An evening walk down D-St: Sensex reclaims 39K; broader markets underperform

It was a volatile day for Indian markets but recovery seen in the last hour of the trade suggests that bulls are here to stay. The S&P BSE Sensex managed to climb above 39,000 after breaching it in intraday trade while Nifty also closed above 11,700.

The final tally on D-Street - the Sensex was down 35.78 points at 39,031.55, while Nifty was down 6.50 points at 11,748.20. About 721 shares advanced, 1,780 shares declined, and 149 shares were unchanged.

The broader market recovered from the low point but still sheds 1 percent in trade. The S&P BSE Midcap index closed 1.1 percent lower while the S&P BSE Smallcap index was down 1.27 percent.

Oil & gas stocks surged in the last hour, leading Nifty higher. Yes Bank, Indiabulls Housing, IndusInd Bank, Bharti Infratel and Hero Motocorp were among major losers on the Nifty, while major index gainers were JSW Steel, HCL Tech, IOC, Zee Entertainment and BPCL.

Among the sectors, Nifty PSU bank declined more than 3 percent followed by auto, FMCG, infra and pharma, while some buying was seen in the energy, IT and metal indices.

Weak results from India Inc., some uncertainty around the US Federal Reserve policy meeting, and ongoing weakness in the broader market weighed on sentiment. But, recovery at lower levels suggests that bulls have enough firing power at lower levels.

“The Nifty traded with negative bias throughout the session, led by some weak corporate earnings and un-supportive global cues. However, it managed to pull back smartly from lows. The broader markets underperformed the benchmark with BSE Midcap and Smallcap ending lower by 1.2 percent and 1.3 percent, respectively," said Jayant Manglik, President - Retail Distribution at Religare Broking Ltd.

“On the global front, movement in crude oil prices and currency would be closely monitored by the market participants. Further, the auto sales numbers for the month of April and outcome of FOMC meet (on May 01) will remain on the market radar,” he said.

Stocks in news:

Shares of YES Bank plunged 29 percent on April 30 after the company reported a weak set of numbers for the quarter ended March 2019. Macquarie downgraded the stock to underperform with a target of Rs 165 a scrip. Citi has downgraded the stock to sell and cut target price to Rs 180 while HSBC also downgraded the stock to reduce and cut the target to Rs 164.

Share price of 63 Moons Technologies surged 10 percent after Supreme Court set aside the merger with National Spot Exchange (NSEL). According to media reports, the Supreme Court set aside the merger as it doesn't satisfy the criteria of "public interest". The court added that it has laid down what constitutes public interest.

Biocon fell 4 percent despite recording a 64 percent jump in its net profit for the quarter ending March 2019. According to a report in The Economic Times, the biopharmaceutical company is betting on its forthcoming biosimilar drug launches to boost revenue on the back of the first mover advantage in the price competitive, regulated markets.

HCL Technologies rose 4 percent after the company entered into a partnership with Cherwell Software. The stock touched 52-week high of Rs 1,171.95. HCL Technologies and Cherwell Software, LLC announced a product platform that layers the DRYiCE GBP (Gold Blue Print for Service Management) on the Cherwell Service Management platform, company said in BSE release.

Godrej Properties slipped more than 4 percent despite the company reported robust numbers for the quarter ended March 2019.

Global Updates:

European markets are trading marginally lower on the back of weaker-than-expected data from China with Euro STOXX 600 falling 0.2 percent.

Asian markets ended mixed on April 30 with Hang Seng shed 0.65 percent at 29,699.11 and Kospi declined 0.58 percent at 2,203.59. Meanwhile, Shanghai Composite gained 0.5 percent to end at 3,078.34.