After three consecutive session of gains, Indian equity benchmarks made negative start on Friday tracking weakness in Asian peers. Markets managed to trim most of their initial losses and are trading flat with positive bias in early deals on the back of board based buying led by FMCG, Healthcare and Realty stocks. Sentiments got some support with Crisil Ratings’ report that after eight quarters of either decline or single-digit growth, corporate revenue grew in high double-digits of 15-17 per cent in the March quarter of FY21 to Rs 6.9 lakh crore, partly because of the low base and better realisation due to higher commodity prices, pushing up their operating profits by a much higher 28-30 per cent. Though, rising coronavirus cases in the country capped the upside. Breaking all records, India has recorded a massive surge of 131,893 Covid-19 cases in the last 24 hours. With this, India's tally now stands at 13,057,954, Worldometer showed. Active cases are nearing the 1-million mark. India is now the 4th-worst hit country in terms of active cases.
On the global front, most of the Asian markets were trading lower despite the positive cues overnight from Wall Street, as data emerging from China showed higher than expected inflation. The markets are also cautious amid the continuing surge in coronavirus cases in the region and the possible restrictions on economic activity in several markets. Back home, NBFCs stocks were in focus as rating agencies Icra, Fitch and its domestic affiliate India Ratings (Ind-Ra), said that the recent spike in Covid-19 cases and associated lockdowns, though localised, could adversely impact non-banking companies (NBFCs). In scrip specific development, Zensar Technologies rallied after it entered into a global strategic partnership with U.S.-based Claimatic.
The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 49784.29, up by 38.08 points or 0.08% after trading in a range of 49499.99 and 49796.15. There were 15 stocks advancing against 15 stocks declining on the index.
The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index rose 0.38%, while Small cap index was up by 0.81%.
The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were FMCG up by 1.18%, Healthcare up by 0.89%, Realty up by 0.74%, PSU up by 0.64%, Basic Materials up by 0.60%, while Bankex down by 0.23%, Capital Goods down by 0.14% were the only losing indices on BSE.
The top gainers on the Sensex were Hindustan Unilever up by 2.34%, Sun Pharma up by 1.90%, ITC up by 1.20%, HDFC up by 0.83% and Titan Co up by 0.78%. On the flip side, Bajaj Finance down by 1.75%, Larsen & Toubro down by 0.98%, Asian Paints down by 0.92%, Indusind Bank down by 0.76% and ICICI Bank down by 0.68% were the top losers.
Meanwhile, Crisil Ratings in its report has said that after eight quarters of either decline or single-digit growth, corporate revenue grew in high double-digits of 15-17 per cent in the March quarter of FY21 to Rs 6.9 lakh crore, partly because of the low base and better realisation due to higher commodity prices, pushing up their operating profits by a much higher 28-30 per cent. The growth is led by construction-linked sectors like steel and cement which are estimated to have posted 45-50 per cent and 17-18 per cent on-year revenue rise, respectively, buoyed by higher realisations and volume.
It said with a visible recovery in the second half of fiscal 2021, the overall revenue may be just 50 bps lower than that of fiscal 2020. It mentioned that the estimates of 15-17 per cent revenue growth to Rs 6.9 lakh crore in Q4 of FY21 are based on an analysis of 300 companies, which account for 55-60 per cent of the market capitalisation (excluding financial services and oil companies) of the NSE, adding operating profit jumped be 28-30 per cent in the quarter.
The robust revenue growth rides on a low base of the year-ago quarter, besides higher government capex and higher realisations amid a commodity upcycle, among others. According to Hetal Gandhi, a director at the Crisil Ratings a closer look at the revenue breakup indicates 50 per cent of the recovery is contributed by automobiles, IT services and construction.
The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 14879.80, up by 6.00 points or 0.04% after trading in a range of 14806.35 and 14891.50. There were 24 stocks advancing against 24 stocks declining, while 2 stocks remain unchanged on the index.
The top gainers on Nifty were Tata Motors up by 3.06%, Hindustan Unilever up by 2.33%, Sun Pharma up by 1.99%, Grasim Industries up by 1.40% and Cipla up by 1.26%. On the flip side, Bajaj Finance down by 1.77%, UPL down by 1.03%, Larsen & Toubro down by 0.99%, Asian Paints down by 0.97% and ICICI Bank down by 0.71% were the top losers.
Asian markets were trading mostly in red; Straits Times lost 4.17 points or 0.13% to 3,182.23, Hang Seng declined 216.22 points or 0.75% to 28,791.85, Taiwan Weighted fell 30.31 points or 0.18% to 16,896.13, KOSPI slipped 3.39 points or 0.11% to 3,139.87, and Shanghai Composite was down by 25.81 points or 0.74% to 3,456.74. However, Nikkei 225 rose 113.50 points or 0.38% to 29,822.48 and Jakarta Composite added 15.46 points or 0.25% to 6,087.18.