Market Commentary - End-Session
Sensex tanks 793 pts, Nifty holds 22,500; L&T drops 2% As on : 12-Apr-24  17:49

Domestic equity market took a tumble today, mirroring the downbeat mood in other Asian stock markets. Inflation worries flared up again after hot US inflation data squashed hopes of an interest rate cut in June. This spooked investors and whacked up bond yields. The Nifty 50 slid throughout the day, closing below 22,550. Every sector felt the pain, with pharma, PSU banks, and oil & gas shares leading the way down.

The barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was dropped 793.25 points or 1.06% to 74,244.90. The Nifty 50 index fell 234.40 points or 1.03% to 22,519.40.

Larsen & Toubro (down 2.04%), HDFC Bank (down 1.10%) and Reliance Industries (down 0.79%) were major drags.

In the broader market, the S&P BSE Mid-Cap index shed 0.49% and the S&P BSE Small-Cap index fell 0.60%.

The market breadth was weak. On the BSE, 1405 shares rose and 2448 shares fell. A total of 90 shares were unchanged.

The NSE's India VIX, a gauge of the market's expectation of volatility over the near term, jumped 3.82% to 11.53.

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) on Thursday raised India?s GDP growth forecast for the current fiscal to 7% from 6.7% earlier, saying the robust growth will be driven by public and private sector investment demand and gradual improvement in consumer demand.

Numbers to Track:

The yield on India's 10-year benchmark federal paper rose 0.94% to 7.183 as compared with previous close 7.116.

In the foreign exchange market, the rupee edged lower against the dollar. The partially convertible rupee was hovering at 83.4400, compared with its close of 83.3100 during the previous trading session.

MCX Gold futures for 5 June 2024 settlement was up 1.57% to Rs 72,770.

The US Dollar index (DXY), which tracks the greenback's value against a basket of currencies, rose 0.57% to 105.88.

The United States 10-year bond yield was declined 0.90% to 4.535.

In the commodities market, Brent crude for June 2024 settlement advanced $1.07 or 1.19% to $90.81 a barrel.

Global Markets:

European shares advanced as the European Central Bank held interest rates steady again but said slowing inflation could open the door to easing monetary policy.

Most Asian stocks ended lower on Friday with investor assessing economic data from Singapore and South Korea while awaiting China trade numbers.

Singapore?s first-quarter gross domestic product climbed 2.7% year on year, advance estimates showed, faster than the 2.2% growth recorded in the last quarter of 2023. The Bank of Korea bank left its key policy rate unchanged for the 10th consecutive time at 3.50%.

US stocks closed higher on Thursday, with tech-related momentum stocks leading the charge.

US inflation showed some heat in March. Consumer prices rose 0.4% month-on-month, steady from February. Year-over-year inflation ticked up to 3.5%, exceeding expectations and dashing hopes for a near-term rate cut. Core inflation, excluding volatile food and energy, remained elevated at 0.4% monthly and 3.8% annually. This suggests underlying price pressures persist.

New Listing:

Shares of Bharti Hexacom settled at Rs 813.75 on the BSE, representing a premium of 42.76% as compared with the issue price of Rs 570.

The scrip was listed at Rs 755.20, exhibiting a premium of 32.49% to the issue price.

The stock has hit a high of 879.90 and a low of 755.20. Bharti Hexacom's IPO was subscribed 29.88 times. It opened for bidding on 3 April 2024 and closed on 5 April 2024. The price band of the IPO was fixed at Rs 542 to 570 per share.

Stocks in Spotlight:

Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) rose 0.45%. The IT major's consolidated net profit increased 12.44% to Rs 12,434 crore in Q4 FY24 compared with Rs 11,058 crore in Q3 FY24. Revenue from operations increased 1.08% QoQ to Rs 61,237 crore in Q4 FY24. On year on year basis, the company?s net profit rose 9% YoY and revenue from operations 3.51% in Q3 FY24. The company's order book total contract value (TCV) stood at $13.2 billion as on 31 March 2024 and operating cash flow was 100.4% of net income in Q4 FY24.

Vodafone Idea rose 0.23% after the telecom operator said that its board has approved to raise Rs 18,000 crore through follow on public offer (FPO) with price band of Rs 10 - 11 per equity share. The FPO is slated to open on Thursday, 18 April 2024, and close on Monday, 22 April 2024. Anchor investors will be allowed to participate two days prior to the bid/issue opening date, i.e. Tuesday, 16 April 2024.

Larsen & Tourbo declined 2.04%. The EPC major announced that it has completed the sale of its entire stake in L&T Infrastructure Development Projects (LTIDPL), a joint venture with Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPP Investments).

Nibe hit an upper circuit of 5% after the company announced that its subsidiary Karmayogi Manufacturing received purchase order from Ordefence System worth Rs 307 crore.

Manorama Industries rallied 5% after commenced the commissioning of its new fractionation plant with capacity of 25,000 tonnes per annum (TPA).

Dr. Reddy?s Laboratories shed 1.22%. The company announced the launch of the drug-free non-invasive migraine management wearable device, Nerivio in Germany through its step-down subsidiary betapharm.

Computer Age Management Services (CAMS) advanced 1.91% after the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), in exercise of the powers conferred on it under the Payment and Settlement Systems Act, 2007, has granted authorisation to the company to operate as an Online Payment Aggregator.

Metropolis Healthcare added 2.34% after the company said that its core business revenue (excluding revenue from Covid, Covid allied tests & PPP contracts) jumped approximately 15% YoY in Q4 of FY24.

The Phoenix Mills shed 1.13%. The company said that its total consumption stood at approximately Rs 2,818 crore in Q4 FY24, registering a growth of 27% year on year (YoY). Gross retail collections jumped 37% YoY to around Rs 791 crore in the quarter ended 31 March 2024.

PVR Inox rose 0.25%. The cinema chain operator announced the opening of 14 screen megaplex at Phoenix Mall of Asia in the city of Bengaluru.

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