Mumbai: The latest batch of fourth quarter earnings reports from India Inc has turned out to be a bit disappointing with several companies reporting notable drop in their earnings or even reporting losses, compared to year-ago quarter.
The overall mood in the market is turning quite bearish, and mirroring widespread selling, the Sensex is now down 234.50 points or 0.78% at 29,891.72. The Nifty50 of the National Stock Exchange is down 69.70 points or 0.74% at 9290.20.
Hindalco, Tata Motors, Tata Motors DVR, ONGC and Tata Steel are down 2.3% - 4.5%. Axis Bank, Grasim Industries, HDFC, Mahindra & Mahindra, Power Grid Corporation, ITC, GAIL India, Infosys, Larsen & Toubro, Ambuja Cements, Bajaj Auto and NTPC are down 1% - 2%.
Bucking the weak trend, Indiabulls Housing Finance, Asian Paints, Bharti Infratel, HCL Technologies, Eicher Motors and Bank of Baroda are trading higher, gaining 0.5% - 1.5%. State Bank of India, Tata Power, Kotak Bank and Maruti Suzuki are up marginally.
Hindustan Construction Company Limited said that its net profit declined by about 4.1% to Rs 20.91 crore in the quarter ended March 2017, although net sales were up 13.57% in the quarter, at Rs 1358.27. The stock is down more than 7% now.
Astec Lifesciences (down 6%) posted consolidated net profit of Rs 3.46 crore in the January - March 2017 quarter, down 38.2% from year-ago quarter. Total income increased 8.28% in the fourth quarter.
MCX reported a near 51% plunge in net profit to Rs 21.88 crore in the fourth quarter, on 19.4% decline in total income at Rs 86.90 crore.The stock is trading lower by about 2.5%.
Tata Communications has plunged more than 10% after reporting a net loss of Rs 986.36 crore for the quarter ended March 2017, as against net profit of Rs 75.19 crore in the year-ago quarter.
Bank of Maharashtra (down 3.2%) said its loss widened to Rs 455.45 crore in the fourth quarter. In the year-ago quarter, the bank had reported a net loss of Rs 119.84 crore.
Meanwhile, Oberoi Realty (3%) is up sharply on impressive results. The realtor reported a 50.33% jump in net profit to Rs101.85 crore in the fourth quarter, up from Rs 67.75 crore a year ago.
Gallantt Ispat rose to Rs 260.50 in early trades this morning, gaining about 5% on good results. However, due to lack of support at higher levels, the stock retreated and is currently trading at Rs 247, down slightly from previous closing price. The company's net profit soared 75.67% to Rs 7.22 crore on 31.22% slide in net sales to Rs 100.26 crore in the fourth quarter ended March 2017, over the year-ago quarter.
