Nifty holds 9,000 mark; breadth weak

Benchmarks traded with massive losses near day's low in morning trade. Trading sentiment was dented after US oil futures for May plunged below zero as storage for crude runs close to full amid a worldwide glut as demand collapses due to the pandemic. A rapidly rising number of Covid-19 infections in India and the resultant deaths also put pressure on bourses.

The Nifty regained 9,000 mark after slipping below that level in early trade. Selling was wide spread with metal stocks declining the most.

At 10:28 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was down 838.77 points or 2.65% at 30,809.23. The Nifty 50 index was down 247.55 points or 2.67% at 9,014.30.

Broader market tumbled. The S&P BSE Mid-Cap index was down 2.03% while the S&P BSE Small-Cap index was down 2.16%.

The market breadth, indicating the overall health of the market, was weak. On the BSE, 578 shares rose and 1276 shares fell. A total of 107 shares were unchanged.

Buzzing Index:

The Nifty Metal index slumped 5.32% to 1,662.95, extending its losing streak to second trading session. It was the worst performing sectoral index on the NSE. The index is down 8.45% in two trading sessions from its previous closing high of 1816.50 posted on 17 April 2020.

Jindal Steel & Power (down 9.99%), Hindalco Industries (down 8.32%), Tata Steel (down 6.97%), Vedanta (down 6.26%), Steel Authority of India (down 5.9%), National Aluminium Company (down 4.68%), JSW Steel (down 4.35%), Coal India (down 3.12%), Hindustan Zinc (down 2.98%) and NMDC (down 2.72%) were top losers in metal segment.

Q4 Results Today:

ACC (down 1.63%), CRISIL (down 2.69%), ICICI Prudential Life Insurance (down 3.91%), GTPL Hathway (down 9.24%), Den Network (up 4.56%) and Tejas Networks (up 3.77%) will announce their Q4 March 2020 results today.

Earnings Impact:

Tata Elxsi rose 1.82% after the company announced decent number for Q4 March 2020 after market hours yesterday. Net profit rose 8.9% to Rs 82.08 crore on 3.65% rise in net sales to Rs 438.89 crore in Q4 March 2020 over Q3 December 2019. The company has also declared a final dividend of Rs 16.50 per share.

Infosys fell 2.11% to Rs 639.15 after the company announced Q4 March 2020 result after market hours on Monday, 20 April 2020. On a consolidated basis, net profit (after minority interest) fell 3.1% to Rs 4,321 crore on 0.8% rise in revenues to Rs 23,267 crore in Q4 March 2020 over Q3 December 2019. Operating profit fell 2.7% to 4,927 crore in Q4 March 2020 over Q3 December 2019.

Infosys said that considering the business uncertainty emanating from COVID-19 it is unable to provide guidance on revenues and margins for FY 21 at this stage. The company will provide guidance after visibility improves.

Linde India fell 3.32% to Rs 520.05. Linde's consolidated net profit rose 9.7% to Rs 39.03 crore in Q1 March 2020 over Q1 March 2019. Net sales, however, declined 14.5% to Rs 377.26 crore during the period under review. The company's profit before tax (PBT) rose 8.7% year-on-year (YoY) to Rs 56.59 crore in Q1 March 2020, due to lower total expenditure (down 11.6% YoY) and lower interest payments (down 87.2% YoY). In view of the unprecedented COVID-19 pandemic and economic forecasts, the management has evaluated the impact on its financial results for the current quarter and made appropriate adjustment to revenue, debtors provisioning and actuarial assumptions.

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