Share Market LIVE: Sensex drops over 400 pts, Nifty below 17,750; HCL Tech, L&T top losers

Good morning!

Indian market ended the week on a positive note on Friday amid positive global cues. Benchmark indices snapped three sessions of losing streak after the Reserve Bank of India maintained status quo on the benchmark lending rate amid buying in index heavyweights Reliance Industries Limited and ITC.

Sensex climbed 412.23 points or 0.70 per cent to settle at 59,447.18. During the day, the index hit a high of 59,654.44 and a low of 58,876.36.

Nifty rose 144.80 points or 0.82 per cent to finish at 17,784.35.

What's next? Here are the latest updates!

2:30 pm: Market check

The benchmark indices were trading lower in the afternoon trade. Sensex was down over 280 points at 59,159.53 and Nifty also fell over 58 points to 17,726.35. 

ICICI Bank and NTPC were the top gainers on Sensex.

On the other hand, L&T and HCL Tech were among the top losers on Sensex.

1:30 pm: Bank of Baroda hikes MCLR across tenors by 0.05 percentage points

State-owned Bank of Baroda (BoB) on Monday said it has raised the marginal cost of funds based lending rates (MCLR) by 0.05 percentage points across tenors with effect from April 12, 2022.

As per the notification, the benchmark one-year tenor MLCR will rise to 7.35 per cent. 

Similarly, the overnight, one-month, three-month and six-month MCLRs have been hiked by 0.05 percentage points each to 6.50 per cent, 6.95 per cent, 7.10 per cent and 7.20 per cent, respectively.

The benchmark one-year tenor MCLR will make consumer loans such as personal, auto and home loans pricey among others.

12:30 pm: Glenmark Pharma shares gain on DCGI nod for Phase 1 trial of novel molecule

Shares of Glenmark Pharma were trading 1 per cent higher at Rs 487.15 after the company announced that its subsidiary Glenmark Specialty S.A. (Glenmark) received approval from the Indian drug regulator, Drug Controller General of India (DCGI), to conduct a Phase 1 clinical trial of its novel smallmolecule, GRC 54276, a hematopoietic progenitor kinase 1 (HPK1) inhibitor.

The stock opened a tad higher at Rs 483.80 against the previous close of Rs 479.20. With a market capitalisation of more than Rs 13,500 crore, the shares stand higher than 5 day, 20 day and 50 day moving averages but lower than 100 day and 200 day moving averages.

GRC 54276 is one of the many novel molecules from Glenmark’s resident, Innovative Medicines Group, headed by Dr. Nikhil Amin, Chief Scientific Officer, specializing in the development of novel molecular entities for critical unmet medical needs.

The company informed that HPK1 is a key regulator of T cell, B cell and dendritic cell-mediated immune responses, which improves antitumor immunity by activating and priming T cells. GRC 54276 has shown tumor cell killing ability in preclinical studies as a single agent and as well in combination with checkpoint inhibitors, making it a high-priority target in immuno-oncology.

12:00 pm: TCS shares in focus

Fourth-quarter earnings season is set to start with IT major Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), which is scheduled to announce its March quarter results on Monday post-market hours.

According to market watchers, the top-line growth for the sector is expected to remain strong on a year-on-year (YoY) basis driven by accelerated adoption of digital technologies and migration to cloud-based solutions in the aftermath of this Covid-19 pandemic.

Other IT majors including Infosys, HCL Technologies and Wipro will announce their financial results on April 13, April 21 and April 29, respectively. HDFC Securities projected that major IT firms including TCS, Infosys, Wipro, HCL Technologies and Tech Mahindra together may report 20.40 per cent and 10.1 per cent year-on-year growth in net sales and net profit in Q4.

However, KR Choksey Shares and Securities added that the margin during the quarter is expected to contract on a sequential basis, largely impacted by supply-side challenges, lower utilisation and higher retention cost.

11:30 am: Hindustan Aeronautics Limited shares in focus

Shares of Hindustan Aeronautics Limited were trading higher after the company and L&T consortium emerged as L1 to make 5 Polar Space Launch Vehicles (PSLVs) for ISRO.

The company is the lead partner with L&T sharing the work. Other vendors too will be involved with the consortium in the manufacturing of the Launch Vehicles. However, the contract is yet to be formalised/ awarded.

ISRO's commercial arm, NSIL has floated the RFP for the said work in December, 2020.

This will be the first time that the industry will build a launch vehicle (LV) and will pave the way for commercialisation of other LVs, including the small satellite launch vehicle and the GSLV family in the future.

11:00 am: Rupee gains 14 paise to 75.79 against U.S. dollar in early trade

The rupee appreciated 14 paise to 75.79 against the U.S. dollar in opening trade on Monday, amid a pullback in crude oil prices.

