14th October 2020’s Highlights: Markets end up over 0.31%, SBI Cards hits record high on festive fever, Tata Steel Long Products hits upper circuit, Infosys beats expectations, WPI inflation up & More.


SBI Cards hits record high on festive fever, Tata Steel Long Products hits upper circuit & More.


-14th October 2020-


Sensex 40,794.74 â–² 0.42%

Nifty 11,971.05 â–² 0.31%


Today, the markets opened on a weak note and were dragged down due to profit booking in IT shares. The markets ended up again - by around 0.3% to 0.4%. However, buying in banking and NBFC shares triggered a recovery, which resulted in both the Nifty50 and Sensex closing in the green. The day opened lower and remained in the red throughout most of the day. It even went as low as 0.8% below yesterday’s closing price.

However, in the last hour of the day, it climbed up due to buying mainly in banking and financial stocks, ending the day in green. The top five gainers in the Nifty50—Bajaj Finserv (+4.1%), SBI Life (+3.4%), Bajaj Finance (+2.8%), Indusind Bank (+2.4%) and ICICI Bank (+2.4%)—were BFSI companies. The Nifty Bank index ended with gains of 1.6%, whereas the Nifty IT index was down 1.2%.


Top Gainers (Nifty)


Bajaj Finserv - Rs 6100.05 â–² 3.96% 
SBI Life Insurance - Rs 810.95 â–² 3.10%
Bajaj Finance - Rs 3371.50 â–² 3.00%
ICICI Bank - Rs 406.80 â–² 2.66%
IndusInd Bank - Rs 622.65 â–² 2.38%

Top Losers (Nifty)


Wipro - Rs 350.15 â–¼ 6.81%
NTPC - Rs 79.10 â–¼ 4.35%
ONGC - Rs 67.00 â–¼ 2.97%
Coal India - Rs 110.55 â–¼ 2.94%
Tata Motors - Rs 130.70 â–¼ 2.54%


Here are the top stories of the day.


Profit booking was seen in Wipro after results.


Shares of Wipro fell 7% after the IT major announced its Q2 results. While the sequential revenue growth* of 2.0% was in line with the market expectations, the stock witnessed some profit booking after it had already risen 20% this month before the results. One reason could be that there were no major upside surprises in the results. Even the buyback offer at ₹400 (~6% premium to yesterday’s closing price) failed to bring cheer to investors. IT majors such as Infosys (-1.7%) and TCS (-0.1%) also fell today.

*on constant-currency terms

Tata Steel Long Products hits upper circuit

Tata Steel Long Products (TSLP), one of India’s largest sponge-iron manufacturers, is back in the green after a weak Q1FY21. The company’s performance was crippled in the April-June quarter due to the lockdown restrictions, while FY20 saw sluggish demand from the auto sector. In Q2FY21, the company posted a net profit of ₹59 crore, as against a loss of ₹131 crore in the previous quarter and a loss of ₹197 crore in Q2 last year. Phased relaxation of lockdown restrictions and a recovery in demand are likely to have helped the strong performance. Shares of TSLP hit the 20% upper circuit today. Tata Steel, which holds ~76% in the company, also rose 2%.

SBI Cards hits record high on festive fever

Shares of SBI Cards, India’s largest pure-play credit card issuer, were up 4% today and hit a new lifetime high of ₹891. Ahead of the festive season, the company has announced special offers and partnerships with online and offline retailers. SBI Cards was listed in March 2020 and saw a rather dismal debut, losing about 10% on its listing day from the issue price of ₹755. The stock had further dropped to a low of ₹495 in May 2020. However, the stock has seen a steady recovery over the last few months.

Infosys Posts 20.5% Rise in Net Profits


Infosys' net profit rose 20.5% to Rs 4,845 crores in the July to September quarter on a yearly basis. Revenue from operations rose 8.5% to Rs 24,570 crores during the same time period. The company announced that it will roll out salary increases from January 2021.

Infosys also declared an interim dividend of Rs 12 per share. The record date is October 26 and the final payment date is November 11.

Shares of the company ended 1.8% lower at Rs 1,137 per share today. The results were declared after market hours.

What is the record date?

Record date in the context of dividends is the cut-off date to determine which shareholders will get the dividend. The dividend is paid to those shareholders whose names appear in the shareholder records of the company at the end of the record date. 

WPI Inflation Rises to 1.32%


The Wholesale Price Index (WPI) based inflation rate rose to 1.32% for the month of September 2020. In August 2020, it had risen by 0.16%.

Before August, the inflation rate was negative for 4 months - that means there was deflation.

This increase in inflation is mainly due to the increasing price of vegetables. Potato and tomato prices especially have seen a big spike.

What is WPI and CPI?

WPI takes into account the inflation in wholesale goods whereas CPI reflects inflation at a retail, consumer level.


Loans Availed After March 1 Eligible For Restructuring


The Reserve Bank of India said in a set of frequently asked questions (FAQ) released yesterday that loans availed after March 1, 2020, will be eligible for the restructuring scheme.

This scheme was announced by RBI in August to help the borrowers of India, keeping in mind the current economic situation. 

The debt should not have been overdue by more than 30 days, as on March 1, clarified RBI.


Closing bell

The intraday recovery and positive close of the market came as a bit of a surprise, given the weak opening and higher-than-expected consumer and wholesale inflation numbers. Tomorrow, IT stocks are expected to see increased action after Infosys announced better-than-expected sequential revenue growth for Q2, and an upward revision in its revenue growth outlook for FY21.


🥇 Gold: Rs 50,544 ▼ 0.85% at 6 PM

🥈 Silver: Rs 61,880 ▼ 1.40% at 6 PM


🔀  USD-INR Rate: Rs 73.33/USD â–¼ 0.07%


Dow Jones: 28,679.81 â–¼ 0.55% - Oct 13

Nasdaq: 11,863.90 â–¼ 0.10% - Oct 13


HAPPY INVESTING!

SEE YOU TOMORROW.