Share Market Update: Sensex ends 221 points higher, Nifty at 11,961 mark; Godrej Consumer rises 4% post Q2 earnings

Amid Q2 earnings season, equity market in India has started on a weak note today, amid globally beaish traded stocks. Sensex at the opening bell started mildly bullish at a rise of 100 points to 40,311.85 against last closing of 40,200 and Nifty 50 started the day's trade at 11,911.50, 11 points higher to 11,900 closing.

Globally investors awaited new developments toward and paused on bullish optimism over trade deal between the United States and China. On back of this, US top indices closed lower yesterday and asain markets too opened lower.

 

On the sectoral front, gains in media, metal, pharma and realty provided mild support to the broader indices, while losses in energy, FMCG, IT, banking and auto dragged indices further down.


 

Cipla, Lupin, Tata Steel,Bajaj Electricals, Bosch India, Godrej Consumer Products, Corporation Bank, Exide Industries, Fortis Healthcare, Indiabulls Housing Finance, Minda Corporation, Radico Khaitan, Religare Enterprises, Emami Ltd, Shipping Corporation of India Schneider Electric, Voltas, Max Financial Services, Mannapuram Finance, Honda SEIL Power Products, Prakash Industries and V-Guard Industries among others are scheduled to post their second quarterly results on Wednesday.

 

 Indian rupee, the local currency opened lower at the interbank exchange, at 70.79 per dollar against last closing of 70.69 per dollar, amid rising demand for the American currency .

Net investment of equity and debt reported by foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) remained positive with net buying logged at Rs 473.17 crore from Indian equities while domestic institutional investors (DIIs) turned bearish with net selling logged at Rs 1,593.71 crore on Tuesday.

 

Shares of Titan Company, the Tata Group firm opened with a loss of 9.65% today at Rs 1,160, also its intraday low on Wednesday, as the 'Accessories' sector company on Tuesday reported 1.8% year-on-year (YoY) growth in standalone net profit at Rs 320.16 crore for the second quarter ended September 30, 2019, affected by subdued performance in jewellery business.

The total income rose marginally by 0.7 per cent, while revenue from operations during July-September quarter  were at par with last year's figures. The jewellery business had a subdued quarter due to very high gold prices, recording revenue of Rs 3,528 crore as compared to Rs 3,582 crore last year. The watches business recorded an income of Rs 719 crore against Rs 676 crore in the previous year, a growth of 6.4 per cent

Monsoon, high prices and fears of an impending economic slowdown caused a steep fall in gold sales in the third quarter of this year, in one of the worst quarterly demand for gold in the country since 2005.

Demand for gold in India for Q3 was 123.9 tonnes worth Rs 41,297 crore, down 32 per cent compared to Rs 50,085 crore for 183.2 tonnes in the corresponding previous year quarter. Total jewellery demand in India for the period also decreased 32 percent (Rs 33,851 crore) at 101.6 tonnes as compared to Q3 2018 demand for 148.8 tonnes worth Rs 40,687 crore.

The value of jewellery demand was down by 17 per cent during the period, said data from World Gold Council, the agency tracking gold sales at wholesale level.  

Gold sales slide 32 per cent in Q3

The data reviewed by Business Today revealed almost 15 Indian companies - including Lupin, Aurobindo, Jubilant Generics, Emcure and Strides Pharma Sciences-received notices out of 32 warning letters issued till November this year by the Office of Manufacturing Quality, US FDA.

The other companies that received US FDA's warning letter this year include Aurobindo Pharma's Srikakulam plant, CTX Lifesciences Surat plant, Lantech Pharma's Hyderabad unit, Rxhomeo's Hyderabad unit, Glint Cosmetics' Navi Mumbai plant, Centurion Laboratories' Manjusar plant in Gujarat, B. Jain Pharmaceuticals's unit at Bhiwadi in Rajasthan, Jubilant Generics's unit in Uttaranchal, Hospira Healthcare's Irungattukottai plant near Chennai, Vipor Chemicals at Baroda and Anicare Pharmaceuticals Navi Mumbai.

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Jindal Steel and Power Ltd (JSPL) on Tuesday posted a consolidated net loss of Rs 399.31 crore for the quarter ended September 30.

However, the company had posted a consolidated net profit of Rs 279.17 crore in the year-ago period, JSPL said in a filing to the BSE.

These are after-tax figures.

Its total income in the July-September 2019 quarter declined to Rs 8,940.33 crore, over Rs 9,983.16 crore in the year-ago period.

Despite the earning figures, JSPL shares on BSE traded 1% higher at Rs 135, trading in line with 'Iron & Steel/Interm Products' sector.

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Top losers in the Sensex pack included Bharti Airtel, HCL Tech, ITC, Axis Bank, Bajaj Auto, HDFC duo, TCS and Reliance Industries, shedding up to 1.65 per cent.

