Key indices traded with tiny losses in mid morning trade. The Nifty was trading below the 14,700 mark. Barring the Nifty FMCG index, all sectoral indices on the NSE were trading in the red.
At 11:23 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was down 4 points or 0.01% at 48,686.98. The Nifty 50 index declined 25.4 points or 0.17% to 14,671.60.
In broader market, the S&P BSE Mid-Cap index was down 0.67% while the S&P BSE Small-Cap index fell 0.59%.
The market breadth was positive. On the BSE, 1411 shares rose and 1384 shares fell. A total of 163 shares were unchanged.
COVID-19 Update:
Total COVID-19 confirmed cases worldwide stood at 160,828,503 with 3,340,359 global deaths.
India reported 37,04,893 active cases of COVID-19 infection and 262,317 deaths, according to the data from the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India. In last 24 hours, India recorded 3.43 lakh new cases and 4,000 deaths.
Economy:
India's retail inflation as measured by the Consumer Price Index (CPI) slowed to 4.29% in the month of April from 5.52% in March, mainly due to easing food prices, government data showed on Wednesday.
While industrial output as measured by the Index of Industrial Production (IIP) grew 22.4% in the month of March 2021 as compared to 16.7% in the year-ago period.
Buzzing Index:
The Nifty FMCG index jumped 1.6% to 34,602.90, snapping its two day losing streak. The FMCG index saw buying after falling 0.4% in two days.
ITC (up 3.6%), Colgate Palmolive (up 3.19%), Nestle India (up 1.78%), Britannia Inds (up 1.67%), HUL (up 1.54%), Emami (up 1.15%) and United Spirits (up 1.09%) were top gainers in FMCG space.
Earnings Impact:
Birla Corporation fell 3.14%.
On a consolidated basis, the company's net profit surged 28.03% to Rs 249.33 crore on 26.19% increase in revenue from operations to Rs 2,132.61 crore in Q4 FY21 over Q4 FY20. Profit before tax (PBT) fell 6.54% to Rs 179.78 crore in Q4 March 2021 as against Rs 192.37 crore in Q4 March 2020. EBITDA grew 8.8% to Rs 405.53 crore in Q4 FY21 from Rs 372.69 crore in Q4 FY20. EBITDA per ton slipped 10.3% to Rs 937 in Q4 March 2021 as compared to Rs 1,045 in Q4 March 2020. Sales (by volume) jumped 24.5% to 4.17 million tonnes (MT) in Q4 FY21 as against 3.35 million tonnes (MT) in Q4 FY20.
Westlife Development rose 1.64% to Rs 428.70 after the company reported a consolidated net profit of Rs 2.09 crore in Q4 FY21 as against a net loss of Rs 16.66 crore in Q4 FY20. Total revenue increased by 6.3% year-on-year (YoY) to Rs 357.59 crore during the quarter, despite regulatory headwinds, lockdowns, curfews and capacity limitations witnessed across markets. The company also reported a positive same-store sales growth (SSSG) of 10.5%. Sales were driven by an almost complete recovery in dine-in and an impressive 142% growth across the company's convenience channels.
Global Markets:
Asian stocks advanced on Friday, following overnight gains in US stocks.
Wall Street ended sharply higher at the close of a broad rally on Thursday, bouncing back from three straight days of selling on upbeat labor market data.
Powered by Capital Market - Live News
(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Dear Reader,
Business Standard has always strived hard to provide up-to-date information and commentary on developments that are of interest to you and have wider political and economic implications for the country and the world. Your encouragement and constant feedback on how to improve our offering have only made our resolve and commitment to these ideals stronger. Even during these difficult times arising out of Covid-19, we continue to remain committed to keeping you informed and updated with credible news, authoritative views and incisive commentary on topical issues of relevance.
We, however, have a request.
As we battle the economic impact of the pandemic, we need your support even more, so that we can continue to offer you more quality content. Our subscription model has seen an encouraging response from many of you, who have subscribed to our online content. More subscription to our online content can only help us achieve the goals of offering you even better and more relevant content. We believe in free, fair and credible journalism. Your support through more subscriptions can help us practise the journalism to which we are committed.
Support quality journalism and subscribe to Business Standard.
Digital Editor
RECOMMENDED FOR YOU