Sensex slips 165 points, Nifty below 14,400

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Benchmark Indian equity indices opened tepid on Friday amid negative global cues on the back of the U.S. President Joe Biden is slated to propose much higher capital gains taxes for the rich. In opening trades, Sensex slips 165 points or 0.34% at 47,915. While broader market index Nifty was trading at 14,393 marginally down by 12 points or 0.09%.

Powergrid, AsianPaints, IndusInd Bank, Dr Reddy’s and Axis Bank are the top gainer on the Sensex. On the other side, ICICI Bank, Bajaj Finance, HDFC twins and Maruti lost over 0.70%.

Market breadth remained positive as 1,182 shares advanced versus 463 stocks declining and 573 scrips remained unchanged.

On the sectoral front, Nifty Metal surged over 1% and the Nifty Pharma index was up 0.29%. Whereas Nifty Bank, Nifty Auto, Nifty FMCG and Nifty IT indices slipped upto 0.50%. The volatility index cooled by 0.83% taking India VIX below 23 levels.

However, broader markets outperformed the benchmark indices as BSE MidCap index rose 0.35% while the BSE SmallCap index jumped 0.64% in opening trades.

Earnings today: HCL Technologies, Indiabulls Real Estate, Mahindra & Mahindra Financial Services, Aditya Birla Money, Bombay Wire Ropes, Control Print, GNA Axles, Integrated Capital Services, Medinova Diagnostic Services, Oriental Hotels, Pranavaditya Spinning Mills, Radix Industries (India), Shiva Cement, Smruthi Organics and Wendt (India) will release quarterly earnings on April 23.

Stocks in spotlight: Tata Motors said that the company’s wholly-owned subsidiary – Jaguar Land Rover UK, like other automotive manufacturers, is currently experiencing some Covid-19 supply chain disruption, including the global availability of semiconductors, which is having an impact on its production schedules and ability to meet global demand for some of their vehicles. As a result, JLR has adjusted production schedules for certain vehicles which means that the Castle Bromwich and Halewood manufacturing plants will be operating a limited period of nonproduction from Monday, April 26, 2021. Manufacturing continues at the Solihull plant. JLR is working closely with affected suppliers to resolve the issues and minimise the impact on customer orders wherever possible.

On a consolidated basis, Indus Towers’ net profit jumped 109.96% to Rs 1,363.70 crore on a 234.27% increase in total income to Rs 6,569.10 crore in Q4 FY21 over Q4 FY20.

Tata Elxsi’s net profit rose 9.5% to Rs 115.20 crore on an 8.7% increase in revenue from operations to Rs 518.40 crore in Q4 FY21 over Q3 FY21.

On a consolidated basis, Visaka Industries net profit surged 350% to Rs 30.87 crore on a 55.47% increase in total income to Rs 356.60 crore in Q4 FY21 over Q4 FY20.

On a consolidated basis, Rallis India’s net profit spurted 1149.23% to Rs 8.12 crore on a 30.97% increase in total income to Rs 480.95 crore in Q4 FY21 over Q4 FY20.

Gland Pharma received approval from the United States Food and Drug Administration (US FDA) for generic Foscarnet Sodium Injection, 6000 mg/250 mL (24 mg/mL) Single-Dose Bag for Infusion.

Wonderla Holidays announced the closure of its Kochi and Hyderabad parks till 29th April or until further notice due to the current COVID 19 situation. This decision was taken to contain the spread of COVID 19 and to ensure the safety of the customers.

Global markets: Overseas, Asian stocks are trading mixed on Friday following an overnight drop on Wall Street.

U.S. stocks reversed lower in a swift fashion on Thursday after reports that President Joe Biden is slated to propose much higher capital gains taxes for the rich. Biden is planning a capital gains tax hike to as high as 43.4% for wealthy Americans.

The proposal would hike the capital gains rate to 39.6% for those earning $1 million or more, up from 20% currently, as per reports.

On the economic front, the number of Americans applying for unemployment aid fell last week to 547,000, a new low since the pandemic struck and a further encouraging sign that layoffs are slowing on the strength of an improving job market. The Labor Department said on Thursday that applications declined 39,000 from a revised 586,000 a week earlier.