Sensex, Nifty Snap Two Session Losing Streak

Indian equity benchmarks held on to the comeback in afternoon trade, snapping a two-session losing streak, as investors weighed the benchmark index’s pace of gains against a slew of better-than-expected local earnings.

The S&P BSE Sensex rose 0.4% to 51,531, while the NSE Nifty 50 Index gained 0.4% as well to end the session at 15,173. Both indices had closed the previous to sessions lower after six days of gains, their longest winning streak in a month that took them to new highs.

Among the sectoral indices, the Nifty Metal index was the top performer, ending with gains of 1%. The Nifty FMCG index rose 0.8% higher while the Nifty IT index climbed 0.6%.

The Nifty PSU Bank index was the biggest laggard, ending 1.25% lower.

“Earnings have been very good and most companies have reported numbers that were better than expectations, but I think all of that has already been factored in,” said Gaurav Garg, head of research at Indore-based CapitalVia Global Research Ltd. “We might see the market consolidating around current levels, before further upside.”

Coal India reported net income for the third quarter that missed the average analyst estimate.

• Revenues up 2.1% at Rs 23,686.03 crore vs Rs 23,190.49 crore (Bloomberg estimate: Rs 2461.8 crore)
• Net profit down 21.4% at Rs 3,085.39 crore vs Rs 3,923.87 crore (Bloomberg estimate: Rs 4,171.5 crore)
• Ebidta up 3.9% at Rs 5,164.8 crore vs Rs 4,968.8 crore (Bloomberg estimate: Rs 5702.2 cr)
• Margins at 21.8% vs 21.4%

Arvind Ltd., an Indian textile maker, jumped as much as 11% to the highest level since June 2019. Trading volume was ~ 3x the 3-month, full-daily average.

“On all parameters, the business is doing better than expected, be it recovery or debt repayment,” said Nihal Jham, an analyst at Edelweiss Securities, who has a buy rating on the stock.

• Revenue Rs 355 crore, -26% y/y
• Net profit Rs 62.7 crore, -37% y/y, estimate Rs 12.8 crore (range 1.01 billion to 1.59 billion) (Bloomberg Consensus)
• Total costs Rs 310 crore, -19% y/y
• Other income Rs 30.8 cror
  Dividend per share Re 1