Sensex ends 260 points higher, Nifty just below 10,700; financials gain

27 Apr 2018

3:30 pm Market at Close: Shares have ended the day on a high note, with the Nifty starting the May series strong as well.

The Sensex was up 268.10 points at 34981.70, while the Nifty was up 77.50 points at 10695.30. The market breadth is narrow as 1390 shares advanced, against a decline of 1227 shares, while 159 shares are unchanged.

Axis Bank, State Bank of India, and ICICI Bank were the top gainers, while TCS, Maruti Suzuki, HCL Tech and Tech Mahindra lost the most.

3:10 pm North Eastern Carrying Corp bags order: Shares of North Eastern Carrying Corporation gained nearly 17 percent on Friday as company bagged order worth Rs 356 crore from Tata Steel.

The order include transportation of Tata Steel raw materials and mining products from its Sukinda mines situated in Odisha. This work order is valid from April 1, 2018 to March 31, 2021.

2:45 pm Atul result: Atul Q4 net profit was up 56% at Rs 99.92 crore versus Rs 63.86 crore in the same quarter last year. Total income rose 14 percent at Rs 892.24 crore against Rs 781.71 crore.

The company proposed dividend of Rs 12 per equity share for the year ended March 31, 2018.

2:40 pm Notice to NHAI: The National Green Tribunal has issued show cause notice to the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) asking why action should not be initiated against it for not maintaining the mandatory green cover along national and state highways. A bench headed by acting NGT Chairperson Justice Jawad Rahim sought responses from the NHAI, Ministry of Road Transport, Environment Ministry, besides the governments of Delhi, Haryana and Rajasthan.

"Issue notice in the nature of show cause to NHAI and the other to show cause why action should not be initiated in the nature of coercive action under the provisions of the NGT Act and the rules made thereunder for the non-compliance of the direction contained in the order dated September 5, 2017.

"If any steps have been taken,they are permitted to file status report supported with sufficient material in the nature of photographs as also work orders if any. This shall be done within a period of 15 days," the bench said.

2:30 pm Results: Maruti Suzuki, India’s largest car maker, on Friday fell short of analysts' expectations by reporting net profit of Rs 1,882 crore, 10 percent higher than in the same quarter a year ago, as other expenses impacted margins.

Analysts polled by Reuters had estimated the car maker to post a net profit of Rs 2,243 crore for the quarter under review.

Net sales grew by 0.83 percent to Rs 20,594 crore during the reporting quarter as compared to Rs 20,423 crore posted by it in the same quarter in 2016-17.

2:15 pm Rating on India: Global credit rating agency Fitch today affirmed India's sovereign rating at 'BBB-' with 'stable' outlook, saying that the country's medium-term growth potential is strong.

'BBB-' rating indicates lowest investment grade.

"India's rating balances a strong medium-term growth outlook and favourable external balances with weak fiscal finances and some lagging structural factors, including governance standards and a still-difficult, but improving, business environment," Fitch said.

It projected India's growth at 7.3 per cent in current the fiscal and further to 7.5 per cent in 2019-20. Growth is projected to be 6.7 per cent in the last fiscal, ended March 31.

"The Stable Outlook reflects Fitch's assessment that upside and downside risks to the ratings are broadly balanced," Fitch said.

1:58 pm AMFI data: Investor awareness campaigns and strong participation from retail investors have taken the asset base of smaller towns up 38 percent from a year ago to Rs 4.27 lakh crore in FY18, according to data on Association of Mutual Funds in India.

Currently, B15 towns account for nearly 19 percent of the total assets of the industry.

Birla Sun Life Mutual Fund’s CEO and AMFI Chairman Balasubramanian attributed the rise in assets of small towns to investor awareness campaign Mutual Funds Sahi Hai launched by AMFI. The first leg of the campaign was launched in March 2017.

Mutual fund experts said that the rise in asset base of smaller towns, called B15 locations could be because of the demonetisation effect and strong participation from retail investors.

1:30 pm Results: Private lender Bandhan Bank today reported a 20.3 per cent rise in net profit at Rs 388 crore for the last quarter of 2017-18 fiscal on the back of healthy interest as well as non-interest income.

The bank had registered a net profit of Rs 322 crore in the January-March quarter of 2016-17 fiscal.

The net interest income (NII) for the quarter grew by 25.2 per cent to Rs 863 crore as against Rs 689 crore in the same quarter year earlier. Non-interest income jumped by 57.4 per cent to Rs 203 crore as against Rs 129 crore, the bank said in a regulatory filing.

1:15 pm Market Check: The benchmark indices gained further ground in the afternoon trade as Sensex trading above 35,000 mark and Nifty above 10,700.

The Sensex up 292.79 points at 35006.39, and the Nifty up 87.50 points at 10705.30. About 1477 shares have advanced, 929 shares declined, and 154 shares are unchanged.

Reliance Industries, ITC, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Infosys and ICICI Bank are the positive contributors to the Sensex.

12:35 pm GST Council: The GST Council headed by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on May 4 will finalise the new shareholding pattern of the IT backbone GST Network (GSTN) as the government plans to obtain a majority stake in the company.

The Council—a constitutional body for making recommendations to the Centre and states on issues related to Goods and Service Tax (GST)—will take crucial policy-related decisions in a meeting that will be held via video conference.

