Sensex zooms 500 pts, Nifty above 17,100; RIL, Tata Motors, Maruti Suzuki up 3%
Premium- Indian share markets rise tracking global cues. The Sensex is up 541 points, while the Nifty is trading higher by 164 points.
Asian share markets are mixed today despite gains on Wall Street where investors were encouraged by solid corporate earnings.
The fall can be attributed to IMF's downgrade for global growth.
The Nikkei is up 0.7% while the Hang Seng gained 0.8%. The Shanghai Composite is down 0.2%.
In US stock markets, all the three main indices had their best days in over a month, with the Nasdaq closing up 2.2%, as investors responded to positive earnings and dovish comments from two US Federal Reserve officials on interest rate rises.
The Dow Jones rallied 1.5% while the S&P 500 jumped 1.6%.
Back home, Indian share markets are trading on a positive note.
Market participants are tracking shares of Tata Elxsi, ICICI Securities, and Glenmark Life Sciences as these companies will announce their March quarter results today.
The BSE Sensex is trading up by 541 points. Meanwhile, the NSE Nifty is trading higher by 164 points.
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Reliance Industries and Maruti are among the top gainers today. Power Grid, on the other hand, is among the top losers today.
The BSE Mid Cap index is up 0.8%. The BSE Small Cap index is trading higher by 1%.
Barring banking, all sectoral indices are trading in green with stocks in the energy sector, automobile sector and IT sector witnessing most of the buying.
Shares of Vinati Organics and Varun Beverages hit their 52-week highs today.
The rupee is trading at 76.32 against the US$.
Gold prices are trading down by 0.6% at ₹52,453 per 10 grams.
Meanwhile, silver prices are trading down by 0.7% at ₹68,322 per kg.
Crude oil prices rose about 1% today, gaining back some of their losses during the previous session on concerns about energy demand after the IMF cut its economic growth forecasts.
In news from the cement sector, ACC on Tuesday posted a 29.6% fall in its net profit to ₹4 bn for the first quarter ended 31 March, impacted by a rise in fuel costs driven by the overall geopolitical situation.
In comparison, the company had posted a net profit of ₹5.6 bn for the same quarter of last financial year.
The cement manufacturer follows a January-December financial year.
During the quarter under review, the company’s total income rose 3.4% to ₹44.9 bn from ₹43.4 bn recorded in the year-ago period.
EBITDA fell 26% to ₹6.4 bn during the reporting quarter from ₹8.6 bn posted in the comparable year-ago quarter, the company said in a statement.
The fall in EBITDA was due to significant fuel cost increase despite its Parvat project delivering strong internal efficiencies.
The company’s MD and CEO Sridhar Balakrishnan said the quarter under review was impacted due to the global rise in fuel costs driven by the overall geopolitical situation.
Our efficiency and cost reduction actions under project ‘Parvat’ remained very strong and helped us partially offset the impact. The new investments in waste heat recovery systems will help us mitigate the energy cost inflation while also strengthening our sustainability actions.
The company’s board has also approved the next phase of projects at Chanda and Wadi plants, following which the total capacity will reach 75 MW.
ACC share price is currently trading up by 1.3%.
To know more, check out ACC’s latest quarterly results.
Moving on to news from the defence space, BEML is among the top buzzing stocks today.
In a boost to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Atmanirbhar Bharat mission, BEML on Tuesday informed that it has signed a prestigious contract with Coal India for ₹1.2 bn.
BEML signed the contract with Coal India for supply of 01 number 20 CuM Rope Shovel. This is being indigenously developed for the first time under Atmanirbhar Bharat by BEML.
BEML share price is currently trading up by 1.1%.
Note that defence stocks are in focus of late after the government announced plans to expand procurement of locally manufactured products.
Stocks such as Bharat Dynamics, Bharat Electronics, Mishra Dhatu Nigam, Garden Reach Shipbuilders, among others have been trending higher.
Earlier this month, defence Minister Rajnath Singh released the third positive indigenisation list of 101 equipment and platforms, which the services can procure only from the domestic industry.
The list includes naval utility helicopters, light tanks, small unmanned aerial vehicles (drones), anti-ship missiles among others.
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman had announced in her Budget of 2022-23 that the defence research and development space will be opened up for the industry, start-ups and academia and 25% of the defence R&D budget has also been earmarked for this purpose.
The Indian government is likely to spend a massive $130 bn over the next 7-8 years on the modernisation of the armed forces.
This will give a big boost to the indigenisation of defence procurement.
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As can be seen from the chart above, the allocation to the defence sector is steadily rising.
We will keep you updated on the latest developments from this space. Stay tuned.
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(This article is syndicated from Equitymaster.com)