The key equity indices closed with limited losses on Friday, as significant selling pressure in the last hour of trade forced the benchmarks to pare all gains earned during the day and turn red. The Nifty closed some points above the 15,750 mark, after hitting the day's high at 15,862.80. Auto shares were in demand as they snapped their five-day losing streak.

As per provisional closing data, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, fell 66.23 points or 0.13% to 52,586.84. The Nifty 50 index lost 15.40 points or 0.10% to 15,763.05.

Broader markets, however, managed to outperform the benchmark indices. The S&P BSE Mid-Cap index added 0.52%. The S&P BSE Small-Cap index rose 0.69%.

Buyers outnumbered the sellers. On the BSE, 1969 shares rose and 1204 shares fell. A total of 139 shares were unchanged.

COVID-19 Update:

Total COVID-19 confirmed cases worldwide stood at 19,66,31,596 with 41,99,002 deaths. India reported 4,05,155 active cases of COVID-19 infection and 4,23,217 deaths while 3,07,43,972 patients have been discharged, according to the data from the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India.

Buzzing Index:

The Nifty Auto index rose 1.11% to 10,067.20, amid some bit of value buying. The index had declined by 2.73% in the past five sessions.

Bajaj Auto (up 1.75%), Mahindra & Mahindra (up 1.59%), Hero MotoCorp (up 0.92%), Tata Motors (up 0.36%) and Eicher Motors (up 0.13%) advanced while Bharat Forge (down 1.73%) and Maruti Suzuki (down 0.23%) declined.

Earnings Impact:

Sun Pharmaceuticals jumped 10.09% to Rs 774.20. The drug company posted a consolidated net profit of Rs 1444.1 in Q1 FY22 as compared to a net loss of Rs 1,655.6 crore registered in Q1 FY21. Consolidated sales from operations stood at Rs 9669.4 crore, registering a growth of 29% over Q1 FY21.

The company said it repaid debt of about US$ 185 million in Q1FY22 compared to the debt as of 31 March 2021. Over the last 5 quarters, the company has repaid debt of about US$ 765 million.

Indian Oil Corporation shed 0.43% to Rs 103.45. The PSU OMC posted standalone net profit jumped 210% to Rs 5,941.37 crore in Q1 FY22 as compared to Rs 1,910.84 crore in Q1 FY21. Revenue from operations increased 74.3% to Rs 1,55,056.27 crore in Q1 FY22 as against Rs 88,938.97 crore posted in Q1 FY21.

The company's average gross refining margin (GRM) for the period April-June 2021 zoomed to $6.58 per barrel as against negative $1.98 per barrel for the same period of the previous year. The core GRM or the current price GRM for the period April- June 2021 after offsetting inventory loss/ gain stood at $2.24 per bbl.

Tech Mahindra jumped 7.22% to Rs 1209.15. The IT major reported a 30.77% jump in consolidated net profit to Rs 1,365.70 crore in Q1 June 2021 over Rs 1,044.30 crore in Q4 March 2021. Consolidated revenue from operations grew 4.80% to Rs 10,197.60 crore in Q1 June 2021 from Rs 9,729.90 crore in Q4 March 2021.

In terms of dollars (USD), revenue was at $1,383.60 million in Q1 FY22; growing 4.1% Q-o-Q and 14.6% Y-o-Y. Revenue growth stood at 3.9% Q-o-Q in constant currency terms.

Deepak Nitrite surged 7.34% to Rs 2038.30. The chemical maker's consolidated net profit jumped 205% to Rs 302.6 crore on a 126% rise in net sales to Rs 1,526.22 crore in Q1 FY22 over Q1 FY21. On a sequential basis, net profit climbed 4.1% while its net sales rose by 4.3% in Q1 FY22 over Q4 FY21.

Container Corporation of India rose 2.07% to Rs 643.35. The company's consolidated net profit soared 327% to Rs 259.23 crore in Q1 FY22 from Rs 60.61 crore posted in Q1 FY21. Net sales jumped 52.4% to Rs 1,819.94 crore in Q1 FY22 from Rs 1,194.20 crore reported in Q1 FY21.

Privi Speciality Chemicals hit an upper circuit of 20% at Rs 1598.20. The company reported 37.8% rise in consolidated net profit to Rs 29.26 crore on a 14.9% increase in net sales to Rs 332.29 crore in Q1 FY22 over Q1 FY21. As compared with Q4 FY21, the company's net profit and net sales have declined by 51.1% and 5.9%, respectively.

