The market traded near the day's low in afternoon trade. Negative global cues and weak domestic economic data impacted trading sentiment. At 13:22 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was down 1733.41 points or 5.14% at 31,984.21. The Nifty 50 index was down 492.05 points or 4.99% at 9,367.85.
In the broader market, the S&P BSE Mid-Cap index fell 3.61% while the S&P BSE Small-Cap index shed 2.63%.
The market breadth, indicating the overall health of the market, was weak. On the BSE, 535 shares rose and 1727 shares fell. A total of 152 shares were unchanged. In the Nifty 50 index, 4 shares advanced while 46 shares declined.
Foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) sold Indian equities worth Rs 6802.12 crore in April 2020. The FPIs have sold equities worth Rs 72,927.70 crore in 2020 so far.
Economy:
The seasonally adjusted IHS Markit India Manufacturing PMI slumped to 27.4 in April from 51.8 in March. The latest reading pointed to the sharpest deterioration in business conditions across the sector since data collection began over 15 years ago.
Commenting on the latest survey results, Eliot Kerr, Economist at IHS Markit, said: "After making it through March relatively unscathed, the Indian manufacturing sector felt the full force of the coronavirus pandemic in April."In the latest survey period, record contractions in output, new orders and employment pointed to a severe deterioration in demand conditions. Meanwhile, there was evidence of unprecedented supply-side disruption, with input delivery times lengthening to the greatest extent since data collection began in March 2005."There was a hint of positivity when looking at firms' 12-month outlooks, with sentiment towards future activity rebounding from March's record low. That said, the degree of optimism remained well below the historical average."
Gainers & Losers:
Cipla (up 4.06%), Bharti Airtel (up 3.01%), Sun Pharmaceutical Industries (up 1.31%) and Dr. Reddy's Laboratories (up 1.13%) were the top gainers.
Hindalco Industries (down 11.06%), Tata Motors (down 10.13%), Vedanta (down 9.88%), ICICI Bank (down 9.43%) and Bajaj Finance (down 9.25%) were top losers.
Earnings Impact:
Reliance Industries fell 1.57%. RIL's consolidated net profit fell 38.74% to Rs 6,348 crore on 2.5% decline in revenue to Rs 151,209 crore in Q4 March 2020 over Q4 March 2019. EBITDA increased 7.6% to Rs 25,886 crore in Q4 March 2020 over Q4 March 2019. Decrease in Q4 revenue is primarily on account of 10.1% decline in refining and petrochemicals business revenues.
Sharp fall of 20.5% Y-o-Y in average Brent oil price led to lower product price realization across the hydrocarbon chain. This was partially offset by continuing growth in consumer businesses, even amidst the operational issues posed by the pandemic. RIL's telecom arm Reliance Jio Infocomm reported a 177.50% YoY and 72.70% QoQ growth in net profit at Rs 2,331 crore in Q4 quarter. Its subscriber base grew 26.30% YoY to 387.50 million, with each user spending an average of Rs 130.60 a month during the quarter, the company said in a statement.
Meanwhile, the company approved the issuance of equity shares of Rs 10 each of the company on rights basis to eligible equity shareholders of the company as on the record date (to be notified later), of an issue size of Rs 53,125 crore. Shareholders can subscribe to one equity share for every 15 equity shares held as on the record date. The issue is priced at Rs 1,257, a discount of 14.32% to Thursday's closing price of Rs 1,467.05.
Hindustan Unilever (HUL) tumbled 4.96% to Rs 2086.90 after the FMCG major reported lacklustre result for quarter ending March 2020. On a standalone basis, HUL's net profit declined 1.24% to Rs 1519 crore on a 9.4% decline in net sales to Rs 8,885 crore in Q4 March 2020 over Q4 March 2019. EBITDA for Q4 March 2020 stood at Rs 2065 crore, declining 11% year on year from Rs 2321 crore in Q4 March 2019. Reported EBITDA margin reduced by 40 bps (160 bps reduction on comparable basis after adjusting for accounting impact of Ind AS 116).
ICICI Lombard General Insurance Company were down 5.52% to Rs 1217.25. The company reported a 24% rise in net profit to Rs 281.93 crore in Q4 March 2020 compared with Rs 227.73 crore in Q4 March 2019. Gross premium written declined 8.4% to Rs 3231.58 crore in Q4 March 2020 over Q4 March 2019. Net premium written declined 1.2% to Rs 2431.53 crore in Q4 March 2020 over Q4 March 2019. Net premium earned rose 6.74% to Rs 2345.55 crore in Q4 March 2020 over Q4 March 2019.
Global Markets:
European Markets opened lower post truncated week while Asian stocks traded lower as US-China tensions rise over Coronavirus. Markets in China, Japan and Thailand are closed on Monday for holidays.
In the US, Wall Street sold off sharply on Friday after President Donald Trump revived a threat of new tariffs against China in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, which has brought global economies to a grinding halt.
The US President announced that his administration was crafting retaliatory measures against China as punishment for the coronavirus outbreak, giving rise to tariff fears that rattled markets through much of the last two years. Trump has reportedly blamed the Asian major for what he says is misinformation when the virus emerged from the Chinese city of Wuhan and then quickly spread around the world.
A mixed bag of earnings, particularly a disappointing report from Amazon.com, along with a fresh round of dismal economic data, also weighed on sentiment.
While Amazon.com expressed the possibility of the company reporting its first quarterly loss in five years due to the coronavirus pandemic, Apple Inc declined to provide current-quarter forecasts despite the iPhone maker posting good quarterly result.
Shares of Tesla tumbled over 10% after company Chief Executive Elon Musk said in a tweet that the electric car maker's stock price was too high.
U. S. manufacturing activity skidded to an 11-year low last month as lockdowns shuttered factories, according to the Institute for Supply Management's purchasing managers index.
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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)