The benchmark indices were trading in a narrow range with modest losses in afternoon trade. The Nifty continued to hover above 15,650 level. Asian stocks were trading lower on Friday as COVID-19 worries resurfaced in the region.
At 13:20 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, skid 200.47 points or 0.38% at 52,368.47. The Nifty 50 index slipped 48.10 points or 0.31% at 15,679.80.
Reliance Industries (RIL) (down 0.77%), HDFC Bank (down 0.78%) and Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) (down 1.27%) were major drags.
The broader market trade higher. The S&P BSE Mid-Cap index rose 0.43%. The S&P BSE Small-Cap index gained 0.23%.
Buyers outpaced sellers. On the BSE, 1,773 shares rose and 1,335 shares fell. A total of 146 shares were unchanged.
Foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) sold shares worth Rs 554.92 crore, while domestic institutional investors (DIIs), were also net sellers to the tune of Rs 949.18 crore in the Indian equity market on 8 July 2021, provisional data showed.
COVID-19 Update:
Total COVID-19 confirmed cases worldwide stood at 18,55,64,006 with 40,10,652 deaths. India reported 4,58,727 active cases of COVID-19 infection and 4,05,939 deaths while 2,98,88,284 patients have been discharged, according to the data from the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India.
The Union Cabinet has approved a new scheme India COVID-19 Emergency Response and Health System Preparedness Package: Phase-II amounting to Rs 23,123 crore for financial year 2021-22. The scheme aims at accelerating health system preparedness for immediate responsiveness for early prevention, detection and management, with the focus on health infrastructure development.
India reported 43,393 new cases in last 24 hours on Friday, 9 July 2021. 911 deaths were also reported due to the coronavirus in last 24 hours.
Economy:
The Union Cabinet has approved the proposal of allowing the Agriculture Produce Market Committees (APMCs) to use the one lakh rupees Agriculture Infrastructure Fund which has been announced as part of the Atmanirbhar Bharat Package. Addressing media in New Delhi, Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar said now APMCs will be eligible to get the benefits of this fund to improve their infrastructure. He said APMCs will be further strengthened and mandis will not be abolished.
Gainers & Losers:
Bajaj Finserv (up 2.98%), Tata Steel (up 2.60%), Adani Ports & Special Economic Zone (APSEZ) (up 2.44%), Divi's Laboratories (up 1.43%) and Bharti Airtel (up 1.23%) were major gainers in Nifty 50 index.
Bajaj Auto (down 1.85%), Axis Bank (down 1.20%), Shree Cements (down 1.09%) and Wipro (down 1.01%) were major losers in Nifty 50 index.
Earning Impact:
TCS slipped 1.27% after the IT company's net profit fell 2.57% to Rs 9,008 crore on 3.90% increase in net sales to Rs 45,411 crore in Q1 June 2021 over Q4 March 2021. On a year-on-year (Y-o-Y) basis, the IT major's net profit rose 28.54% and net sales rose 18.50% in Q1 June 2021 over Q1 June 2020. Constant currency revenue grew 16.4% Y-o-Y. Operating margin expanded 1.9% Y-o-Y to 25.5% in Q1 June 2021. The company's order book grew 17.3% to $8.1 billion in Q1 June 2021 over Q1 June 2020.
Profit before tax slipped 2.90% to Rs 12,163 crore in Q1 FY22 as against Rs 12,527 crore in Q4 FY21. Net cash from operations was at Rs 10,296 crore i.e. 114.3% of net income during the quarter. The company said all its business verticals showed good sequential as well as Y-o-Y growth. Growth during the quarter was led by cloud strategy and transformation, next-generation enterprise transformation and supply chain services, with demand led by manufacturing & utilities and life sciences among the industry verticals.
Growth continued to be led by life sciences and healthcare (+7.3% Q-o-Q, +25.4% Y-o-Y). Retail and consumer packaged goods (CPG) also bounced back to double digit growth, growing 4.4% Q-o-Q and 21.7% Y-o-Y. BFSI (+3.1% Q-o-Q, +19.3% Y-o-Y), manufacturing (+4.8% Q-o-Q, +18.3% Y-o-Y), technology & services (+5% Q-o-Q, +12.3% Y-o-Y) and communications & media (+1.7% Q-o-Q, +6.9% Y-o-Y) also saw significantly improved performance.
TCS' employee headcount crossed the 500,000 mark in Q1, with 509,058 employees as of 30 June 2021, a net addition of 20,409 its highest quarterly net addition ever. Last twelve months IT services attrition rate stood at 8.6%, which is lowest in the industry.
Stocks in Spotlight:
Ashoka Buildcon spurted 3.25% after the company secured a Letter of Award (LoA) from IRCON International for a project worth Rs 482.34 crore in Dharam-Katra section, Jammu and Kashmir (J&K). The accepted contract value of the project is Rs 482.34 crore.
Tata Power rose 0.45%. The company has won a contract worth Rs 400 crore from the Kerala State Electricity Board (KSEBL) on 2 July 2021 to develop 64 MW solar rooftop project for domestic consumers across all districts of Kerala. As a part of this agreement, the company will implement projects through KSEBL of 80 MW for individual households with solar capacity ranging from 3kW -10kW) and for 20 MW of residential/housing society with projects (solar capacity ranging from 11kW -100kW).
Global Markets:
European shares were trading higher while most Asian stocks declined on Friday, 9 July 2021.
China's consumer price index for June rose 1.1% as compared with a year ago, data from the country's National Bureau of Statistics showed on Friday. The producer price index for June 2021 rose 8.8% as compared with a year ago. The June 2021 PPI reading was a slight decrease in pace from the 9% increase in May 2021.
Olympics organizers will ban spectators from the upcoming summer games in Tokyo, after a state of emergency for the city was declared by Japan on Thursday as the country sees rising COVID-19 cases. The state of emergency will last till August 22.
South Korea announced Friday that the greater Seoul area will be placed under the toughest social distancing rules of Level 4, as per reports. The city of Sydney earlier this week announced that COVID-19 restrictions would be extended by another week.
Wall Street lost ground on Thursday, with the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq pulling back from record closing highs in a broad sell-off driven by uncertainties surrounding the pace of the U.S. economic recovery.
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