Key equity indices reported sharp gains, snapping three sessions of losses, helped by rally in index heavyweights Reliance Industries and HDFC twins. Auto sector pivotals declined. The Sensex settled above the psychological 39,000 level. The Nifty settled above the 11,700 mark.
The Nifty 50 index rose 150.20 points or 1.30% to settle at 11,726.15. The index rose 164.90 points, or 1.42% at the day's high of 11,740.85. The index rose 2.9 points, or 0.03% at the day's low of 11,578.85.
Key indices edged higher in early trade on positive Asian stocks. Stocks hovered in positive zone in morning trade. Key indices traded in a small range with positive bias in mid-morning trade. Key equity benchmarks were trading with small gains in afternoon trade. Stocks extended gains in mid-afternoon trade. Strong buying demand propelled the key indices to intraday high in late trade.
Broader market lagged key benchmarks. The S&P BSE Mid-Cap index rose 0.43%. The S&P BSE Small-Cap index rose 0.42%.
The market breadth, indicating the overall health of the market, was almost even. On the BSE, 1256 shares rose and 1244 shares fell. A total of 154 shares were unchanged.
Among the sectoral indices on BSE, the S&P BSE Oil & Gas index (up 2.32%), the S&P BSE Telecom index (up 1.83%) and the S&P BSE IT index (up 1.34%), outperformed the Sensex. The S&P BSE Auto index (down 0.29%), the S&P BSE Power index (up 0.04%) and the S&P BSE Metal index (up 0.23%), underperformed the Sensex.
HCL Technologies (up 3.40%), ONGC (up 2.90%), IndusInd Bank (up 2.75%), Yes Bank (up 2.71%), Bharti Airtel (up 2.62%), Bajaj Finance (up 1.86%), State Bank of India (up 1.65%) and HDFC Bank (up 1.51%), were the major Sensex gainers.
Coal India (down 0.49%), Power Grid Corporation of India (down 0.42%), Axis Bank (down 0.07%) and NTPC (down 0.04%), were the Sensex losers.
Index heavyweight Reliance Industries (RIL) rose 1.96% to Rs 1,390.
HDFC rose 2.23%. GRUH Finance rose 5.41%. Bandhan Bank rose 4.87%. HDFC announced that the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) through its letter dated 22 April 2019 has granted its final approval to HDFC to acquire upto 9.9% of the paid-up voting equity capital of Bandhan Bank post proposed amalgamation of GRUH Finance with Bandhan Bank. The amalgamation scheme remains subject to approvals from the National Company Law Tribunal and the respective shareholders and creditors of GRUH Finance and Bandhan Bank. The announcement was made after market hours yesterday, 23 April 2019.
Auto majors declined. Tata Motors (down 3.33%), Hero MotoCorp (down 0.60%) and Ashok Leyland (down 0.33%), skid.
Maruti Suzuki India fell 0.26%. The company introduced the New Alto, which has been India's best-selling car for 15 consecutive years. Keeping years of trust and faith in mind, Maruti Suzuki drives in the New Alto with enhanced safety features and captivating design. The New Alto now comes with BS-VI compliant engine, nearly a year before the regulation being mandated. The announcement was made after market hours yesterday, 23 April 2019.
Bajaj Auto (up 1.29%), Escorts (up 1.15%), TVS Motor Company (up 0.93%), Eicher Motors (up 0.89%) and Mahindra & Mahindra (up 0.56%), advanced from the auto sector pack.
Cement major ACC lost 3.07%. Consolidated net profit rose 38.20% to Rs 345.99 crore on 8.23% increase in net sales to Rs 3,849.63 crore in Q1 March 2019 over Q1 March 2018. The result was announced after market hours yesterday, 23 April 2019.
Operating EBITDA for the quarter registered a growth of 8% to Rs 532 crore as against Rs 492 crore during the same quarter of the previous year. Cement sales volume rose 5.63% to 7.5 million tonnes in Q1 March 2019 over Q1 March 2018.
The prices of fuel and slag rose in the quarter, which were mitigated by market initiatives, sustained cost reduction initiatives viz. material source-mix & fuel mix optimization and productivity improvement measures. Plant capacity utilization improved during the quarter. Strict controls on third party spend resulted in lower fixed cost as well as Selling General & Administrative expenses (SG&A) on year on year basis.
In its outlook, ACC said that predictions of a normal monsoon augur well for the rural economy. The government's continued thrust on infrastructure development as well as Housing-for-All initiatives are expected to invigorate the construction sector and stimulate cement demand.
UltraTech Cement advanced 5.51% after consolidated net profit rose 127.13% to Rs 1013 crore on 17.14% rise in net sales to Rs 10739 crore in Q4 March 2019 over Q4 March 2018. Consolidated EBITDA rose 30% to Rs 2459 crore in Q4 March 2019 over Q4 March 2018. The result was announced during trading hours today, 24 April 2019.
In its outlook, UltraTech Cement said the cement industry started witnessing pick-up in demand since FY2018, achieving double digit growth since the last 2 years, after a period of tepid growth. However, there continues to be relatively low increase in new capacity. Incremental capacity added during the year has been 12 mtpa against incremental demand of around 38 million tons, which resulted in improving industry capacity utilisation and will further help in improving the demand-supply balance.
In the foreign exchange market, the rupee edged lower against the dollar. The partially convertible rupee was hovering at 69.845, compared with its close of 69.62 during the previous trading session.
In the global commodities markets, Brent for June 2019 settlement was down 13 cents at $74.38 a barrel. The contract rose 47 cents, or 0.63% to settle at $74.51 a barrel during the previous trading session.
Overseas, European shares were mixed as market participants monitored the latest flurry of corporate results. Asian stocks ended on a mixed note on Wednesday.
In US, the S&P 500 index and the Nasdaq registered record closing highs after a broad-based rally on Tuesday, as a clutch of better-than-expected earnings reports eased concerns about a slowdown. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 145.34 points, or 0.55%, to 26,656.39, the S&P 500 gained 25.71 points, or 0.88%, to 2,933.68 and the Nasdaq Composite added 105.56 points, or 1.32%, to 8,120.82.
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