (up 1.32%) were top gainers in Nifty 50 index.
Hero MotoCorp (down 2.84%), IndusInd Bank (down 2.11%), Tech Mahindra (down 1.64%), SBI Life (down 1.55%) and Cipla (down 1.36%) were top losers in Nifty 50 index.
Earnings Today:
Asian Paints (down 1.21%), Biocon (down 2.24%), Ambuja Cements (down 0.36%), Bharti Infratel (up 0.39%), Coforge (down 1.69%), Crompton Greaves Consumer (down 0.42%), HDFC AMC (up 0.13%), Hexaware Technologies (up 0.14%), Alembic Pharma (down 0.11%), Mphasis (up 2.96%), SBI Cards (down 0.12%) and L&T Finance Holdings (up 0.32%) are some of the companies that will announce their quarter earnings today.
Earnings Impact:
Bajaj Finserv fell 0.04% The company posted an 18.06% fall in consolidated net profit to Rs 986.29 crore in Q2 September 2020 from Rs 1,203.72 crore in Q2 September 2019. Total income rose 5.82% to Rs 15,051.59 crore in Q2 September 2020 from Rs 14,224.22 crore in Q2 September 2019.
JK Tyre & Industries rose 7%. The company's consolidated net profit dropped 35.4% to Rs 108.91 crore on 5.6% increase in net sales to Rs 2,274.84 crore in Q2 September 2020 over Q2 September 2019. EBITDA for the quarter stood at Rs 368 crore. Meanwhile, the board has appointed Anshuman Singhania as managing director (MD) of JK Tyre & Industries effective 21 October 2020. Singhania joined the company as an executive and over the years has been deeply involved in various activities of the company in different positions, current being Dy. managing director.
KPIT Technologies dropped 5.42%. The IT firm reported a 12.09% rise in consolidated net profit to Rs 27.15 crore on a 1.47% decrease in revenue from operations to Rs 485.45 crore in Q2 September 2020 (Q2FY21) over Q1 June 2020 (Q1FY21). EBITDA margin improved to 14.3% in Q2FY21 as compared with 13.4% in Q1FY21. Net cash jumped 33.99% to Rs 527.80 crore in Q2FY21 over Rs 393.90 crore in Q1FY21.
Syngene International tumbled 4.29% after the company reported 34.3% fall in consolidated net profit to Rs 84.10 crore on 11.8% rise in net sales to Rs 519.60 crore in Q2 FY21 over Q2 FY20. EBITDA in the second quarter increased by 6% to Rs 169 crore from Rs 160 crore reported in the same period last year. EBITDA was at 32% in Q2 FY21 as compared to 33% in Q2 FY20. Profit before tax in Q2 September 2020 stood at Rs 94.20 crore, down by 44.6% from Rs 170.10 crore in Q2 September 2019. Current tax expense during the quarter tumbled 76% year-on-year (YoY) to Rs 10.10 crore.
Global Markets:
European markets opened in the red while Asian markets were trading lower on Thursday amid continuing uncertainty over U.S. coronavirus stimulus.
The IMF on Wednesday downgraded its forecast for Asia-Pacific to a negative 2.2% in 2020. Jonathan D. Ostry, IMF's acting director of the Asia and Pacific Department, said: Our latest Regional Economic Outlook shows that a recovery started in the third quarter, but growth engines are not all firing with the same power across countries, leading to a multispeed recovery.
The US stock market finished lacklustre session lower on Wednesday, 21 October 2020, as investors weighed the latest developments in reaching a stimulus agreement. Rising coronavirus cases on both sides of the Atlantic and a busy earnings day were also grabbing investor attention.
Traders kept an eye on the latest developments in Washington, as lawmakers try to reach an agreement on a new stimulus bill. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin failed to reach a deal before a Tuesday deadline and now aim to finalize a proposal before the weekend.
Wall Street's fear gauge touched a one-month high earlier on Wednesday as the U.S. election campaign enters its final stretch. President Donald Trump and Democratic challenger Joe Biden will face off in their second and final debate on Thursday night where Trump will attempt to change the trajectory of a race that Biden is leading, according to national polls.
Most of the major sectors ended the day showing only modest moves, contributing to the lackluster close by the broader markets.
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