The key equity indices scaled fresh highs in morning trade, boosted by IT and FMCG stocks. The Nifty hovered near the 16,550 mark. Investors heaved a sigh of relief after India's retail inflation fell below the Reserve bank of India (RBI)'s threshold of 6% in July 2021.
At 10:20 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was up 277.84 points or 0.51% to 55,121.82. The Nifty 50 index added 85.20 points or 0.52% to 16,449.60.
In the broader market, the S&P BSE Mid-Cap index rose 0.24% while the S&P BSE Small-Cap index gained 0.54%.
The market breadth was strong. On the BSE, 1768 shares rose and 1096 shares fell. A total of 117 shares were unchanged.
Economy:
India's retail inflation eased to a three-month low in July on the back of softening food prices. The consumer price index (CPI) based inflation cooled to 5.59% in the last month from 6.26% in June, government data released on Thursday showed. Food inflation fell substantially to 3.96% in July from 5.15% in June.
Meanwhile, India's industrial activity was affected due to the nationwide Covid lockdown last year in April and May but had picked up June onwards. Industrial output for the month of June rose 13.6%. Factory output, measured by the Index of Industrial Production (IIP) had contracted 16.6% in the same month of last year and rose by 29.3% in May.
COVID-19 Update:
Total COVID-19 confirmed cases worldwide stood at 205,374,018 with 4,334,186 global deaths.
India reported 385,227 active cases of COVID-19 infection and 430,254 deaths, according to the data from the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India.
India achieves its highest ever recovery rate of 97.46%. 40,120 daily new cases were reported in the last 24 hours. Daily positivity rate (2.04%) is less than 3% for last 18 days. India's Active caseload (3,85,227) presently constitute 1.20% of total cases.
Buzzing Index:
The Nifty FMCG index rose 0.87% to 36,839.35. The index has added 1.14% in two sessions.
Varun Beverages (up 2.31%), Dabur (up 2%), Procter & Gamble Hygiene (up 1.98%), Tata Consumer Products (up 1.80%), ITC (up 1.71%), Marico (up 1.21%), United Spirits (up 1.05%), Emami (up 1.01%), Jubilant Foodworks (up 0.94%) and Godrej Consumer Products (up 0.52%) advanced.
Results Today:
Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) (down 0.22%), Grasim Industries (up 0.74%), Apollo Hospitals Enterprise (down 0.70%), Indian Railway Finance Corporation (up 0.21%), Indraprastha Gas (up 0.79%), AIA Engineering (up 0.07%), Petronet LNG (up 0.61%), Akzo Nobel India (up 1.03%), Bharat Dynamics (up 2.30%), Mindspace Business Parks REIT (up 0.36%), Burger King India (down 2.33%), Tube Investments of India (up 1.37%), Glenmark Pharmaceuticals (down 0.47%), Bayer Cropscience (up 1.67%), NHPC (up 0.38%), Sun Tv Network (up 0.10%) and Westlife Development (down 1.66%) will announce their quarterly earnings today.
Earnings Impact:
Ashok Leyland declined 3.41% to Rs 129 after the company reported a standalone net loss of Rs 282.29 crore in Q1 FY22 as against a net loss of Rs 388.80 crore in Q1 FY21. Net sales during the quarter surged to Rs 2934.59 crore. The company had recorded a net profit of Rs 241.17 crore and net sales of Rs 6972.04 crore in Q4 FY21.
Ashok Leyland said that going forward, last-mile connectivity demand propelled by e-commerce is likely to continue supporting ICV and LCV truck volumes. Other businesses like defence, power solutions and after-market continue to contribute strongly to the top line of the company.
The company further said that the supply of electronic control units (ECUs), continues to be a concern, owing to the limited availability of semi-conductors. The industry is also feeling the impact of high raw material prices, especially steel. The management continues to monitor the situation very closely and expects it to soften going forward.
Hero MotoCorp shed 0.17% to Rs 2777.85. The two-wheeler major reported a 496% jump in net profit to Rs 365.44 crore on 84.7% rise in net sales to Rs 5,487 crore in Q1 FY22 over Q1 FY21. The company sold 10.25 lakh units of motorcycles and scooters in Q1 FY22, registering a growth of 81% over the corresponding quarter in the previous fiscal.
Page Industries declined 3.11% to Rs 31230. The company's standalone net profit stood at Rs 10.94 crore in Q1 June 2021 compared with net loss of Rs 39.55 crore in Q1 June 2020. Revenue from operations surged 76.08% to Rs 501.53 crore in Q1 FY22 from Rs 284.82 crore in Q1 FY21.
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