Sensex, Nifty trade almost flat; metal stocks in demand

Domestic equity benchmarks were almost flat with negative bias in morning trade. At 10:27 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was down 23.35 points or 0.06% at 37,906.98. The Nifty 50 index lost 8.80 points or 0.08% at 11,153.45.

Traders booked profits after the Sensex and the Nifty jumped about 5.25% in the past five sessions.

In the broader market, the S&P BSE Mid-Cap index rose 0.47% while the S&P BSE Small-Cap index added 0.08%.

The market breadth was almost even. On the BSE, 1006 shares rose and 1061 shares fell. A total of 110 shares were unchanged.

Earnings to watch:

Larsen & Toubro (down 1.16%), Bajaj Auto (down 0.89%), Alembic Pharmaceuticals (up 3.11%) and Jindal Steel & Power (up 0.78%) will announce their quarterly earnings today.

Buzzing Index:

The Nifty Metal index rose 2.02% to 2,161.35, extending gains for sixth day. The index has gained 5.31% in six sessions.

Hindustan Zinc (up 10.80%), Vedanta (up 5.10%) and Hindalco Industries (up 2.03%) were the top index gainers.

Hindustan Copper (down 1.46%), MOIL (down 0.70%), Welspun Corp (up 0.12%) and Ratnamani Metals Tubes (up 0.17%) were the top index laggards.

Stocks in Spotlight:

Reliance Industries (RIL) board will consider Q1 results on 30 July instead of Friday, 24 July, as intimated earlier. The scrip rose 1.03% to Rs 1992.20, extending gains for fourth day. The stock has gained 8.08% in four sessions from its recent closing low of Rs 1,843.10 recorded on 16 July 2020.

The stock advanced 1.43% to hit the day's high at Rs 2000 and consequently RIL's market capitalisation hit the 12.67 lakh crore mark.

Polycab India fell 2.95% to Rs 824.35 after the company posted a 12.57% fall in consolidated net profit to Rs 117.60 crore on a 49.95% drop in net sales to Rs 976.60 crore in Q1 June 2020 over Q1 June 2019.

The company's wires and cables business declined 51% to Rs. 793.5 crore in Q1 June 2020 from Rs 1610.4 crore in Q1 June 2019 hurt by lockdown but partly supported by wires and exports. The fast moving electrical goods (FMEG) business declined 43% year on year to Rs 137.8 crore in Q1 June 2020 from Rs 240.1 crore in Q1 June 2019. While lighting and agro pumps business witnessed better traction, fans business was impacted as April and May are typically key pre-summer stocking periods.

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