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Sensex Ends 447 Points Higher; Automobile & IT Stocks Rally
Tue, 2 Mar Closing

Indian share markets witnessed buying interest during closing hours and ended today's volatile session higher.

Benchmark indices ended on a strong note amid positive cues from Asian peers and a record close by S&P 500, as global worries around inflation calmed down.

GST collection numbers further indicated some positive trend with GST revenues over Rs 1 lakh crore for the 5th time in a row. Post hitting a new high in terms of GST collections in January 2021, the collections in February 2021 too, were 7% higher YoY.

At the closing bell, the BSE Sensex stood higher by 447 points (up 0.9%).

Meanwhile, the NSE Nifty closed higher by 158 points (up 1.1%).

M&M and NTPC were among the top gainers today. ONGC and HDFC, on the other hand, were among the top losers today.

The SGX Nifty was trading at 14,975, up by 176 points, at the time of writing.

Both, the BSE Mid Cap index and the BSE Small Cap index ended up by 1.6%.

On the sectoral front, gains were largely seen in the automobile sector and IT sector.

Paper stocks rallied today as China producers hiked prices.

Asian share markets fell today after a top regulatory official expressed concerns about the risk of bubbles bursting in foreign markets.

The Shanghai Composite stood lower by 1.2% while the Nikkei ended down by 0.9%. The Hang Seng ended lower by 1.2%.

European share markets are trading on a mixed note as investors sought to guess the bond market's next move, while weak German retail sales were a stark reminder of continued Covid-19 fallout on the region's biggest economy.

The dollar rose to its highest level in a month as underlying concerns about rising bond yields drove investors back into safe-haven assets.

The rupee is trading at 73.37 against the US$.

Gold prices for the latest contract on MCX are trading up by 0.1% at Rs 45,359 per 10 grams.

Speaking of the stock markets, India's #1 trader, Vijay Bhambwani talks about why it's prudent to be extra cautious during the month of March, in his latest video for Fast Profits Daily.

Tune in to the video below to find out more:

In latest developments from the IPO space...

Hyderabad-based MTAR Technologies will open its Rs 5.96-billion initial public offering (IPO) for subscription on Wednesday.

The IPO comprises a fresh issue of 2.15 million shares and an offer-for-sale (OFS) of 822.4 million shares and will close on March 5.

MTAR is a leading maker of nuclear, defence and aerospace equipment, fabrication facilities and fuel cells. The company recently sold 185.1 million shares at Rs 540 apiece in a pre-IPO placement to schemes of SBI Mutual Fund and Axis Mutual Fund.

The price band has been fixed at Rs 574-575 apiece for the IPO.

According to the company's prospectus, proceeds from the fresh issue will be used for repayment or pre-payment of its borrowings and funding working capital requirements.

The company has three key customers in the fuel cell, nuclear, and space and defence segments.

In the fuel cell segment, Bloom Energy is its largest customer. In the nuclear segment, Nuclear Power Corporation of India is the company's key customer. In the space and defence segment, clients such as the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) and Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) are the key customers of the company.

How this IPO sails through remains to be seen.

Moving on to stock specific news...

Nestle India was among the top buzzing stocks today.

In a recently held analysts' meet, Nestle India's management said it expects to sustain volume-led double-digit growth.

Nestle registered a volume growth of 6% in CY20 aided by strong growth in Maggi Noodles (approximately 20% in Q4 CY20) and KitKat (more than 20% in H2 CY20).

Some key challenges faced by the company during the pandemic were supply constraints in the noodles category in Q2 CY20 and demand contraction from out of home channels in the beverage segment.

The company also maintained its strong focus on driving increased distribution reach in the rural markets.

The FMCG major, typically known for its urban-centric business model, is aiming to reach an unprecedented 120,000 villages by 2024, backed by rural-focused SKUs.

From 1,000-odd villages in 2017, Nestle grew its presence to 89,000 by 2019. During the period, the share of the rural market in its sales grew from less than 15% to 25%.

However, it had to slow down its product innovation in 2020 due to higher focus on protection of core brands in a muted demand environment. But the management has now indicated that more than 40 new products in the pipeline.

Nestle India share price ended the day up by 1.7%.

Speaking of the FMCG sector, have a look at the chart below which shows the performance of BSE Sensex and BSE FMCG index since 2009:


While the Sensex has offered 393% returns since 2009, the BSE FMCG index has gone up a staggering 532% returns over the same period.

Richa Agarwal, lead Smallcap Analyst at Equitymaster, believes this outperformance could continue for many years.

With a rising population and standards of living, Indian's consumption demand for FMCG products will skyrocket over the coming years.

Moving on to news from the automobile sector, shares of Tata Motors ended at their highest level since May 2018 after the company's sales growth in the month of February outperformed sector peers across domestic commercial vehicle (CV) & passenger vehicle (PV) segments.

The auto major reported a 51.1% increase in total sales at 61,365 units in February. It had sold a total of 40,619 units in the same month last year.

The Tata group company reported 54% year-on-year (YoY) growth in domestic sales at 58,473 units in the month of February 2021.

It retained the positive momentum in PV segment and reported 119% YoY jump at 27,225 units. The February sales have been the highest-ever sales for Tata Motors PV in nearly 9 years, the company said.

The company's CV segment, too, reported volumes of 33,966 units, up 21% YoY and 3.2% on month-on-month (MoM) basis.

Tata Motors share price ended the day up by 5.4%.

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


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