At the interbank foreign exchange, the rupee opened at 75.94 against the American dollar, then gained further ground to quote 75.79, registering a rise of 14 paise from the last close.

On Friday, the rupee appreciated 10 paise to settle at 75.93 against the U.S. dollar.

The dollar index, which gauges the greenback's strength against a basket of six currencies, was trading 0.13% higher at 99.92.

10:30 am: Glenmark Pharma shares trade higher on DCGI nod to clinical trial of 'novel' small molecule

The company announced that its subsidiary Glenmark Specialty S.A. (Glenmark) received approval from the Indian drug regulator, Drug Controller General of India (DCGI), to conduct a Phase 1 clinical trial of its novel smallmolecule, GRC 54276, a hematopoietic progenitor kinase 1 (HPK1) inhibitor. 

GRC 54276 is one of the many novel molecules from Glenmark’s resident, Innovative Medicines Group, headed by Dr. Nikhil Amin, Chief Scientific Officer, specializing in the development of novel molecular entities for critical unmet medical needs. 

10:00 am: Ruchi Soya shares on a roll

Shares of Patanjali-owned Ruchi Soya jumped over  8 per cent to hit an intraday high of Rs 999 on BSE after the Board of Directors of the company accorded its in-principle approval for evaluating the most efficient mode of enhancing synergies with the Patanjali food portfolio in any manner on an arm’s length basis. 

The board also approved the changing of the company name to Patanjali Foods Ltd. The meeting was held on April 10.

The stock opened 5 per cent higher at Rs 974 against the previous close of Rs 924.85. Market cap of the company rose to Rs 35,109.88 crore on BSE.

Edible oil major Ruchi Soya Industries Ltd. on Friday said it has repaid Rs 2,925 crore loans to banks and has become a debt-free company. The money was paid to a consortium of bank led by State Bank of India. The other banks in the consortium are Punjab National Bank, Union Bank of India, Syndicate Bank and Allahabad Bank.

9:16 am: Market opening

The benchmark indices opened lower amid weak global cues. Sensex opened over 200 points lower at 59,244.27 and Nifty fell over 43 points lower to 17,740.90.

HDFC and Axis Bank were the top losers on Sensex, followed by Titan, Asian Paints, RIL and Bajaj Finserv.

Ultratech Cement and NTPC were among the top gainers.

8:45 am:  FII and DII action

Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) sold shares worth Rs 575.04 crore on April 8, and domestic institutional investors (DIIs) offloaded shares worth Rs 16.51 crore, as per provisional data available on NSE.

8:40 am: Global updates

The Dow rose and the S&P 500 ended lower in choppy trade on Friday, as beaten-down bank shares gained and investors grappled with how best to deal with an economy that could skid as the Federal Reserve moves to aggressively tackle inflation.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 137.55 points, or 0.4 percent, to 34,721.12, the S&P 500 lost 11.93 points, or 0.27 percent, to 4,488.28 and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 186.30 points, or 1.34 percent, to 13,711.00. For the week, the S&P fell 1.16 percent, the Dow lost 0.28 percent and the Nasdaq shed 3.86 percent, as the index was hit after Fed officials raised concerns about rapid rate hikes causing a slowdown.

Asian shares slipped on Monday ahead of a week thronging with central bank meetings and US inflation data, while the euro eked out a gain on relief the far right did not win the first round of the French presidential elections.

The Nikkei 225 in Japan slipped 0.61% in early trade while the Topix index shed 0.35 percent. South Korea’s Kospi dipped 0.47 percent. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 climbed 0.1 percent.

8:30 am: SGX Nifty

The Indian equity market is likely to open lower today as SGX Nifty was trading 130 points lower at 17,764.20.

The Singapore Stock Exchange is considered to be the first indication of the opening of the Indian market.

8:15 am: Market on Friday

Indian market ended the week on a positive note on Friday amid positive global cues. Benchmark indices snapped three sessions of losing streak after the Reserve Bank of India maintained status quo on the benchmark lending rate amid buying in index heavyweights Reliance Industries Limited and ITC.

Sensex climbed 412.23 points or 0.70 per cent to settle at 59,447.18. During the day, the index hit a high of 59,654.44 and a low of 58,876.36.

Nifty rose 144.80 points or 0.82 per cent to finish at 17,784.35.

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Friday kept borrowing costs unchanged at a record low for the 11th time in a row to continue supporting economic growth despite inflation edging higher in the aftermath of Russia's war in Ukraine.

RBI's six-member Monetary Policy Committee voted to hold the benchmark repurchase or the repo rate at 4 per cent, Governor Shaktikanta Das said.