Moneycontrol Bureau3:30 pm Market closing: The market has ended with heavy losses. The Nifty ended below 7850, down 33.70 points or 0.4 percent. The Sensex is down 97.82 points or 0.4 percent at 25301.90. About 871 shares have advanced, 1679 shares declined, and 197 shares are unchanged.
ITC gained 1 percent after posting better-than-expected Q4 results. Adani Ports, ONGC, NTPC and Bajaj Autowere top gainers in the Sensex. Losers were Lupin (down 9 percent), ICICI Bank, Reliance, M&M and Tata Motors.3:10 pm Result: ITC has posted net profit net profit of Rs 2495 crore in January-March quarter, up 5.7 percent from Rs 2361 crore in the corresponding quarter last fiscal. During the quarter, its net income was at Rs 10,169 crore up 9.4 percent against Rs 9293 crore in year-ago period.
According to a CNBC-TV18 poll, the FMCG major's net profit was seen at Rs 2520 crore in Q4 up 6.7 percent while revenue was seen climbing 5 percent at Rs 9770 crore year-on-year.
2:59 pm Market Update: Equity benchmarks fell in last hour of trade with the Sensex falling 90.87 points to 25308.85 and the Nifty down 30.90 points at 7752.50. About two shares declined for every share advancing on BSE.
Lupin (-8 percent), ICICI Bank (-2 percent), BPCL (-2 percent) and UltraTechCement (-2 percent) were the big losers in the Nifty.
Other laggards in the index were Grasim (-1 percent), Tech Mahindra (-1 percent), Cipla (-1 percent) and Bharti Infratel (-1 percent).
Gainers included Adani Ports (3 percent), Idea Cellular (2 percent), ONGC (2 percent) and Tata Power (2 percent).
In sectoral performance as reflected by the respective indices, healthcare (-1.2 percent), capital goods (-0.5 percent), metals (-0.3 percent) and oil & gas (-0.3 percent) were under pressure, while FMCG (0.2 percent) and power (0.1 percent) gained.
European shares were trading firm with UK’s FTSE up 72 points or 1.2 percent at 6125, France’s CAC up 35 points at 4318, and Germany’s DAX up 77 points at 9872.
2:40 pm Buzzing: SpiceJet's scrip today tumbled 9.5 percent even after the company reported a more than three-fold rise in net profit for the March quarter.
The company's results came in post market hours yesterday.
SpiceJet, whose net profit grew more than three times to Rs 73.2 crore in the March quarter, plans to induct over 100 narrow-body planes in the next few months as the budget carrier seeks to tap growing domestic demand.
Aided by higher revenues and lower fuel costs, SpiceJet remained profitable for the fifth straight quarter.
It registered a net profit of Rs 22.52 crore in the year-ago period.
In the latest March quarter, the airline took a "one-time expense of Rs 173 crore towards stabilising and improving the reliability of its fleet".2:20 pm Interview: The company sees maximum potential and revenue coming in from the heavy duty segments, said Vinod Aggarwal, CEO, VE Commercial Vehicles.VE Commercial Vehicles is a 50:50 joint venture between the Volvo Group (Volvo) and Eicher Motors. It currently enjoys a market share of 4.2 percent in the heavy duty truck segment, but Aggarwal targets 15 percent market share going forward.The company has already invested Rs 2,700 crore in the last four years and has earmarked Rs 4,000 crore for capital investment, he added. The allocation of Rs 4,000 crore will also cater to the new emission norms, Aggarwal said. The plant already has a capacity of 5,500 (number of trucks) per month and by the year end, the company plans to increase the target to 7,000 per month, and eventually to 8,000 per month in the next 2-3 years.Also read - Indian market can correct 5% if global markets fall: Samir Arora2:00 pm Market CheckThe market continued to be choppy in afternoon trade due to lack of domestic and global cues. The Sensex rose 10.02 points to 25409.74 and the Nifty declined 1.70 points to 7781.70.
The market breadth remained weak as about 1443 shares declined against 982 advancing shares on Bombay Stock Exchange.
European stocks rallied despite hawkish comments from a US Federal Reserve official and following April Fed minutes that raised the probability of a rate hike in June. The pan-European STOXX 600 was up 1.1 percent.
Oil prices rose today as turmoil in Nigeria, shale bankruptcies in the United States and crisis in Venezuela all contributed to tightening supplies. Despite this, brimming inventories across the world were preventing supply shortfalls and sharper price spikes, traders said.
International Brent crude futures were trading at USD 49.26 per barrel, up 0.84 percent from their last settlement.
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