Benchmarks hit day's low; Nifty below 15,500

The benchmarks indices extended early losses and hit fresh intraday low in morning trade. The Nifty was trading below the 15,500 mark. Metal stocks, however, managed to outperform.

At 10:24 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was down 346.36 points or 0.67% to 51,588.52. The Nifty 50 index lost 77.40 points or 0.50% to 15,497.45.

In broader market, the S&P BSE Mid-Cap index gained 0.89% while the S&P BSE Small-Cap index rose 0.71%.

The market breadth was strong. On the BSE, 1729 shares rose and 980 shares fell. A total of 138 shares were unchanged.

COVID-19 Update:

Total COVID-19 confirmed cases worldwide stood at 171,051,486 with 3,561,896 global deaths.

India reported 1,793,645 active cases of COVID-19 infection and 335,102 deaths, according to the data from the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India.

Buzzing Index:

The Nifty Metal index rose 1.55% to 5,200.85. The index declined 0.78% in the previous session.

Tata Steel (up 1.68%), JSW Steel (up 1.21%), Jindal Steel & Power (up 1.15%), MOIL (up 1.29%) and SAIL (up 0.95%) were the top index gainers.

NMDC rose 0.96% to Rs 183.15. The state-owned miner's iron ore production climbed 21.83% to 2.79 million tonnes (MT) while iron ore sales jumped 29.41% to 3.30 million tonnes (MT) in May 2021 over May 2020.

Results Today:

Motherson Sumi Systems (up 0.11%), PVR (down 0.20%), Muthoot Finance (down 0.90%), MTAR Technologies (up 2.34%), Panacea Biotec (up 0.53%) and Ratnamani Metals & Tubes (up 1.69%) will announce their quarterly earnings today.

Earnings Impact:

ITC fell 1.81% to Rs 211.30. The tobacco major's standalone net profit declined 1.3% to Rs 3,748.41 crore on 22.7% jump in net sales to Rs 13,161.11 crore in Q4 FY21 over Q4 FY20.

EBITDA grew 7.4% year on year to Rs 4,473 crore in Q4 FY21 over Q4 FY20. The company said strong sequential recovery momentum continued.

Total FMCG segment revenue rose 14.8% to Rs 9547 crore during Q4 FY21 over Q4 FY20. In the FMCG segment, cigarettes revenue increased 14.2% YoY to Rs 5860 crore while the revenue from other FMCG segment fell 15.8% YoY to Rs 3688 crore in Q4 FY21 over Q4 FY20.

Hotel business revenue stood at Rs 288 crore (down 38.2% YoY), agri-business revenue was at Rs 3,369 crore (up 78.5% YoY) and paperboards, paper & packaging revenues were at Rs 1,656 crore (up 13.5% YoY) in the fourth quarter.

The company has recommended a final dividend of Rs 5.75 per share for the financial year ended 31 March 2021. The company has fixed 11 June 2021 as the record date for the payment of dividend.

Gujarat Gas jumped 5.46% to Rs 569.70. The city gas distributor reported 42.3% rise in standalone net profit to Rs 349.93 crore on a 28.6% increase in net sales to Rs 3,428.92 crore in Q4 FY21 over Q4 FY20.

The company's average gas sales volume for the quarter was at 12.13 million metric standard cubic meter per day (mmscmd), up by 22% compared to corresponding quarter previous year. In industrial and CNG category, the gas sales volume is up by 24% and 16% respectively, compared to corresponding quarter previous year.

The restrictions imposed to curb the outbreak of recent COVID-19 wave had an impact in the natural gas demand mainly from CNG, industrial and commercial categories. As restrictions are being lifted gradually in many of company's operating areas, natural gas demand is likely to improve. The company's gas sales volume till date in the FY22 stands close to 10 mmscmd as against average gas sales of 9.39 mmscmd in FY21.

Separately, the company's board of directors has approved the acquisition of city gas distribution business for Amritsar and Bhatinda geographical areas from Gujarat State Petronet for Rs 163.31 crore. The acquisition is expected to be completed within 45-60 days.

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