Apart from finalising a simple, single-stage return filing form to ease procedures for small businesses, the Council will suggest a solution such that GST is not levied on goods bought from duty free shops at the airport. In addition, there will a clarity at what stage Integrated GST (IGST) should be paid, in case goods are at bonded or a customs-controlled warehouse.

12.10 pm Parag Milk Foods results on May 09, 2018: Parag Milk Foods' board meeting is scheduled to be held on May 09, 2018, to consider audited standalone and consolidated financial results for the quarter and year ended March 31, 2018 and recommend final dividend.

11: 45 am Market update: The markets continue to trade higher as Nifty is hovering around 10,700 and Sensex inching towards 35,000 mark.

The Sensex up 213.37 points at 34926.97, and the Nifty up 59.40 points at 10677.20. About 1463 shares have advanced, 806 shares declined, and 137 shares are unchanged.

Midcaps are currently trading at par with benchmarks. Meanwhile, PSU banks continue to lead with Nifty PSU banks trading with 5% gain.

11:15 am buzzing stock: Shares of Essel Propack gained nearly 9 percent intraday Friday as company recommended bonus issue.

The company at its meeting held on April 26 has recommended bonus issue of equity shares in the ratio of 1 equity share for every 1 held by the shareholders of the company as on the record date/date fixed for this purpose, subject to the approval of the Members.

The company also recommended dividend of Rs 2.40 per equity share for the financial year 2017-18.

It has reported marginal dip in its consolidated Q4 net profit at Rs 45.47 crore against Rs 46.09 crore in the same quarter last fiscal.

10:50 am IPO plans: The Lodha Group is said to be looking to raise more than Rs 5,000 crore through an Initial Public Offering (IPO).

An Economic Times report stated that Rs 3,750 crore will be raised through issuance of fresh shares, while the balance will come in through offer for sale.

10:41 am Rallis India gains: Shares of Rallis India slipped 5 percent Friday on the back of poor fourth quarter numbers.

The company reported 37 percent decline in its consolidated net profit at Rs 19.58 crore for the quarter ended March 2018 against Rs 31.01 crore in the same quarter last year.

The total income of the company increased marginally to Rs 373.84 crore versus Rs 371.85 crore.

10:22 am Buzzing Stock: Shares of Thermax gained 3.4 percent Friday on the back of order win worth Rs 279 crore.

Thermax Group has received an order worth Rs 279 crore from a leading public sector fertiliser company to set up captive cogeneration plant at Trombay.

The project is for a GTG (Gas Turbine Generator) - cum - HRSG (Heat Recovery Steam Generator) based cogen plant of 50MW capacity on an EPC basis.

10:05 am Market Check: The indices have further advanced their gains as the Sensex has risen 300 points, while the Nifty has hit 10,700-mark. The market breadth strongly favours the advances.

Axis Bank, SBI, are the top gainers, while TCS, Wipro are the top losers.

9:50 am Axis Bank recovers: Shares of Axis Bank witnessed extreme movements in morning trade as the scrip recovered from 3 percent lows to be trading over 5.5 percent higher. Experts were anticipating a lower opening on the back of its dismal performance in the March quarter.

The stock touched an intraday high of Rs 522.00 and an intraday low of Rs 479.00.

Among key possibilities for the rise could be attractive valuations along with reportage of a kitchen-sink quarter as well.

9:40 am Market Check: The market has extended its gains from the opening minutes, with the Sensex rising over 250 points, while the Nifty has managed to clock 10,700 as well.

The market breadth strongly favoured the advances. Midcaps are trading strong, seeing gains of half a percent, but were underperforming the benchmarks.

All sectoral indices, barring IT, are trading in the green. Shares of Reliance Industries has crossed Rs 1,000 mark ahead of Q4 earnings. Meanwhile, Bharti Airtel and Wipro are the laggards in the morning trade, being the top losers on Sensex and Nifty.

9:25 am Rupee Update: The Indian rupee opened lower by 8 paise at 66.83 per dollar on Friday versus previous close 66.75.

After remaining under pressure in the past few sessions, yesterday, the rupee consolidated against the US dollar. Weakness in the rupee had been triggered on back of sharp rise in global crude oil prices and fund outflow by FIIs in the equity and debt segment. Yesterday, they sold another USD 100 million, now getting the cumulative figure for this month to almost USD 2billion, said Motilal Oswal.

9:15 am Market Opens: Equities have begun the day on a good note, with the Sensex rising over 100 points, while the Nifty managed to open above 10,650-mark.

The Sensex is up 143.63 points at 34857.23, while the Nifty is up 56.20 points at 10674.00. The market breadth is positive as 333 shares advanced, against a decline of 171 shares declined, while 54 shares were unchanged.

Among stocks, Axis Bank took a hit of 3 percent in the first few minutes, after the bank reported dismal set of numbers for the March quarter as provisions trebled. Meanwhile, IDBI Bank is also trading lower by 4 percent after its ex-CMD has been booked in a fraud case.

Meanwhile, global markets were trading higher on the back of positive handover from US.

Asian shares edged higher on Friday, after US equities were buoyed by solid quarterly earnings and a rebound in technology stocks, while the euro languished near three-month lows after the European Central Bank kept interest rates unchanged.

US stocks advanced on Thursday with each of Wall Street’s major indexes ending the session up 1 percent or higher, boosted by solid earnings results and a rebound in technology stocks as U.S. bond yields pulled back.