Share markets in India have extended early gains and are presently trading higher. The BSE Sensex is trading up by 262 points, while the NSE Nifty is trading up by 73 points.
The BSE Mid Cap index and the BSE Small Cap index are trading on a flat note.
On the sectoral front, gains are largely seen in the banking sector, the finance sector, and IT sector.
The rupee is trading at 75.64 against the US$.
Gold Prices are currently trading down by 0.6% at Rs 46,030.
Note that stock markets around the world have witnessed one of the most volatile phases in 2020 so far.
One month we see a sharp decline followed by a sharp up move the next month.
One day we hear positive news of a vaccine for the virus. Another day, a WHO scientist says we might have to live with this virus for years.
Moving on, market participants are tracking Dabur share price, Quess Corp share price and Sun Pharma share price as these companies are scheduled to announce their March quarter results (Q4FY20) later today.
You can read our recently released Q4FY20 results of other companies here: Lakshmi Machine, Birla Corporation, Bata India, Colgate, Honeywell Automation, Hawkins Cookers, Bayer Cropscience, JSW Steel, DCB Bank.
In news from the economic space, Fitch ratings and CRISIL have drastically cut India's economic growth forecast in the current fiscal year due to a prolonged lockdown.
Both, Fitch and CRISIL projected the economy to contract 5%, from their earlier estimates of the economic growth at 0.8% and 1.8%, respectively.
In its latest report, CRISIL said that it expects the current quarter's GDP to shrink 25% year-on-year (YoY).
The rating agency said it would really be a long road to recovery and going back to the pre-COVID-19 trend level of gross domestic product (GDP) in India will not be possible for the next three fiscal years.
Reportedly, lockdown extension, higher economic costs, and an economic package that lacked muscle are the three key reasons why CRISIL downgraded the GDP forecast.
Meanwhile, Fitch ratings said India had had a very stringent lockdown policy that had lasted a lot longer than expected and incoming economic activity data had been spectacularly weak.
Note that the Indian economy was grappling with its own issues and COVID-19 has made matters worse.
The industry was facing demand problems, due to which business houses were reluctant to undertake CapEx plans. Unemployment was at its peak and exports were consistently down for several months.
India's GDP growth has been on a consistent decline after peaking out at 7.9% in Q4 of FY18 to 4.7% in Q3 of FY20. This is evident in the chart below:
The numbers are expected to have fallen further in Q4FY20 due to COVID 19.
Interestingly, there's a silver lining in all this. India can become an outsourcing hub. The global slowdown will mean that countries like the US, will be looking out for low-cost outsourcing destinations like India.
Further, a lot of global buyers have already shifted to India to source ceramics, home appliances, fashion, and lifestyle goods.
Meanwhile, as per the reports, around a thousand foreign manufacturers want to relocate their production to India, a country they see as an alternative to China.
Moving on to news from the chemical sector, shares of Deepak Nitrite surged over 5% today after the company reported an 88% jump in its consolidated net profit at Rs 1,723 million for the quarter ended March 2020.
The company had reported a profit of Rs 914.6 million in the year-ago period.
The company's revenue from operations rose 4.7% to Rs 10.6 billion for Q4FY20 as against Rs 10.1 billion in the corresponding quarter of the previous fiscal.
On a standalone basis, revenues stood at Rs 5.3 billion in Q4FY20 as compared to Rs 4.9 billion in Q4FY19.
The company's profit before tax (PBT) came in at Rs 1.6 billion, up 84%. Profit after tax (PAT) stood at Rs 1.2 billion, up 106% YoY.
For the full year ended March 2020, the company's net profit rose to Rs 6,110.3 million, while sales rose 56.7% to Rs 42,297.1 million.
Deepak Nitrite share price is presently trading up by 1.3%.
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