Market opens on a firm note

Indian stock markets are trading higher in early trade as trading resumed after a long weekend. At 9:25 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was up 231.01 points or 0.75% at 30,903.60. The Nifty 50 index was up 73.20 points or 0.81% at 9,112.45. Positive Asian stocks boosted sentiment.

The S&P BSE Mid-Cap index was up 0.58%. The S&P BSE Small-Cap index was up 0.34%.

The market breadth, indicating the overall health of the market, was strong. On the BSE, 823 shares rose and 404 shares fell. A total of 95 shares were unchanged.

Stocks in news:

Bharti Airtel dropped 3.54% to Rs 572. Promoters are likely to sell $1 billion worth of shares in the company, as per reports. Bharti Telecom will sell shares via a block deal today, 26 May 2020. Promoters are going to sell nearly 15 crore shares at around Rs 558 per share. After the block deal, stake held by the promoters of Bharti Airtel will fall to 56.23% from 58.98%.

HDFC rose 0.69%. The company's standalone net profit declined 22% to Rs 2232.53 crore on 3.41% rise in total income to Rs 11,981.66 crore in Q4 March 2020 over Q4 March 2019. Profit before tax (PBT) for the quarter stood at Rs 2692.44 crore, down by 27% from Rs 3690.89 crore in the corresponding quarter of the previous year.

Current tax expense for the March quarter declined 42.20% to Rs 541.66 crore in Q4 March 2020 from Rs 937.11 crore in Q4 March 2019. Dividend income slumped to Rs 2.08 crore in Q4 FY20 from Rs 536.88 crore in Q4 FY19. With dividend distribution tax being abolished, some of the subsidiary company did not pay interim dividend, HDFC said.

Bosch fell 1.29% after consolidated net profit slumped 80.4% to Rs 80.91 crore on 18.1% decline in net sales to Rs 2236.87 crore in Q4 March 2020 over Q4 March 2019. The decline is due to the reduced turnover following the market slowdown and the impact of the coronavirus pandemic during the last few days of the quarter, the company said in a statement.

Avenue Supermarts lost 3.94%. Consolidated net profit jumped 41.61% to Rs 271 crore on 23.6% increase in total revenue to Rs 6,256 crore in Q4 March 2020 over Q4 March 2019.

ITC advanced 3.89%. On Saturday, 23 May 2020, ITC entered into a share purchase agreement (SPA) to acquire 100% stake of Sunrise Foods (SFPL), which is engaged in the business of spices under the trademark 'Sunrise'.

Maruti Suzuki India rose 1.18%. The company informed that Suzuki Motor Gujarat would re-start production of vehicles from 25 May 2020, strictly in accordance with the Government regulations and guidelines. Suzuki Motor Gujarat manufactures cars on a contract basis for Maruti Suzuki India.

Eicher Motors rose 2.72%. Eicher Motors on Monday (25 May 2020) said that its board will on 12 June 2020 consider sub-division of the equity shares of face value of Rs 10 each.

UPL rose 1.32%. The company's consolidated net profit soared 147% to Rs 617 crore on 30.7% rise in net sales to Rs 11,141 crore in Q4 March 2020 over Q4 March 2019.

JSW Steel surged 4.54%. On a consolidated basis, JSW Steel reported 87.4% slump in net profit to Rs 188 crore on 19.6% decline in net sales to Rs 17,556 crore in Q4 March 2020 over Q4 March 2019. The profit was impacted due to an exceptional item of Rs 805 crore. This was on account of impairment provision of Rs 725 crore for the iron ore mining operations at Chile and Rs 80 crore towards retirement of certain fixed assets in India in its consolidated results.

Global Markets:

Overseas, Asian stocks are trading higher on Tuesday as investors looked to a re-opening world economy.

Meanwhile, American biotech firm Novavax said Monday it started the first human study of its experimental coronavirus vaccine. The firm said it expects initial results on safety and immune responses in July.

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe announced Monday that the state of emergency will be lifted in the last five of the country's 47 prefactures.

In economic news, Singapore cut its 2020 economic forecasts for the third time this year. The Singapore economy is now expected to shrink by between 4.0% and 7.0% this year, according to the country's Ministry of Trade and Industry.

In US, markets were closed on Monday for Memorial Day. U.S. stock benchmarks ended little changed on Friday as investors looked ahead to a three-day weekend. The S&P 500 rose 0.2% to 2,955.45 while the Dow Jones Industrial Average slipped 8.96 points, or less than 0.1%, to 24,465.16. The Nasdaq Composite, rose 0.4% to 9,324.59.

Back home, stock markets were shut on Monday on account of Id-Ul-Fitr (Ramzan Id). Key domestic benchmarks corrected on Friday, snapping their three-day rising streak. Weak global cues and rising COVID-19 cases in Indian triggered selling. Shares of banks and financial firms tumbled after the central bank extended loan moratorium by three more months. RBI Governor's projection of a likely negative GDP growth in FY21 further impacted sentiment. The barometer S&P BSE Sensex fell 260.31 points or 0.84% at 30,672.59. The Nifty 50 index lost 67 points or 0.74% at 9,039.25.

Foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) sold shares worth Rs 1,353.90 crore, while domestic institutional investors (DIIs), were net sellers to the tune of Rs 344.16 crore in the Indian equity market on 22 May, provisional data showed.

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