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Sensex and Nifty Open at All-Time Highs; Realty and FMCG Stocks Lead
Tue, 21 May 09:30 am

Asian share markets are higher today as Chinese and Hong Kong shares show gains. The Shanghai Composite is up 1.6% while the Hang Seng is up 0.4%. The Nikkei 225 is trading down by 0.4%. US stocks slid on Monday as the White House's restrictions on Huawei weighed on the technology sector and raised concerns that the move would further inflame trade tensions between the United States and China.

Back home, India share markets opened the day on a strong note with Sensex touching an all-time high. The BSE Sensex is trading up by 191 points while the NSE Nifty is trading up by 47 points. The BSE Mid Cap index and BSE Small Cap index opened up by 0.1% and 0.3% respectively.

Barring IT stocks and telecom stocks, all sectoral indices have opened the day in green with realty stocks and FMCG stocks leading the pack of gainers.

The rupee is currently trading at 69.72 against the US$.

The Indian rupee today opened little changed against US dollar as traders avoided taking long positions ahead of the final outcome of general election due on May 23.

On Monday, the rupee ended 48 paise or 0.7% higher at 69.74 per dollar from its previous close of 70.22.

Earlier in the day, the home unit advanced by as much as 86 paise or 1.2% to 69.36 against the dollar on Monday, a day after exit polls predicted that the Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) will win almost as many seats as it did in 2014 and form a stable government comfortably.

The equity markets also rejoiced the predictions of exit polls as the Sensex and Nifty ended at all-time closing highs.

So far this year, the rupee has risen 0.03% against the US greenback.

Once the exit polls were released on Sunday, the markets reacted positively.

The Sensex notched up gains of more than 1,400 points.

In the Long Run, Elections Don't Influence the Stock Market

But there are two things that history has shown us.

One, is the exit polls should be taken with a pinch of salt. The 2004 elections are a classic case in point where the exit polls predicted a BJP win, while the actual counting resulted in Congress-led UPA gaining clear majority.

Second, near term reactions to elections aside, stock markets in the longer run have been influenced by the Indian economy and growth in corporate earnings.

Indeed, despite the Congress win in 2004 (something not factored in by the markets), the Sensex has been on a major bull run since then.

This, during years when both the UPA and the NDA have been in power.

Moving on to the news from automobiles sector. Tata Motors has reported a 49% fall in its consolidated net profit at Rs 11.1 billion. The company had reported a profit of Rs 21.8 billion in a year ago period.

The figure above includes profit attributable to shareholders of the company and non-controlling interests.

Revenue of the company declined to Rs 864.2 billion against Rs 899.3 billion.

The operating profit or EBITDA was at Rs 84.5 billion, while the margin stood at 9.8%.

JLR returned to profitability in the fourth quarter with profit before tax at 269 million pounds, down 27.1%, YoY. The EBITDA margin for the quarter was at 9.8%.

JLR revenue for Q4 was at 7,134 million pounds helped by rising sales in the UK and the US. This was; however, down 421 million pounds year-on-year as weaker China market conditions were partially offset by growing demand in key markets like the UK and US.

JLR reported a cash flow of 1.4 billion pounds for Q4, reflecting improved working capital and investment savings.

The balance sheet continued to remain strong with 3.8 billion pounds of cash and 1.9 billion pounds undrawn credit facility, resulting in 5.7 billion pounds of total liquidity at the end of the year.

For the full year, sales touched 24.2 billion pounds, while pre-tax loss was at 358 million pounds before 3.3 billion pounds of exceptional items (Q3 non-cash impairment and Q4 transformation costs).

The FY19 cumulative negative free cash flow of 1.3 billion pounds at JLR reflected in the closing consolidated net automotive debt for Tata Motors at 283.9 billion.

Tata Motors share price opened the day down by 2.6%.

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

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