Indices bounce back; auto stocks decline

Equity indices bounced back in morning trade. The Nifty reclaimed 15,100 mark after slipping below that level in early trade. Buying was seen in PSU banks and FMCG stocks while auto and metal shares declined.

At 10:25 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was up 3.99 points or 0.01% at 51,328.03. The Nifty 50 index was down 2.85 points at 15,116.10.

In broader market, the S&P BSE Mid-Cap index was up 0.03% while the S&P BSE Small-Cap index was up 0.59%.

The market breadth, indicating the overall health of the market, was positive. On the BSE, 1462 shares rose and 1002 shares fell. A total of 149 shares were unchanged.

COVID-19 Update:

Total COVID-19 confirmed cases worldwide stood at 110,289,988 with 2,441,112 deaths. India reported 139,542 active cases of COVID-19 infection and 156,111 deaths while 106,67,741 patients have been discharged, according to the data from the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India.

Economy:

S&P Global Ratings has said that India will be one of the fastest growing emerging market economies with a 10% growth in the next fiscal. S&P Director, Sovereign & International Public Finance Ratings, Andrew Wood said this while speaking in a webinar on India outlook for 2021.

He said the forecast for India in 2021 is on the stronger side and shows that a lot of economic activity, which was frozen last year, is coming back on line to normalisation.

S&P said India's economy has stabilised over recent months, with progressively better manufacturing, services, labour market, and revenue data. The hard part will be converting these trends into a sustained recovery over the next few years.

Buzzing Index:

The Nifty Auto index slipped 1.18% to 10,698.95, falling for second trading session. The index lost 2.5% in two days.

Tata Motors (down 2.37%), Ashok Leyland (down 2.28%), Motherson Sumi Systems (down 2.22%), Escorts (down 2.01%), Hero MotoCorp (down 1.93%), Bajaj Auto (down 1.7%), TVS Motor Company (down 1.54%), Eicher Motors (down 1.51%), Maruti Suzuki India (down 1.36%) and Balkrishna Industries (down 1.1%) were top losers.

Stocks in Spotlight:

Ambuja Cements rose 0.60% to Rs 284.55 after the company reported 41% rise in standalone net profit to Rs 497 crore in Q4 December 2020 from Rs 352 crore in Q4 December 2019. Volumes grew by 7% YoY and supported by good price this has resulted in a 14% YoY growth in net sales. Net sales during the quarter stood at Rs 3,468 crore compared to Rs 3,038 crore in the corresponding quarter of the previous year. Total operating cost per ton declined by 2% YoY supported by operational efficiency programs in the plants as well as logistics efficiencies. These have been partly compensated due to impact of rising fuel costs. EBITDA during the quarter ended December 2020 stood at Rs 768 crore rising by 40% YoY. The operating EBIT stood at Rs 642 crore in Q4 December 2020, showcasing a robust growth of 61% YoY.

NMDC advanced 2.04% to Rs 122.40 after the state-run firm said that its Donimalai iron ore mine has restarted operations. The PSU miner informed that after obtaining the lease extension of Donimalai Iron Ore Mine (ML-2396) for 20 years w.e.f. 3 November 2018 from Govt. of Karnataka (GoK) and completing the associated statutory requirements, the said Donimalai Iron Ore Mine was restarted on 18 February 2021 forenoon.

DLF was up 0.52%. The realty major on Thursday announced that its material subsidiary DLF Cyber City Developers (DCCDL) has completed the acquisition of 51.8% stake in Fairleaf Real Estate for Rs 779.40 crore. Consequently, Fairleaf has become a wholly owned subsidiary of DCCDL.

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