Sensex, Nifty end flat in a volatile session
Sensex dropped 250 points from day's high of 49,089 to settle at 48,832 with marginal gains of 28 points, or 0.06%. Likewise, Nifty50 ended 36 points or 0.25% higher at 14,617 after making an intra-day high of 14,698.
After showing a sustainable up move in the previous two sessions, benchmark Indian equity indices remained range-bound in a volatile session. Sensex dropped 250 points from day’s high of 49,089 to settle at 48,832 with marginal gains of 28 points, or 0.06%. Likewise, Nifty50 ended 36 points or 0.25% higher at 14,617 after making an intra-day high of 14,698.
Asian Paints was the top gainer in the Sensex pack, rising over 2%, followed by UltraTech Cement, ONGC, Sun Pharma, HCL Tech and Nestle India.
On the other hand, ICICI Bank, Bajaj Finance, L&T, TCS, Infosys and Reliance Industries were among the laggards.
A continued surge in the second wave of COVID-19 cases in the country, which already crossed 2 lakh daily cases, has certainly posed a risk to the sustainability of rebound of earnings momentum, said Binod Modi, Head-Strategy at Reliance Securities.
“Further, the current level of mobility restrictions imposed at different states and government’s focus to improve the supply of vaccine in the country should be helpful to contain the outbreak in coming weeks and essentially should not lead to large economic damage,” he stated.
Sectorally, the Nifty Pharma index ended 1.9% higher while the Nifty IT and Nifty Auto indices gained over 1.21% each. Whereas Nifty Metal and Nifty FMCG rose in the range of 0.56-0.83%. On the downside, the Nifty Bank and Nifty Realty indices slipped up to 0.45%.
Broader markets, remained strong with the S&P BSE MidCap and SmallCap indices settling 0.99% and 0.95% per cent higher, respectively.
Economy:
India’s merchandise exports rose 60.3% at $34.50 billion in March as compared to the same month last year, while the country’s imports jumped 54% to $48.40 billion, Ministry of Commerce & Industry data showed.
During the 2020-21 financial year, India’s overall Merchandise and Services exports dipped 6.6% to $493.20 billion over the same period last year. Overall imports in April-March 2020-21 declined 16.5% to $505.90 billion.
Earnings impact:
Wipro jumped nearly 9% after the IT major’s consolidated net profit grew 27.78% to Rs 2,972.30 crore while revenue increased 3.4% to Rs 16245.40 crore in Q4 FY21 over Q4 FY20. The IT major’s consolidated net profit rose 0.14% and its revenue climbed 3.67% in Q4 FY21 over Q3 FY21. Profit before tax (PBT) declined by 2.6% on a quarter-on-quarter basis and it rose by 26.44% on a year-on-year basis to Rs 3749.90 crore in Q4 FY21. Wipro expects revenue from its IT services business to be in the range of $2,195 million to $2,238 million for the quarter ending 30 June 2021. This translates to a sequential growth of 2% to 4%. The company added 52 new customers in the quarter ending 31 March 2021. The IT major’s attrition rate (on TTM basis) stood at 12.1% in Q4 FY21 as against 11% in Q3 FY21 and 14.7% in Q4 FY20.
GTPL Hathway jumped 5% after the company reported a consolidated net profit of Rs 56.89 crore in Q4 FY21 compared with net loss of Rs 13.62 crore in Q4 FY20. Net sales during the quarter increased by 17.82% year-on-year (YoY) to Rs 748.72 crore in Q4 FY21. The company posted a pre-tax profit of Rs 85.67 crore in Q4 March 2021 as against a pre-tax loss of Rs 18.40 crore in Q4 March 2020.
Global markets:
Shares in Europe and Asia advanced on Friday as investors reacted to the release of Chinese economic data. China’s gross domestic product surged 18.3% in the first three months of the year from a year ago, the country’s National Bureau of Statistics said Friday. The surge in growth comes off a contraction in the first quarter of last year when the economy shrank by 6.8% during the height of the domestic outbreak of COVID-19.
Meanwhile, China’s retail sales jumped 34.2% and industrial production rose 14.1% in March.
In the U.S., the S&P 500 and Dow Jones indexes hit record highs on Thursday, as upbeat earnings reports from companies including Bank of America and BlackRock as well as a strong rebound in March retail sales bolstered hopes of a broader economic rebound.
U.S. retail sales surged 9.8% in March as additional stimulus sent consumer spending soaring, the Commerce Department reported Thursday. A separate report on Thursday showed that first-time filings for unemployment insurance dropped to the lowest level since March 2020. The Labor Department reported 5,76,000 new jobless claims for the week ended April 10.
(With inputs from agencies.)
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