Closing Bell: Nifty below 22,450, Sensex falls 609 points; financials major drag

Indian markets snapped 5-day winning run with Nifty breaks 22,400 in the volatile session on April 26. At close, the Sensex was down 609.28 points or 0.82 percent at 73,730.16, and the Nifty was down 150.30 points or 0.67 percent at 22,420.

We wrap up today's edition of the Moneycontrol live market blog, and will be back Monday morning with all the latest updates and alerts. Please visit www.moneycontrol.com/markets/global-indices for all the global market action.

The Nifty remained under selling pressure throughout the session as the index failed to sustain above the crucial level of 22500. On the daily chart, a dark cloud cover pattern is observed, indicating a potential bearish reversal.

Immediate support is situated at 22300, below which the Nifty could extend its losses towards 22000.

On the other hand, the level of 22500 might act as a technical resistance for the Nifty.

The rupee traded within a range of 83.30-83.36, experiencing a decline of 0.04rs. The rupee's weakness was influenced by the dollar's sideways movement, coupled with anticipation surrounding today's evening's PCE Price Index release. Additionally, a minor pullback was observed in the Indian capital market which kept rupee weak as FII's selling added minor pressure on rupee. The rupee's broad range is expected to remain between 83.10-83.60.

The Nifty witnessed selling pressure throughout the day. On the daily charts we can observe that the Nifty has faced selling pressure from the resistance zone of 22560 – 22625. Until this zone is not taken out decisively, we can expect the consolidation to continue.

On the downside, crucial support is now placed at 22240 – 22200 where support parameters in the form of the 40-day moving average and the 50% Fibonacci retracement level of the rise from 21777 – 22626 is placed.

As far as the Bank Nifty is concerned the recovery from the previous day’s lows was short-lived and lacked follow-up buying interest. The divergence on the momentum indicator also did not support the upmove. This could lead to some consolidation in the near term. On the downside, 47500 is the crucial level to watch out for.

Indian rupee ended flat at 83.34 per dollar on Friday against Thursday's close of 83.32.

Indian markets snapped 5-day winning run with Nifty breaking 22,400 in the volatile session on April 26.

At close, the Sensex was down 609.28 points or 0.82 percent at 73,730.16, and the Nifty was down 150.30 points or 0.67 percent at 22,420. About 1710 shares advanced, 1521 shares declined, and 106 shares unchanged.

Top losers on the Nifty were Bajaj Finance, Bajaj Finserv, Nestle India, IndusInd Bank, M&M, while gainers were Tech Mahindra, Divis Labs, LTIMindtree, Bajaj Auto, BPCL.

Among sectors, except auto, bank, capital goods, all other indices ended in the green, with oil & gas, healthcare, realty, media up 0.3-1 percent.

BSE midcap index up 0.8 percent and smallcap index up 0.3 percent.

Oil prices rose on Friday, on track to end higher this week after two straight weeks of losses, after a top U.S. official expressed optimism over economic growth and as supply concerns lingered due to conflicts in the Middle East.

Brent crude futures gained 19 cents, or 0.2%, to $89.20 a barrel at 0927 GMT, and U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude futures rose by 25 cents, or 0.3%, to $83.82 a barrel.

Brent has gained 2.2% so far this week, while WTI is up 0.8%.

-Target Rs 1,990
-Company’s earnings were ahead of our and consensus estimates by 9-10 percent
-See headwinds to growth and margins in FY25
-Believe the two new business initiatives announced are positive

-Target Rs 135
-Believe UK business restructuring update is a positive development
-Discussions with trade unions was an overhang on stock

Sensex Today | BSE Bank index down nearly 1 percent; IndusInd Bank, Kotak Mahindra Bank, AU Small Finance Bank top losers

-Target cut to Rs 2,200
-Management sounds confident on the medium-term outlook
-Margin remain under near-term pressure given weak prices over coming quarters
-JPA consolidation is pushed out, which could remain an overhang
-Cut estimates & price target to reflect poor results and H1FY25 outlook

The Board of Directors of Bata India has accorded in-principle approval for monetizing the Company's freehold industrial land admeasuring approximately 11.54 acres situated in Faridabad, subject to necessary process/formalities being completed.

