Sensex above 49,000; Nifty tops 14,700

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After rallying over 2.2% in the previous two trading sessions benchmark Indian equity indices continued their uptrend for the third day on Wednesday. In opening trades, Sensex rallied 280 points or 0.57% at 49,224 while the broader market Nifty 50 was trading at 14,736 gained 83 points or 0.57%.

All 30 constituents of Sensex were trading in the green with Bajaj Finance surging over 3%, followed Bajaj FinServ soared 2.6%, Bajaj Auto, SBI & IndusInd Bank gained over 1.5%.

Barring the Nifty Metal index all other sectoral indices are trading with gains. Nifty Auto jumped 1.42% followed by Nifty Bank, Nifty FMCG, Nifty IT, Nifty Pharma and Nifty Realty indices gained up to 0.80%.

Market breadth was strong with 1,355 stocks advancing compared to 382 shares declining while 506 scrips remained unchanged.

Broader market replicated gains of benchmark indices with BSE MidCap and BSE SmallCap indices rallying 0.70% and 0.88% respectively.

Earnings today:

Bajaj Finserv, Biocon, Bombay Dyeing, Carborundum Universal, Chennai Petro, GHCL, Hathway Cable, KPR Mill, KPIT Tech, KSB, Maharashtra Scooters, Mastek, Sundaram Clayton, SIS, Tata Communications, UTI AMC amongst others will be declaring their results today.

Stocks in spotlight:

Bajaj Finance’s consolidated net profit jumped 42% to Rs 1,347 crore on 5% decline in total income to Rs 6,855 crore in Q4 FY21 over Q4 FY20. The NBFC’s new loans booked during Q4 FY21 stood at 5.47 million, down by 9% over 6.03 million in Q4 FY20. Customer franchise as of 31 March 2021 was at 48.57 million compared with 42.60 million as of 31 March 2020. Bajaj Finance acquired 2.26 million new customers in Q4 FY21 compared with 1.85 million in Q4 FY20.

Axis Bank reported net profit of Rs 2677 crore in Q4 FY21 compared with net loss of Rs 1387.78 crore in Q4 FY20. Total income during the quarter declined marginally by 0.03% to Rs 20,213.46 crore in Q4 FY21 over Q4 FY20. The bank posted a pre-tax profit of Rs 3569.67 crore in Q4 FY21 compared with pre-tax loss of Rs 1878.91 crore in Q4 FY20.

Britannia Industries’ consolidated net profit fell 2.78% to Rs 364.32 crore on 8.42% increase in total income to Rs 3,194.52 crore in Q4 FY21 over Q4 FY20.

On a standalone basis, ABB India’s net profit soared 118.64% to Rs 141.33 crore on 7.02% increase in total revenue from operations to Rs 1,629.15 crore in Q1 FY21 over Q1 FY20.

HDFC Asset Management Company (HDFC AMC) reported 26% jump in net profit to Rs 315.9 crore on 6% rise in revenue from operations to Rs 502.9 crore in Q4 FY21 over Q4 FY20.

TVS Motor Company’s consolidated net profit rose 318.76% to Rs 310.05 crore on 48.78% increase in total income to Rs 6,142.67 crore in Q4 FY21 over Q4 FY20.

Info Edge (India) said that it would sell a stake worth Rs 750 crore in the initial public offering of Zomato through an offer for sale.

Global markets:

Overseas, Asian stocks are trading mixed on Wednesday ahead of the US Federal Reserve’s policy decision.

Japan’s retail sales rose 5.2% in March as compared with a year ago, according to government data.

In the U.S., the S&P 500 closed little changed near its record level on Tuesday as investors braced for a big batch of tech earnings.

The Federal Reserve kicked off its two-day policy meeting Tuesday. The central bank is reportedly likely to hold and keep its asset-buying program in place at the same levels for the rest of 2021, despite growing concerns about an overheating economy.

Consumer confidence climbed sharply to hit a pandemic high with The Conference Board’s index jumping to 121.7, the highest since February 2020.