Sensex Opens Flat; Asian Paints And IndusInd Bank Top Losers

Asian share markets are trading on a cautious note today as investors weighed the prospects for recovery in major economies.

The Hang Seng is down 0.1% while the Nikkei is trading lower by 0.4%. The Shanghai Composite is up 0.2%.

In the US stock market, Wall Street indices registered modest gains in overnight trade after a lackluster session that saw positive corporate news dueling with lingering concerns over the global recovery and US inflation.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average ended on a flat note while the Nasdaq climbed 0.6%.

Back home, Indian share markets have opened on a flat note with negative bias.

Market participants will track Sun Pharma share price, Dixon Technologies share price and Page Industries share price as these companies will announce their March quarter results today.

The BSE Sensex is trading down by 73 points. Meanwhile, the NSE Nifty is trading lower by 14 points.

Tech Mahindra is among the top gainers today. Asian Paints, on the other hand, is among the top losers today.

The BSE Mid Cap index has opened down by 0.1%. The BSE Small Cap index is trading higher by 0.1%.

Sectoral indices are trading on a mixed note with stocks in the banking sector and telecom sector witnessing selling pressure.

Metal stocks, on the other hand, are trading in green.

Shares of Avanti Feeds and BPCL hit their 52-week highs today.

The rupee is trading at 72.76 against the US$.

Gold prices are trading up by 0.1% at Rs 48,793 per 10 grams. Meanwhile, silver prices are trading up by 0.2% at Rs 71,433 per kg.

In news from the energy sector, BPCL is among the top buzzing stocks today.

Bharat Petroleum Corporation (BPCL) on Wednesday reported a net profit of Rs 119.4 bn for the quarter ended March 2021 (Q4FY21).

This compared with a net loss of Rs 13.6 bn in the year-ago quarter.

BPCL's bottom line was boosted by a one-time gain of Rs 69.9 bn.

During the quarter under review, the company made gains of Rs 94.2 bn from the sale of a stake in subsidiary Numaligarh Refinery, took an impairment of assets worth Rs 20.3 bn related to subsidiary Bharat PetroResources and took a one-time hit on employee share-based expenses.

The company's revenue from operations rose 21.5% on a year-on-year (YoY) basis to Rs 987.6 bn for the quarter.

For FY21, BPCL reported a net profit of Rs 173.2 bn on a consolidated basis, 372.5% higher than the profit posted a year ago.

Revenue fell 7.7% YoY to Rs 3.04 lakh crore.

Meanwhile, expenses comprising mostly crude oil purchase fell at a sharper rate of 11.8% to Rs 2.89 lakh crore

The company recommended a final dividend of Rs 58 per equity share, which includes a one-time special dividend of Rs 35 per equity share of Rs 10 each.

BPCL's share price has opened the day up by 1.2%.

Moving on, as per an article in The Economic Times, Adani Total Gas, Apollo Hospitals Enterprise, Cholamandalam Investment, NMDC, Honeywell Automation and Bank of Baroda are likely to be reclassified as large-caps from mid-caps in the upcoming semi-annual review by the Association of Mutual Funds in India (Amfi).

The article added that Abbott India, Hindustan Aeronautics, Alkem Laboratories, HPCL, PI Industries, and Petronet LNG are likely to be reclassified to mid-caps from large-caps.

The reclassified list of large-cap, mid-cap, and small-caps will be released by Amfi by the first week of July and will be effective for the July to December period.

Equity-oriented schemes focused on market-cap classification will have to re-align the schemes within one month.

The reclassification will also see IRFC, Macrotech Developers, and Indigo Paints becoming new entrants to the mid-cap space.

In the small-cap space, Kalyan Jewellers, Anupam Rasayan, Laxmi Organic, Nazara Technologies, Home First Finance, RailTel Corporation, Craftsman Automation, MTAR Technologies, Suryoday Small Finance Bank, and Barbeque Nation will make an entry.

Speaking of smallcap stocks, note that the BSE Smallcap index touched a lifetime high recently.

Despite the index is up more than 157% since the March 2020 lows, Richa Agarwal, lead Smallcap Analyst at Equitymaster, believes smallcap stocks are set for a massive up move in 2021 and beyond.

Here's why...

As per Richa, the smallcap to Sensex ratio is a good metric to gauge while coming to some conclusions about relative valuations.

So what is this indicator suggesting now?

As you can see from the chart below, the ratio currently stands at 0.46 times, as compared to a long-term average of 0.43 times.

Here's what she wrote about it in a recent edition of Profit Hunter:

  • In the last year, the small caps have done well to cover the gaps with the large peers.

    But it could be premature to call this a peak.

    In the previous two rounds, the average ratio has been 0.57, suggesting more upside from these levels.

Richa believes if you focus on the quality of business, margin of safety in valuations, and an optimum asset allocation, you are likely to create huge wealth for yourself.

Disclosure: Equitymaster Agora Research Private Limited (Research Analyst) bearing Registration No. INH000000537 (hereinafter referred as 'Equitymaster') is an independent equity research ...

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