Nifty nears 9500; metal stocks shine

Key benchmark indices extended early gains and hit fresh intraday high in morning trade. Positive Asian cues boosted domestic sentiment. Metal stocks were in demand. At 10:23 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was up 294.53 points or 0.92% at 32,409.05. The Nifty 50 index was up 93.5 points or 1% at 9,474.20.

The broader market was trading firm. The S&P BSE Mid-Cap index was up 1% while the S&P BSE Small-Cap index was up 0.82%.

Buyers outpaced sellers. On the BSE, 1100 shares rose and 642 shares fell. A total of 98 shares were unchanged. In Nifty 50 index, 37 stocks advanced while 13 stocks declined.

Economy:

Moody's Investors Service on Tuesday slashed India growth forecast for calendar year 2020 to 0.2%, from 2.5% projected earlier. For 2021, Moody's expects India's growth to rebound to 6.2%. Moody's said the economic costs of coronavirus crisis amid the near shutdown of the global economy are accumulating rapidly.

Buzzing Index:

The Nifty Metal index surged 2.09% to 1,696.30, outperforming other sectoral indices on NSE. Jindal Steel & Power (up 4.29%), JSW Steel (up 3.64%), Hindalco Industries (up 3.08%), Tata Steel (up 2.39%), Vedanta (up 2.08%), Coal India (up 1.62%), NMDC (up 1.57%), Steel Authority of India (up 0.55%), Hindustan Zinc (up 0.36%) and National Aluminium Company Ltd (up 0.33%) were top gainers in metal space.

Earnings Impact:

Axis Bank fell 4.59% after the bank reported a net loss of Rs 1387.78 crore in Q4 March 2020 compared with net profit of Rs 1505.06 crore in Q4 March 2019. Total income rose 10.34% to Rs 20,219.57 crore in Q4 March 2020 over Q4 March 2019.

The bank's provisions and contingencies surged 185.09% to Rs 7730.02 crore in Q4 March 2020 over Q4 March 2019. The provision amount includes Rs 3,000 crore related to Covid-19, taking the overall additional provisions held by the bank to Rs 5,983 crore. The bank's gross non-performing assets (NPAs) stood at Rs 30233.82 crore as on 31 March 2020 as against Rs 30073.02 crore as on 31 December 2019 and Rs 29789.44 crore as on 31 March 2019. The ratio of gross NPAs to gross advances stood at 4.86% as on 31 March 2020 as against 5% as on 31 December 2019 and 5.26% as on 31 March 2019.

Atul fell 1.15%. The company's consolidated net profit jumped 26.6% to Rs 141.25 crore in Q4 March 2020 as against Rs 111.56 crore reported in Q4 March 2019. Fourth quarter net sales declined 8.7% to Rs 965.47 crore on year-on-year basis. The result was announced yesterday, 28 April 2020.

Stocks in Spotlight:

Shares of Hexaware Technologies were up 1.83% at Rs 292.40, ahead of its quarterly result today, 29 April 2020.

Glenmark Pharmaceuticals rose 1.43% to Rs 332.50 after the company received tentative approval from the United States Food & Drug Administration (US FDA) for Dapagliflozin and Saxagliptin tablets. Dapagliflozin and Saxagliptin tablets are used in a combination to improve blood sugar control in adults with type-II diabetes mellitus. The drug is the generic version of Qtern tablets of AstraZeneca AB. According to IQVIA sales data for the 12 month period ending February 2020, the market for Qtern tablets achieved annual sales of approximately $10.4 million.

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