Weak market breadth; Nifty trades below 12,000

Key benchmark indices hit fresh intraday low in morning trade, following largely negative Asian markets. Global cues were weak after US-based Apple Inc. said quarterly sales would miss forecasts, illustrating the blow to corporate earnings and economic growth from the deadly coronavirus.

At 10:23 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was down 265.91 points or 0.65% at 40,789.78. The Nifty 50 index was down 87.85 points or 0.73% at 11,957.95.

The S&P BSE Mid-Cap index was down 0.77% while the S&P BSE Small-Cap index fell 0.83%. Both these indices underperformed the Sensex.

The market breadth was weak. On the BSE, 553 shares rose and 1308 shares fell. A total of 103 shares were unchanged. In Nifty 50 index, 6 stocks advanced while 44 stocks declined.

Stocks in Spotlight:

InterGlobe Aviation slipped 0.94% to Rs 1441.90. Spicejet fell 2.14% to Rs 84.55.

The air passenger traffic of domestic airlines has increased 2.2% to 127.83 lakh in January 2020 over 125.08 lakh in January 2019. Indigo has posted 15% growth in the passenger traffic to 61.20 lakh, while gained share to 47.9% in January 2020 from 42.5% in January 2019.

Spice Jet also posted strong 27.5% growth in the passenger traffic to 21.24 lakh, followed by Go Air 14.6% to 12.47 lakh and Air Asia 32.4% to 8.83 lakh. The airline wise seat load factor was SpiceJet at 91.5% while that of Indigo was 87.8%.

Grasim Industries has allotted 5,000, 6.65% fully-paid unsecured redeemable non-convertible debentures (NCDs) of Rs 10 lakh each aggregating to Rs. 500 crore, on private placement basis. These NCDs have been rated "AAA (STABLE)" by CRISIL, it added. The debentures shall be redeemed at par at the end of the 3 years from the deemed date of allotment i.e. 17th February 2020. If this is not a Business Day, then as per the business day convention redemption date would be 17 February 2023. The scrip was currently trading 1.67% lower at Rs 725.

Q3 Earnings:

Huhtamaki PPL surged 7.58% to Rs 269. On a standalone basis, the packaging solutions maker reported 279.6 % jump in net profit to Rs 68.18 crore on a 9.9% increase in net sales to Rs 663.19 crore in Q4 December 2019 over Q4 December 2018. Consolidated PBT recorded 23.6% YoY rise to Rs 48.74 crore in the December quarter. It has written back current tax expense in the December quarter to the tune of Rs 19.14 crore as compared a tax payout of Rs 21.71 crore same period last year.

Firstsource Solutions rose 2.60% to Rs 43.40. On a consolidated basis, the provider of BPO services reported 8.8% decline in net profit to Rs 89.54 crore despite a 7.4% rise in net sales to Rs 1044.58 crore in Q3 December 2019 over Q3 December 2018. Consolidated PBT in the December quarter stood at Rs 103.58 crore, down 6.4% from Q3 December 2018, on account of higher depreciation costs (up 153.8% YoY) and higher interest payouts (up 125.3% YoY)

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