Share markets in India are presently trading on a strong note.
The BSE Sensex is trading up by 417 points, up 1%, at 43,014 levels.
Meanwhile, the NSE Nifty is trading up by 103 points.
Bajaj Finance and IndusInd Bank are among the top gainers today. Cipla and Tech Mahindra are among the top losers today.
The BSE Mid Cap index and BSE Small Cap index are both trading down by 0.1%
On the sectoral front, stocks from the IT sector are witnessing most of the selling pressure.
On the other hand, stocks from the finance sector are witnessing most of the buying interest.
US stock futures are trading lower today, indicating a negative opening for Wall Street indices.
Nasdaq Futures are trading down by 91 points (down 0.7%), while Dow Futures are trading down by 175 points (down 0.6%).
The rupee is trading at 74.21 against the US$.
Gold prices are trading up 1.5% at Rs 50,505 per 10 grams.
Globally, gold prices edged higher today after falling over 5% in the previous session. In the previous session, the precious metal fell after US drugmaker Pfizer said its experimental Covid-19 vaccine was more than 90% effective, based on initial trial results. Tracking global cues, gold prices also moved higher in domestic markets.
Note that gold has shed most of the US election gains after the vaccine news as investors have pulled out of defensive assets and poured cash into markets that are closely tied to economic growth.
Speaking of the precious yellow metal, how lucrative has gold been as a long-term investment in India?
The chart below shows the annual returns on gold over the last 15 years...
As you can see, barring just two years - 2013 and 2015, gold has delivered positive returns in 13 of the last 15 years.
The recent price volatility in the bullion market has rattled many traders. Even with the recent volatility in prices, gold remains among the best-performing commodities this year to combat the fallout from the coronavirus pandemic.
Moving on to stock-specific news...
Among the buzzing stocks, today is JK Cement.
On November 9, JK Cement reported almost a three-fold jump in consolidated net profit at Rs 2.2 billion for the quarter ended September. The company had posted a net profit of Rs 795 million in the year-ago period.
The company's revenue from operations rose 24% year-on-year (YoY) to Rs 16.3 billion during the quarter whereas its total expenses rose 11.5% YoY to Rs 13.3 billion.
With the gradual resumption of overall economic activities, operations of the Group have started moving towards normalcy. However, the situation is still evolving.
The company is expecting to further improve its growth numbers in the second half of this current fiscal, riding on enhanced production capacity and resurgence in demand.
JK Cement, a part of the multi-disciplinary industrial conglomerate JK Organisation, has registered a growth of around 5% in the first half of the ongoing fiscal and for the second half, it is certain that it will grow more compared to last year.
As this depends on market growth, the company has added new capacities which will help to grow faster than the market. The growth would be supported by the new production capacities, which the company has added in the northern markets.
The company has also successfully completed its grey cement capacity expansion of 4.2 MTPA (million tonnes per annum) comprising 2 MTPA in Rajasthan, 1.5 MTPA in Uttar Pradesh, and 0.7 MTPA in Gujarat.
At the time of writing, JK Cement share price was trading up by 1.1% on the BSE.
We will keep you posted on all the news from this space. Stay tuned.
Moving on to news about smallcap stocks...
Indiamart Q2FY21 Results: Net Profit Jumps About Eight Fold to Rs 700 million
B2B e-commerce firm Indiamart Intermesh posted a nearly eight-fold jump in its consolidated net profit at Rs 700 million for the second quarter ended September 30, aided by lower expenses and taxes. The company had reported a net profit of Rs 90 million in the corresponding period a year ago.
The online marketplace for business products saw its quarterly profit and revenue rise, mainly due to an increase in paying subscription suppliers and the number of visits amid the pandemic-fueled e-commerce boom.
The company's revenue rose 4% year-on-year (YoY) to Rs 1.6 billion as the realization of existing customers improved and the number of paying subscription suppliers increased.
The earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) more than doubled to Rs 817 million while the EBITDA margin expanded to 50.1% from 23.2% a year ago, aided by cost optimization initiatives undertaken over the last six months. The company, however, termed these as 'temporary' measures.
The company believes that its investments in the product over the last couple of years has strengthened the value proposition for its customers and has held it in good stead to leverage the emerging market opportunities in these tough times.
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