Helping You Build Wealth With Honest Research
Since 1996. Try Now

MEMBER'S LOGINX

     
Invalid Username / Password
   
     
   
     
 
Invalid Captcha
   
 
 
 
(Please do not use this option on a public machine)
 
     
 
 
 
  Sign Up | Forgot Password?  


Sensex Tanks 531 Points; Reliance Industries & IndusInd Bank Fall 5%
Mon, 25 Jan Closing

Indian share markets witnessed huge selling pressure today and failed to hold on to their opening gains as profit booking and weakness across all sectors erased gains.

Benchmark indices extended losses in the afternoon session, with shares of Reliance Industries plunging as much as 6% after the announcement of its December quarter results.

Selling pressure was also seen after the Indian army said Indian and Chinese troops were involved in a "minor face-off" last week in a disputed stretch of their shared border in the eastern Himalayas.

At the closing bell, the BSE Sensex stood lower by 531 points. The NSE Nifty ended down by 133 points.

Bajaj Auto was among the top gainers today. Reliance Industries, on the other hand, was among the top losers today.

SGX Nifty was trading at 14,300, down by 72 points, at the time of writing.

Both, the BSE Mid Cap index and the BSE Small Cap index ended down by 1.1%.

Barring metal and healthcare stocks, all sectoral indices ended on a negative note with stocks in the energy sector, oil & gas sector and IT sector witnessing maximum selling pressure.

Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) today surpassed Reliance Industries to become the country's most valued firm by market capitalization.

Shares of Apollo Hospitals hit their 52-week high today after the company said it has raised Rs 11.7 billion via qualified institutional placement (QIP) issue.

Asian share markets ended higher today amid hopes for recovering economies slammed by the pandemic, as attention turned to upcoming company earnings.

As of the most recent closing prices, the Nikkei ended up by 0.7% while the Hang Seng ended higher by 2.5%.

US stock futures are trading mixed. Nasdaq Futures are trading up by 125 points (up 0.9%), while Dow Futures are trading down by 13 points (down 0.1%).

The rupee is trading at 72.94 against the US$.

Gold prices are trading down by 0.2% at Rs 49,059 per 10 grams.

Speaking of stock markets, note that the BSE Sensex crossed the historical milestone of 50,000 last week on Thursday.

The BSE Sensex rose from 40,000-mark hit on October 8, 2020 to 50,000 in just 74 sessions. Developments on the vaccine front, a change of guard in the United States, FII buying and recovery in economic growth are the key factors behind this rally.

Our editors have been pointing out for many weeks now about the risky nature of the market as Covid-19 remains an overhang and the economic outlook remains uncertain. The Sensex valuation is at nearly 40 times.

Have a look at the two charts below, in the order they have been placed.

Near Term Volatility in Sensex Compensated by Long Term Gains

The year-on-year change in the Sensex was hardly predictable but someone who stayed invested multiplied every lakh nearly 14 times.

As per Co-head of Research at Equitymaster, Tanushree Banerjee, 2021 could be one of the best years for individual investors.

Here's what she wrote in one of the editions of Profit Hunter:

  • 2021 could be one of the best years for individual investors.

    You read that right. Investing is one of those rare pursuits where amateurs can have an advantage over professional fund managers.

    t happens in almost no other field. If you compete against a professional sports person, you'd lose every time. As an amateur doctor or scientist, you need years of training before performing highly specialised tasks.

    However, individual investors who have a strategy to create long term wealth, stand a good chance at outperformance.

    Most professional fund managers can't afford to have long time horizons. A year or two of poor performance and they risk the sack.

    But an individual investor can sit tight over high conviction stocks and invest consistently to see the magic of compounding.

    Just like the investors in Titan saw their wealth creation unfold since 2004.

    So, 2021 could be extremely profitable, over time, provided you reset your portfolio with the right kind of safe assets and safe stocks.

    For the next decade, your best fund manager could none other than you!

