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Sensex Trades Over 500 Points Higher, Dow Futures Up by 38 Points

Mon, 26 Apr 12:30 pm

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Share markets in India are presently trading on a strong note.

The BSE Sensex is trading up by 538 points, up 1.1% at 48,416 levels.

Meanwhile, the NSE Nifty is trading up by 145 points.

ICICI Bank and Axis Bank are among the top gainers today. Britannia and HCL Technologies are among the top losers today.

The BSE Mid Cap index is trading up by 0.7%.

The BSE Small Cap index is trading up by 0.9%.

On the sectoral front, stocks from the power sector, are witnessing most of the buying interest.

On the other hand, stocks from the real estate sector, are witnessing most of the selling pressure.

US stock futures are trading mixed today.

Nasdaq Futures are trading down by 11 points (down 0.1%) while Dow Futures are trading up by 38 points (up 0.1%)

The rupee is trading at 74.78 against the US$.

Gold prices are trading down 0.3% at Rs 47,415 per 10 grams.

Gold prices struggled to edge higher in Indian markets today while silver was flat. On MCX, gold futures were slightly higher at Rs 47,561 per 10 grams while silver was flat at Rs 68,675 per kg. In the previous two sessions, gold had fallen sharply after hitting a two-month high of Rs 48,400 last week.

To know more about gold, check out our article on how to invest in gold here: How to Invest in Gold?

Speaking of gold and silver, India's #1 trader, Vijay Bhambwani, talks about why he thinks the gold and silver bull markets are back on track, in his latest video for Fast Profits Daily.

He also shares his targets for both gold and silver in 2021 and 2022.

Tune in here to find out more:

Moving on to stock specific news...

Among the buzzing stocks today is ONGC.

The petroleum ministry has told India's largest oil and gas producer Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) to sell its stake in oil-producing fields such as Ratna R-Series to private firms, get foreign partners in the KG basin gas fields, and hive off drilling and other services into a separate firm to raise production.

Amar Nath, Additional Secretary (exploration) in the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas, on April 1, 2021, wrote to ONGC Chairman and Managing Director, Subhash Kumar giving a seven-point action plan, 'ONGC Way Forward' that would help the firm raise oil and gas production by one-third by FY24.

The action plan calls on ONGC to consider the sale of a stake in maturing fields such as Panna-Mukta and Ratna and R-Series in western offshore and onshore fields like Gandhar in Gujarat to private firms while divesting/privatising 'non-performing' marginal fields.

It suggested ONGC bring in global players in the gas-rich block KG-DWN-98/2 where output is slated to rise sharply by next year, and the Ashokenagar block in West Bengal. Also identified for the purpose is the Deendayal block in the KG basin which the firm had bought from Gujarat government firm GSPC a couple of years back.

The ministry also wants the company to explore creating separate entities for drilling, well services, logging, workover services and data processing entities.

This is the third attempt by the oil ministry to get ONGC to privatise its oil and gas fields.

In October 2017, the Directorate General of Hydrocarbons, the ministry's technical arm, had identified 15 producing fields with a collective reserve of 791.2 million tonnes of crude oil and 333.5 billion cubic metres of gas, for handing over to private firms in the hope that they would improve upon the baseline estimate and its extraction.

A year later, as many as 149 small and marginal fields of ONGC were identified for private and foreign companies on the grounds that the state-owned firm should focus only on big ones.

The first plan couldn't go through because of strong opposition from ONGC. The second plan went up to the Cabinet, which on February 19, 2019, decided to bid out 64 marginal fields of ONGC. However, that tender got a tepid response.

How this pans out remains to be seen. Meanwhile, stay tuned for more updates from this space.

At the time of writing, shares of ONGC were trading up by 0.8% on the BSE.

In news from the finance sector...

M&M Financial Services Doubles Provision to Cover for Covid Uncertainties

Mahindra & Mahindra Financial Services has doubled provisions for bad loans as it seeks to cover its loans from the heightened risk due to the economic impact of localised lockdowns. The company made Rs 13.2 billion in provisions on likely distressed loans in addition to the Rs 10 billion of provisions it had on expected credit losses (ECL) due to uncertainty caused by the second wave of the one year old Covid-19 pandemic.

"The pandemic has spread to different parts of the country even in rural areas where we are present. We think it will take at least two months for things to settle down so we expect some pressure on our books. Customers will need more time to pay back as unlike last time this time there is no moratorium too," said CEO Ramesh Iyer, referring to special dispensation given by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) during the first wave of the pandemic last year.

In a statement, the company said the impact of the pandemic on the global economy, governments, businesses and consumers is still uncertain.

The extra provisions have resulted in the company's post provisions net NPA coming down to 3.97% in March 2021 from 6% a year ago. Gross NPAs inched up to 9% from Rs 8.4% a year ago.

With the higher provisions, the company now covers 58% of stressed loans higher than the 35% required by its own ECL calculations.

In the quarter ended March (Q4FY21) the company's net profit declined 32% to Rs 1.5 billion from Rs 2.2 billion a year ago due to higher provisions and income declined due to a 5% fall in the loan book to Rs 646 billion from Rs 688 billion a year ago.

Total disbursements during the financial year ended March 2021, were down 41% at Rs 190 billion from Rs 324 billion last year indicating the slowdown caused by the pandemic.

"The lockdown will have an impact and we expect some pressure in the first quarter. But unlike the one last year this time, they are localised lockdowns so we expect a lesser impact. Things are likely to be subdued till mid-May and normally the first two quarters are anyway slow, but positive cash flows from agriculture and a good monsoon will hopefully lead to a bounce back post October," Iyer said.

We will keep you posted on updates from this space. Stay tuned.

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

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