Benchmarks hit day's high; FMCG shares bounce back

Key indices were at the high point of the day in mid-afternoon trade. FMCG shares bounced back after declining in the past three sessions. At 14:24 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, rose 164.83 points or 0.32% to 51,474.22. The Nifty 50 index gained 40.35 points or 0.27% to 15,146.85.

The broader market outperformed the benchmark indices. The S&P BSE Mid-Cap index rose 0.38%. The S&P BSE Small-Cap index gained 0.99%.

Buyers outnumbered sellers. On the BSE, 1657 shares rose and 1251 shares fell. A total of 141 shares were unchanged.

Numbers to Track:

In the foreign exchange market, the partially convertible rupee appreciated to 72.77 compared with its previous closing of 72.84.

The yield on 10-year benchmark federal paper fell to 5.977% from its previous closing of 6.010%.

MCX Gold futures for 5 April 2021 settlement slipped 0.12% to Rs 47,956.

The US Dollar index (DXY), which tracks the greenback's value against a basket of currencies, rose 0.05% to 90.41.

In the commodities market, Brent crude for April 2021 settlement lost 43 cents to $61.04 a barrel. The contract added 0.62% or 38 cents to settle at $61.47 in the previous trading session.

Buzzing Index:

The Nifty FMCG index rose 0.79% to 34,458.20, amid value buying. The index had declined by 1.32% in the past three sessions.

Procter & Gamble Hygiene (up 3.77%), Tata Consumer Products (up 2.26%), Varun Beverages (up 1.95%), Dabur India (up 1.93%), Colgate-Palmolive India (up 1.97%), Nestle India (up 1.43%), Hindustan Unilever (up 1.26%), Britannia Industries (up 0.96%) and Godrej Consumer (up 0.81%) advanced.

Emami (up 0.40%) and United Breweries (up 0.28%) declined.

ITC was down 0.46% ahead of its Q3 earnings today.

Earnings Impact:

MRF fell 4.83% to Rs 92,325.50. On a consolidated basis, the tyre maker's net profit zoomed 115.7% to Rs 520.54 crore on 13.8% rise in revenue from operations to Rs 4,641.60 crore in Q3 FY21 over Q3 FY20. The company's board has approved raising upto Rs 1000 crore by issuing non-convertible debentures on private placement basis in one or more tranches.

Suprajit Engineering jumped 4.84% to Rs 255.60 after the company said its approved buyback of 15 lakh shares for an aggregate amount not exceeding Rs 48 crore. The company will buyback shares at price of Rs 320 each, which is at a 31% premium to Wednesday's closing price of Rs 243.80 per share. The record date for the buyback is set at 22 February 2021.

The company also announced its third quarter earnings after market hours yesterday. The company's consolidated net profit jumped 65.5% to Rs 51.63 crore on a 23% rise in net sales to Rs 507.27 crore in Q3 FY21 over Q3 FY20. Operating EBITDA improved by 72.4% to Rs 86.36 crore in the December quarter from Rs 50.09 crore in the corresponding period last year.

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