Sensex, Nifty hit day's high; pharma shares in demand

Domestic benchmarks extended gains and hit the day's high in morning trade. Global cues were positive as investors watched for U.S. election results. At 10:24 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was up 442.87 points or 1.11% at 40,200.45. The Nifty 50 index added 124.15 points or 1.06% at 11,793.30.

In the broader market, the S&P BSE Mid-Cap index rose 0.73% while the S&P BSE Small-Cap index gained 0.68%.

The market breadth was positive. On the BSE, 1335 shares rose and 724 shares fell. A total of 121 shares were unchanged.

Sun Pharmaceutical Industries (up 0.18%), Adani Ports And Special Economic Zone (down 2.13%), Dabur India (up 1.68%), PVR (down 0.93%) and Ajanta Pharma (up 2.02%) will announce their quarterly earnings today.

US election 2020:

The US presidential race is headed for a tight finish with the margin between US President Donald Trump and his Democratic rival Joe Biden shrinking, particularly in key battle ground states, latest opinion polls reportedly indicated on Monday on the eve of the elections. Biden, 77, was leading Trump, 74, in the key battle ground States by 2.9 percentage points, which comes within margin of error, as per reports. A win by challenger Joe Biden in the presidential race might lead to more economic stimulus.

Buzzing Index:

The Nifty Pharma index rose 1.37% to 11,328.35. The index had lost 0.61% yesterday.

Divi's Labs (up 1.75%), Torrent Pharma (up 1.75%), Lupin (up 1.65%), Biocon (up 1.62%), Cipla (up 1.53%), Aurobindo Pharma (up 0.69%), Alkem Laboratories (up 0.64%) and Dr. Reddy's Labs (up 0.62%) advanced.

Cadila Healthcare hit an upper circuit of 10% at Rs 451.15 after consolidated net profit soared 411% to Rs 423.60 crore on 16% jump in net sales to Rs 3,762.30 crore in Q2 September 2020 over Q2 September 2019. Profit before tax (PBT) surged 336.40% to Rs 534.20 crore in Q2 September 2020 as against Rs 122.40 crore in Q2 September 2019. Current tax expense for the quarter rose 18.4% to Rs 123.10 crore in Q2 September 2020 as against Rs 104 crore in Q2 September 2019. The Q2 result was declared post trading hours today, 2 November 2020. EBIDTA grew to Rs 863 crore, up 36% on Y-o-Y (year-on-year) basis. The EBIDTA margin stood at 22.6% during the quarter, which improved significantly by 370 basis points (bps) compared to 18.9% registered in Q2 FY20.

Stocks in Spotlight:

Punjab National Bank (PNB) fell 1.43% to Rs 27.50. PNB's net profit surged 22.4% to Rs 620.81 crore in Q2 September 2020 from Rs 507 crore in Q2 September 2019. Total income grew by 50.7% to Rs 23,438 crore in Q2 September 2020 over Q2 September 2019.

Net Interest Income (NII) for the quarter grew by 29.3% to Rs 8,393 crore from Rs 6,492 crore in the corresponding quarter of the previous year. Provision and contingencies spiked by 60% to Rs 4,696.15 crore in Q2 FY21 from Rs 2,928.90 crore in Q2 FY20. The Provisioning Coverage Ratio as at 30 September 2020 works out to 83%.

The ratio of gross NPAs to gross advances stood at 13.43% as on 30 September 2020 as against 14.11% as on 30 June 2020 and 16.76% as on 30 September 2019. The ratio of net NPAs to net advances stood at 4.75% as on 30 September 2020 as against 5.39% as on 30 June 2020 and 7.65% as on 30 September 2019.

Tata Motors rose 2.56% to Rs 136.25. The company's sales in the domestic & international market for October 2020 stood at 52,132 vehicles, up by 26% from 41,354 units sold during October 2019. While commercial vehicle sales rose 2% to 28,472 units, domestic passenger vehicle sales surged by 79% to 23,617 units in October 2020 over October 2019.

NCC added 2.23% to Rs 34.40 after the company secured new order worth Rs 833 crore in October 2020. This order pertains to mining division and is received from a subsidiary of Coal India and does not include any internal order.

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