    Prepare well and ensure you make the most of it.

In her latest video, Tanushree discusses the best safe assets for 2021. You can watch the video here: Safest Assets in 2021 are Not What You Think...

In news from the finance sector, shares of non-banking financial companies (NBFCs) were in focus today after the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) released a discussion paper on revised regulations for the sector.

Shares of Shriram Transport Finance jumped 8% while Cholamandalam Investment and M&M Financial Services gained 6% in intraday trade.

Shares of HDFC, Bajaj Finance, Bajaj Finserv and LIC Housing Finance gained in the range of 3-5%.

The RBI on Friday proposed to introduce a scale-based regulatory framework for NBFCs to segregate larger entities and expose them to a stricter set of "bank-like" rules. This is aimed at protecting financial stability while ensuring that smaller NBFCs continue to enjoy light-touch regulations and grow with ease.

In a discussion paper released on its website, the central bank suggested a four-tier pyramid structure for the sector. There will be a base layer (NBFC-BL), which will have NBFCs with an asset size of up to Rs 10 billion, accommodating more than 95% of the non-deposit taking shadow lenders.

The discussion paper introduces a scale-based approach to regulation from a 'systemic significance' vantage point. NBFCs would be categorized across four different layers (Base, Middle, Upper, and Top) based on various parameters including size, interconnectedness with the system, etc.

We will keep you updated on the latest developments from this space. Stay tuned.

In news from the pharma sector, Aurobindo Pharma was among the top buzzing stocks today.

Shares of Aurobindo Pharma zoomed over 10% today, reaching a new 52-week high after the company received approval under the Production Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme for promotion of domestic manufacturing of critical bulk drugs.

The company, through its subsidiaries including LyfiusPharma Pvt Ltd and Qule Pharma Pvt Ltd, received approval for three projects.

The company, through its subsidiaries, will launch projects for producing 15,000 tonne per annum (TPA) of Penicillin G, 2,000 tpa of 7-ACA and 1,600 tpa of erythromycin thiocyanate.

Last week, the government approved the first set of five pharma projects under the PLI scheme for promoting domestic manufacture of bulk drugs and active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs). These projects are worth a total committed investment of Rs 37.6 billion.

Aurobindo Pharma share price ended the day up by 8%.

Speaking of stocks, in his latest video for Fast Profits Daily, Brijesh Bhatia shows a crucial chart that you need to check before you decide to sell any stock or index.

Tune in to the video to find out more:

Moving on to news from the cement sector, shares of Ultratech Cement rose more than 4% in intraday trade today after the cement producer's net profit more than doubled in the quarter ended December 31, 2020.

The Aditya Birla group company on Saturday reported over two-fold jump in consolidated net profit to Rs 15.84 billion in the third quarter of the financial year.

The leading cement producer had reported a net profit of Rs 7.1 billion in the year-ago period.

The company's revenue from operations stood at Rs 122.5 billion, up 17.4%, during the October-December quarter under review compared to Rs 104.4 billion in the corresponding period of the last fiscal year.

"While rural and semi-urban housing continue to drive growth, pick-up in government led infrastructure aided incremental cement demand. Pent-up urban demand is expected to improve with the gradual return of the migrant work force," the company informed in its release.

During the quarter, the company's board approved capital expenditure of Rs 54.8 billion towards increasing the company's capacity by 12.8 million tonnes with a mix of brown field and green field expansion. The additional capacity is being created in the fast-growing markets of the east, central and north regions of the country.

UltraTech Cement share price ended the day down by 2.8%.

To know more, you can read UltraTech Cement's Q3FY21 result analysis on our website.

And to know what's moving the Indian stock markets today, check out the most recent share market updates here.

For information on how to pick stocks that have the potential to deliver big returns, download our special report now!

Read the latest Market Commentary


Equitymaster requests your view! Post a comment on "Sensex Tanks 531 Points; Reliance Industries & IndusInd Bank Fall 5%". Click here!