Sensex up 47 points; Nifty above 14,600

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Benchmark Indian equity indices opened with a positive bais as the U.S. market hit record highs on Thursday, on the back of upbeat earnings reports from companies including Bank of America and BlackRock as well as a strong rebound in March retail sales bolstered hopes of a broader economic rebound. In opening trades, Sensex was trading with marginal gains of 47 points or 0.10% at 48,851 and Nifty 50 was at 14,614 rising 32 points or 0.22%.

Asian Paint, HCL Tech, Tech Mahindra, TCS & Ultratech Cement are the top gainers. ICICI Bank, Axis Bank, Reliance Industries and Bajaj Finance are the laggards.

On the sectoral front, Nifty IT was up 0.88% while Nifty Auto & Nifty FMCG gained over 0.20% each, while Nifty Metal 0.07%. On the other hand, Nifty Realty was down 0.78%, Nifty Bank slipped 0.49% and Nifty Pharma lost 0.35%.

Market breadth was positive as 1,137 shares advanced compared to 550 stocks declining and 535 scrips unchanged.

Broader markets outperformed benchmark indices as BSE MidCap and BSE SmallCap rallied 0.92% and 0.86% respectively.

Results today:

Mindtree, Den Networks, GTPL Hathway, MMTC, and AAR Commercial Company are scheduled to release quarterly numbers today.

Stocks in spotlight:

Wipro’s consolidated net profit grew 27.78% to Rs 2,972.30 crore while revenue increased 3.4% to Rs 16245.40 crore in Q4 FY21 over Q4 FY20. The IT major’s consolidated net profit rose 0.14% and its revenue climbed 3.67% in Q4 FY21 over Q3 FY21.

Wipro expects revenue from its IT services business to be in the range of $2,195 million to $2,238 million for the quarter ending 30 June 2021. This translates to a sequential growth of 2% to 4%.

Ashoka Buildcon said that the company has received a Letter of Award (LOA) from Gujarat Rail Infrastructure Development Corporation (G-RIDE) for the Project viz. ‘Gauge Conversion of Bechraji (63.83 KM) – Ranuj (101.983 KM) Section, Total Length of 38.153 KM Metre Gauge to Broad Gauge with 25 KV AC Electrification in Ahmedabad. The accepted project cost is Rs 333.625 crore.

Aarti Drugs informed you that ICRA has reaffirmed credit rating on commercial paper and term loan and assigned credit rating on the Long term- Fund based term loan, Long term- Fund based CC and Short term- Fund based/Non-fund based facilities of the company.

National Fertilizers said that the Department of Investment and Public Asset Management (DIPAM), Ministry of Finance, Government of India has intimated regarding the issue of RFP for engagement of Legal Advisors, Merchant Bankers and Selling Brokers for the Disinvestment of 20% paid-up equity capital in the company out of Government of India’s shareholding through the “Offer for Sale by promoters through the Stock Exchanges” method in the domestic market.

Quess Corp announced the acquisition of a 30% stake in Conneqt Business Solutions Ltd. (Conneqt) pursuant to the Put Option notice by Tata Sons Pvt. Ltd. (Tata). With this transaction, Conneqt will become a wholly-owned subsidiary of Quess.

Global markets:

Overseas, Asian stocks are trading largely lower on Friday as investors reacted to the release of Chinese economic data. China’s gross domestic product surged 18.3% in the first three months of the year from a year ago, the country’s National

Bureau of Statistics said Friday. The surge in growth comes off a contraction in the first quarter of last year when the economy shrank by 6.8% during the height of the domestic outbreak of Covid-19.

Meanwhile, China’s retail sales jumped 34.2% in March. Industrial production rose 14.1% in March.

In the U.S., the S&P 500 and Dow Jones indexes hit record highs on Thursday, as upbeat earnings reports from companies including Bank of America and BlackRock as well as a strong rebound in March retail sales bolstered hopes of a broader economic rebound.

Retail sales surged 9.8% in March as additional stimulus sent consumer spending soaring, the Commerce Department reported Thursday. A separate report on Thursday showed that first-time filings for unemployment insurance dropped to the lowest level since March 2020. The Labor Department reported 576,000 new jobless claims for the week ended April 10.