The market extended gains for the third straight session on Wednesday as firm global cues boosted sentiment. The upbeat mood in the market comes amid an increased focus on the easing of lock down measures globally.
The barometer S&P BSE Sensex, rose 605.64 points or 1.89% at 32,720.16. The Nifty 50 index added 172.45 points or 1.84% at 9,553.35. Metals and auto shares led the broad-based rally.
In the broader market, the BSE Mid-Cap index rose 1% and the BSE Small-Cap index gained 1.04%. Both these indices trailed the Sensex.
The market breadth was positive. On the BSE, 1400 shares rose and 964 shares fell. A total of 185 shares were unchanged.
The Nifty 50 index jumped 4.36% in three trading sessions. It has spurted 27.19% from the 52-week low of 7,511.10 hit on 24 March 2020.
Total Covid-19 confirmed cases worldwide stood at 31,27,519 so far with 2,17,569 deaths. India reported 22,629 active cases of COVID-19 infection and 1007 deaths, according to the data from the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India.
Economy:
Moody's Investors Service on Tuesday slashed India growth forecast for calendar year 2020 to 0.2%, from 2.5% projected earlier. For 2021, Moody's expects India's growth to rebound to 6.2%. Moody's said the economic costs of coronavirus crisis amid the near shutdown of the global economy are accumulating rapidly.
Numbers to Watch:
The yield on 10-year benchmark federal paper fell to 6.124% as compared with 6.137% at close in the previous trading session.
In the foreign exchange market, the rupee edged higher against the dollar. The partially convertible rupee was hovering at 75.66, compared with its close of 76.185 during the previous trading session.
In the commodities market, Brent crude for June 2020 settlement rose $1.16 at $21.62 a barrel. The contract rose 47 cents, or 2.35% to settle at $20.46 a barrel in the previous trading session.
Foreign Markets:
Shares in Europe and Asian rose across the board as investors are awaiting the outcome of the US Fed's two-day policy meeting that concludes Wednesday. Investors will look for guidance on the US central bank's future path of interest rates as the country looks toward gradually reopening its economy.
In US, Wall Street's major indexes lost ground on Tuesday as investors moved out of market-leading growth stocks, though a rotation into cyclical value stocks indicated hopes of economic revival as states began to relax restrictions enacted to fight the deadly COVID-19 pandemic.
Buzzing Indian Segments:
The Nifty Metal index gained 3.74% to 1,723.80, outperforming the other sectoral indices on the NSE.
SAIL (up 10.22%), Hindalco Industries (up 6.94%), Jindal Steel & Power (up 5.66%), Hindustan Zinc (up 3.69%), Tata Steel (up 3.27%), JSW Steel (up 3.01%), Vedanta (up 2.99%), NMDC (up 2.66%), Hindustan Copper (up 2.20%) and NALCO (up 1.15%) advanced.
The Nifty Auto index rose 1.77% to 5,543.75. The index rose 3.10% in three sessions.
Ashok Leyland (up 7.75%), TVS Motor Company (up 3.92%), Mahindra & Mahindra (up 3.73%), Tata Motors (up 1.56%), Bajaj Auto (up 1.47%), Hero MotoCorp (up 1.38%), Escorts (up 0.7%), Eicher Motors (up 0.34%) and Maruti Suzuki India (up 0.31%) spurted.
Stocks in Spotlight:
Housing Development Finance Corporation (HDFC) rallied 7.07% to Rs 1837, continuing its rising streak for third day on a strong buying support. The stock spurted 16.31% in three consecutive trading sessions from its recent closing low of Rs 1,579.35 hit on Friday, 24 April 2020.
HDFC Bank (up 4.87%), ICICI Bank (up 2.93%), Infosys (up 2.52%) and TCS (up 2.46%) were the other index movers.
Axis Bank declined 3.67% after the bank reported a net loss of Rs 1387.78 crore in Q4 March 2020 compared with net profit of Rs 1505.06 crore in Q4 March 2019. Total income rose 10.34% to Rs 20,219.57 crore in Q4 March 2020 over Q4 March 2019. The bank's Net Interest Income (NII) grew 19% year-on-year (YoY) to Rs 6,808 crore during Q4 March 2020 from Rs 5,706 crore in Q4 March 2019. Net interest margin for Q4 March 2020 was 3.55%.
The bank's provisions and contingencies surged 185.09% to Rs 7730.02 crore in Q4 March 2020 over Q4 March 2019. The provision amount includes Rs 3,000 crore related to Covid-19, taking the overall additional provisions held by the bank to Rs 5,983 crore. The bank's gross non-performing assets (NPAs) stood at Rs 30233.82 crore as on 31 March 2020 as against Rs 30073.02 crore as on 31 December 2019 and Rs 29789.44 crore as on 31 March 2019. The ratio of gross NPAs to gross advances stood at 4.86% as on 31 March 2020 as against 5% as on 31 December 2019 and 5.26% as on 31 March 2019.
Hexaware Technologies rose 3.06% after consolidated net profit rose 4.27% to Rs 174.96 crore on a 0.85% increase in revenue from operations to Rs 1541.75 crore in Q1 March 2020 over Q4 December 2019. EBITDA (post Restricted Stock Units) fell 2.54% to Rs 233.60 crore in Q1 March 2020 as against Rs 239.70 crore in Q4 December 2019. The company follows January-December as its fiscal year for accounting.
The company has suspend the guidance that was provided earlier for FY2020, as COVID-19 has led to significant uncertainty in the current environment. In the previous quarter, the company had forecast its revenue in FY2020 to grow in the range of 15%-17% and had pegged EBITDA (post RSU cost) growth in the range of 15%-16%.
Strides Pharma Science hit an upper circuit of 20% at Rs 449.10 after the company announced that it has developed and commercialized Favipiravir antiviral tablets. Favipiravir is an antiviral medication that was initially developed to treat influenza in Japan. The drug is a generic version of Avigan of Toyama Chemical, Japan. In February 2020, post the outbreak of Novel Coronavirus (Covid-19), Favipiravir was studied in China and several other countries as an experimental treatment of Covid-19. The drug has demonstrated positive outcomes, including a reduction in the duration of Covid-19 and improved lung conditions for the patients.
Spandana Sphoorty Financial hit an upper circuit of 5% at Rs 432.40 after the company said 79% of its 1,006 branches have been operational since 20 April 2020. The rest of its branches are expected to open soon, following the lifting of the national lockdown. Almost none of Spandana's branches are in 'Red' zones, given the company's rural footprint.
Motherson Sumi Systems jumped 4.09% after the company informed that more than 80 out of 152 of its manufacturing facilities across the world are now in operations. While 30% of them are now running at more than 80% capacities, rest of them are now running at up to 50% capacities and slowly and steadily gearing up.
Hester Biosciences hit an upper circuit limit of 20% at Rs 1,366.90 after the company said it collaborated with IIT Guwahati to develop vaccine against COVID-19.
Powered by Capital Market - Live News
(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)