Sensex Trades 120 Points Higher; Dow Futures Down by 47 Points

Fri, 23 Oct 12:30 pm | Monish Vora, TM Team

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Share markets in India are presently trading marginally higher.

The BSE Sensex is trading up by 120 points, up 0.3%, at 40,678 levels.

Meanwhile, the NSE Nifty is trading up by 53 points.

Power Grid Corporation and Adani Ports & SEZ are among the top gainers today. UltraTech Cement and Shree Cement are among the top losers today.

Both the BSE Mid Cap index and the BSE Small Cap index are trading up by 0.7%

On the sectoral front, stocks from the auto sector are witnessing most of the buying interest.

On the other hand, stocks from the FMCG sector are witnessing most of the selling pressure.

US stock futures are trading lower today, indicating a negative opening for Wall Street indices.

Nasdaq Futures are trading down by 20 points (down 0.2%), while Dow Futures are trading down 47 points (down 0.2%).

The rupee is trading at 73.6 against the US$.

Gold prices are trading flat at Rs 50,744 per 10 grams.

To know more about gold, visit our YouTube Playlist on gold investing.

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In this video, Vijay shares that since commodity prices have recovered along with the stock market, they are now pointing towards an economic recovery. Aluminium is at its highest after May 2019 and copper on the MCX is at a multi-year high as well.

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Moving on to stock specific news...

Among the buzzing stocks today is Ambuja Cement.

Cement maker Ambuja Cement reported a consolidated net profit of Rs 8 billion, a 50.5% year-on-year (YoY) increase for the quarter ended September, mainly on account of the company's cost reduction programs coupled with volume growth.

The company registered 8% YoY volume growth and a 10% YoY growth in net sales at Rs 28 billion. Sales volume for the quarter was at 5.7 million tonnes, which was higher than the volume of 5.2 million tonnes for the same period last year.

Ambuja's total operating cost per ton declined by 8% YoY, on account of lower input costs and other efficiency programs adopted by the company. Operating earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) increased to Rs 6.8 billion.

The company expects rural and agriculture sectors to lead the revival in economic activities. This, along with a continued focus on infrastructure development and affordable housing will support cement demand in the mid-term.

The company announced operationalizing its new plant at Marwar Mundwa, Rajasthan as part of its growth strategy to further improve Ambuja's market position in the North and West regions.

Further, the company declared an interim dividend of Rs 17 per share which shall be paid on and from 19 November 2020.

At the time of writing, Ambuja Cement share price was trading down by 1.5% on the BSE.

We will keep you updated on all the news from this space. Stay tuned

Moving on to news from the mutual funds space...

HDFC AMC Q2FY21 Results: Profit After Tax Falls 8%

HDFC AMC, the second largest asset management company in India, saw its profit after tax (PAT) fall 8% YoY to Rs 3.4 billion as compared to Rs 3.7 billion, for the quarter ended September.

The fund house revenue fell 8% quarter-on-quarter (QoQ) to Rs 4.6 billion from Rs 5 billion. Operating profit was Rs 3.5 billion, lower by 7% over the previous year's Rs 3.8 billion in the same period.

Operating margin for the quarter improved to 37 basis points compared to the previous quarter's 34 basis points of its Assets Under Management (AUM). However, it is still lower than the 41 basis points it clocked for the previous year, primarily due to lower earnings from equity schemes.

The poor performance of its equity-oriented schemes has led to the fund house to lose market share, with its share in overall assets under management falling 1.7% YoY.

In the more profitable equity mutual fund schemes, its market share has gone down from 15.8% to 13.6% in the same period, in liquid schemes its share is down from 22.1% to 18%. However, it has maintained its share of 13.6% in debt schemes.

Speaking of mutual funds, here's a chart that shows net inflows into equity funds during past few months:

As we can see, investors did well to pour more money into stocks (via mutual funds) in April 2020 and thus, take advantage of the sharp correction.

However, it goes all downhill after that. Inflows fell in both May as well as June this year when stocks were still on sale.

In fact, they fell by a whopping 97% in June 2020.

How this trend pans out in coming months remains to be seen.

To know what's moving the Indian stock markets today, check out the most recent share market updates here.

For information on how to pick stocks that have the potential to deliver big returns, download our special report now!

Indian Share Market Update: Top Gainers and Losers

What else is happening in the markets today? Dig in...