Closing Bell: Nifty ends above 16,150, Sensex gains 503 pts led by IT, metal, power, banks

Shrikant Chouhan, Head of Equity Research (Retail), Kotak Securities:
 
Markets witnessed healthy short covering towards the closing hours that helped key indices to reverse the 3-day losing streak. With the US FOMC minutes out of the way now, the market is more or less getting prepared for the likely rate hikes, and hence we saw strong buying on the F&O expiry day. 

While we may see bouts of selling going ahead due to other negative factors like higher inflation, continuous FII selling, & the Russia-Ukraine conflict, relief rallies will still be seen amidst volatility. 

On daily charts, the Nifty has formed a long leg Hammer formation which supports further uptrend from the current levels. 

For the trend following traders, 16050-16000 would act as the key support zone. Trading above the same, the index could rally up to 16300-16375. On the flip side, below 16000, uptrends would be vulnerable. Below which, bulls may prefer to exit out from the trading long positions and index could retest the level of 15900-15850.

Vinod Nair, Head of Research at Geojit Financial Services:

After the heavy sell-off market showed signs of exhaustion and could bounce for the short to medium-term. Technically, the broad market is in the oversold territory and fundamentally valuations are just below the three-year average. 

A key reason for the current correction is selling by FIIs and a reduction in domestic buying. A drop in FIIs selling will be an important reason for the bounce. For this, the actions to be undertaken by FED and RBI in June will be an important factor. 

Moreover, we should note that the fiscal measure announced by the Indian government to control inflation is positive for the domestic market.

Market Close: Benchmark indices broke three-day losing streak and ended higher with Nifty around 16,200.

At close, the Sensex was up 503.27 points or 0.94% at 54,252.53, and the Nifty was up 144.40 points or 0.90% at 16,170.20. About 1712 shares have advanced, 1509 shares declined, and 126 shares are unchanged.

Tata Steel, JSW Steel, Apollo Hospitals, SBI and HDFC Bank were among the top Nifty gainers, while losers included ITC, UPL, Divis Labs, Sun Pharma and Reliance Industries.

Among sectors, metal, IT, power, realty, bank and oil & gas up 1-3 percent. 

The BSE midcap index rose 1.4 percent and smallcap index added 0.78 percent.

Yash Gupta- Equity Research Analyst, Angel One:

Torrent Pharma has announced that company will be discounting its USA operation related to Liquide business. Torrent has taken this decision after looking at the current financial viability of its liquid business along with the future investment require to bring the pipeline product in the market and increase in the competition.

We believe that it’s a positive decision by the Torrent Pharma as in past we have seen increase in the competition in the USA market and continuous price erosion in the USA market. 

Company will able to save cost of operating the facility i.e. Rs 135 crores per annum. After a very long time any Indian company has taken a decision to close down any part of business in USA.

BSE Metal index rose over 3 percent led by the Tata Steel, JSW Steel, NMDC

Page Industries Q4 Earnings:

Page Industries has reported 64.2 percent jump in Q4FY22 net profit at Rs 190.5 crore versus Rs 116 crore and revenue was up 26.1% at Rs 1,111 crore against Rs 881 crore, YoY.
    
Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) was up at Rs 267 crore versus Rs 170 crore and margin was at 24% versus 19%, YoY.

Credit Suisse View on Torrent Pharma:

Credit Suisse has maintained an outperform call on Torrent Pharma with a target of Rs 3,500, an upside of 24 percent. 

"The company posted strong margin recovery and growth guidance in FY23. Margin to expand 300 basis points in first quarter and further 100 bps in the rest of FY23," the brokerage firm said.

Torrent expects double-digit revenue growth in both India and Brazil in FY23. Recovery in the US is contingent on clearance of facilities, it added.

Moody's upgrades Bharti Airtel to Baa3 with stable outlook

Nifty Bank index rose 2 percent supported by the Bank of Baroda, SBI, Bandhan Bank

Elara Capital View on IPCA Laboratories:

India growth is intact and traction is expected to improve, given likely price hikes and sales force addition would bolster volume. 

Growth in API and branded generics is likely to be strong in FY23. Management expects an EBITDA margin in the range of 22.0-22.5% in FY23. 

We cut our earnings by 23% for FY23E and 17% for FY24E on added cost pressure and lower sales in the UK & Russia. 

We retain buy with a lower target price of Rs 1,170 from Rs 1,285 on 25x (from 23x) FY24E P/E

Market at 3 PM

Benchmark indices were trading near the day's high level with Nifty above 16,150.

The Sensex was up 508.45 points or 0.95% at 54257.71, and the Nifty was up 149.00 points or 0.93% at 16174.80. About 1460 shares have advanced, 1645 shares declined, and 106 shares are unchanged.

Jefferies View On Coal India

The broking house Jefferies has maintained a hold rating on Coal India and raised the target price to Rs 175 from Rs 160 per share.

EBITDA was 18 percent above the estimate. The topline outlook has improved led by pickup in volumes and e-auction prices but higher staff cost due to workers' wage revision should pose a headwind.

The valuation is reasonable, but long-term outlook remains uncertain, CNBC-TV18 reported.