Indices trade near day's high; FMCG stocks in demand

Key barometers were hovering near the day's high in early afternoon trade. At 12:23 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was up 749.06 points or 2.44% at 31,439.08. The Nifty 50 index was up 238.15 points or 2.65% at 9,232.

The S&P BSE Mid-Cap index was up 3.07% while the S&P BSE Small-Cap index was up 3%. Both these indices outperformed the Sensex.

The market breadth was strong. On the BSE, 1664 shares rose and 513 shares fell. A total of 151 shares were unchanged. In Nifty 50 index, 44 stocks advanced while 6 stocks declined.

Economy:

India's wholesale inflation (WPI) cooled off to 1% in March, from 2.26% in February, government data showed on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, the all-India general CPI inflation declined to 5.91% in March 2020, compared with 6.58% in February 2020. The core CPI inflation eased to 4.03% in March 2020 compared with 4.08% in February 2020. Among the CPI components, inflation of food and beverages declined to 7.82% in March 2020 from 9.45% in February 2020.

Softer inflation could clear the path for further monetary easing by the Reserve Bank of India.

Derivatives:

The NSE's India VIX, a gauge of market's expectation of volatility over the near term, declined 4.89% to 48.93. The Nifty April 2020 futures were trading at 9,195.35, a discount of 6.65 points compared with the spot at 9,202.

On the options front, the Nifty option chain for 30 April 2020 expiry showed maximum call open interest (OI) of 16.36 lakh contracts at the 9,000 strike price. Maximum put OI of 25.48 lakh contracts was seen at 8,000 strike price.

Buzzing Index:

The Nifty FMCG index jumped 4.61% to 29,820.90, outperforming other sectoral indices on NSE.

Hindustan Unilever (HUL) (up 6.06%), Britannia Industries (up 5.98%), ITC (up 5.2%), Marico (up 4.78%), Godrej Consumer Products (up 4.72%), Tata Consumer Products (up 4.62%), Nestle India (up 4.3%), Dabur India (up 3.17%), Colgate Palmolive (up 2.5%) and Emami (up 1.3%) advanced.

Stocks in Spotlight:

NTPC rose 3.72%. The company on Monday informed about its plans to raise Rs 4,374.10 crore on 16 April 2020 through private placement of unsecured non-convertible bonds in the nature of debentures at a coupon of 6.55% p.a. with a door-to-door maturity after 3 years 1 day. The proceeds will be utilized for funding of capital expenditure, refinancing of existing loans and other general corporate purposes. The bonds are proposed to be listed on both NSE & BSE.

Lupin rose 1.97% to Rs 842.20 after the company said it Mandideep unit II facility in Madhya Pradesh received establishment inspection report (EIR) from the US drug regulator. The inspection at the facility was carried out by the USFDA between 26 November 2018 and 4 December 2018.

Biocon gained 0.54% after the company along with Mylan N.V. on 14 April 2020 announced the launch of Fulphila, a biosimilar to Neulasta (pegfilgrastim), in Australia. Fulphila is approved by the therapeutic goods administration for the treatment of cancer patients following chemotherapy, to decrease the duration of severe neutropenia and so reduce the incidence of infections, as manifested by febrile neutropenia. Biocon and Mylan N.V. on 14 April 2020 announced the launch of Fulphila, a biosimilar to Neulasta (pegfilgrastim), in Australia. Fulphila is approved by the therapeutic goods administration for the treatment of cancer patients following chemotherapy, to decrease the duration of severe neutropenia and so reduce the incidence of infections, as manifested by febrile neutropenia.

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