The domestic equity indices were trading with decent gains in the afternoon trade. The Nifty hovered tad above 14,650 mark. Barring the banks stocks, buying was seen across the board.
At 13:20 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, rose 111.21 points or 0.23% at 48,914.89. The Nifty 50 index gained 70 points or 0.48% at 14,651.45.
Asian Paints (up 3.66%), HDFC (up 0.73%) and M&M (up 3.48%) boosted the indices.
The broader market outperformed the benchmarks. The S&P BSE Mid-Cap index added 1.43%. The S&P BSE Small-Cap index rose 1.32%.
Buyers outnumbered sellers. On the BSE, 1,746 shares rose and 1,036 shares fell. A total of 146 shares were unchanged.
COVID-19 Update:
Total COVID-19 confirmed cases worldwide stood at 13,91,09,041 with 29,86,608 deaths. India reported 15,69,743 active cases of COVID-19 infection and 1,74,308 deaths while 1,25,47,866 patients have been discharged, according to the data from the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India.
India crossed the grim milestone of over 2 lakh COVID-19 cases being reported in a day. Tough restrictions are in place in major cities like Delhi and Mumbai with weekend curfews and weekday restrictions being imposed by the administration, to check the spread of the virus.
Economy:
India's merchandise exports rose 60.3% at $34.50 billion in March as compared to the same month last year, while country's imports jumped 54% to $48.40 billion, Ministry of Commerce & Industry data showed.
During the 2020-21 financial year, India's overall Merchandise and Services exports dipped 6.6% to $493.20 billion over the same period last year. Overall imports in April-March 2020-21 declined 16.5% to $505.90 billion.
Gainers & Losers:
Hindalco Industries (up 5.71%), Tata Motors (up 3.51%) and Ultratech Cement (up 2.72%) were major gainers in Nifty 50 index.
ICICI Bank (down 1.25%), TCS (down 0.72%), State Bank of India (down 0.70%), Bajaj Finance (down 0.58%) and Reliance Industries (RIL) (down 0.53%) were major losers in Nifty 50 index.
Earnings Impact:
Wipro rallied 9.21% after the IT major's consolidated net profit grew 27.78% to Rs 2,972.30 crore while revenue increased 3.4% to Rs 16,245.40 crore in Q4 FY21 over Q4 FY20. The IT major's consolidated net profit rose 0.14% and its revenue climbed 3.67% in Q4 FY21 over Q3 FY21. Profit before tax (PBT) declined by 2.6% on quarter-on-quarter basis and it rose by 26.44% on year-on-year basis to Rs 3,749.90 crore in Q4 FY21.
Wipro expects revenue from its IT services business to be in the range of $2,195 million to $2,238 million for the quarter ending 30 June 2021. This translates to a sequential growth of 2% to 4%. The company added 52 new customers in the quarter ending 31 March 2021. The IT major's attrition rate (on TTM basis) stood at 12.1% in Q4 FY21 as against 11% in Q3 FY21 and 14.7% in Q4 FY20.
Stocks in Spotlight:
Sadbhav Infrastructure Project rose 0.99%. The company said that it has raised Rs 550 crore through allotment of non-convertible debentures (NCDs) on a private placement basis.
Larsen & Toubro (L&T) gained 0.34%. The construction arm of Larsen & Toubro (L&T) secured "significant" orders from clients for its various businesses. The company's power transmission and distribution business won orders to design and construct two 132/11 kV substations in Dubai, UAE.
The factories business has secured an order from a leading cement manufacturer to construct a 3.5 million tonnes per annum (MTPA) brownfield cement plant in Nimbahera, Rajasthan. The scope includes civil, mechanical and equipment erection works. The railways strategic business unit that resides within the transportation infrastructure business has won an order from the Central Organisation for Railway Electrification (CORE).
G M Breweries added 0.86%. The liquor maker informed that closure of liquor stores across Maharashtra may impact the company's sales during April 2021. With a view to contain the resurging coronavirus, the state government of Maharashtra has ordered the closure of all shops selling non-essential commodities, including liquor outlets, throughout the state till 30 April 2021. Even though the manufacturing plant of G M Breweries is operational, the closure of retail outlets is likely to have some impact on the sales of the company during the month of April 2021, it said.
Global Markets:
Shares in Europe and Asia advanced on Friday as investors reacted to the release of Chinese economic data. China's gross domestic product surged 18.3% in the first three months of the year from a year ago, the country's National Bureau of Statistics said Friday. The surge in growth comes off a contraction in the first quarter of last year, when the economy shrank by 6.8% during the height of the domestic outbreak of COVID-19.
Meanwhile, China's retail sales jumped 34.2% in March. Industrial production rose 14.1% in March.
In the US, the S&P 500 and Dow Jones indexes hit record highs on Thursday, as upbeat earnings reports from companies including Bank of America and BlackRock as well as a strong rebound in March retail sales bolstered hopes of a broader economic rebound.
US retail sales surged 9.8% in March as additional stimulus sent consumer spending soaring, the Commerce Department reported Thursday. A separate report on Thursday showed that first-time filings for unemployment insurance dropped to the lowest level since March 2020. The Labor Department reported 5,76,000 new jobless claims for the week ended April 10.
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