The domestic equity benchmarks ended with significant cuts after a volatile session on Wednesday. The Nifty closed below the 18,250 mark. Metal, pharma, auto, FMCG and realty stocks declined while PSU banks and media shares bucked the trend.

As per provisional closing data, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, dropped 456.09 points or 0.74% to 61,259.96. The Nifty 50 index lost 152.15 points or 0.83% to 18,266.60.

The NSE's India VIX, a gauge of market's expectation of volatility over the near term, jumped 5.35% to 18.31.

The broader market tumbled. The S&P BSE Mid-Cap index slipped 1.91%. The S&P BSE Small-Cap index shed 2.31%.

Sellers outnumbered buyers. On the BSE, 1004 shares rose and 2297 shares fell. A total of 126 shares were unchanged.

COVID-19 Update:

Total COVID-19 confirmed cases worldwide stood at 241,553,899 with 4,912,909 deaths. India reported 178,098 active cases of COVID-19 infection and 452,651 deaths according to the data from the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India.

A total of 99,13,37,625 COVID-19 vaccine doses have been administered in the country so far, with over 41.29 lakh doses being given yesterday, according to the Co-WIN dashboard.

Buzzing Index:

The Nifty Metal index fell 2.06% to 5,974, declining for second day. The index has corrected by 4.46% in two sessions.

Hindustan Copper (down 4.59%), National Aluminum Co. (down 4.03%), Vedanta (down 3.99%), Hindalco Industries (down 3.90%), APL Apollo Tubes (down 3.47%), Welspun Corp (down 3.04%), SAIL (down 2.81%) declined.

Further, Hindustan Zinc (down 2.55%), Coal India (down 2.17%), NMDC (down 1.94%), Tata Steel (down 1.73%) and JSW Steel (down 0.93%) edged lower.

Stocks in Spotlight:

Reliance Industries (RIL) fell 1.22% to Rs 2698.05. RIL's subsidiary Reliance Retail Ventures has reportedly acquired 52% equity stake in Ritika Pvt Ltd that owns Ritu Kumar, Label Ritu Kumar, RI Ritu Kumar, aarké, and Ritu Kumar Home and Living, including complete acquisition of Everstone's 35% stake in the company.

Jubilant Foodworks slumped 8.78% to Rs 3954.15. On a standalone basis, Jubilant Foodworks posted a 58% rise in standalone net profit to Rs 121.5 crore on a 36.6% rise in revenue from operations to Rs 1100.7 crore in Q2 FY22 over Q2 FY21.

Domino's Like-for-Like (LFL) sales growth stood at 29.4% in Q2 FY22 as compared to a negative 18.8% in Q2 FY21. LFL sales growth refers to the year-over-year growth in sales for non-split restaurants opened before previous financial year.

Same store growth (SSG) came at 26.3% in Q2 FY22 as against a negative 20% in the same period last year. SSG refers to the year-over-year growth in sales for restaurants opened before previous financial year. As on 30 September 2021, there were 1,435 Domino's Pizza stores, 28 Dunkin Donuts stores and 21 Hong's Kitchen and Ekdum! stores.

Nestle India shed 0.52% to Rs 19277.05. The company's net profit rose 5.16% to Rs 617.37 crore on 9.63% increase in net sales to Rs 3,864.97 crore in Q3 September 2021 over Q3 September 2020. In overall terms, the third quarter saw strong high single digit volume & mix growth in domestic sales, the company said.

L&T Technology Services fell 3.49% to Rs 4944.70. The company's consolidated net income rose 6.4% to Rs 230 crore on 5.9% increase in revenue to Rs 1607.70 crore in Q2 September 2021 over Q1 June 2021. The company raised FY22 USD revenue growth guidance to 19-20%.

ACC added 0.65% to Rs 2260. The cement maker's consolidated profit after tax rose 24% to Rs 450 crore on 5.33% increase in net sales to Rs 3653 crore in Q2 September 2021 over Q2 September 2020.

ICICI Prudential Life Insurance Company dropped 4% to Rs 633.75. The company reported profit after tax of Rs 445 crore in Q2FY22 against Rs 303 crore in Q2FY21. Net premium income increased to Rs 9286 crore in the second quarter of the fiscal from Rs 8572 crore a year ago.

Nelco was locked in a lower circuit of 5% at Rs 911.25. The company's consolidated net profit soared 53.15% to Rs 3.40 crore on a 13.52% surge in total income to Rs 61.46 crore in Q2 FY22 over Q2 FY21.

ICICI Securities declined 2.36% to Rs 801.15. The brokerage company posted a 26.3% increase in consolidated net profit to Rs 351.24 crore on a 26% rise in revenue to Rs 857 crore in Q2 FY22 over Q2 FY21.

The stock broking company's profit before tax stood at Rs 470.92 crore in Q2 FY22, 26.5% higher than Rs 372.30 crore reported in Q2 FY21, on account of growth in revenue and improvement in margins. The company said it added over 5.8 lakh clients and reported its highest ever quarterly addition.

Ipca Laboratories slipped 1.63% to Rs 2308. The pharmaceutical company said its board will consider 2-for-1 stock split on 13 November 2021. The board will consider splitting each share of face value Rs 2 each into two shares of face value of Re 1 each. On 13 November 2021, the company's board will also consider Q2 results and interim dividend.

Global Markets:

Shares in Europe and Asia were mixed on Wednesday, as investors digested a slew of corporate earnings.

China on Wednesday kept the one-year loan prime rate (LPR) unchanged at 3.85% while the five-year LPR was also held steady at 4.65%.

U.S. stocks climbed on Tuesday as major companies continued to report strong third-quarter earnings, easing concerns that persistent COVID-19 cases and rising costs would derail corporate America's profit recovery.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) on Tuesday downgraded its 2021 economic growth forecast for Asia after the highly infectious COVID-19 delta variant caused a spike in cases in parts of the region. The IMF said it expects Asia's economy to grow by 6.5% in 2021, compared with its April forecast for a 7.6% expansion. The region's growth will be led by China and India, the fund added.

The IMF expects China to grow 8% this year and India by 9.5% in the fiscal year that ends next March.

Powered by Capital Market - Live News