Sensex Today | Market at 3 PM

The Sensex was down 614.39 points or 0.83 percent at 73,725.05, and the Nifty was down 147.70 points or 0.65 percent at 22,422.60. About 1725 shares advanced, 1495 shares declined, and 103 shares unchanged.

-- Net profit Rs 151 crore versus Bloomberg estimates of Rs 151 crore

-- Operating profit Rs 228 crore, up 13% YoY

-- Net profit Rs 1950 crore versus Bloomberg estimates of Rs 1923 crore

-- Revenue Rs 9480 crore versus Bloomberg estimates of Rs 5436 crore

--Net profit at Rs 58.4 crore versus CNBC-TV poll of Rs 84 crore

- Net profit up 20% at Rs 2,118 crore versus Rs 1,769 crore, YoY

- NII up 25% at Rs 9,495 crore versus Rs 7,589 crore, YoY

-Target Rs 4,200
-Q4 results missed estimates
-Weak revenue growth guidance was baked into buy-side estimates
-A reset of margin expectations came as a negative surprise
-Given stock's YTD outperformance & cut to EPS estimate, expect to underperform

Sensex Today | Market at 2 PM

The Sensex was down 476.45 points or 0.64 percent at 73,862.99, and the Nifty was down 133.40 points or 0.59 percent at 22,436.90. About 1742 shares advanced, 1461 shares declined, and 89 shares unchanged.

Zydus Lifesciences has received final approval from the United States Food and Drug Administration (USFDA) to market Tretinoin Cream USP, 0.1%.

Tretinoin cream is used to treat acne. The drug will be manufactured at the group’s topical manufacturing facility at Changodar, Ahmedabad (India).

Coromandel International's board has approved the appointment and redesignation of Arun Alagappan as Executive Chairman, and also announced retirement of M M Venkatachalam from the position of Non-Executive Director with effect from April 25, 2024.

A Vellayan has retired from the position of Chairman and Non-Executive Director with effect from April 25.

Sensex Today | Nifty sees triple-digit cut; snaps 5-day winning streak 

Sensex Today | Nifty Media index rose 1 percent; Sun TV Network up 4%

Sensex Today | Nifty Bank index sheds 400 points from day's high

The Bank has posted 45 percent jump in its Q4 net profit at Rs 1,217.7 crore versus Rs 840 crore and Net Interest Income (NII) rose 18.2% at Rs 2,584 crore versus Rs 2,187 crore, YoY.

Net profit down 1.3% at Rs 354.8 crore versus Rs 359.4 crore and revenue up 15.8% at Rs 3,007.9 crore versus Rs 2,598.3 crore, YoY.

Early gains fizzle out as Nifty sheds 140 points from day’s high
Sensex down 500 points, trades below 74,000 mark
Broader markets outperform; midcap index up nearly a percent
Nifty IT top sectoral gainer led by solid gains in Tech Mahindra
Bajaj Finance top Nifty drag as analysts remain divided after Q4 miss
Maruti edges lower ahead of Q4 numbers; PAT may jump over 50% YoY

The Board of Directors of Bank of Maharashtra approved raising of Capital upto Rs 7,500 crore through Follow-on Public Offer (FPO) / Rights issue / Qualified Institutional Placement (QIP) issue, Preferential issue, ESPS or any other mode or combination thereof and / or through issue of BASEL III Compliant Tier I and Tier II Bonds or such other securities as may be permitted under applicable laws etc., subject to the necessary approvals

Tanla Platforms has recorded consolidated net profit at Rs 130.2 crore for January-March FY24 quarter, rising 8.2% over a year-ago period driven by higher other income and topline but growth was limited due to weak operating numbers.

