Strong market breadth; realty shares climb

The main stock indices held firm near the day's high in mid-afternoon trade. Steep slide in crude oil prices and positive global shares boosted sentiment. At 14:25 IST, the S&P BSE Sensex, advanced 855.83 points or 2.15% at 40,728.14. The Nifty 50 index surged 259.20 points or 2.19% at 11,964.70.

The broader market trailed the benchmark index. The S&P BSE Mid-Cap index was up 1.52% while the S&P BSE Small-Cap index was up 1.29%.

There were more buyers than sellers. On the BSE, 1557 shares rose and 819 shares fell. A total of 187 shares were unchanged. In Nifty 50 index, 46 stocks advanced while 4 stocks declined.

Buzzing Index:

The Nifty Realty index advanced 3.50% to 320.85, rising the most among the other sectoral indices on the NSE.

DLF (up 5.6%), Unitech (up 4.74%), Godrej Properties (up 3.67%), Oberoi Realty (up 3.08%), Anant Raj (up 3.01%), Prestige Estates Projects (up 2.77%), Mahindra Lifespace Developers (up 2.49%), Omaxe (up 0.94%), Phoenix Mills (up 0.87%) and Indiabulls Real Estate (up 0.36%) advanced.

Parsvnath Developers (down 5%), Sobha (down 4.85%), Housing Development and Infrastructure (HDIL) (down 4.71%), D B Realty (down 3.74%), Peninsula Land (down 0.6%) and Sunteck Realty (down 0.12%) declined.

Stocks in Spotlight:

Piramal Enterprises surged 4.12% to Rs 1393. On a consolidated basis, the firm's net profit jumped 20.28% to Rs 724.19 crore in Q3 December 2019 as against Rs 602.04 crore reported in Q3 December 2018. Net sales soared 9.06% to Rs 3,805.67 crore in Q3 December 2019 over Q3 December 2018. Profit before tax rose 0.17% to Rs 828.92 crore in Q3 December 2019 as compared to Rs 827.45 crore posted in Q3 December 2018.

In its financial services segment, loan book dropped 3.06% to Rs 51,429 crore in Q3 December 2019 from Rs 53,055 crore in Q2 September 2019, amid reduction of large single borrower exposures. The ratio of gross NPAs to gross advances stood at 1.80% as on 31 December 2019 as against 0.9% as on 31 September 2019. The pharmaceutical company has witnessed no major 'loss given default' since September 2018, as a result of the strong risk management & governance framework and healthy security cover.

Honeywell Automation jumped 13.55% to Rs 31550. The company's net profit surged 69% to Rs 144.74 crore in Q3 December 2019 as against net profit of Rs 85.62 crore in Q3 December 2018. Net sales jumped 11% to Rs 901.20 crore in Q3 December 2019 over Q3 December 2018. Profit before tax soared 47.3% to Rs 194.44 crore in Q3 December 2019 as compared to Rs 131.96 crore posted in Q3 December 2018.

Punjab National Bank fell 1.13% to Rs 56.7. PNB reported a net loss of Rs 492.28 crore in Q3 December 2019 compared with a net profit of Rs 246.51 crore in Q3 December 2018. Total income rose 7.5% to Rs 15,967.49 crore in Q3 December 2019 from Rs 14,854.24 crore in Q3 December 2018. The result was announced during trading hours today (4 February).

Provisions and contingencies (excluding tax provisions) jumped 50.55% to Rs 4,146.04 crore in Q3 December 2019 over Q3 December 2018. The ratio of gross NPAs to gross advances stood at 16.3% as on 31 December 2019 as against 16.76% as on 30 September 2019 and 16.33% as on 31 December 2018. The ratio of net NPAs to net advances stood at 7.18% as on 31 December 2019 as against 7.65% as on 30 September 2019 and 8.22% as on 31 December 2018.

Numbers to Track:

The yield on 10-year benchmark federal paper rose to 6.504% at 14:21 IST compared with 6.503% in the previous trading session.

In the foreign exchange market, the rupee edged higher against the dollar. The partially convertible rupee was trading at 71.1775, compared with its previous closing low of 71.38.

In the commodities market, Brent crude for April 2020 settlement was up 86 cents at $55.31 a barrel. The contract fell $2.17, or 3.83% to settle at $54.45 a barrel in the previous trading session.

MCX Gold futures for 5 February 2019 settlement fell 0.72% to Rs 40,370.

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