Separately, Privi Speciality Chemicals said that it has signed a joint venture (JV) agreement with Givaudan SA for setting up a new greenfield production facility which will be built in Mahad. The facility will have state of the art manufacturing equipment tailor made to manufacture small-volume fragrance ingredients of medium to high complexity, also known as specialty ingredients. Privi will hold 51% of the equity of the JV company.

Ajanta Pharma fell 3.74% to Rs 2304.60. The company's consolidated net profit jumped 17.58% to Rs 173.75 crore on a 11.94% increase in revenue from operations to Rs 747.99 crore in Q1 June 2021 over Q1 June 2020.

TVS Motor Company added 3.14% to Rs 579.15. The two-wheeler company reported a standalone net profit of Rs 53 crore in Q1 FY22 as compared to a net loss of Rs 139 crore registered in Q1 FY21. Standalone net sales soared 174% to Rs 3,934.36 crore in Q1 FY22 from Rs 1,431.73 crore posted in Q1 FY21. The overall two-wheeler and three-wheeler sales including exports registered 6.58 lakh units in the quarter ended June 2021 as against 2.67 lakh units registered in the quarter ended June 2020.

Stocks in Spotlight:

Tejas Networks hit an upper circuit of 5% at Rs 258.30. The company's board had approved the issuance of shares and warrants to Tata Sons and its subsidiaries for an investment of Rs 1,884 crore. The transaction, when warrants are fully converted to shares, will give Tatas a 43% shareholding in the company, putting them in control. In addition, Tatas have announced an open offer to buy 26% of the company's shares from public shareholders, in compliance with Sebi's takeover code.

Ashok Leyland jumped 5.79% to Rs 132.50. Switch Mobility, an electrified commercial vehicles company and a subsidiary of Ashok Leyland, has announced a strategic agreement with Dana Incorporated (Dana), the global leader in drivetrain and e-propulsion systems, to make a minority investment in Switch.

Under the terms of the agreement, Dana will make a strategic investment in Switch Mobility and will also be a preferred supplier of electric drivetrain components for the company's e-bus and EV commercial vehicle offering - including e-Axles, gearboxes, motors, inverters, software and controls, and electronics cooling, Switch Mobility said in a release. The company further said with this agreement, Dana not only becomes an important supplier to Switch but will also invest $18 million in the company, representing an approximate 1% stake.

R Systems International jumped 11.04% to Rs 204.10. The company said that a meeting of the board of directors is scheduled to be held on 06 August 2021 to consider the proposal for buyback of equity shares of the company. On the same day, the board will also consider and approve the audited standalone financial results and the unaudited consolidated financial results of the company for the quarter and half year ended 30 June 2021.

Global Markets:

Shares in Europe and Asian declined across the board on Friday, amid escalating concerns over rising coronavirus cases. Chinese stocks continued to witness significant volatility, as losses were seen again - a day after they clawed back some gains following a dive early this week.

The Euro Zone economy expanded in the second quarter of this year as various governments tiptoed around their economic reopening, preliminary data has shown.

The 19-member economy grew by 2% in the three months through to the end of June, according to preliminary estimates published on Friday by Eurostat. The region contracted 0.3% in the first quarter and 0.6% in the final quarter of 2020 — two consecutive quarters of economic contraction are defined as a technical recession. Compared with the same quarter a year ago, the latest GDP reading represents a 13.7% increase.

Separately, Eurostat said that annual inflation is projected to reach 2.2% in the euro zone this month. This would be up from 1.9% in June.

Meanwhile, the surge in the COVID-19 infections worldwide has been relentless, with spiking cases in the US and Japan so much so that the world's third-largest economy is set to expand the state of emergency on Friday to Tokyo's three neighboring prefectures of Osaka, Saitama, Chiba and Kanagawa.

The COVID-19 outbreak in Malaysia has become one of the worst globally. On a seven-day moving average basis, Malaysia reportedly recorded 483.72 confirmed COVID-19 infections per million people on Wednesday — the eighth highest globally and top in Asia. The country's daily reported deaths relating to COVID-19 were around 4.90 per million people on Tuesday on a seven-day moving average basis. That is reportedly the 19th highest globally and third highest in Asia.

Japan's industrial output jumped 6.2% in June, sharply rising from a 6.5% drop in May. June retail sales rose 0.1% from a year earlier.

U.S. stocks rose to record levels on Thursday as investors shrugged off economic data pointing slower-than-expected growth. The US economy expanded 6.5% annualized in the second quarter, according to government data released Thursday. The number of Americans collecting unemployment benefits slid last week. Jobless claims dropped by 24,000 to 400,000 last week, the Labor Department reported Thursday.

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