After opening the day on a flat note, Indian share markets rallied in the final hour of trading, boosted by finance and banking stocks.
Sentiment also got a boost after the Supreme Court allowed the Department of Telecommunications time till third week of July to consider the telecom companies' proposal.
At the closing bell, the BSE Sensex stood higher by 700 points (up 2.1%).
Meanwhile, the NSE Nifty closed higher by 211 points (up 2.1%).
The SGX Nifty was trading at 10,052, up by 197 points, at the time of writing.
The BSE Mid Cap index ended up by 1.1%, while the BSE Small-Cap index ended the day up by 1.5%.
On the sectoral front, gains were largely seen in the banking sector and finance sector.
Asian stock markets ended on a mixed note today. As of the most recent closing prices, the Nikkei ended down by 0.5% while the Shanghai Composite ended up by 0.1%. The Hang Seng ended down by 0.3%.
The rupee is trading at 76.14 against the US$.
Gold prices are trading down by 0.1% at Rs 47,297 per 10 grams.
Speaking of the current stock market scenario, note that the coronavirus impact has shaken markets worldwide.
For the BSE Sensex, FY20 was the second-worst year post FY08, the year of the global financial crisis.
Good Time to Start Investing Now?
Naturally, there is an atmosphere of fear all round.
So, 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.
In news from the telecom sector, shares of telecom service providers Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea were among the buzzing stocks today.
The Supreme Court today asked telecom companies to file their financial statements before it and fixed adjusted gross revenue (AGR) related dues case against them for hearing in July.
Vodafone Idea told the Supreme Court that it is in no position to furnish bank guarantee, citing losses of over Rs 1 lakh crore.
On Vodafone's statement, SC asked the company about the last five years' profits and income tax returns.
Meanwhile, Bharti Airtel suggested that the telecom company needs to sit down with the government on calculations of the dues.
Airtel asked the Supreme Court that it be given 20 years to make its remaining AGR payments, saying it is a well-established telecom company and not a "fly-by-night operator".
Bharti Airtel further said that it has already paid Rs 180 billion, 70% of the Rs 256 billion received by the telecom department from all companies.
The apex court asked telcos to come up with a reasonable payment plan, reminding them that telecom is the only sector that is minting money during the pandemic.
Meanwhile, the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) sought time from the apex court to respond to telcos replies on payment of AGR related dues by them.
The DoT also filed an affidavit explaining reason for raising Rs 4 trillion demand of AGR related dues against PSUs earlier.
The Centre informed the supreme court that the DoT has decided to withdraw 96% of the Rs 4 trillion demand for AGR related dues raised against non-telecom PSUs like GAIL India.
Last Thursday, the bench headed by Justice Arun Mishra had asked the DoT to withdraw its demands of payments from public sector companies like Power Grid Corporation of India, GAIL India, GNFC, and Oil India.
In another development, the DoT is learnt to have directed state-owned Bharat Sanchar Nigam (BSNL) and Mahanagar Telephone Nigam (MTNL) to exclude Chinese gear makers from supplying 4G telecom equipment.
Private telecom operators have been asked to consider staying away from such Chinese firms.
We will keep you updated on the latest developments from this space. Stay tuned.
Moving on to news from the FMCG sector, shares of Pidilite Industries witnessed selling pressure today after it reported lower-than-expected earnings in terms of revenue and net profit, which were largely impacted by lockdown and exceptional loss.
The company's profit before tax (PBT) declined 12% year-on-year (YoY) to Rs 2.6 billion.
On a consolidated basis, the company's net profit declined by 33.9% to Rs 1.6 billion in the March quarter of 2020 (Q4FY20).
Net sales declined 6% to Rs 15.4 billion over the previous year quarter, largely impacted by lockdown and disruption in supply chain.
The company's EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization) margin improved to 19.5% from 17%, primarily due to softer input costs.
For the full financial year 2019-20, the company posted a net profit of Rs 11.2 billion as compared with Rs 9.3 billion in 2018-19.
Pidilite Industries share price ended the day down by 2.6%.
Comments
Log in or sign up to join the conversation.