The headline equity indices extended losses and hit the day's low in afternoon trade. The Nifty traded below the 22,550 mark. Metal, IT and healthcare shares declined while media, bank and private bank shares advanced. Trading could be volatile due to May F&O series expiry today.
At 13:30 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was down 496.79 points or 0.66% to 74,008.04. The Nifty 50 index lost 165.30 points or 0.73% to 22,539.40.
In the broader market, the S&P BSE Mid-Cap index shed 0.55% and the S&P BSE Small-Cap index fell 0.77%.
The market breadth was weak. On the BSE, 1,277 shares rose and 2,468 shares fell. A total of 111 shares were unchanged.
Gainers & Losers:
ICICI Bank (up 1.21%), State Bank of India (up 0.74%), HDFC Bank (up 0.71%), Axis Bank (up 0.42%) and Kotak Mahindra Bank (up 0.26%) were major Nifty gainers.
Tata Steel (down 4.65%), Power Grid Corporation of India (down 2.96%), Shriram Finance (down 2.78%), Titan Company (down 2.74%) and Bajaj Finserv (down 2.73%) were major Nifty losers.
Tata Steel fell 4.65% after the company’s consolidated net profit declined 64.59% to Rs 554.56 crore from Rs 1,566.24 crore posted in Q4 FY23. Revenue from operations fell 6.79% YoY to Rs 58,687.31 crore in Q4 FY24.
Stocks in Spotlight:
Lemon Tree Hotels added 0.25%. The comapny reported a 42.33% jump in consolidated net profit to Rs 83.99 crore on 29.53% increase in revenue from operations to Rs 327.31 crore in Q4 FY24 over Q4 FY23.
SJVN slipped 3.44% after the company reported 56.04% drop in consolidated net profit to Rs 61.08 crore on 11.12% decline in revenue from operations to Rs 482.91 crore in Q4 FY24 over Q3 FY24.
Indegene declined 3.08% after the company’s consolidated net profit fell 3.9% to Rs 94.9 crore in Q4 FY24 as compared with Rs 98.8 crore in Q3 FY24. Revenue from operations fell marginally to Rs 673 crore in Q4 FY24 from Rs 673.4 crore in Q3 FY24.
Edelweiss Financial Services tumbled 9.89% after the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) announced severe business restrictions against ECL Finance and Edelweiss Asset Reconstruction Company, owing to material supervisory concerns.
Bata India’s advanced 2.26%. The company’s consolidated net profit shed 3.01% to Rs 63.65 crore in Q4 FY24 as compared with Rs 65.62 crore posted in Q4 FY23. Revenue from operations rose 2.48% year on year (YoY) to Rs 797.87 crore in the quarter ended March 2024.
Global Markets:
European stocks advanced while Asian stocks tumbled on Thursday.
Tepid demand in the $44 billion sale of seven-year US Treasuries initially caused them to fall across the curve. This raised concerns that funding the US deficit will drive up yields, especially with the Federal Reserve unlikely to cut rates soon.
Adding to these concerns, key US inflation data is due on Friday, including the PCE price index, the Federal Reserve's preferred inflation gauge. A revised reading on first-quarter US gross domestic product data is also due on Thursday. US indices fell on Wednesday, reflecting these anxieties. The S&P 500 fell 0.7%, the NASDAQ Composite fell 0.6%, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 1.1%.