Sensex, Nifty gain in early trade; RIL shares edge higher ahead of Q4 results, Cyient surges 7%

Benchmark stock indices on Friday opened on a cautious note, ahead of the March quarter results of Reliance Industries, the most valuation firm on Dalal Street. Asian markets were mostly down, as subdued corporate earnings took a toll on US stocks overnight. Indian stocks, however, were trading a bit higher.

Reliance Industries edged 0.3 per cent higher. Hindustan Zinc, which is also scheduled to report its quarterly results, declined 1.3 per cent to Rs 323.05. HCL Technologies and ICICI Prudential gained following their quarterly results. Cyient surged 7 per cent post its March quarter results. Shares of Nestle India went ex-dividend. 

"The Q4 results season so far has been a mixed bag with IT disappointing and banking giving early indications of continuing strength. Broadly, this trend is likely to sustain. But there can be occasional pull backs in IT from the sharp correction after the Infosys results. HCL Tech results have not disappointed; some IT midcaps may beat market expectations,"  said VK Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist at Geojit Financial Services.

At 9.18 am, the BSE Sensex was trading at 59,719.34, up 86.99 points or 0.15 per cent. Nifty rose 28 points, or 0.16 per cent, to 17,652.40.

"RIL is likely to post good numbers Q2C and retail segments. But a sharp spurt in aggregate profitability is unlikely. On the other hand, ICICI Bank is likely to post numbers ahead of market expectations, thereby giving further resilience to Bank Nifty. The Nifty range of 17,600-17,800 is likely to hold in the near-term," Vijayakumar said.

HCL Technologies advanced 1.12 per cent to Rs 1,050.  Kotak Mahindra Bank, Asian Paints, IndusInd Bank and Titan Company rose up to 0.8 per cent. Wipro, Infosys, Axis Bank and Bajaj Finance edged higher.

Tata Steel declined 1.4 per cent to Rs 106.50. Tech Mahindra, Tata Motors, Maruti Suzuki and NTPC fell up to 1.2 per cent.

In the case of Reliance Industries, Sharekhan sees consolidated profit at Rs 16,960 crore, up 4.7 per cent. It sees sales for the quarter rising 3.1 per cent to Rs 2,13,734 crore. Operating profit margin is seen at 16.9 per cent, up 176 basis points YoY.

Phillip Capital said Hindustan Zinc may report March quarter profit at Rs 2,349.60 crore, a fall of 19.8 per cent over Rs 2,928 crore profit it reported in the year-ago quarter. Revenue is seen declining 3 per cent YoY to Rs 8,530 crore from Rs 8,797 crore in the year-ago quarter. Ebitda margin is seen at 48.5 per cent against 47.1 per cent in December and 56.4 per cent in the year-ago quarter.

Nestle India shares were trading flat. The FMCG firm had announced an interim dividend of Rs 27 per share and a final dividend of Rs 75 per share. Today was the ex-date for the same. Nestle India would pay the dividend to eligible shareholders on May 12.

Also read: Reliance Industries Q4 results: RJio revenue seen at Rs 23,400 crore; here're estimates for retail, energy businesses