STOCKS RISE FOR 9TH DAY DESPITE MIXED GLOBAL CUES; IT SHARES DRAG

The domestic stock market continued its upward trend on Thursday, marking its ninth consecutive day of gains. However, this winning run was somewhat tempered by the lackluster performance of IT stocks, which struggled due to underwhelming quarterly earnings and cautious outlook of the country`s top IT firm, TCS. Mixed cues from the global markets and the surge in COVID-19 cases across the country also weighed on investor sentiment. Despite these challenges, the overall market managed to eke out marginal gains by the end of the day.

The BSE Sensex, the benchmark index, rose by a mere 0.06% or 38.23 points to close at 60,431.00. Meanwhile, the broader Nifty 50 index rose by 0.09% or 15.60 points to close at 17,828. The Sensex is up by 4.89% and the Nifty by a 5.17% over the course of nine trading sessions.

The Nifty 50 index opened at 17,807.30. After some struggle to move higher, it turned red and hit the day`s low of 17,729.65 by early afternoon trade. It started to recover from that level and managed to bounce back in late trade and hit the day`s high of 17,842.15 at the fag end of the trading session.

The mid-cap and small-cap indices on the BSE performed relatively better with gains of 0.16% and 0.33%, respectively.

The market breadth on the BSE was positive, with 1,849 shares managing to rise and 1,643 shares experiencing a decline. The remaining 118 shares remained unchanged.

The NSE`s India VIX, a gauge of the market`s expectation of volatility over the near term, declined 2.97% to 11.91.

The market will be closed on Friday, 14 April 2023, in observance of Ambedkar Jayanti.

Economy:

According to the official data released on Wednesday, India`s retail inflation or the consumer price index (CPI) for March eased to a 15-month low of 5.66% from 6.44% in February.

India`s industrial output, as measured by the index of Industrial production or IIP, in February rose 5.6% year on year, data from the Ministry of Statistics showed today. The index of industrial production (IIP) expanded by 5.2% in January after rising 4.3% in December.

Numbers to track:

The yield on India`s 10-year benchmark federal paper advanced to 7.225 from 7.213 in previous trading session.

In the foreign exchange market, the rupee edged higher against the dollar. The partially convertible rupee was hovering at 81.8900, compared with its close of 82.11 during the previous trading session.

MCX Gold futures for 5 June 2023 settlement added 0.50% to Rs 60,930.

The US Dollar index (DXY), which tracks the greenback`s value against a basket of currencies, was down 0.19% to 101.31.

The United States 10-year bond yield was up 0.10% to 3.424.

In the commodities market, Brent crude for June 2023 settlement slipped 48 cents or 0.55% to $86.85 a barrel.

Global Markets:

Global stock markets had a mixed day on Thursday, as investors grappled with inflation data and the latest outlook from the US Federal Reserve. European markets advanced, while Asian markets ended mixed following the release of minutes from the Fed`s March meeting, which warned that the US economy could face a recession in the aftermath of the banking crisis.

On Wednesday, Wall Street saw gains after the release of US consumer price index data showing a cooling in inflation, with the CPI rising 0.1% in March and 5% year-on-year, while core CPI rose 5.6% annually. However, gains were erased later in the day following comments from the Fed.

Stocks in Spotlight:

Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) slipped 1.61%. The IT major`s consolidated net profit rose 5.03% to Rs 11,392 crore on 1.6% increase in net sales to Rs 59,162 crore in Q4 FY23 over Q3 FY23. On a year on year (YoY) basis, the IT firm`s net profit jumped 14.77% and net sales rose 16.94% in Q4 FY23. Constant currency revenue grew 10.7% YoY in Q4 FY23. Operating margin stood at 24.5% while net margin was at 19.3% in Q4 FY23.

On a full year basis, the IT company`s consolidated net profit rose 9.97% to Rs 42,147 crore on 17.58% jump in revenue to Rs 2,25,458 crore in FY23 over FY22. The company`s Q4 total contract value (TCV) stood at $10 billion with an all-time high number of large deals, taking the FY23 order book TCV at $34.1 billion.

Infosys fell 2.79%. The IT major reported a 7% dip in consolidated net profit to Rs 6,128 crore in Q4 FY23, while revenues declined by 2.3% to Rs 37,441 crore compared to Q3 FY23.

However, the company`s net profit and revenues on a year-on-year basis saw a healthy increase of 7.8% and 16%, respectively, compared to Q4 FY22. The operating profit for Q4 FY23 was Rs 7,877 crore, a decline of 4.4% QoQ, but up 13.2% YoY. The operating margin was 21% for the same period, down 50 bps QoQ and 60 bps YoY.

Infosys revenues in dollar terms stood at $4,554 million for the quarter ended 31 March 2023, marking a decline of 2.2% QoQ but a YoY increase of 6.4%. Meanwhile, in constant currency terms, the company`s revenue took a QoQ hit of 3.2% but saw a YoY growth of 8.8% during the period under review.

Despite the mixed results, Infosys issued a revenue growth guidance of 4% - 7% in constant currency, along with an operating margin guidance of 20% - 22% for FY24.

Varun Beverages declined 1.09%. The leading beverage maker announced that its board will consider a stock split on 2 May 2023. Additionally, the board will also review and discuss the financial results for the quarter ended 31 March 2023.

AU Small Finance Bank zoomed 17.08% after the Reserve Bank of India approved the re-appointment of Sanjay Agarwal as managing director & CEO of the bank for a period of three years w.e.f. 19 April 2023 till 18 April 2026.

Anand Rathi Wealth rallied 2.68% after the company`s consolidated net profit (from continuing operations) jumps 23.16% to Rs 42.54 crore on 28.05% increase in total income to Rs 146.81 crore in Q4 FY23 over Q4 FY22. Total asset under management (AUM) was at Rs 38,993 crore in the quarter ended 31 March 2023, up 18.5% as against Rs 32,906 crore recorded in the corresponding quarter previous year.

Coal India (CIL) fell 0.92%. The company announced that its coking coal production has rose 17.2% to 54.6 million tonnes (MTs) in FY23 as compared with 46.6 MTs in FY22.

Vedanta rose 0.15%. The diversified minerals company announced that its board approved raising of funds through issuance of non‐convertible debentures (NCDs) aggregating up to Rs 2,100 crore in one or more tranches, on a private placement basis.

Rail Vikas Nigam (RVNL) gained 1.07% after the company announced that it has received a letter of award (LoA) from North Western Railway, aggregating to Rs 63.08 crore. The public sector enterprise secured an order for the provision of automatic block signalling on Madar-Sakhun section of Jaipur division over North Western Railway.

Bharat Heavy Electricals (BHEL) rose 0.24%. BHEL said that it has signed a MoU with the Nuclear Power Corporation of India (NPCIL) to jointly pursue business opportunities around nuclear power plants based on pressurised heavy water reactor (PHWR) technology.

Edvenswa Enterprises hit an upper limit of 5% after marquee investor Porinju Veliyath bought a 1.43% stake in the company through a bulk deal on the BSE yesterday.

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