Sensex spurts 708 pts, Nifty ends near 17,700 mark; HDFC twins jump

The benchmark indices ended with robust gains on Friday, supported by strength in banks, financial services and auto stocks. The market opened higher and further extended gains as the session progressed. The Nifty briefly crossed the 17,700 mark in late trade.

The barometer index, S&P BSE Sensex soared 708.18 points or 1.21% at 59,276.69. The Nifty 50 index surged 205.70 points or 1.18% at 17,670.45.

SBI (up 3%), HDFC (up 2.61%), HDFC Bank (up 2.47%), ICICI Bank (up 0.86%) and Reliance Industries (up 0.78%) boosted the indices.

In broader market, the S&P BSE Mid-Cap index added 1.39% while the S&P BSE Small-Cap index rose 1.71%.

The market breadth was strong. On the BSE, shares 2,721 rose and 674 shares fell. A total of 106 shares were unchanged.

The NSE`s India VIX, a gauge of market`s expectation of volatility over the near term, slumped 10.33% to 18.4350.

Economy:

Goods and Services Tax (GST) collections for March hit a record high of Rs 1.42 lakh crore, up 6.8% from the previous month, data released on April 1 by the finance ministry showed. "The revenues for the month of March 2022 are 15% higher than the GST revenues in the same month last year and 46% higher than the GST revenues in March 2020." the government said.

India`s current account deficit (CAD) increased to $23 billion (2.7% of GDP) in Q3:2021-22 from $9.9 billion (1.3% of GDP) in Q2:2021-22 and $2.2 billion (0.3% of GDP) a year ago [i.e., Q3:2020-21]. The widening of CAD in Q3:2021-22 was mainly on account of higher trade deficit, as per the data released by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on 31 March 2022.

India`s fiscal deficit for February-end stood at 82.7% of revised estimates in Budget, according to official data released by the government on Thursday. The fiscal gap stood at Rs 13.17 lakh crore.

In April-February, net tax receipts were Rs 14.81 lakh crore while total expenditure was Rs 31.44 lakh crore, the data showed. The revenue gap came in at Rs 8.7 lakh crore, while spending was at Rs 31.4 lakh crore.

Numbers to Track:

MCX Gold futures for 5 April 2022 settlement fell 0.18% to Rs 51,490.

The US Dollar index (DXY), which tracks the greenback`s value against a basket of currencies, rose 0.11% to 98.468.

In the commodities market, Brent crude for June 2022 settlement fell 18 cents at $104.89 a barrel.

Global Markets:

European shares advanced while Asian stocks ended on a mixed note on Friday, with talks between Russia and Ukraine continuing to guide investor sentiment.

Peace talks between Russia and Ukraine have yielded little fruit thus far, with Kyiv and its Western allies remaining skeptical of Moscow`s intentions and the legitimacy of its commitment to partial military pullbacks in northern Ukraine.

Meanwhile, China`s Caixin/Markit Manufacturing Purchasing Managers` Index came in at 48.1, below the 50-level that separates growth from contraction. That compared against the previous month`s reading of 50.4. Friday`s reading was also the lowest since February 2020.

Sentiment at Japan`s large manufacturers soured in the three months to March, according to the Bank of Japan`s quarterly tankan business sentiment survey. The headline index for large manufacturers` sentiment came in at 14, a decline from the previous quarter`s reading of 17.

Buzzing Segment:

The Nifty Auto index jumped 1.18% to 10,676.85. The index has risen 2.50% in three sessions.

Hero MotoCorp declined 2.10%. The Income Tax department uncovered irregularities to the tune of Rs 800 crore after raids on the company. The Income Tax Department said it conducted a search and seizure operation on a leading automobile manufacturer group along with a company operating chartered flights and a real estate group of Delhi-NCR covering more than 35 premises across Delhi-NCR, on 23 March 2022. During the course of the search operation, various incriminating documents and digital evidence have been found and seized indicating that the expenses ostensibly shown to have been claimed towards business purposes are not fully supported by evidences.

Maruti Suzuki India rose 1.44%. The company`s recorded total sales of 1,70,395 units in March 2022, increasing 2% from 1,67,014 units sold in March 2021. Total sales in the month include domestic sales of 1,37,658 units, sales to other OEM of 6,241 units and its highest ever monthly exports of 26,496 units. On a sequential basis, however, the company`s total sales have improved by 3.86% from 1,64,056 units sold in February 2022. Total domestic sales fell by 7.4% year on year to 1,43,899 units in March 2022. Total Exports soared 128% to 26,496 units in March 2022 over March 2021.

