MARKET CONTINUES TO TRADE LOWER; EUROPEAN MKT DECLINE

The frontline indices traded with substantial losses in afternoon trade. The Nifty traded below the 22,150 mark after hitting the day`s high of 22,330 in early trade. PSU bank, auto and metal shares declined while realty, consumer durables and IT stocks advanced.

At 13:30 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was slipped 397.34 points or 0.54% to 72,583.40. The Nifty 50 index lost 121.50 points or 0.55% to 22,079.05.

The broader market outperformed the benchmark indices. The S&P BSE Mid-Cap index added 0.34% and the S&P BSE Small-Cap index gained 0.61%.

The market breadth was almost even. On the BSE, 1,865 shares rose and 1,869 shares fell. A total of 142 shares were unchanged.

Economy:

India`s merchandise exports rose by 1% to USD 34.99 billion in April even as the trade deficit widened to a four-month high of USD 19.1 billion during the month, according to government data. Healthy growth in sectors such as electronics, chemicals, petroleum products and pharmaceuticals has helped register growth in exports despite global economic uncertainties. Imports also increased by 10.25% to USD 54.09 billion in the month under review from USD 49.06 billion in April 2023 due to a significant jump in gold imports.

Gainers & Losers:

Tech Mahindra (up 1.48%), Bharti Airtel (up 1.44%), LTIMindtree (up 1.22%), Infosys (up 1.06%) and Tata Consumer Products (up 0.93%) were major Nifty gainers.

Maruti Suzuki India (down 3.27%), Tata Motors (down 2.46%), Power Grid Corporation of India (down 2.22%), State Bank of India (down 1.88%) and Bharat Petroleum Corporation (down 1.82%) were major Nifty losers.

Stocks in Spotlight:

NCC surged 8.21% after the company�s consolidated net profit jumped 25.30% to Rs 239.16 crore in Q4 FY24 as compared with Rs 190.86 crore recorded in Q4 FY23. Revenue from operations increased 31.03% to Rs 6,484.88 crore in Q4 FY24 as compared to Rs 4,949.03 crore posted in Q4 FY23.

Titagarh Rail Systems (TSRL) zoomed 8.74% after its standalone net profit surged 57.35% to Rs 83.41 crore in Q4 FY24 as against to Rs 53.01 crore posted in Q4 FY23. Revenue from operations increased 8.03% to Rs 1,052.41 crore in fourth quarter of FY24 from Rs 974.22 crore recorded in the corresponding quarter previous year.

Honeywell Automation India rallied 6.13% after the company reported 32.3% rise in 148.2 crore on a 11.9% increase in revenue from operations to Rs 950.7 crore in Q4 FY24 as compared with Q4 FY23.

LIC Housing Finance advanced 2.04%. The company reported 8% fall in net profit to Rs 1,090.82 crore despite of 8% increase in revenue from operations to Rs 6,936.41 crore in Q4 FY24 as compared with Q4 FY23.

Jindal Stainless shed 0.28%. The company reported 27.73% decline in standalone net profit to Rs 476.36 crore in Q4 FY24 as against Rs 659.15 crore in Q4 FY23. Revenue from operations rose marginally to Rs 9,520.74 crore in the quarter ended 31 March 2024.

Dixon Technologies (India) added 1.93% after the company reported 20.68% rise in consolidated net profit to Rs 97.30 crore in Q4 FY24 from Rs 80.62 crore posted in Q4 FY23. Revenue from operations grew by 51.95% YoY to Rs 4,657.97 crore in the quarter ended 31 March 2024.

Berger Paints India rose 0.44%. The company reported 19.7% increase in consolidated net profit to Rs 222.6 crore on a 3.1% rise in total income from operations to Rs 2,520.3 crore in Q4 FY24 as compared with Q4 FY23.

Global Markets:

European stocks declined while Asian stocks advanced on Thursday following record highs on Wall Street. This was driven by hopes of interest rate cuts in the US due to softer inflation data.

Data on Wednesday showed US CPI inflation grew at a slightly softer-than-expected month-on-month rate in April, while core CPI , which excludes volatile food and energy prices, fell to an annualized 3.6% from 3.8% in March. Although inflation did slow down slightly in April, it is still higher than the Federal Reserve`s target and comes after a strong producer price index reading.

The positive sentiment from Wall Street overshadowed some negative news in Asia, such as a shrinking Japanese economy and increased trade tensions between the US and China.

Japan`s gross domestic product shrank 0.5% quarter-on-quarter in the three months to March 31, government data showed on Thursday. It fell sharply from the 0.1% increase seen in the December quarter.

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