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Benchmark Indian equity indices opened with a gap up on Monday U.S. job growth unexpectedly slowed in April coupled with a fall in Covid cases on Sunday aided investor’s sentiment. In opening trade, Sensex surged 291 points or 0.59% at 49,497 while the broader market index Nifty 50 at 14,918 surging 95 points or 0.65%.

28 of 30 Sensex stocks were trading in the green. Dr Reddy’s was the top gainers on the Sensex soaring 2.83%, ONGC, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Titan and L&T gained over 1%. On the downside, UltraTech Cement lost 1.61% and Infosys was down 0.04%.

“The resilience of the market in the midst of the tragic health crisis might appear irrational to most observers. But it is important to discern the cold economic/financial logic that drives markets. Markets focus on earnings, particularly future earnings. Trends indicate robust future earnings, particularly from segments like IT, pharma, leading financials and metals. Consumer discretionary is, however, on a sticky wicket. This segment, particularly autos, might witness earnings downgrades,” said Dr. V K Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist at Geojit Financial Services.

Barring the Nifty IT index all sectoral indices were up. Nifty Pharma was leading the pack with gains of 2.54% followed by Nifty Metal index 1.91%. While Nifty Auto, Nifty Bank rose around 0.70% while the Nifty Realty and Nifty FMCG indices were up 0.59% and 0.19% respectively.

Market breadth was positive as 1,302 shares advanced and 488 stocks declined whereas 496 scrips remained unchanged. The broader market also mirrored the gains of benchmark indices as BSE MidCap rose 0.40% while the BSE SmallCap index surged 0.63%.

Earnings today:

Artemis Medicare Services, Chambal Fertilisers & Chemicals, Dai-Ichi Karkaria, DE Nora India, Escorts Finance, Ganges Securities, Gayatri Tissue & Papers, HFCL, HSIL, Inspirisys Solutions, Intellect Design Arena, JMC Projects (India), Nutricircle, Oriental Aromatics, Onesource Ideas Venture, Paushak, PPAP Automotive, Sangam Renewables, Satia Industries, Suryalakshmi Cotton Mills, TTI Enterprise, Venky’s (India), Zydus Wellness amongst others will be announcing their quarterly earnings today.

Stocks in spotlight:

Avenue Supermarts (D-Mart)’s consolidated net profit surged 52.7% to Rs 414 crore on 18.4% rise in net sales to Rs 7412 crore in Q4 FY21 over Q4 FY20.

Housing Development Finance Corporation (HDFC) on Friday entered into a share purchase agreement for sale of 44,12,000 equity shares of Rs 10 each in HDFC ERGO General Insurance for a cash consideration of Rs 236.48 crore to ERGO International AG.

Maruti Suzuki India said that the maintenance shutdown, which was till the 9th May, 2021, is being extended till the 16th May, 2021 keeping in view the current pandemic situation.

Ultratech Cement reported 45.2% drop in consolidated net profit to Rs 1775.23 crore in Q4 FY21 as against Rs 3240.23 crore in Q4 FY20. Net sales during the quarter increased 32.7% year-on-year (YoY) to Rs 14405.61 crore. Profit before tax in Q4 FY21 stood at Rs 2638.98 crore, up 80.8% from Rs 1459.43 crore in Q4 FY20. Current tax outgo increased 93.9% to Rs 478.20 crore in Q4 FY21 over Q4 FY20.

Jubilant Pharma Jubilant, a subsidiary of Jubilant Pharmova, announced that it has received a favorable and unanimous judgment from the United States Court of Appeals summarily affirming Jubilant’s earlier favorable rulings from the US Patent Office (PTAB) and the US International Trade Commission (ITC). These two rulings by the Appellate Court deny the appeals filed by Bracco Diagnostics, Inc (Bracco).

On a standalone basis, CSB Bank reported a net profit of Rs 42.89 crore in Q4 FY21 as against net loss of Rs 59.68 crore in Q4 FY20. The bank’s total income grew by 28.2% year on year to Rs 609.45 crore in Q4 FY21 as against Rs 475.49 crore in Q4 FY20.

Bandhan Bank reported an 80% fall in net profit to Rs 103.03 crore on 25.5% rise in total income to Rs 3787.91 crore in Q4 FY21 over Q4 FY20.

On a consolidated basis, Navin Fluorine International net profit dropped 72.9% to Rs 73.22 crore on 21.6% rise in net sales to Rs 336.43 crore in Q4 March 2021 over Q4 March 2020.

Godrej Agrovet’s consolidated net profit slipped 8.4% to Rs 63.4 crore on 2.4% fall in net sales to Rs 1,455.25 crore in Q4 FY21 over Q4 FY20.

Kansai Nerolac Paints reported 78.8% jump in standalone net profit to Rs 127.80 crore on 34.7% increase in net sales to Rs 1321.09 crore in Q4 FY21 over Q4 FY20.

EIH reported a consolidated net loss of Rs 48.87 crore in Q4 FY21 compared with net profit of Rs 27.92 crore in Q4 FY20. Net sales during the quarter dropped 47.3% year-on-year (YoY) to Rs 216.26 crore.

On a consolidated basis, Great Eastern Shipping Company (G E Shipping)’s net profit stood at Rs 49.01 crore in Q4 FY21 as against a net loss of Rs 50.68 crore in Q4 FY20. Net sales dropped 26.7% to Rs 739.95 crore in Q4 FY21 over Q4 FY20.

Global markets:

Overseas, Asian stocks are trading broadly higher on Monday following “a big miss” in the April U.S. jobs report.

US stocks notched a record close on Friday in what proved to be a volatile day in financial markets following a much weaker than expected jobs report.

The S&P 500 climbed 0.7% to 4,232.60, hitting a record high. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 229.23 points, or 0.7%, to 34,777.76 to reach another closing high. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite rose 0.9% to 13,752.24.

U.S. job growth unexpectedly slowed in April, likely restrained by shortages of workers, the Labor Department report on Friday showed. US employers hired 266,000 new workers in April, according to the labour department’s monthly non-farm payrolls report, far below the level that economists had expected. The unemployment rate rose to 6.1% last month amid an escalating shortage of available workers. Meanwhile, March’s originally estimated total of 916,000 was revised down to 770,000.