The benchmark indices ended the roller-coaster session with decent gains on Wednesday. Banks and metal stocks rallied while IT and FMCG shares declined.

The barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, gained 162.94 points or 0.40% at 40,707.31. The Nifty 50 index added 40.85 points or 0.34% at 11,937.65.

After surging past 12,000 mark in early afternoon trade, the Nifty 50 index briefly slumped below 11,800 mark in mid-afternoon trade. It bounced back above 11900 level in late trade.

HDFC Bank (up 1.87%), HDFC (up 1.58%) and Infosys (up 0.99%) boosted the indices higher while Reliance Industries (down 1.50%) and TCS (down 2.30%) dragged.

In the broader market, the BSE Mid-Cap index rose 0.23% and the BSE Small-Cap index gained 0.03%.

The market breadth was positive. On the BSE, 1365 shares rose and 1297 shares fell. A total of 173 shares were unchanged.

The Sensex has risen 2.46% and the Nifty has climbed 2.20% in four consecutive sessions.

COVID-19:

Government said that COVID-19 cases on oxygen support in ICUs, through ventilators and oxygen supported beds have shown a significant decrease since the last week of September. In a tweet, the Health Ministry said, this aligns with the national decline of active cases to less than 10% of the total cases.

India reported 7,40,090 active cases of COVID-19 infection and 1,15,914 deaths while 67,95,103 patients have been discharged, according to the data from the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India. Total COVID-19 confirmed cases worldwide stood at 40,728,371 with 1,123,967 deaths, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.

Cabinet Decisions:

The Union Cabinet approved productivity linked bonus and non-productivity linked bonus for 2019-2020. A total of 30.67 lakh non-gazettes employees will be benefited by the bonus announcement and total financial implication will be Rs 3,737 crore.

Further, the Cabinet approved adoption of the Jammu and Kashmir Panchayati Raj Act, 1989. The move will help establish all the three tiers of grass root level democracy like in other part of the country.

Numbers to Watch:

The yield on 10-year benchmark federal paper fell to 5.912% as compared with 5.931% at close in the previous trading session.

In the foreign exchange market, the rupee edged lower against the dollar. The partially convertible rupee was hovering at 73.58, compared with its close of 73.49 during the previous trading session.

In the commodities market, Brent crude for December 2020 settlement fell 50 cents at $42.66 a barrel. The contract rose 54 cents, or 1.27% to settle at $43.16 a barrel in the previous trading session.

Foreign Markets:

European markets edged lower while most Asian stocks advanced on Wednesday as investors continued to monitor the development on the US fiscal stimulus front.

The US stock market finished session higher on Tuesday, 20 October 2020, as risk sentiments underpinned on continued hope the lawmakers will eventually agree on a stimulus plan sometime soon.

White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows said that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin have made good progress during talks, before adding that they still have a ways to go before an agreement is reached.

Reports that Moderna's coronavirus vaccine could be available for emergency use in December if it gets positive results from interim trial in November further aided sentiment.

Tech shares shook off the US Justice Department's decision to sue Google for allegedly abusing its power. Alphabet's shares rose 1.4%. Procter & Gamble shares climbed 0.4% after reporting sales growth of 9% for the previous quarter. Shares of insurer Travelers gained 5.6% as it beat quarterly profit expectations. But IBM shares fell 6.5% after it refused to issue a current quarter outlook.

Buzzing Indian Segments:

The Nifty Bank index rose 1.33% to 24,635.05. It has risen 6.77% in four sessions.

HDFC Bank, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Bank of Baroda, Axis Bank, ICICI Bank, RBL Bank, IndusInd Bank, State Bank of India and Federal Bank rose by between 0.18% to 1.87%.

The Nifty FMCG index fell 0.94% to 29,684.10. The index has fallen 1.28% in two sessions.

Britannia Industries, Tata Consumer Products, Dabur India, Bajaj Consumer, Marico, Nestle India, Godrej Consumer Products and Hindustan Unilever fell by 0.40% to 4.46%.

Earnings in Focus:

Bajaj Finance fell 0.88% after the NBFC's consolidated net profit slipped 36% to Rs 965 crore on 3% increase in total income to Rs 6523 crore in Q2 September 2020 over Q2 September 2019.

