Sensex and Nifty end at record closing high; Nifty PSU bank up 5%

The Sensex is up 126.41 points or 0.34% at 36984.64, while the Nifty closed up 35.30 points or 0.32% at 11167.30. The market breadth is narrow as 1,337 shares advanced, against a decline of 1,209 shares declined, while 154 shares are unchanged.

State Bank of India, Power Grid Corporation, and ICICI Bank are the top gainers, while Yes Bank and Maruti Suzuki have lost the most. 

Results: Tata Power Company has reported consolidated Q1FY19 net profit at Rs 1,769 crore, which includes one-time gain on sale of its investments of Rs 1,897 crore.

The company had posted net profit of Rs 391 crore in the same quarter last fiscal.

Revenue of the company was up 14 percent at Rs 7,313 crore against Rs 6,415 crore.

Earnings Before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation and Amortization (EBITDA) was down 8.5 percent at Rs 1,771 crore and margin was down 600 bps at 24.2

Yes Bank Q1 results: Private sector lender Yes Bank started off the year 2018-19 on a strong note with profit growth of 31 percent in June quarter but asset quality weakened.

Profit for the quarter stood at Rs 1,260.4 crore, which increased from Rs 965.52 crore in corresponding period last fiscal. The profitability was driven by NII, other income and operating income but higher provisions limited growth.

Net interest income during the quarter grew by 23 percent year-on-year to Rs 2,219.14 crore with robust loan growth of 53.4 percent but net interest margin contracted to 3.3 percent (from 3.7 percent in Q1FY18 and 3.4 percent in Q4FY18).

"Advances grew by 53.4 percent YoY to Rs 2,14,720.1 crore on the back of robust growth across corporate, IBU, MSME and retail businesses. Retail banking advances grew by 105.2 percent YoY to 14 percent of Advances (up from 10.5 percent as on June 30, 2017)," the bank said.

Other income (non-interest income) shot up 50 percent to Rs 1,694 crore and operating profit surged 44 percent to Rs 2,455 crore compared to same quarter last year. Tax expenses spiked 26 percent to Rs 568.7 crore YoY.

Eveready Industries Q1 results: Eveready Industries first quarter net profit was up 35 percent at Rs 18.4 crore against Rs 13.6 crore, in the same quarter last fiscal.

Revenue was up 13 percent at Rs 383.3 crore versus Rs 338.8 crore. 

Operating profit or EBITDA was up 24.7 percent at Rs 34.8 crore and margin at 9.1 percent.

At 13:55 hrs Eveready Industries India was quoting at Rs 226.40, down Rs 4.50, or 1.95 percent on the BSE.  

Market update: The Indian benchmark indices are hovering near their record highs after hitting the milestone in the morning trade. The major contributors is PSU bank index which surged over 4%.

SBI, ICICI Bank, Tata Motors, Bharti Airtel, ONGC are the top gainer on the Sensex. Midcaps outperformed the benchmark indices with 0.5 percent gain.

Buzzing: Shares of Ambuja Cements gained 7.6 percent as company posted strong numbers in the quarter ended June 2018.

The company's Q2 standalone profit rose 27.3 percent to Rs 499 crore and revenue increases 5.7 percent to Rs 3,016.9 crore.

The Competition Commission of India (CCI) had imposed a penalty of Rs 1163.91 crore on Ambuja Cements. On appeal by the company, the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) in its order passed on Wednesday has upheld the said order.

The company is yet to receive the order of the NCLAT, it believes that on merits it has sufficient grounds for a successful appeal and intends to file the same with the Hon'ble Supreme Court, company said in release. 

ITC gains ahead of results: Shares of Cigarette-to-soap maker ITC gained nearly 2 percent as company is going to announce its financial results for the quarter ended  June 2018 on Thursday.

The company is likely to report a year-on-year rise of 8.96 percent in its net profit for the June quarter to Rs 2,790 crore, according to an average of 13 brokerages' estimates compiled by Reuters.

The rise in the company's bottom line is expected to be driven by growth in the its non-cigarette businesses on the back of a favourable base, and improved realisation from cigarettes. 

Expert view: As the market hit a fresh record on Thursday, Sanjiv Bhasin of IIFL sees the index hitting 15,000 by Diwali next year. “I have been one of the contrarians who has been saying that equity will be best performing asset. Globally, India is in a very sweet spot, most macros are turning positive as far as bonds, rupee and oil are concerned. Corporate results are very pleasing as well. Even though it is a narrow rally and people may have doubted and missed it by being in the wrong stocks, if you can sit through the volatility, in the next three months, midcaps should give very good returns. In the next three years, one could see 30 percent growth and hence, the target by next year’s Diwali for Nifty is at 15,000,” Bhasin, EVP-Markets & Corporate Affairs at IIFL told Moneycontrol.

“You have not seen this type of financialisation. The only caveat is the general elections next year, which could stall the markets for a while. That would largely be a knee-jerk reaction and hence the target of 15K is till Diwali.  

L&T gains: Shares of Larsen & Toubro (L&T) rose 2 percent in the opening trade on Thursday on the back of robust numbers declared by the company in the quarter ended June 2018 (Q1FY19).

The company posted a 13.8 percent year-on-year (YoY) increase in consolidated net profit at Rs 1,213 crore, beating analyst estimates driven by order inflow

growth in infrastructure, heavy engineering and hydrocarbon segments.

Profit for the same period last year was Rs 1,065.54 crore. The Q1FY19 profit was aided by one-off gain of Rs 355 crore from divestment of Kattupalli port to Adani group.  

Market opens: Benchmark indices have made a flat start on Thursday morning, with the Sensex hitting a fresh record high, but the Nifty is still a few points away from the fresh record high. 

The Sensex is up 43.42 points or 0.12% at 36901.65, while the Nifty is up 9.50 points or 0.09% at 11141.50. The market breadth is positive as 313 shares advanced, against a decline of 131 shares, while 37 shares are unchanged.

Among sectoral indices, PSU banks, FMCG, infra and auto names are trading strong, while weakness is visible in the pharmaceuticals space. The Nifty Midcap index is up over 0.10 percent. 

Shares of Larsen & Toubro are up over 1.5 percent after its June quarter numbers, while SBI and Bharti Airtel are trading higher. Sun Pharma, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Bharti Infratel and Tech Mahindra have lost the most.  

In case of global markets, Asian stocks edged higher on Thursday, taking comfort from gains on Wall Street after US President Donald Trump and European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker agreed to work toward eliminating trade barriers on industrial goods, Reuters reported.

In a news conference following a meeting between the two leaders on Wednesday, Trump said he and Juncker had agreed to work to lower industrial tariffs on both sides and to increase European imports of liquefied natural gas and soybeans from the United States, among other measures.

The meeting helped to extend a rally in global stocks into its fourth day, as investors took heart from a rare piece of good news amid global concerns over trade.

Meanwhile, US markets closed sharply higher after President Donald Trump managed to get concessions from the European Union to avoid a trade war.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 172.16 points to close at 25,414.10 after falling more than 100 points earlier in the session. The Nasdaq Composite jumped 1.2 percent to an all-time high of 7,932.24.

Market at pre-open: Benchmark indices are set to open higher as per the pre-opening rates.

At 09:01 hrs IST, the Sensex is up 81.36 points or 0.22% at 36939.59, and the Nifty down 4.60 points or 0.04% at 11127.40.