Market Wrap Podcast, Nov 2: Here's all that happened in the markets today

Succumbing to lacklustre global sentiments, domestic indices failed to gain ground oscillating between gains and losses in today's rough session. While metal, oil and commodity stocks dragged, realty, PSU bank and consumer durables made frail attempts at lifting the indices.

Overall, the BSE Sensex index ended 109 points lower at 60,029. The NSE Nifty, on the other hand, settled with a loss of 41 points at 17,889. Both the indices had hit a high of 60,421 and 18,012 in the intra-day deals.

Tata Steel, down 3.5 per cent, was the top loser among the Sensex 30 stocks, followed by Tech Mahindra, HCL Technologies, IndusInd Bank, Reliance, Dr.Reddy's, PowerGrid Corporation, Nestle India and Asian Paints. On the positive front, Maruti Suzuki (up 2 per cent), NTPC, Titan, SBI and Larsen & Toubro were the top gainers.

The broader markets outperformed the key benchmark indices for a second day with a huge margin. The BSE Midcap index was up 0.6 per cent at 25,869, and the Smallcap index surged 1.1 per cent to 28,607. The overall market breadth was also fairly positive, with 1,952 advancing shares as against 1,301 declining stocks on the BSE.

Within the space, shares of Allcargo Logistics were locked at the 20 per cent upper circuit at Rs 328.95, also its fresh life-time high, on the BSE on Tuesday, after the company reported 355 per cent year-on-year (YoY) jump in consolidated net profit at Rs 264 crore in September quarter (Q2FY22).

Shares of Bayer CropScience, on the other hand, hit a 52-week low of Rs 4,630, down 8 per cent on the BSE in Tuesday’s intra-day trade after the company reported 31 per cent year-on-year (YoY) decline in net profit at Rs 154.10 crore Q2FY22.

Meanwhile, it was a results heavy day for the markets with scores of large corporates announcing their Sept quarter results today.

Indian pharmaceutical major, Sun Pharmaceutical Industries, declared a profit after tax of Rs 2,047 crore for the quarter ended in September, up 12.9 per cent compared to Rs 1,813 crore reported in the same quarter in 2020. Strong operating performance and healthy revenue growth supported the bottomline during the quarter.

HPCL, on the other hand, reported a 7.2 percent jump in the September quarter standalone net profit at Rs 1,923.51 crore. Operationally, earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization (Ebitda) were down 5.6 per cent at Rs 3,012.2 crore while margin was down at 3.6 per cent QoQ.

Dabur, too, reported a 5 per cent YoY rise in consolidated net profit at Rs 505.3 crore and a 12 per cent YoY growth in revenue at Rs 2,817.6 crore. Similarly, the company’s EBITDA grew by 9 per cent to Rs 620.7 crore as compared to Rs 569.4 crore in Q2FY21, while the margin slipped to 22 per cent from 22.6 per cent YoY.

As regards the initial public offers, Fino Payments Bank closed the issue with nearly 2 times subscription. Meanwhile, Policybazaar, Sigachi Industries, and SJS Enterprises commanded subscription levels of 69 per cent, 20.15 times, and 46 per cent, respectively, till 3:40 PM.

Separately, logistics startup Delhivery filed its Draft Red Herring Prospectus with Sebi, for an issue size of Rs 7,460 crore. The primary issue will be of Rs 5,000 crore, which the company will raise via public issue. The offer for sale by the existing investors will be Rs 2,460 crore.

Further, Sapphire Foods India, which operates KFC and Pizza Hut outlets, on Tuesday said it has fixed a price band of Rs 1,120-1,180 a share for its Rs 2,073-crore initial public offering (IPO). The initial share-sale will open on November 9 and conclude on November 11.

Coming to Wednesday's trading session, markets will eye the outcome of the US Federal Reserve's two-day monetary policy meeting. Back home, corporate earnings of State Bank of India, Bata India, and Eicher Motors, along with 39 other companies will remain in focus on Wednesday.

According to analysts, SBI’s Q2 profit may nearly double on a yearly basis to Rs 9,263.3 crore on the back of healthy net interest margin, recovery from DHFL, and lower loan provisioning. The lender's net interest income, however, is seen rising between 0.6 per cent and 4.6 per cent YoY, up to Rs 29,309 crore.

That apart, Services PMI data and IPOs of Policybazaar, SJS Enterprises and Sigachi Industries will be on investor radar today.