Trading for the week began on a strong note as domestic stocks rallied in tandem with global markets after centrist Emmanuel Macron pulled in the highest number of votes among candidates in the first round of the French presidential election on Sunday, 23 April 2017. The barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, jumped 290.54 points or 0.99% to settle at 29,655.84. The Nifty 50 index rose 96.55 points or 1.06% to settle at 9,215.95. Both the Sensex and the Nifty settled at almost two-week high. The Sensex jumped 290.54 points or 0.99% to settle at 29,655.84, its highest closing level since 11 April 2017. The Sensex rose 316.03 points, or 1.08% at the day's high of 29,681.33 in mid-afternoon trade. The index rose 27.69 points, or 0.09% at the day's low of 29,392.99 at the onset of trading session. The Nifty 50 index rose 96.55 points or 1.06% to settle at 9,215.95, its highest closing level since 11 April 2017. The Nifty rose 106 points, or 1.16% at the day's high of 9,225.40 in mid-afternoon trade. The index rose 11.15 points, or 0.12% at the day's low of 9,130.55 at the onset of trading session. Among secondary barometers, the BSE Mid-Cap index rose 0.95%. The BSE Small-Cap index rose 0.82%. Both these indices underperformed the Sensex. The market breadth, indicating the overall health of the market, was positive. On BSE, 1,618 shares rose and 1,271 shares fell. A total of 186 shares were unchanged. The total turnover on BSE amounted to Rs 4358.14 crore, lower than turnover of Rs 7376.16 crore registered during the previous trading session on Friday, 21 April 2017. Among the sectoral indices on BSE, the BSE Basic Materials index (up 2.11%), the BSE Finance index (up 1.43%) and the BSE Realty index (up 3.02%) outperformed the Sensex. The BSE Healthcare index (down 0.43%), the BSE Energy index (up 0.69%) and the BSE Consumer Durables index (up 0.01%) underperformed the Sensex. Reliance Industries rose 1.19% to Rs 1,416.40. RIL is scheduled to announce Q4 March 2017 results today, 24 April 2017. Meanwhile, Reliance Industries (RIL) commenced commercial production from its coal bed methane (CBM) block SP(West)-CBM-2001/1 from 24 March 2017 and is currently supplying CBM for commissioning the Shahdol Phulpur Pipeline (SHPPL). The production from RIL's Sohagpur CBM fields will gradually ramp-up in the next 15-18 months making RIL among the largest unconventional natural gas producers in India. The announcement was made after market hours on Friday, 21 April 2017. Reliance Gas Pipelines (RGPL, a wholly owned subsidiary of RIL, laid a 302 kilometers Shahdol Phulpur gas pipeline that connects Sohagpur CBM fields from Shahdol to Hazira- Vijaipur-Jagdishpur (HBJ) pipeline Network of GAIL at Phulpur. With this new pipeline network these CBM gas fields are now connected with the Indian gas grid. HCL Technologies rose 0.65% after the company announced an agreement to acquire 100% stake in US based Urban Fulfillment Services, a provider of mortgage business process & fulfilment services. It employs over 350 highly skilled professions, operating out of its 3 centres in the US. The announcement was made during market hours today, 24 April 2017. This acquisition would immediately bolster HCL's presence into the mortgage business process outsourcing (BPO) market. The acquisition is likely to be completed in June 2017. The total cash consideration for 100% stake in UFS is up to $30 million, including contingent payments subject to certain financial milestones. Mortgage servicing is a regulated activity in USA and the transaction would require regulatory approvals for obtaining the licenses. The turnover of UFS for the financial year ended 31 December 2016 was $48 million. Bank stocks rose across the board. Among private bank stocks, HDFC Bank (up 2.41%), Kotak Mahindra Bank (up 1.84%), Axis Bank (up 2.55%) and Yes Bank (up 0.8%) gained. RBL Bank (down 1.04%) and ICICI Bank (down 0.17%) fell. IndusInd Bank fell 0.33%. The bank announced during trading hours today, 24 April 2017, that it inaugurated a new branch in Bhinder - expands presence across Rajasthan. IndusInd Bank recently inaugurated its first branch in Bhinder, known for its silver and cloth market. The branch is located at ground floor, Plot No. 04, outside Rampole Darwaja, Station Road, Bhinder, Udaipur, Rajasthan - 313603. With the inauguration of this branch, the bank now has 94 branches in the state of Rajasthan. Among PSU bank stocks, Indian Bank (up 9.29%), Vijaya Bank (up 8.74%), Corporation Bank (up 2.89%), State Bank of India (SBI) (up 1.21%), Punjab National Bank (up 0.29%), Bank of Baroda (up 2.05%), Canara Bank (up 1.5%), IDBI Bank (up 2.28%), Bank of India (up 1.63%) and Union Bank of India (up 1.98%) gained. Power generation stocks edged higher. Torrent Power (up 5.37%), Reliance Power (up 5.19%), Jaiprakash Power Ventures (up 5.03%), GMR Infrastructure (up 4.27%), Tata Power Company (up 2.26%), Adani Power (up 1.83%), Reliance Infrastructure (up 1.75%), and CESC (up 0.16%), edged higher. JSW Energy (down 0.47%) and NTPC (down 0.51%) edged lower. State-run Coal India rose 0.13%. State-run Power Grid Corporation of India fell 0.29%. Cement shares edged higher. Ambuja Cements rose 3.13%. Shree Cement gained 5.5%. Grasim Industries rose 4.24%. Grasim has exposure to cement sector through its holding in UltraTech