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Sensex Opens Higher; Consumer Durables and Metal Stocks Lead
Tue, 7 May 09:30 am

Asian share markets are higher today as Chinese and Hong Kong shares show gains. The Shanghai Composite is up 0.5% while the Hang Seng is up 0.5%. The Nikkei 225 is trading down by 0.8%. US stocks fell on Monday after President Donald Trump pledged to raise tariffs on Chinese goods, though Wall Street finished well off its session lows as some investors saw Trump's comments as a bargaining tactic and expressed confidence in an eventual trade agreement.

Back home, India share markets opened on a positive note. The BSE Sensex is trading up by 163 points while the NSE Nifty is trading up by 41 points. Both, the BSE Mid Cap index and BSE Small Cap index opened up by 0.4%.

Except energy stocks, all sectoral indices have opened the day on a positive note with metal and consumer durables stocks witnessing buying interest.

The rupee is currently trading at 69.39 against the US$.

Speaking of Indian stock markets, note that the Sensex, BSE Midcap index and BSE Smallcap index have had differing degrees of volatility over past fifteen years.

But the returns from the three different indices are mostly in line since 2004. Rs 100 invested in any of these indices in 2004 would have yielded about Rs 700 by March 2019.

In fact, as we can see in the chart below, the gap in the compounded annual return of the Sensex and Smallcap index is less than 1%.

Difference in 15 year CAGR of Sensex and BSE Smallcap Index is Less than 1%


This shows that while small caps are a good place to look for big returns, blue chips can also offer you big returns over long time frames.

In fact, as per Tanushree, the best contrarian bets on such safe stocks could even offer you handsome three and digit returns.

In the news from the telecom sector. Bharti Airtel on Monday reported a consolidated profit of Rs 5.8 billion, a jump of 37% during the fourth quarter ended March as compared with Rs 4.2 billion in the corresponding period last year.

The profit attributable to owners of the parent for the period under review stood at Rs 1.1 billion (Rs 0.8 billion).

The bottomline was bolstered by a one-time exceptional credit of Rs 21.7 billion arising from re-assessment of levies, based on a recent pronouncement.

The consolidated revenue of the company also rose by 6% YoY to Rs 206 billion during the quarter as against Rs 193.9 billion in January-March 2018.

The company said that the Indian mobile revenue has also grown by around 3% to Rs 106.3 billion during the quarter as compared with Rs 103.5 billion in the fourth quarter previous year.

Note that, the telecom sector is still under pressure because of falling tariffs, eroding profitability and high debt, over the last few years post the entry of Reliance Jio.

Bharti Airtel share price opened the day up by 1.4%.

In the news from the banking sector. ICICI Bank registered a 5% drop in its net profit in the fourth quarter of FY19 with higher provisions and expenditure.

The bank's net profit fell 5% to Rs 9.7 billion in the January to March 2019 quarter from Rs 10.2 billion a year ago.

Its standalone net profit for FY19 also fell 50% to Rs 33.6 billion from Rs 67.8 billion in FY18.

The bank's bad-loan provision rose to Rs 54.5 billion in the fourth quarter of FY19 from Rs 42.4 billion in the third quarter.

However, on an annual basis, it fell by 17.7% from Rs 66.3 billion in the fourth quarter of FY18.

Its gross non-performing assets fell to Rs 462.9 billion or 7.4% of gross advances as on March 2019 as against 9.9% a year ago. Net NPAs were also the lowest in about 13 quarters at Rs 135.8 billion or 2.3% of net advances as on March 2019 as against 5.4% on March 2018.

Gross additions to the NPAs came from one account in the sugar sector in the fourth quarter. The bank also classified its fund-based outstanding to Infrastructure Leasing & Financial Services Ltd (IL&FS) entities at Rs 2.8 billion as an NPA with a provision of Rs 1.5 billion.

It also has non-fund based outstanding of Rs 5.4 billion to IL&FS entities and holds a provision of Rs 4.7 billion towards this outstanding as on March 2019.

Its total income grew 4.9% to Rs 209.1 billion in the quarter from Rs 199.4 billion in the same period in FY18. Net interest income grew a robust 26.5% to Rs 76.2 billion from Rs 60.2 billion. This includes Rs 4.1 billion of interest on income-tax refund.

Net interest margin was at 3.7% in the fourth quarter of FY19. Other income fell to Rs 36.2 billion for the quarter under review from Rs 56.8 billion in the same period in FY18, but this was on account of no stake sales in subsidiaries.

Total expenditure rose 18% to Rs 146.8 billion in the reporting quarter against Rs 124.3 billion in the fourth quarter of FY18.

ICICI Bank share price opened the day up by 0.8%.

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

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