During the quarter, the company made an expected credit loss (ECL) provision on stage 1 and 2 assets of Rs 1,370 crore taking the overall ECL provision on stage 1 and 2 assets to Rs 5,099 crore as of 30 September 2020 as against Rs 3,729 crore as or 30 June 2020. The ECL provision as a percentage of stage 1 and 2 assets is 3.69% as of 30 September 2020 as against 2.73% as of 30 June 2020 and 0.91% as of 30 September 2019.

Net Interest Income rose 4% year-on-year to Rs 4,165 crore in Q2 September 2020. During the quarter, as a measure of prudence, the company said it has reversed capitalised interest of Rs 142 crore.

Gross non-performing asset (NPA) and Net NPA as of 30 September 2020 stood at 1.03% and 0.37% respectively, as against 1.61% and 0.65% as of 30 September 2019. The provisioning coverage ratio as of 30 September 2020 was 64%.

Colgate-Palmolive (India) slipped 2.56%. The company posted a 12.32% rise in net profit to Rs 274.19 crore in Q2 September 2020 from Rs 244.11 crore registered in Q2 September 2019. Net sales stood at Rs 1,277.66 crore in Q2 September 2020, an increase of 5.3% over the same quarter of the previous year.

Meanwhile, the company has declared an interim dividend of Rs 18 per equity share and the record date is on 2 November 2020.

Shiva Cement soared 9.20%. The cement maker's board approved the plan for setting up of 4000 TPD clinker unit alongwith a 1 MTPA grinding unit. The company will fund the project cost of Rs 1530 crore with a mix of long-term debt and equity. The ground breaking ceremony is scheduled to be held on 22 October 2020. The board also approved the corporate environment policy.

Shiva Cement posted net loss of Rs 6.26 crore in Q2 September 2020 compared with net loss of Rs 6.23 crore in Q2 September 2019. Net sales fell 6.5% to Rs 5.32 crore in Q2 September 2020 over Q2 September 2019. The Q2 result was declared post trading hours yesterday, 20 October 2020.

Larsen & Toubro Infotech (L&T Infotech) jumped 4.73% after the company reported 9.70% rise in consolidated net profit to Rs 456.80 crore on 1.7% increase in revenues to Rs 2,998.40 crore in Q2 September 2020 over Q1 June 2020. EBITDA margin grew 22.9% in Q2 FY21 as against 20.1% in Q1 FY21.

The board declared first interim dividend of Rs 15 per share for the financial year 2020-21. The record date is set at 28 October 2020.

CRISIL fell 1.60% after the credit rating agency recorded a 14.2% fall in consolidated net profit to Rs 90.23 crore on a 11.3% rise in net sales to Rs 484.99 crore in Q3 September 2020 over Q3 September 2019.

Hindustan Zinc added 4.53% to Rs 233.05. The company's net profit declined 6.8% to Rs 1940 crore on 24% rise in net sales to Rs 5533 crore in Q2 September 2020 over Q2 September 2019. The company's board approved an interim dividend of Rs 21.30 per share for the financial year 2020-21 amounting to Rs 9,000 crore.

Stocks in Spotlight:

Reliance Industries (RIL) fell 1.50% to Rs 2123.25. Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. and Jio Platforms along with its wholly owned subsidiary Radisys Corporation today announced their expanded efforts to develop open and interoperable interface compliant architecture based 5G solutions with a virtualized RAN. This work is intended to fast track the development and roll out of indigenous 5G network infrastructure and services in India. Qualcomm Technologies and Jio also announced that they achieved over a 1 gbps milestone on the Jio 5GNR solution, leveraging the Qualcomm's 5G RAN Platforms.

Larsen & Toubro (L&T) gained 0.80%. The construction arm of the company secured 'large' orders from various clients. As per the L&T's classification, the valuation of the 'large' order stands between Rs 2,500 crore and Rs 5,000 crore. The announcement was made during market hours today, 21 October 2020.

Motherson Sumi Systems shed 1.83%. The company, through its Mexican arm, MRS, struck a deal to acquire Bombardier's electrical wiring interconnection business in Mexico on a debt-free and cash-free basis valued at around $10 million.

Powered by Capital Market - Live News