Sensex above 50,100; Nifty tops 15,100

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Indian benchmark equity indices continued their bull run for the second straight sessions on Tuesday led by strong opening in the Asian markets and fall in pandemic cases. In opening trades, Sensex jumped 603 points or 1.22% at 50,183 while the broader market index Nifty 50 was trading at 15,104 soared 181 points or 1.21%. 

“The positive trigger for the market now is the steadily declining fresh Covid cases and the steadily rising recovery rates. The latest numbers (2.62 lakh fresh cases & 4.22 lakh recoveries) indicate a continuation of this positive trend. The market is discounting progressive lifting of the widespread lockdowns starting in early June. Even though growth & earnings will be impacted in Q1, smart recovery can be expected in the subsequent quarters,” said V K Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist at Geojit Financial Services.

All 30 constituents of Sensex were trading in green. Bajaj Finance, PowerGrid, IndusInd Bank, Axis Bank and Asian Paints were the top gainers on the Sensex rallying up to 2.95%.

All sectoral indices were trading with gains in opening trades. The Nifty Metal index was leading the pack rallying 2.31% followed by the Nifty Bank index surged 1.80%. Nifty Realty, Nifty Auto, Nifty Pharma, Nifty IT & Nifty FMCG indices were rallying 0.20-1.35%.

Sectoral rotation & value buying is pushing up financials particularly banking stocks. The latest trends indicate that the stress in the banking system is not as bad as feared earlier. With progressive unlocking of the economy, credit growth is likely to pick up starting June improving the prospects for frontline financials. Market action is likely to be stock specific in the coming days with the market responding to Q4 numbers & likely trends, added Vijayakumar.

Bulls had the upper hand as 1,364 stocks advanced compared to 387 shares declined while 494 scrips remained unchanged. In the broader market, BSE MidCap & BSE SmallCap were up 1.30% and 0.93% respectively.

Earnings today:

Tata Motors, Torrent Pharmaceuticals, PI Industries, Astral, Abbott India, Canara Bank, GlaxoSmithKline Pharmaceuticals, Aarti Industries, IIFL Wealth Management, Route Mobile, Brigade Enterprises, Ujjivan Small Finance Bank, Jyothy Labs, Chalet Hotels, Jindal Stainless (Hisar), Gujarat Alkalies & Chemicals, Minda Corporation, JBM Auto, Kalyani Steels, Dolat Investments, Ester Industries, Kalyani Investment amongst others will be declaring their results today.

Stocks in spotlight:

On a consolidated basis, Bharti Airtel’s net profit stood at Rs 759 crore in Q4 March 2021 compared with net loss of Rs 5,237 crore in Q4 March 2020. The consolidated revenues at Rs 25,747 crore grew 17.6% YoY on a comparable basis and 11.9% YoY on a reported basis. EBITDA rose 28.9% to Rs 12,583 crore in Q4 FY21 over Q4 FY20. EBITDA margin increased to 48.9% in Q4 FY21 compared with 42.4% in Q4 FY20.

HCL Technologies announced the expansion of investment in the United Kingdom with the hiring of 1,000 technology professionals to support its clients in the UK and around the world. The company plans to hire these professionals in the fields of digital transformation, cloud, artificial intelligence and cybersecurity for its London, Greater London and Manchester offices.

Shares of Reliance Industries (RIL) will be watched. Reliance Jio Infocomm (Jio) is constructing the largest international submarine cable system centred on India. Jio, in conjunction with several key global partners and world-class submarine cable supplier SubCom, is currently deploying two next-generation cables to support the extraordinary growth in data demand across the region.

Hero MotoCorp has extended the duration of all its warranty and free services. For the benefit of all its existing customers, the company has extended the duration of the services that were getting exhausted during the ongoing period by 60 days.

Gland Pharma posted a 34% rise in net profit to Rs 260.4 crore on a 40% jump in revenue from operations to Rs 887.7 crore in Q4 FY21 over Q4 FY20.

Zuari Agro Chemicals informed that the fertilizer plant of the company situated at Zuarinagar, Goa was impacted on May 16, 2021, by Cyclone-Tauktae and there could be some damages caused to the fertilizer plant at Goa.

Global markets:

Overseas, Asian stocks are trading higher on Tuesday, as investors reacted to the release of Japan’s first-quarter gross domestic data.

Japan’s economy shrank at an annualized rate of 5.1% in January to March, government data showed Tuesday. On a seasonally adjusted basis, gross domestic product in January-March fell 1.3% quarter-on-quarter. That came as resurgent Covid infections in the country snapped two-quarters of consecutive growth.

Wall Street stocks ended lower on Monday, weighed down by tech shares as signs of growing inflation worried investors about the potential for tighter monetary policy.

On the coronavirus front, the World Health Organization warned Monday that the global pandemic isn’t over yet despite high Covid vaccination rates in some countries. In Asia, places such as Singapore and Taiwan have seen a recent resurgence in local infections, prompting authorities to tighten restrictions in a bid to stem the virus’ spread.