Benchmarks hit day's highs; PSU banks in demand

Domestic equity benchmarks bounced back in morning trade. Sentiment was boosted by firmness in other Asian stock markets. Gains were, however, restricted by rising COVID-19 cases across the globe. At 10:28 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, rose 159.11 points or 0.46% at 35,070.43. The Nifty 50 index added 67.85 points or 0.66% at 10,379.05.

In the broader market, the S&P BSE Mid-Cap index rose 1.10% while the S&P BSE Small-Cap index rose 0.68%.

The market breadth was strong. On the BSE, 1488 shares rose and 684 shares fell. A total of 114 shares were unchanged.

Buzzing Index:

The Nifty PSU Bank index rose 3.14% to 1,520.50. The index is up 12.4% in four sessions.

Among the index constituents, Indian Bank (up 10.18%), Jammu and Kashmir Bank 9.75%), Punjab National Bank (up 4.47%), CBI (up 2.98%), SBI (up 2.24%), Punjab & Sind Bank (up 2.08%), Canara Bank (up 1.97%), Indian Overseas Bank (up 1.96%), Bank of Maharashtra (up 1.31%), Bank of India (up 1.63%) and UCO Bank (up 1.07%) edged higher.

Q4 Results Today:

Asian Paints (up 0.09%), Bank of Baroda (up 1.21%), Union Bank of India (up 7.33%), Berger Paints (up 0.69%), Aster DM Healthcare (up 0.49%), Balrampur Chini Mills (up 1.64%), DB Corp (down 1.34%), Finolex Industries (up 0.10%), GM Breweries (up 3.81%), GMDC (down 1.10%), Hatsun Agro Product (up 1.56%), Indian Bank (up 10.64%), Kolte-Patil Developers (up 0.38%), NLC India (up 0.62%), Page Industries (down 1.58%), Phillips Carbon Black (up 1.60%) and Vardhman Textiles (up 0.99%) are some of the companies that will announce their quarterly earnings today.

Earnings impact:

Info Edge (India) jumped 5.85% to Rs 2932.75. The company reported 63.4% decline in consolidated net profit to Rs 119.10 crore on 7.8% increase in net sales to Rs 327.60 crore in Q4 March 2020 over Q4 March 2019.

On a standalone basis, net profit declined 37.2% to Rs 41.62 crore on 10.3% rise in net sales to Rs 322.82 crore in Q4 March 2020 over Q4 March 2019. Operating EBITDA stood at Rs 96.50 crore, up 5.8% over Q4 FY19. Billing stood at Rs 331.9 crore, down 8% over the corresponding quarter last year. The deferred sales revenue (amount collected in advance) as at 31 March 2020 is Rs 465.60 crore, down 1.9% over the quarter ended 31 March 2019.

Commenting on the results, Chintan Thakkar, CFO said We continue to evaluate the unfolding situation of pandemic. The billings were growing around 13% till mid of March in FY'20 Q4 and it took a hit in the last two weeks of the quarter. Work from home and business continuity plan is operating satisfactorily.

Meanwhile, the company's board of directors approved raising of up to Rs 1,875 crore through Qualified Institutions Placement (QIP) of equity shares.

Morepen Laboratories fell 3.69% to Rs 28.70. The company's consolidated net profit rose 5.1% to Rs 11.02 crore on a 5.5% fall in net sales to Rs 206.60 crore in Q4 FY20 over Q4 FY19. EBIDTA in the fourth quarter fell 9.5% to Rs 20.61 crore from Rs 22.78 crore reported in the same period last year.

Sushil Suri, chairman and managing director, Morepen Laboratories, said impact of COVID-19 and the subsequent lockdown in the entire country has been mitigated by the company to a large extent by its timely launch of various new products in the personal hygiene and protection segment. The company's board also approved incorporation of two wholly owned subsidiaries to focus on finished dosages business and its new initiatives of online business in the health & beauty segment.

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