Revenue from operations grew by 20.6% on-year to Rs 1,005.5 crore. The board has recommended a final dividend of Rs 6 per share.

After 7 months of formal and informal national level discussions with the UK trade unions, Tata Steel has decided that it would proceed with its 1.25 billion pound investment to build a state-of-the-art electric arc furnace in Port Talbot, in south Wales.

It would also commence closure of the existing heavy end assets in the following months. The company informed the trade unions that Port Talbot’s two blast furnaces No 5 and No 4 will close by end of June, and by end of September respectively. A Voluntary Redundancy Aspiration process will be launched across Tata Steel UK from the May 15, 2024.

PSP Projects has raised Rs 244 crore as the board approved the allocation of 36,41,791 equity shares to eligible qualified institutional buyers at an issue price of Rs 670 per equity share.

-Target cut to Rs 2,250 from Rs 2,400
-Q4 shows softer than expected revenue guide but resilience in margin relative to peers
-Q4 shows reiteration of medium-term revenue growth and margin outlook

Sensex Today | Market Update:

The Sensex was down 240.68 points or 0.32 percent at 74,098.76, and the Nifty was down 69.70 points or 0.31 percent at 22,500.60. About 1816 shares advanced, 1360 shares declined, and 92 shares unchanged.

Heatwave conditions likely to be experienced by Central India in May
This year can be warmer than 2023, which recorded highest temperatures

Shares of Olectra Greentech sank 12 percent intraday on April 26 after the company posted a weak set of earnings for the March quarter.

Olectra Greentech’s consolidated net profit declined to Rs 13.71 crore against Rs 27.01 crore in the year-ago period. Revenue declined to Rs 288.81 crore from Rs 375.91 crore.

Oil prices rose on Friday, on track to end higher this week after two straight weeks of losses, after a top U.S. official expressed optimism over economic growth and as supply concerns lingered due to conflicts in the Middle East.

Brent crude futures gained 47 cents, or 0.5%, to $89.48 a barrel, and U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude futures rose by 44 cents, or 0.5%, to $84.01 a barrel.

For the week, Brent has gained 2.4% so far, while WTI is up 0.9%.

The Arbitral Tribunal has pronounced award in Arbitration matter between L&T versus NHPC in favour of Larsen & Toubro.

L&T will receive the net claim amount of Rs 337.57 crore and the counter claim amount of Rs 45.18 crore will be received by NHPC.

The Arbitration matter was related to LOT SSL 2 & SSL 5 of Subansiri Lower HE project.

KPI Green Energy has recorded a massive 35.4% on-year growth in consolidated net profit at Rs 43 crore for quarter ended March FY24, with healthy topline as well as operating numbers. Revenue from operations increased sharply by 58.6% on-year to Rs 289.4 crore for the quarter

Amitabh Johri has resigned as Joint Chief Financial Officer and key managerial personnel of Aster DM Healthcare with effect from April 25, due to segregation of the company’s business in Gulf Co-operation Council region from its business in India.

He will continue as the CFO of the segregated Aster business at Gulf Co-operation Council region.

Sunil Kumar M R will take the charge as the Chief Financial Officer of the company with immediate effect. Sunil Kumar is currently the Joint Chief Financial Officer of the company.

-Q4 profit of Rs 2,400 crore, up 15 percent YoY, was marginally below estimate
-Stable NIMs & credit quality were key positives
-High opex growth and lower fees dragged profit
-Credit cost reported was at 1.1 percent of average loans
-Trim estimate to factor slower loan growth & fees; operating efficiencies will be key

Sensex Today | Nifty Metal index up 0.5 percent, touches fresh high; Vedanta, Hindustan Zinc, NMDC among major gainers

-Q4 earnings broadly in-line
-Weak order booking & headcount declines point to a weak growth outlook
-Management aims to boost growth to above industry average, and aims to boost margins to 15 percent by FY27 with most improvements being back-ended
-Management plans carries execution especially given the weak demand environment
-Cut estimates by 4-9 percent as push back the improvement in growth/margins to FY26/27

Management’s guidance for FY25 is below its long-term guidance on multiple metrics such as AUM growth, credit costs, RoA, and RoE. BAF’s key product segments (until now) have been the secular growth segments.

