shriram Logo




Key barometers end with strong gains
May 29 2023 6:37PM
The key equity benchmarks managed to end with strong gains on Monday, even as the bourses witnessed bouts of volatility during today's session. The Nifty closed tad below the 18,600 mark. Consumer durables, financials and metal stocks outperformed while oil & gas and IT shares witnessed some bit of selling. 

As per provisional closing data, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, jumped 344.69 points or 0.55% to 62,846.38. The Nifty 50 index added 99.30 points or 0.54% to 18,598.65. 

In the broader market, the S&P BSE Mid-Cap index rose 0.41% while the S&P BSE Small-Cap index advanced 0.30%. 

The market breadth favored the buyers. On the BSE, 1,971 shares rose and 1,660 shares fell. A total of 180 shares were unchanged. 

Investor heaved a sigh of relief after U.S. President Joe Biden and top congressional Republican Kevin McCarthy have reached an agreement over the weekend to lift the US debt ceiling and avoid a disastrous and unprecedented default. The deal would suspend the $31.4 trillion debt ceiling until January 2025, allowing the American government to pay its bills. 

The cap on government spending in Washington's deal to raise the federal debt limit adds a fresh headwind to a US economy already burdened by the highest interest rates in decades and reduced access to credit. 

Economy: 

India's foreign exchange reserves dropped by $6.052 billion to $593.477 billion during the week ended May 19, RBI said on Friday. The drop in the kitty has snapped two consecutive weeks of increases. In the previous reporting week, the overall reserves had increased by $3.5 billion to take the overall quantum just shy of $600 billion. In October 2021, the country's forex kitty had reached an all-time high of $645 billion. 

Buzzing Index: 

The Nifty Consumer Durables index rose 1.30% to 25,959.45. The index has added 3.96% in four sessions. 

Titan Company (up 2.68%), Kajaria Ceramics (up 1.85%), Dixon Technologies (India) (up 1.51%), Crompton Greaves Consumer Electricals (up 1.38%) and TTK Prestige (up 1.34%) were the top gainers. 

Among the other gainers were Voltas (up 1.31%), Havells India (up 0.64%), Blue Star (up 0.6%), Relaxo Footwears (up 0.17%). 

On the other hand, Rajesh Exports (down 2.11%), Orient Electric (down 1.48%) and Whirlpool of India (down 0.87%) moved lower. 

Stocks in Spotlight: 

ICICI Bank shed 0.25% while ICICI Lombard General Insurance Company surged 8.19%. The country's second-largest private sector lender announced on Sunday that its board of directors has approved to raise its shareholding in the ICICI Lombard to over 50%. 

ICICI Bank's shareholding in the insurance major stood at 48.02% as on March 31, 2023, and now its Board has given a green flag to increase its stake in ICICI Lombard by up to 4% in multiple tranches. The banking behemoth will acquire at least a 2.5% stake in ICICI Lombard before September 9, 2024, out of the approved 4%. 

ONGC fell 2.87%. The state-owned oil & exploration company's consolidated net profit tumbled 52.73% to Rs 5,701.46 crore despite of 5.21% rise in revenue to Rs 164,066.72 crore in Q4 FY23 over Q4 FY22. 

Power Finance Corporation rose 2.44%. The company's consolidated net profit jumped 45.9% to Rs 4,676.71 crore in Q4 FY23 as against Rs 3,205.88 crore posted in Q4 FY22. Total income rose 6.4% year on year (YoY) to Rs 20,074.11 crore in the quarter ended 31 March 2023. 

Bharat Heavy Electricals (BHEL) jumped 5.16%. BHEL's consolidated net profit declined 33% to Rs 611 crore in Q4 FY23 as against Rs 912.47 crore reported in Q4 FY22. Revenue from operations rose 2.9% year on year (YoY) to Rs 7,819.37 crore in the quarter ended 31 March 2023. 

Sun Pharmaceutical Industries declined 0.26%. The company has issued a letter to the board of directors of Taro Pharmaceutical Industries, Israel (Taro), with a proposal containing a non-binding indication of interest to acquire all of the outstanding ordinary shares in Taro, other than any shares already held by the company or its affiliates (For a purchase price of $38 per ordinary share, in cash). 

Aurobindo Pharma lost 0.68%. The company's consolidated net profit fell 12.2% to Rs 505.9 crore in Q4 FY23 as against Rs 576.1 crore recorded in Q4 FY22. Revenue from operations stood at Rs 6473 crore in Q4 FY23, up 11.4% from Rs 5809.4 crore posted in Q4 FY22. 

City Union Bank slumped 9.79%. The private sector bank's net profit rose 4.3% to Rs 218.04 crore on 13.6% increase in total income to Rs 1,423.09 crore in Q4 FY23 over Q4 FY22. 

GMR Airports Infrastructure tumbled 10.08%. The company's net loss from continuing operations widened to Rs 636.74 crore in Q4 FY23 as against net loss of Rs 128.95 crore in Q4 FY22. Revenue from operations jumped 47.6% year on year (YoY) to Rs 1,894.62 crore in the quarter ended 31 March 2022. 

Neuland Laboratories tumbled 6.44%. The company announced that the US FDA had issued a Form 483 with three observations post the inspection of its manufacturing facility located in the state of Telangana. 

Ion Exchange (India) dropped 5.94%. The EPC company's consolidated net profit fell 2.4% to Rs 81.19 crore in Q4 FY23 as against Rs 83.20 crore in Q4 FY22. Revenue from operations jumped 30.4% year on year to Rs 647.48 crore in the quarter ended 31 March 2023 

Ahluwalia Contracts (India) surged 10.90%. The company's consolidated net profit increased by 70.4% to Rs 72.16 crore on 18.1% rise in revenue from operations to Rs 863.05 crore in Q4 FY23 over Q4 FY22. 

Engineers India jumped 5.81%. The company's consolidated net profit surged 140.3% to Rs 190.18 crore in Q4 FY23 as compared with Rs 79.13 crore in Q4 FY22. Net sales rose 7.6% year on year to Rs 880.10 crore in Q4 FY23. 

Markets in Europe and Asia advanced on Monday on improved risk appetite following the deal between US President Joe Biden and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy to raise the debt ceiling. 

US stocks rose on Friday as talks on raising the US debt ceiling progressed. President Biden and Speaker McCarthy reached a final agreement to avert US default and to suspend the debt limit through January 2025.