The broader market was negative. The S&P BSE Mid-Cap index was off 0.18% while the S&P BSE Small-Cap index was down 0.64%.
The market breadth, indicating the overall health of the market, was weak. On the BSE, 721 shares rose and 1318 shares fell. A total of 130 shares were unchanged.
Index major Reliance Industries (RIL) was up 0.21% at Rs 2015. It bounced after briefly slipping below the crucial Rs 2000 mark in early trade.
Trading was volatile as the October 2020 F&O contracts expire today, 29 October 2020.
COVID-19 Update:
India reported 6,03,687 active cases of COVID-19 infection and 120,527 deaths while 73,15,989 patients have been discharged, according to the data from the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India. Total COVID-19 confirmed cases worldwide stood at 44,401,826 with 1,173,292 deaths, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.
Buzzing Index:
The Nifty Pharma index gained 0.5% to 11,381.30. The index was the sole gainer among other sectoral indices on the NSE.
Dr. Reddy's Laboratories (up 1.14%), Cipla (up 0.67%), Aurobindo Pharma (up 0.51%), Divi's Laboratories (up 0.34%), Torrent Pharma (up 032%) and Biocon (up 0.3%) were top gainers in pharma space.
Earnings Impact:
Hero MotoCorp fell 0.54%. The two-wheeler major's standalone net profit jumped 9% to Rs 953.45 crore on 23.7% increase in net sales to Rs 9,367.34 crore in Q2 September 2020 over Q2 September 2019. Volumes grew 7.7% to 18.22 lakh units sold in Q2 FY21 over Q2 FY20. EBITDA jumped 16.80% to Rs 1286 crore in Q2 September 2020 as against Rs 1101 crore in Q2 September 2019. EBITDA margin stood at 13.7% in Q2 FY21, higher than 3.6% in Q1 FY21 and lower than 14.5% in Q2 FY20.
L&T fell 4.13%. On a consolidated basis, Larsen & Toubro (L&T)'s net profit surged 118.43% to Rs 5520.27 crore on 12.15% decline in net sales to Rs 31034.74 crore in Q2 September 2020 over Q2 September 2019. Profit was boosted due to divestment of Electrical & Automation (E&A) business to Schneider Electric SE on 31 August 2020. Profit after tax from discontinued operations for the quarter and six months ended 30 September 2020 includes gain on divestment Rs 8101.04 crore (net of tax). During the quarter, with the labour at various project sites reaching near pre-covid levels, the businesses saw a pickup in execution momentum compared to Q1 FY21 and achieved a sequential growth of 46%. The revenue, however, declined by 12% y-o-y due to the lingering impact of the pandemic during the quarter under review. International revenue during the quarter at Rs 12,148 crore constituted 39% of the total revenue, L&T said in a statement.
Axis Bank rose 1.22% to Rs 511 after the private lender reported a net profit of Rs 1,683 crore in Q2 September 2020 as against net loss of Rs 112 crore in Q2 September 2019. Total income during the quarter rose 2.8% year-on-year (YoY) to Rs 19,870.07 crore in Q2FY21. Net interest income (NIM) jumped 20% to Rs 7,326 crore in Q2FY21 over Q2FY20. Net interest margin in Q2FY21 was 3.58% as against 3.51% for Q2FY20.
The bank's provisions and contingencies increased by 30.2% to Rs 4,580.65 crore in Q2 FY21 from Rs 3,518.39 crore in Q2 FY20. As on 30 September 2020, the bank's provision coverage, as a proportion of gross NPAs, stood at 77%, as compared to 62% as at 30 September 2019 and 75% as at 30 June 2020. Specific loan loss provisions for Q2FY21 were Rs 588 crore, compared to Rs 2,701 crore in Q2 last year. The bank held additional provisions of around Rs 6,898 crores towards various contingencies at the end of Q1FY21. The bank has made incremental provisions of Rs 1,279 crores towards loans under moratorium and Rs 1,864 crores towards probable restructuring, aggregating to Rs 3,143 crores. As at 30 September, 2020, the bank held in aggregate additional provisions of Rs 10,839 crore.
Earnings Today:
Maruti Suzuki (down 0.41%) and BPCL (down 0.29%) are two Nifty companies that will announce their quarterly results today.
Apollo Pipes (up 1.6%), Arvind (down 0.73%), Bank of Baroda (down 1.19%), Blue Dart (up 1.78%), Canara Bank (down 1.2%), Cholamandalam Investment and Finance (down 0.35%), GE Shipping (down 0.55%), Havells India (down 0.26%), InterGlobe Aviation (up 0.51%), Laurus Labs (up 1.35%), Mastek (down 1.69%), Shriram Transport Finance (down 1.83%), Strides Pharma (down 0.39%), Tata Chemicals (down 0.26%), TVS Motor Company (down 0.52%) and Vodafone Idea (down 0.81%) are some of the companies that will announce their results today.
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