However, its foray into multiple newer products such as cars, tractors, CVs, and potentially MFI, could (in future) make its growth vulnerable to cyclicality despite having a well-diversified product mix.

Despite a healthy PAT CAGR of ~25% over FY24-FY26E, and an RoA/RoE of 4.3%/22% in FY26E, see limited upside catalysts.

Consequently, downgrade the stock to Neutral with a Target Price of Rs 7,800 (premised on 4.3x FY26E BVPS).

Sensex Today | Market at 12 PM

The Sensex was down 188.42 points or 0.25 percent at 74,151.02, and the Nifty was down 47.50 points or 0.21 percent at 22,522.80. About 1901 shares advanced, 1220 shares declined, and 99 shares unchanged.

ICICI Bank, Yes Bank, L&T Finance, RBL Bank, Craftsman Automation, Jaiprakash Power Ventures, Sanghi Industries, SBFC Finance, Seshasayee Paper & Boards, Sportking India, and Trident Lifeline will announce their quarterly earnings on April 27.

Maruti Suzuki India, HCL Technologies, Aditya Birla Sun Life AMC, Bajaj Finserv, SBI Life Insurance Company, Shriram Finance, Bajaj Holdings & Investment, CSB Bank, Eveready Industries India, Force Motors, Indiabulls Real Estate, Bank of Maharashtra, Mastek, Motilal Oswal Financial Services, and SBI Cards and Payment Services will release March quarter earnings on April 26.

Food tech giant Swiggy has received the approval from shareholders for a $1.2-billion initial public offering (IPO), according to regulatory filings with the registrar of companies (RoC).

The Bengaluru-based company plans to raise up to Rs 3,750 crore (around $450 million) through a fresh issue and up to Rs 6,664 crore (around $800 million) as an offer-for-sale (OFS) component, the filings further showed. Read More

Andhra Paper management has withdrawn the lockout at the company's manufacturing unit at Rajahmundry, East Godavari, Andhra Pradesh with effect from April 25, 2024 at 10.00 P.M.

This is in response to the calling off of the illegal strike by the workers' trade unions which was continuing since April 2, 2024. The workers have reported to work as per their shift schedules and resumed their duties.

Consequently, the Kadiyam Manufacturing Unit has also resumed its manufacturing operations with pulp supply now restored.

A wholly-owned subsidiary of PG Electroplast has opened its new air conditioning manufacturing facility for North India in Bhiwadi, Rajasthan.

Sensex Today | Nifty Auto index touched fresh high; Ashok Leyland, Bajaj Auto, Samvardhana Motherson International up 2-4%

Shares of Interglobe Aviation, the operator IndiGo Airlines, surged over 4 percent to hit a new 52-week high of Rs 3,598 after placing an order for 30 Firm A350-900 aircraft from Airbus, enabling the aviation major to expand network.

IndiGo presently operates a fleet of over 350 aircraft. In June 2023, the airline made history by placing the largest single aircraft order ever seen in the industry, securing 500 aircraft from Airbus. The order encompasses a variety of models, including the A320NEO, A321NEO, and A321XLR.

"The exact configuration of the aircraft will be decided at a later stage, and the deliveries are expected to start from 2027," the company said in a regulatory filing. The country's biggest airline also added that it has Purchase Rights for an additional 70 Airbus A350 Family aircraft, at its discretion, for possible future needs under certain conditions.

Shares of Olectra Greentech fell as much as 12 percent on April 26 after the company posted weak earnings for the quarter ended March.

