Market Wrap Podcast, Oct 18: Here's all that happened in the markets today

Extending their winning streak into seventh straight session, benchmark indices closed at record closing peaks for the sixth day in a row amid stellar buying in PSU bank, metals, and IT stocks.

The Nifty PSU Bank and Metal indices closed nearly 4 per cent higher while the Nifty IT index advanced 1.6 per cent on the National Stock Exchange as investors turned bullish on the sectors amid Q2 earnings season and rise in base metal prices.

That apart, buoyancy in the Indian economy, increased domestic consumption, and industrial production nearing pre-Covid level further supported sentiment on the Street.

According to reports, the Nomura Business Resumption Activity Index hit an all-time high of 108.8 for the week ended yesterday.

This was higher than the 105-mark seen during the week. While labour participation increased to 41.6 per cent during the week, from 40.4 per cent, coal shortage led to a fall in power demand by 1.17 per cent.

Overall, the 30-share BSE Sensex ended 459.64 points, or 0.75 per cent higher, at its new closing record of 61,766. It hit a lifetime high of 61,963 in the intra-day session.

Similarly, the Nifty50 surged 138.5 points, or 0.76 per cent, to its all-time closing high 18,477 after touching a new intra-day record of 18,543

Infosys (up 4.47 per cent) was the top gainer in the Sensex pack, followed by Tech Mahindra, Tata Steel, ICICI Bank, ITC, Maruti, SBI and Axis Bank.

On the other hand, HCL Tech, M&M, Dr Reddy's, Asian Paints, Bajaj Auto and Bharti Airtel were among the laggards, falling up to 2.4 per cent.

Among individual stocks, shares of HCL Tech slipped 3 per cent to Rs 1,215 apiece on the BSE in the intra-day trade today after the management reiterated its guidance of double-digit dollar revenue growth and 19-21 per cent earnings before interest tax (EBIT) margin for FY22, but it lowered its Products and Platforms (P&P) growth to 0-1 per cent from low-single digits.

While the stock ended 2.4 per cent down, it has corrected 11 per cent from its record high level of Rs 1,377 touched on September 24, 2021.

Separately, shares of HDFC Bank 1 per cent to close at Rs 1,670 on the BSE as the lender’s higher-than-expected restructuring of loans in the July-September quarter made analysts cautious in the near-term.

Shares of Avenue Supermarts, meanwhile, cracked 19 per cent from record high level of Rs 5,900 per share hit in the intra-day trade to touch a low of Rs 4,850 on the back of profit booking. The company on Saturday had reported a twofold increase in its consolidated net profit at Rs 417.76 crore for the second quarter ended September 2021 (Q2FY22) and reported revenue growth of 47 per cent year-on-year (YoY) to Rs 7,789 crore. The stock, eventually, ended 8 per cent lower at Rs 4,895 apiece.

Ultratech Cement, on the other hand, ended flat with a negative bias today post Q2 results. The Aditya Birla group firm reported a consolidated net profit of Rs 1,310.34 crore for the quarter ended September 2021 against Rs 1,310 crore in the year-ago quarter on account of sharp rise in coal and pet coke prices.

However, its revenue from operations was up 15.69 per cent to Rs 12,017 crore.

Among sectoral movers, shares of sugar companies rallied by up to 20 per cent on the BSE in today’s intra-day trade on expectation of strong earnings growth.

Vishwaraj Sugar Industries (up 20 per cent), Triveni Engineering and Industries (9 per cent), Balrampur Chini Mills (5 per cent) and EID Parry (India) (3 per cent) hit their respective record highs in the process. Shree Renuka Sugars, Dhampur Sugar Mills and Dwarikesh Sugar Industries gained between 3 and 5 per cent.

That apart, the Nifty Metal index hit a record high of 6,300-mark, surpassing its previous high of 6,079.55 hit on October 14, 2021, amid rising base metal prices. Individually, Vedanta and Nalco surged 13 per cent, Hindustan Copper 12.6 per cent, Hindustan Zinc 11.6 per cent, Hindalco 5 per cent, and SAIL and JSW Steel over 3 per cent.

In another development, investors and traders of Zerodha, UPstox and ICICIDirect, the country’s largest online-brokerage firms, were unable to execute sell orders on Monday as the CDSL server had some issues. The issue was, however, resolved after nearly 4 hours.

Apart from these, Penna Cement Industries, Latent View Analytics and Sigachi Industries too received Sebi's clearance to raise funds through the initial public offerings. 

Now, going into trade on Tuesday, focus will remain on stock-specific new flow as 33 companies including 5Paisa Capital, HUL, Nestle India, and Tata Steel BSL are set to report their September quarter earnings tomorrow.

Additionally, global cues, oil price movement, and the rupee’s trajectory will guide the sentiment on the Street.