On the other hand, Sun Pharma was the biggest gainer, rallying 5 per cent, after the drug major said it had entered a licensing agreement with AstraZeneca UK to introduce certain novel ready-to-use infusion oncology products in China.

Tech Mahindra, Yes Bank, Infosys, Vedanta, M&M and L&T too fell up to 1.13 per cent.

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Tuesday said the government will soon use its strong electoral mandate to usher in the next wave of reforms, and not to miss the bus this time.

Without naming the reform measures unsuccessfully attempted by the Modi government in its first term, and in an apparent hint at land acquisition reform attempts by NDA1, she said government's efforts last time were thwarted by the poor numbers in the Upper House.



Next wave of reforms soon; pain points in manufacturing to be resolved: FM Sitharaman

Tech Mahindra shares rose 1.33% intraday to Rs 783.50, against the last closing of Rs 773.15.

Tech Mahindra, a subsidiary of the Mahindra Group, on Tuesday reported 5.6 per cent year-on-year (YoY) rise in consolidated net profit at Rs 1,123.90 crore for the second quarter ended June 30. The profit was up 17.2 per cent compared to Rs 959.30 crore in the March quarter.

"The IT firm had posted consolidated net profit of Rs 1,064.30 crore in the same quarter last year," Tech Mahindra said in a filing to the Bombay Stock Exchange.


Tech Mahindra Q2 net profit up 5.6% at Rs 1,124 crore, to acquire Born Group

MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan inched 0.1% lower as investors paused for fresh cues about developments in the U.S.-China trade talks.

On the global front, media reports suggested that China wants the US to drop tariffs on USD 360 billion of imports for trade deal.

Meanwhile, the United Nations on Tuesday said that the ongoing trade war between the United States and China is harming both economies, with a sharp drop in exports and higher prices for consumers.

The Indian rupee has extended the morning losses and trading at day's low level at 70.89 per dollar.

At the interbank foreign exchange, the rupee opened at 70.80 then lost momentum and fell to 70.84 against the US dollar, showing a decline of 15 paise over its previous closing.

The Indian rupee on Tuesday had closed at 70.69 against the US dollar.

However, weakening of the US dollar vis-a-vis other currencies overseas and easing crude oil prices supported the domestic unit and restricted the fall.

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India has decided to not join the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) after negotiations failed to address New Delhi's concerns on the biggest trade deal in the world. The remaining 15 RCEP nations have decided to go ahead without India, according to sources.

Meanwhile, China, that has been a prominent advocate of RCEP, has said that 15 members have agreed to move ahead without India, while leaving the door open for it to join, a deal that has been given new impetus by the United States-China trade war.

 

Shares of Sun Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd advanced 4.5% on Wednesday after the company said it would distribute some of its cancer treatment drugs in China through Britain’s AstraZeneca. Meanwhile, the Nifty Pharma index rose nearly 2%.

Sun Pharma will be responsible for development, regulatory filings and manufacturing of the drugs covered in the deal, while AstraZeneca will exclusively promote and distribute the products in China, according to a filing here to Indian stock exchanges.

Shares of Infosys Ltd were trading flat ahead of an analysts’ meet. The software services company has been in focus over the last couple of weeks after a whistle blower alleged financial misappropriation at the firm.

"Company will hold its pre-scheduled annual analyst/investor meeting in Bengaluru  on  November 6, 2019 at Infosys, Electronic City Campus between 11:00 AM and 4:15 PM," company has said in an earlier filing.

As per the company statement issued today, the Audit Committee has appointed an external law firm to conduct an independent investigation into the allegations made in the complaints.  We will share the outcome of the investigation at the relevant time with all stakeholders

"These speculations are appalling and seem to be aimed at tarnishing the image of some of the most accomplished and respected individuals. I have deep regard for the life-long contribution of all our cofounders. They have built this institution and have served this company selflessly and even today, remain committed to the long-term success of Infosys," quoted Nandan Nilekani, Chairman, Infosys.

 

Realty indices gained the most today among other sectors, rising over 2% intraday with 5% gain in Indiabulls Real Estate and Sobha Ltd, over 3% gain in Godrej Properties and Prestige Industries and 2% advance in Sun Tack and DLF shares.

This comes after the announcement by Fm Sitharaman yesterday that the government working with RBI to revive real estate sector Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has flagged concerns over the problems faced by the real estate sector, saying that the ailing sector required a lot of attention.

“The government of India is very keen and is working with RBI to see how best we can where necessary tweak the existing laws and help the people in this particular sector (real estate) which is not completely addressed till now,” Sitharaman said at a function to mark 25 years of NSE. She said the sector had a cause and effect impact from the stock market.

 

Telecom stocks were also under pressure, with Vodafone Idea Ltd declining as much as 7.1%, while Bharti Airtel Ltd inched 1.4% lower.

This comes after a report said the government would not waive off dues of telecom operators under a Supreme Court verdict on the definition of adjusted gross revenue.

(Reuters)