Sensex rises 143 pts; breadth remains strong

The benchmark indices continued to trade with modest gains in afternoon trade. At 13:20 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, rose 143.08 points or 0.23% at 61,493.34. The Nifty 50 index gained 44.75 points or 0.24% at 18,313.15.

ICICI Bank (up 1.72%), Infosys (up 1.15%) and Asian Paints (up 4.48%) boosted the indices.

In the broader market, the S&P BSE Mid-Cap index added 0.50%. The S&P BSE Small-Cap index rose 0.64%.

Sellers outnumbered buyers. On the BSE, 1,959 shares rose and 1,227 shares fell. A total of 140 shares were unchanged.

Gainers & Losers:

Asian Paints (up 4.48%), Divis' Laboratories (up 2.83%) State Bank of India (SBI) (up 2.28%), Sun Pharmaceutical Industries (up 2.18%) and Shree Cement (up 1.97%) were major gainers in Nifty 50 index.

Axis Bank (down 5.56%), Bajaj Finance (down 4.38%), Oil & Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) (down 2.48%), Bajaj Finserv (down 1.87%) and IndusInd Bank (down 1.80%) were major losers in Nifty 50 index.

Nifty Results Today:

Larsen & Toubro (up 0.37%), ITC (up 1.69%), IndusInd Bank (down 1.78%), Bajaj Auto (up 0.07%), Titan Company (up 0.25%), Maruti Suzuki India (up 0.38%), SBI Life Insurance Company (up 1.81%) and Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone (APSEZ) (down 0.11%) will announce their quarterly results today.

Earnings Impact:

ABB India advanced 2.34% after the company's net profit (from continuing operations) jumped 40.33% to Rs 119.97 crore on a 10.31% surge in total revenue from operations to Rs 1,778.39 crore in Q3 September 2021 over Q3 September 2020. Profit margin stood at 6.7% in Q3 2021 as compared to 5.3% in Q3 2020. Operational EBITA grew 63.10% to Rs 168 crore in Q3 2021 from Rs 103 crore in Q3 2020. Operational EBITA margin was at 9.4% in Q3 2021 as against 6.4% in Q3 2020.

Dr Lal Path Labs skid 1.28%. On a consolidated basis, Dr Lal Path Labs net profit jumped 10.56% to Rs 96.30 crore on a 15.39% surge in revenue from operations to Rs 498.40 crore in Q2 September 2021 over Q2 September 2020. The COVID-19 and allied contributed 10.1% to revenue in Q2 FY22 with 4.7 lakh RT-PCR tests. Normalised EBITDA grew 13.1% to Rs 152.20 crore in Q2 FY22 as against Rs 134.70 crore in Q2 FY21. Normalised EBITDA margins stood at 30.5% in Q2 September 2021 over 31.2% in Q2 September 2020. Profit margins was at 19.3% in Q2 FY22 from 20.2% in Q2 FY21.

Meanwhile, Dr Lal Path Labs has acquired Suburban Diagnostics in an all-cash deal for an enterprise value of Rs 925 crore and a cap of Rs 1,150 crore, the company said in regulatory filings on Tuesday.

Torrent Pharmaceuticals declined 3.44%. On a consolidated basis, Torrent Pharmaceuticals' net profit rose 1.93% to Rs 316 crore on a 5.94% increase in net revenue from operations to Rs 2,137 crore in Q2 FY22 over Q2 FY21, bouyed by strong momentum in branded generic markets. Gross profit rose 5% to Rs 1,542 crore in Q2 September 2021 as compared to Rs 1,463 crore in Q2 September 2020. EBITDA jumped 11% to Rs 711 crore in Q2 FY22 as against Rs 641 crore in Q2 FY21. R&D spend gained 9% to Rs 130 crore in Q2 September 2021 from Rs 119 crore in Q2 September 2020.

Stock in Spotlight:

United Breweries (UBL) gained 1.96%. UBL informed that its promoter Heineken N.V. in its Q3 update said that in India, beer volume grew by close to 50% in this quarter, following a progressive recovery and gradual lifting of restrictions.

Global Markets:

European stocks declined across the board while most Asian stocks declined on Wednesday as traders weighed the latest U.S. earnings reports amid lingering concerns about growth risks from elevated inflation and China's indebted property sector.

In the UK, Finance Minister Rishi Sunak is said to deliver his budget later in the session. The half-yearly update on the country's public finances is expected to bring increased spending on health care, transport and a rise in public sector pay.

In Asia, profits at China's industrial firms rose at a faster pace in September even as surging raw material prices and supply bottlenecks squeezed margins and weighed on factory activity. Profits jumped 16.3% on-year to 738.74 billion yuan ($115.72 billion), the statistics bureau said on Wednesday, quickening from the 10.1% gain reported in August.

In the US, the consumer confidence index increased to 113.8 in October from 109.8 in September as concerns about high inflation were offset by improving labor market prospects.

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