Mahindra & Mahindra (M&M) advanced 2.31%. The company`s passenger vehicles sales jumped 65% to 27,603 units in March 2022 over March 2021. M&M announced that its overall auto sales for the month of March 2022 stood at 54,643 vehicles. In the utility vehicles segment, M&M sold 27,380 vehicles in March 2022, up 65% year-on-year (YoY). Total exports for the month rose 49% to 3,160 vehicles in March 2022 over March 2021. In the commercial vehicles segment, the company sold 19,837 vehicles in March 2022 with growth of 16%. All the light commercial vehicle segments of <2T, Pickups (2T to 3.5T), >3.5T and the heavy commercial vehicles continued their growth trajectory in March 2022.

Ashok Leyland gained 1.79%. The company`s total commercial vehicle (CV) sales rose 17% to 20,123 units in March 2022 as against 17,231 units in March 2021. The company`s total CV sales increased 37.29% last month from 14,657 units sold in February 2022. While the total sales of medium & heavy commercial vehicles (M&HCV) jumped 26% to 13,990 units, sales of light commercial vehicles (LCVs) were flat at 6,133 units in March 2022 over March 2021.

Tata Motors added 1.65%. The company`s total domestic sales jumped 30% to 86,718 units in March 2022 as against 66,462 units in March 2021. The total domestic sales rose 17.38% last month compared with 73,875 units in February 2022. Tata Motors said that its sales in the domestic and international market for Q4 FY22 stood at 2,43,459 vehicles compared with 1,91,373 units during Q4 FY21, up 27.22% year-on-year. Total domestic commercial vehicles (CV) sales rose 21% to 44,425 units in March 2022 over March 2021. CV exports declined 28% to 2,625 units during the period under review. Total domestic passenger vehicle (PV) sales jumped 43% to 42,293 units in March 2022 over March 2021. PV ICE (internal combustion engine) sales rose 34% to 38,936 units while PV EV (electric vehicle) sales surged 376% to 3,357 units in March 2022 over March 2021.

Escorts rose 0.54%. The company`s total tractor sales declined by 18.3% YoY to 10,074 units in March 2022 from 12,337 units sold in March 2021. On a sequential basis tractor sales jumped 64.7% in March 2022 from 6,114 units sold in February 2022. Domestic tractor sales in March 2022 stood at 9,483 tractors as against 11,730 tractors sold in March 2021, registering a decline of 19.2% year on year. Escorts said fall in domestic sales was on the back of high base of last year and subdued commercial demand. The company further added that tractor industry wholesales continues to remain subdued in March 2022. Meanwhile, export tractor sales in March 2022 were at 591 units in March 2022 against 607 units sold in March 2021, posting a decline of 2.6% year on year.

Stocks in Spotlight:

NTPC surged 5.93% after the company reported highest ever annual group generation of 360 billion units (BU), a growth of 14.6% compared to previous year. During this period, NTPC also recorded the highest ever single day generation of 1215.68 MU (Group) & 1013.45 MU (NTPC). The coal-based plants recorded a PLF (plant load factor) of 70.7% with an availability factor of 88.8%. On a standalone basis, NTPC generated 299 BU in FY 21-22, an increase of 10.4% over the previous year.

Bharat Electronics (BEL) rose 1.99% after the company achieved a turnover of about Rs 15,000 crore in FY22, increasing 8.55% compared with the previous year`s turnover of Rs 13,818 crore.

As per the regulatory filing, BEL had an order book of around Rs 57,000 crore as on 1 April 2022. In the year 2021-22, BEL secured orders worth approximately Rs 18,000 crore. BEL achieved export sales of around $32.26 million during FY22.

NCC surged 10.93% after the EPC company announced sale of its subsidiary, NCC Vizag Urban Infrastructure (NCCVUL), to Bengaluru-based GRPL Housing for around Rs 200 crore. GRPL Housing is part of the Gardencity Realty Group.

Sansera Engineering rose 4.38% after the company bagged orders for two packages consisting of 26 aluminium forged and machined parts from BMW Motorrad amounting to approximately Rs 300 crore over 10 years.

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