Sensex Ends Marginally Higher; Automobile and Metal Stocks Witness Buying

Thu, 21 May Closing

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Indian share markets traded on a volatile note throughout the day and ended marginally higher.

Benchmark indices erased most of gains in the last hour of trading, but still ended on a positive note for the third straight day.

Sectoral indices ended on a mixed note with stocks in the automobile sector and metal sector witnessing buying interest, while power stocks and banking stocks witnessed selling pressure.

At the closing bell, the BSE Sensex stood higher by 114 points and the NSE Nifty closed up by 40 points.

The SGX Nifty was trading at 9,062, down by 6 points, at the time of writing.

The BSE Mid Cap index and the BSE Small Cap index ended up by 0.8% and 0.7%, respectively.

Asian stock markets finished on a negative note as deteriorating Sino-American ties cast a cloud over the recent rally in risk assets.

President Donald Trump stoked tensions by tweeting criticism of Xi Jinping's leadership, two days before the biggest Chinese political gathering of the year.

As of the most recent closing prices, the Hang Seng was down 0.6% and the Nikkei stood lower by 0.2%. The Shanghai Composite ended down by 0.6%.

Gold prices are trading down by 1% at Rs 46,679 per 10 grams.

The rupee is trading at 75.60 against the US$.

Note that the coronavirus impact has shaken markets worldwide. After all, 2020 has already seen one of the worst market crashes in history.

Will the 2020 Market Crash Be Worse than 2009?

Naturally, there is an atmosphere of fear all round.

Is it time to sell stocks now? Will the correction get worse?

History has shown that after years like the one we had just now, the next 3 years are good for the markets. In fact, these corrections are the rare times when you find businesses with solid fundamentals at reasonable valuations.

If you can find good businesses that can survive the current crisis, you will do well in the long run.

Moving on, market participants were tracking Bajaj Finserv share price, Hawkins Cookers share price, and Colgate Palmolive share price as these companies announced their March quarter results (Q4FY20) today.

You can read our recently released Q4FY20 results of other companies here: Ultratech Cement, Bajaj Auto, L&T Infotech, Nesco, Sanofi India, Apollo Tyres, Ajanta Pharma, Grindwell Norton, Jubilant Foodworks.

In news from the cement sector, JK Lakshmi Cement share price was in focus today.

Shares of JK Lakshmi Cement surged 11% intraday today after the company reported a more-than-double profit before tax (PBT) at Rs 1.3 billion for March quarter, on the back of strong operational performance.

The company had a PBT of Rs 574 million in the same quarter last fiscal.

The company's sales at Rs 10.6 billion were lower as compared to Rs 11.7 billion in the corresponding quarter of previous year because of the lockdown in the last 10 days of the month.

The company's EBITDA (earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation) during the quarter rose 51.6% to Rs 2,245 million against Rs 1,481 million in the year-ago quarter.

EBITDA margin improved to 21.1% from 12.6% in Q4FY19.

The management said the company's efforts in improving product mix, market optimisation, enhancing the premium products sales, reduction in logistic costs and improvement in plant efficiency parameters enabled the company to post better returns.

To know more, you can read the company's latest result analysis on our website.

Moving on to news from the mutual funds space, the markets regulator on Wednesday mandated listing of units of schemes being wound up, giving investors of schemes in Franklin Templeton Mutual Fund an alternative route to access liquidity if they don't wish to wait for receipts from portfolio investments.

In a circular, the regulator said that "pursuant to listing, trading on the stock exchange mechanism will not be mandatory for investors. Rather, if they so desire, they may avail of an optional channel of exit provided to them."

Reports state that the above move could help in creating a market, where investors get some access to liquidity even in stressed debt portfolios.

Last month on April 23, Franklin Templeton Mutual Fund announced the winding up of six of its yield-oriented debt schemes, in light of heightened redemption pressure and lack of liquidity in debt markets, following the Covid-19 outbreak.

According to estimates, around 3,00,000 investors are impacted by Franklin Templeton's move to wrap up six of its yield-oriented debt schemes.

Yesterday, the fund house appointed the debt capital markets team of Kotak Mahindra Bank as an independent advisor to expedite the process of monetizing assets in the portfolios, while trying to preserve the value of investments.

In other news, the regulator has advised India Inc to make enhanced disclosures pertaining to the virus impact on their businesses, and provide both quantitative and qualitative aspects of the same.

In a notification, the regulator said, listed entities should endeavour to ensure that all investors have access to timely, adequate, and updated information.

The regulator asked firms to give a more detailed account of how various aspects of their operations have been hit.

The regulator further added that the current situation can lead to information gaps about the operations of a company, so better disclosures will allow timely dissemination of information for all investors and stakeholders.

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!

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