Cement. UltraTech Cement rose 4.42%. The company's consolidated net profit declined 11.24% to Rs 726 crore on 2.59% growth in net sales to Rs 6922 crore in Q4 March 2017 over Q4 March 2016. The result was announced during market hours today, 24 April 2017. The company's consolidated profit before interest, depreciation and tax (PBIDT) fell 1.74% to Rs 1577 crore in Q4 March 2017 over Q4 March 2016. UltraTech said that work on setting up the 3.5 million tonnes per annum (MTPA) integrated cement plant at Dhar, Madhya Pradesh is on track. Commercial production is expected to commence from Q4 of FY 2019. With this expansion and the acquisition of the cement plants of Jaiprakash Associates, the company's cement capacity will stand augmented to 95.4 MTPA, including its overseas operations. Cement major ACC surged 7.36%. The company's consolidated net profit fell 9.05% to Rs 211 crore on 7.76% rise in sales to Rs 3108 crore in Q1 March 2017 over Q1 March 2016. The result was announced after market hours on Friday, 21 April 2017. ACC said that cement volumes rose 3.77% to 6.6 million tonnes in Q1 March 2017 over Q1 March 2016, as the impact of demonetisation declined and benefits were delivered from ongoing customer excellence initiatives and higher sales from the expanded capacity at Jamul and Sindri plant. Operating earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) fell 5.65% to Rs 417 crore in Q1 March 2017 over Q1 March 2016 as cost of petcoke, coal, packing materials and freight hardened. There was also a shortfall in regular availability of fly ash, a part of which was procured over longer leads entailing higher transportation costs. The profit before tax dropped 19.93% to Rs 261 crore in Q1 March 2017 over Q1 March 2016, impacted by a higher depreciation charge on account of commissioning of Jamul/Sindri project in the second half of 2016. The company in its outlook said that increased government spending on infrastructure development, housing, roads, railways, irrigation and other schemes as announced in the Union Budget are expected to reinvigorate the construction sector and boost demand for cement and concrete during 2017. Realty shares were in demand. Indiabulls Real Estate (up 6.48%), DLF (up 4%), Housing Development and Infrastructure (HDIL) (up 2.51%), D B Realty (up 3.06%), Sunteck Realty (up 2.48%), Godrej Properties (up 1.51%), Oberoi Realty (up 2.45%), Peninsula Land (up 0.37%), Parsvnath Developers (up 0.38%), Prestige Estates Projects (up 2.17%), Phoenix Mills (up 1.6%), Omaxe (up 1.57%), and Unitech (up 1.88%), edged higher. Sobha (down 1.24%) fell. Lumax Industries surged 12.2% after the company received order to supply new age headlamps and rear lamps for the new generation Maruti Suzuki Swift, that commences production later this year at carmakers Gujarat facility in Mehsana district. The order will be fulfilled from the Sanand plant. The announcement was made after market hours on Friday, 21 April 2017. Dilip Buildcon gained 5.01% after the company announced that the Airport Authority of India has declared the company as lowest-1 bidder for the construction of parallel taxi Track and associated civil & electrical works at Dabolim Airport, Goa. The bid price put by the company for the project was Rs 125.01 crore. The construction period of the project is 24 months. The company made the announcement during market hours today, 24 April 2017. Meanwhile, the Sensex has gained 35.34 points or 0.12% in this month so far (till 24 April 2017). The barometer index has gained 3,029.38 points, or 11.38% in the calendar year 2017 (till 24 April 2017). From a 52-week low of 25,057.93 hit on 6 May 2016, the barometer index has risen 4,597.91 points or 18.35%. From a 52-week high of 30,007.48 hit on 5 April 2017, the barometer index is off 351.64 points or 1.17%. The Sensex is off 368.90 points or 1.23% from a record high of 30,024.74 hit on 4 March 2015. Overseas, European markets were trading sharply higher while most Asian stocks ended higher after the centrist Emmanuel Macron won the first round of the French presidential election. Centrist candidate Emmanuel Macron won the first round of the French presidential election with 23.75% of the vote, advancing to the second and final vote with far-right Marine Le Pen who took 21.53%, which will take place on 7 May 2017. Macron has promised to cut corporate tax rates gradually to 25% from the current 33%. He also wants to make France's 35-hour work week more flexible, and slash housing taxes for most people. He has pledged to cut public spending by €60 billion ($64 billion) a year, and plans an economic stimulus package worth €50 billion over five years. Macron is a free trade supporter and campaigned in favor of the EU's new agreement with Canada. Marine Le Pen wants France to leave the euro, return to the franc, exit the Schengen agreement and close French borders for immigrants. Tension on the Korean peninsula, however, concerned investors. North Korea reportedly arrested an American citizen in Pyongyang. The hermit state also indicated that it was prepared to sink a US aircraft carrier to showcase its military prowess. US markets ended Friday's session lower ahead of the French vote, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average shedding 0.15% and the S&P 500 Index losing 0.30%. Powered by Capital Market - Live News |