Sensex, Nifty choppy in early trade; auto stocks lead

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Indian benchmark equity indices edged higher in early trade on Wednesday tracking gains in index heavyweights Bajaj Finance, Maruti and HUL amid positive trend in global equities. Fed Chair Jerome Powell’s vow not to raise rates out of fear of potential rising inflation, and instead prioritize a “broad and inclusive” recovery of the job market. At open, Sensex jumped 58 points or 0.11% to 52,647, while Nifty 50 was at 15,797, up 24 points or 0.16%.

Maruti Suzuki, up nearly 2%, was the top Sensex gainer followed by Bajaj Finance, IndusInd Bank, Titan and Mahindra & Mahindra, rising over 1% each. Kotak Bank, HCL tech Ultratech Cement and TechM were among the laggards.

Most sectoral indices on the NSE barring Nifty IT were in the green. Nifty Auto, rising over 1%, lead the pack followed by Nifty Metal and Nifty Pharma.

Earnings today

Apollo Hospitals Enterprise, Asian Hotels (East), Allcargo Logistics, Andrew Yule & Company, Deepak Spinners, Empire Industries, HCC, MBL Infrastructures, Mcleod Russel India, Mercator, Munjal Showa, Precision Wires India, Schneider Electric Infrastructure, Sharon Bio-Medicine, Speciality Restaurants, Technofab Engineering, and V2 Retail are scheduled to release their quarterly earnings today.

Stocks in spotlight

Hero MotoCorp will make an upward revision in the ex-showroom prices of its motorcycles and scooters, with effect from July 1, 2021, to partially offset the impact of a continuous increase in commodity prices. The price hike across the range of motorcycles and scooters will be up to Rs 3,000.

Vedanta has been awarded the Kuraloi (A) North coal block, located in Jharsuguda district, Odisha. The mine has geological reserves of 1,680 million tonnes and an estimated per annum capacity of 8 million tonnes.

Sobha reported a 64.69% slide in consolidated net profit to Rs 17.90 crore on 36.51% fall in total income to Rs 588.90 crore in Q4 FY21 over Q4 FY20.

The Phoenix Mills said that CPP Investment has completed Rs 180 crore investment in Mindstone Mall, a wholly-owned subsidiary company, by subscribing to 11,682 equity shares and 17.65 crore Compulsorily Convertible Debentures.

Century Plyboards (India) said its board of directors has considered a proposal for setting up a new unit in the state of Punjab for the manufacturing veneer and plywood.

Minda Industries has announced that it has won the bid to acquire of 51% stake in leading automotive lighting manufacture UZ Chasys LLC (UZ Chasys) in Uzbekistan for a purchase consideration of 83.1 Bn Sams equivalent to about Rs 58 crore.

Krebs Biochemicals & Industries a group or section of employees from Krebs workers and Staff Union at Nellore unit is remaining absent from duties during various shifts in an unauthorized and unjustified manner. The company may face loss of production and hindrance in the operations due to the said strike of the workers.

Bharat Electronics reported a higher consolidated profit at Rs 1,368.15 crore in Q4FY21 against Rs 1,046.97 crore in Q4FY20, revenue jumped to Rs 6,917.47 crore from Rs 5,816.77 crore YoY.

GE Power India company reported a higher consolidated profit at Rs 16 crore in Q4FY21 against Rs 14.87 crore in Q4FY20, revenue jumped to Rs 930.5 crore from Rs 732.68 crore YoY.

GSS Infotech promoter Raghunadha Rao Marepally acquired 1.02 lakh equity shares via an open market transaction on June 16, increasing shareholding to 18.55% from 17.95% earlier.

Sobha company reported lower consolidated profit at Rs 17.9 crore in Q4FY21 against Rs 50.7 crore in Q4FY20, revenue fell to Rs 553.4 crore from Rs 910.1 crore YoY.

Global markets

Overseas, Asian stocks are trading mixed on Wednesday, following overnight gains stateside that saw the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite rising to a record high.

Minutes from the Bank of Japan’s April monetary policy meeting released Wednesday showed members agreed that stimulus measures, particularly those in advanced economies, could result in a “faster than expected” pace of recovery for Japan and other countries.

Japan’s factory activity expanded at the slowest pace in four months in June. The au Jibun Bank Flash Japan Manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) fell to a seasonally adjusted 51.5 in June from a final 53.0 in the previous month, largely due to a sharp decline in output.

Wall Street rebounded Tuesday as Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell vowed not to raise rates too quickly as the dollar and oil gave up earlier gains. The S&P 500 ended Tuesday just short of a new closing record, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite climbed to an all-time high.

Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell on Tuesday reaffirmed the U.S. central bank’s intent to encourage a “broad and inclusive” recovery of the job market, and not to raise interest rates too quickly based only on the fear of coming inflation.

“We will not raise interest rates pre-emptively because we fear the possible onset of inflation. We will wait for evidence of actual inflation or other imbalances,” Powell said in a hearing before a U.S. House of Representatives panel