Sensex up 102 points; Nifty above 14,500
Nifty Metal gained 2.81%, Nifty Bank was up 0.86% and Nifty FMCG & Nifty Pharma rose 0.50%.
Benchmark Indian equity indices opened on a flat note on Thursday amid a record rise in COVID-19 cases and below estimate results reported by TCS & Infosys. In opening trade, Sensex rose 102 points or 0.21% at 48,646 whereas the Nifty at 14,558 rallied 53 points or 0.37%.
ONGC, NTPC, SBI, Bajaj Auto and Bharti Airtel were the top gainers. On the other hand, Infosys, M&M, Bajaj Finance, Maruti and Tech Mahindra were the laggards.
On the sectoral front, Nifty Metal gained 2.81%, Nifty Bank was up 0.86% and Nifty FMCG & Nifty Pharma rose 0.50%. Whereas Nifty IT lost 1.20%, Nifty Auto was down 0.62% and Nifty Realty fell 0.48%.
Broader market underperformed benchmark indices as BSE MidCap & BSE SmallCap traded with losses of 0.38% and 0.17%, respectively.
Stocks in spotlight:
Infosys reported 2.3% decline in net profit to Rs 5,076 crore on 1.5% increase in revenues to Rs 26,311 crore in Q4 March 2021 over Q3 December 2020, on a consolidated basis. The company’s consolidated net profit rose 17.5% and revenues rose 13.1% in Q4 March 2021 over Q4 March 2020. In its outlook for FY22, Infosys has guided for 12% to 14% sales growth in constant currency terms in 2021-22 and an operating margin band of 22% to 24%.
Further, the company’s board approved a proposal to buyback equity shares worth upto Rs 9,200 crore for a price not exceeding Rs 1,750 per equity share. The total buyback size is less than 15% of the aggregate of the total paid-up share capital and free reserves of the company. As on 31 March 2021, promoters held 12.95% in Infosys. Meanwhile, Infosys announced a final dividend of Rs 15 per share.
Bharti Airtel announced a new corporate structure. This is expected to sharpen the focus of the company in driving the rapidly unfolding digital opportunity in India while enabling it to unlock value. The new structure envisages Airtel Digital folding into the listed entity, Bharti Airtel. This will now house all of the digital assets spanning Wynk Music, Airtel X stream, Airtel Thanks, Mitra Payments platform used by a million retailers, Airtel Ads, Airtel IQ, Airtel Secure, Airtel Cloud and all future digital products and services.
Tata Motors said that Tata Motors Group global wholesales in Q4 FY21, including Jaguar Land Rover, were at 3,30,125 units, higher by 43%, as compared to Q4 FY20.
Future Retail said that it has received communication from Amazon.com that it has filed a special leave petition before the Supreme Court of India.
Happiest Minds Technologies and BeatRoute have entered into a strategic partnership to solve typical revenue realization problems faced presently by the consumer packaged goods (CPG) industry.
JSW Steel Italy S.r.l on 13 April 2021 completed the acquisition of 30.73% equity share capital of GSI Lucchini S.p.A (“GSI”) for a cash consideration of 1 million euros.
Openreach has chosen Sterlite Technologies (STL) as a key partner to provide optical cable solutions for its new, ultra-fast, ultra-reliable ‘Full Fibre’ broadband network.
Adani Road Transport (ARTL), a wholly-owned subsidiary (WOS) of Adani Enterprises, has incorporated a WOS namely, Badakumari Karki Road, on 12 April 2021.
Moody’s Investors Service has revised the company’s rating outlook to ‘Stable’ from ‘Negative’ while affirming the Ba1 corporate family rating to Motherson Sumi Systems.
NBCC (India) on Tuesday (13 April) said it secured a total business of Rs 518.20 crore in March 2021.
Global markets:
Overseas, Asian stocks are trading steady on Thursday after U.S. stocks eased from all-time peaks.
In the U.S., Wall Street indexes closed mixed on Wednesday, with the Nasdaq Composite and S&P 500 falling despite another record intraday high for the latter and big banks’ stellar results on the first day of earnings season.
The Federal Reserve will continue to support the recovery, and will start tapering asset purchases “well before” policymakers consider raising interest rates, Chairman Jerome Powell told the Economic Club of Washington Wednesday.
In coronavirus developments, a U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention panel decided Wednesday to postpone a decision on Johnson and Johnson’s Covid-19 vaccine following the development of a rare but potentially life-threatening blood-clotting disorder in six women. On Tuesday, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration asked states to temporarily halt using J&J’s Covid-19 vaccine “out of an abundance of caution.”