The stock has gained 64 percent in the past six months. The company has been seeing negative weekly returns for the past two weeks.

The consolidated net profit of Olectra Greentech declined to Rs 13.71 crore in the March quarter as against Rs 27.01 recorded a year ago. The revenue from operations of the company declined to Rs 288.81 crore in the quarter ended March as against Rs 375.91 crore in the year ago period.

Shares of UTI Asset Management Company (AMC) surged more than 6 percent on April 26 morning to hit a fresh 52-week high of Rs 1,005.15 after the company posted a robust set of numbers for the March quarter.

The company reported a 90 percent on-year surge in profit to Rs 163 crore along with a 38 percent increase in revenue to Rs 416 crore.

InCred Equities said UTI AMC schemes’ improving performance led to steady inflow and healthy AUM, rationalisation of operating expenses strengthened operating performance and the company has a favourable risk-reward ratio. The brokerage retained its “add” rating on the stock and raised the target price to Rs 1,100 from Rs 1,050.

Sensex Today | Nifty Midcap index hits fresh record high; Coromandel International, Ashok Leyland, Container Corporation of India up 4-5%

Sandur Manganese & Iron Ores has signed a Share Purchase Agreement (SPA) with an entity affiliated with ADV Partners, an Asia-focused private equity firm to acquire a controlling interest in Arjas.

The transaction has been agreed at an Enterprise Value of Rs 3,000 crore and will be subject to customary regulatory approvals and closing conditions.

Through this transaction, ADV will fully divest its interest in Arjas marking another successful exit from its India portfolio.

Foreign portfolio investor American Funds Insurance Series Global Small Capitalization Fund exited Harsha Engineers International by selling its entire shareholding of 9,70,777 equity shares at an average price of Rs 410.06 per share, via open market transaction.

However, Plutus Wealth Management bought additional 7,29,669 equity shares (equivalent to 0.8% of paid-up equity) at an average price of Rs 410.01 per share.

As of March 2024, Plutus had 6.10% stake in the company.

Sensex Today | Nifty Pharma index up 0.5 percent; Divis Lab, Biocon up 3.5% each

Aavas Financiers has reported standalone net profit at Rs 142.6 crore for quarter ended March FY24, growing 12.5% over a year-ago period. Net interest income grew by 14% on-year to Rs 324.4 crore for the quarter.

Sensex Today | BSE Telecom index down 0.6 percent; Vodafone Idea top loser

InterGlobe Aviation has placed an order for 30 Firm Airbus A350-900 aircraft, for further expansion of its network. The aircraft will be powered by Rolls Royce’s Trent XWB engine. Currently, IndiGo operates over 350 aircraft. In addition to the 30 Firm A350-900 order, it has purchase rights for an additional 70 Airbus A350 Family aircraft.

Som Distilleries and Breweries has reported consolidated net profit at Rs 20 crore for quarter ended March FY24, rising nearly 26% over a year-ago period.

Revenue from operations grew by 51% year-on-year to Rs 381.6 crore for the quarter.

Zensar Technologies has registered consolidated net profit at Rs 173.3 crore for January-March FY24 quarter, growing 45.4% over same period previous fiscal despite muted topline, led by other income and operating margin. Revenue from operations grew by 1.4% year-on-year to Rs 1,229.7 crore for the quarter.

Sensex Today | Tata Steel, SBI, JSW Steel touched 52-week high

Oil prices rose on Friday, on track to end higher this week after two straight weeks of losses, after a top U.S. official expressed optimism over economic growth and as supply concerns lingered due to conflicts in the Middle East.

Brent crude futures gained 31 cents, or 0.4%, to $89.32 a barrel at 0347 GMT, and U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude futures rose by 23 cents, or 0.3%, to $83.80 a barrel.

For the week, Brent has gained 2.3% so far, while WTI is up 0.8%.

