Indian share markets witnessed positive trading activity throughout the day today and ended on a strong note.
Benchmark indices extended gains as the session progressed, amid huge buying seen in automobile and IT stocks.
Better than expected corporate earnings and strong global cues also boosted investor sentiment.
At the closing bell, the BSE Sensex stood higher by 558 points (up 1.5%).
The NSE Nifty closed higher by 169 points (up 1.5%).
The SGX Nifty was trading at 11,306, up by 184 points, at the time of writing.
The BSE Mid Cap index ended up by 0.8%.
The BSE Small Cap index ended up by 0.6%.
On the sectoral front, gains were largely seen in the automobile sector and IT sector.
Asian stock markets ended on a mixed note, ahead of the US Federal Reserve meeting that begins today. The US Central Bank is likely to reinforce its dovish message in the policy decision that comes out later on Wednesday.
As of the most recent closing prices, the Hang Seng ended up by 0.6% and the Shanghai Composite stood higher by 0.7%. The Nikkei ended down by 0.3%.
The rupee was trading at 74.84 against the US$.
Gold Prices are trading down by 0.3% at Rs 51,970. If you want to know, when and how to buy gold, just visit our Youtube Playlist on gold investing. Get trading ideas on gold by India's #1 trader Vijay Bhambwani. Find out the right way to profitably trade gold now.
Also, a few months back, Richa wrote to you about an urgent opportunity in small caps...in 5 small-caps to be precise.
Her efforts have paid off well. Every single smallcap in the list has offered gains, beating the benchmark indices by a handsome margin as can be seen in the chart below.
But even if the gains had not come, Richa's conviction in these 'Essential stocks' would not have been any less. That's because these are coffee can stocks.
In news from the insurance sector, HDFC Life Insurance was among the top buzzing stocks today.
Shares of the company hit an all-time high of Rs 647.60 on the National Stock Exchange (NSE) today, ahead of its inclusion in the benchmark index Nifty50 from Friday, July 31, 2020, onwards.
The company will replace Anil Agarwal-controlled Vedanta in the benchmark index.
HDFC Life Insurance Company will be the third company from the HDFC group which will feature in the Nifty50. Housing Development Finance Corporation (HDFC) and HDFC Bank are currently in the benchmark index.
Earlier this month, the private insurer reported a 2.87% jump in its pre-tax profit for the April-June quarter (Q1FY21) to Rs 4.5 billion from Rs 4.4 billion in Q1FY20.
The insurer's net profit rose 6% to Rs 4.5 billion from Rs 4.25 billion reported in the year-ago quarter.
The value of new business (VNB), a measure of profitability for life insurers, was down 43% to Rs 2.9 billion in Q1FY21 from Rs 5.1 billion. The new business margin was also down 550 basis points to 24.3% in Q1FY21 compared to 29.8% in Q1FY20.
HDFC Life Insurance share price ended the day up by 1%.
Moving on to news from the cement sector, UltraTech Cement today reported a 36.4% year-on-year (YoY) fall in net profit at Rs 8.1 billion compared with Rs 12.7 billion in the corresponding quarter last year.
The profit came in much higher than a Rs 4.7 billion estimate that analysts had made.
Revenue for the quarter fell 32.8% YoY to Rs 72.9 billion compared with Rs 108.5 billion in the same quarter last year.
The cement maker said it achieved 60% capacity utilization for the first 68 operating days since the national lockdown.
The company said it is closely monitoring the impact of Covid-19 on its operations. It added that its capital and financial resources remain entirely protected and its liquidity position is adequately covered.
For the quarter, the company saw a 21% drop in fixed costs and a 22% fall in volumes.
UltraTech Cement share price ended the day up by 7%.
Comments
Log in or sign up to join the conversation.