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Indian benchmark equity indices opened on a strong footing on Friday led by gains in metals and IT stocks tracking a steady decline in Covid cases and lifting of lockdown restrictions. Sensex advanced over 300 points or 0.6% in early trade to hit a fresh lifetime high of 52626.64. Nifty added about 98 points or 0.6% and scaled a fresh peak of 15835.55.

Gainers & losers

As many as 26 of 30 Sensex constituents were in the green. PowerGrid Corporation gained about 2% on the news of bonus issue, ONGC added 1.65%, Reliance Industries jumped 1.57%, HCL Tech rose 0.84% and Sun Pharma climbed 0.77%.

Bajaj Finserv (down 0.88%), Titan (down 0.49%), Bajaj Finance  (down 0.52%) and HUL (down 0.17%) were among the laggards on the Sensex.

NSE sectoral trends

The Nifty Metal index was shining bright with gains of 1.29%, Nifty Auto rallied 0.65% and Nifty Pharma index up about 0.50%. While Nifty Bank, Nifty IT & Nifty FMCG indices rose anywhere between 0.25-0.50%. On the other hand Nifty Realty index was down 0.07%.

Earnings today

BEML, BHEL, CG Power, Cochin Shipyard, DLF, Edelweiss Financial Services, Goa Carbon and Sun TV are among the companies that will report their March quarter earnings today.

Stocks in spotlight

National Fertilizers Ltd (NFL) on Thursday reported narrowing of consolidated loss at Rs 9.53 crore for March quarter 2020-21. The company had reported a loss of Rs 248.65 crore in the year-ago period, NFL said in a BSE filing.

Century Plyboards (India) reported a standalone net profit of Rs 83 crore for the fourth quarter ended March 2021, a jump of 115 per cent over the previous year corresponding quarter profit of Rs 39 crore. Net Revenue from operations for the quarter was Rs 738 crore, an increase of 41 per cent over the same period of last fiscal revenue of Rs 524 crore.

Reliance Industries said it has shut a secondary unit at its only-for-exports oil refinery at Jamnagar in Gujarat, which may delay shipment of some product cargoes. “The Fluidized Catalytic Cracker Unit (FCCU) in our SEZ refinery at Jamnagar had to be taken for an emergency shutdown on June 6, 2021,” the firm said in a filing to stock exchanges.

PowerGrid Corporation of India said that the meeting of the board of directors of the company is scheduled on 17 June 2021 to consider declaration of bonus shares.

Godrej Projects Development, a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Godrej Properties has acquired 20% issued and paid-up share capital of Vagishwari Land Developers (VLDPL). Pursuant to the acquisition, VLDPL has become an associate company of Godrej Projects Development and consequently of Godrej Properties.

Yes Bank said the board of directors of the bank considered and approved seeking shareholders’ approval for borrowing/raising funds in Indian/foreign currency up to an amount of Rs. 10,000 crore by issue of debt securities including but not limited to non-convertible debentures, bonds, Medium Term Note (MTN) etc.

Indian Bank said that the bank has declared the non-performing accounts of Emmsons International, Runit Fabrics and KR Corporation as fraud and reported them to the RBI.

Cosmo Specialty Chemicals, a 100% subsidiary of Cosmo Films, a global leader in packaging films and synthetic paper, forays into the Fast Moving Consumer Goods industry with the launch of Fabritizer, an after-wash laundry sanitiser for germ-free clothing.

GOCL Corporation said that the company along with its wholly-owned subsidiary IDL Explosives bagged orders worth an aggregate amount of Rs 286.63 crore to supply Raydets, Electronic and other Detonators and Cartridge Explosives over a period of two years.

Global markets

Overseas, Asian stocks are trading mixed on Friday, following gains overnight on Wall Street that saw the S&P 500 sailing to a record closing high.

Wall Street stocks ended higher on Thursday, with the S&P 500 closing above its prior record high set on May 7, as economic data appeared to support the Federal Reserve’s assertion that the current wave of heightened inflation will be temporary.

Consumer prices for May accelerated at their fastest pace since the summer of 2008 amid the economic recovery from the pandemic-triggered recession, the Labor Department reported Thursday.

The consumer price index, which represents a basket including food, energy, groceries and prices across a spectrum of goods, rose 5% from a year ago.

The number of Americans applying for unemployment benefits fell for the sixth straight week as the U.S. economy reopens rapidly after being held back for months by the coronavirus pandemic. Jobless claims fell by 9,000 to 376,000 from 385,000 the week before, the Labor Department reported Thursday.