Sensex Today | BSE Realty index extends previous session losses; Phoenix Mills, Macrotech Developers down 2% each

-Underperform call with target of Rs 250
-Missed estimates yet again with another weak quarter for CDMO
-Management provided more color on the animal health and agrochem CDMO contracts
-Management believes animal health & agrochem CDMO contracts will scale-up only beyond FY26
-Till FY26, company’s EBITDA margins will remain under pressure
-Cut FY25/FY26 estimates by 15 percent/3 percent on lower CDMO sales

-Q4 EBITDA of Rs 88 crore, up 3 percent QoQ was 6 percent above our estimate largely on better zinc & oil profitability
-Net debt reduction by Rs 6,000 crore QoQ on lower working capital was a surprise
-Commissioning of ongoing projects across segments and Commodity price uptick would be a key earning drivers
-Given deleveraging plans at parent VRL, dividend is likely to remain elevated
-Company is a good play on the metals upcycle with its diversified commodity exposure and ongoing capacity increase/cash reduction projection

Sensex Today | Market at 10 AM

The Sensex was up 28.00 points or 0.04 percent at 74,367.44, and the Nifty was up 10.90 points or 0.05 percent at 22,581.20. About 1897 shares advanced, 1032 shares declined, and 91 shares unchanged.

ICICI Bank, Yes Bank, L&T Finance, RBL Bank, Craftsman Automation, Jaiprakash Power Ventures, Sanghi Industries, SBFC Finance, Seshasayee Paper & Boards, Sportking India, and Trident Lifeline will announce their quarterly earnings on April 27.

Sensex Today | Nifty PSU Bank index at fresh record high

India’s largest carmaker Maruti Suzuki is likely to report robust Q4 financial results, driven by a sharp rise in volumes and a greater mix of premium Sports Utility Vehicles (SUV) in sales.

The four-wheeler major is set to announce its fiscal fourth quarter earnings on April 26.

Maruti is expected to see its fiscal fourth-quarter net profit rise to Rs 3,916 crore, up almost 50 percent from the year-ago period, according to a Moneycontrol poll of nine brokerage estimates. Revenue from operations is expected to jump 21 percent to Rs 38,772 crore. Read More

Cyient has reported consolidated net profit at Rs 196.9 crore for quarter ended March FY24, growing 28.5% over previous quarter due to low base.

The profit in Q3FY24 was impacted by exceptional loss of Rs 50.3 crore.

Revenue from operations grew by 2.2% QoQ to Rs 1,860.8 crore for the quarter.

The trading in equity shares of the company will commence on the BSE SME with effect from April 26. The issue price is Rs 62 per share. The stock will be in trade-for-trade segment for 10 trading days.

-Maintains buy rating
-Q4 earnings, despite being impacted 4 percent by regulatory restrictions, were in-line
-Company trimmed FY25 guidance bridging premium FY24 RoA to long-term guidance in FY25 itself
-Company guides for 30-40 bps NIM moderation in H1FY25
-Company’s guidance assumes lifting of regulatory restrictions in near future
-Building in 30 bps NIM compression, credit cost of 1.7-1.8 percent & 26-27 percent AUM growth
-Cut earnings estimates by 7 percent/7 percent for FY25/26

-New turnaround plan looks sensible for the company
-Execution remains challenging, especially in the current environment
-Margin expansion is highly contingent on pyramid improvement while maintaining average pricing considering a lacklustre sector outlook, some investors may see company as an alpha stock

L&T Technology Services has recorded net profit at Rs 341.4 crore for January-March quarter of FY24, rising 1.4% over previous quarter due to pressure in EBIT margin.

Revenue from operations increased by 4.8% sequentially to Rs 2,537.5 crore for the quarter, while revenue in constant currency terms increased 5.1% QoQ and dollar terms growth at 5%.

Amit Chadha, CEO & Managing Director sees FY25 revenue growth at 8-10% in constant currency.