Market rally cools off

Nifty50: 15,635 ▼-104 (0.6%)
Sensex:  51,941 ▼-333 (0.6%)

Today, the markets opened strongly but plunged into the red in the second half of the trading session. The market breadth was weak, with 39 of the Nifty50 stocks posting losses. 

All Nifty sectoral indices closed negatively, with maximum damage seen in Media (-2.1%) and Realty (-1.6%).

Here are the top stories of the day.

Max Financial's profit rises 10-fold

• Max Financial Services, which is a holding company for Max Life Insurance, reported a strong growth in its profits in Q4. The consolidated net profits jumped to ₹70 crore from ₹6.6 crore in Q4FY20. This was due to a steep increase in revenue from the life insurance segment and lower tax expenses.
• The company’s revenue from the life insurance segment more than doubled to ₹9,757 crore in Q4. Despite the strong performance, the stock was down almost 1.5% today.

Prestige Estates’ profits surge 

• Shares of Prestige Estates rallied over 8% intraday after it posted a net profit of ₹1,336 crore, as compared to ₹15 crore in the same period last fiscal. The massive jump in profit is due to an exceptional item of ₹1,470 crore involving sale of commercial properties. Profit before exceptional items, too, shot up 2.6x year-on-year to ₹262 crore.
• During the same period, the Bengaluru-based real estate developer’s total revenue grew 17% to ₹2,360 crore, driven by a rise in new sales. The stock gave up its early gains and closed 1.8% lower today.

Welspun Corp soars on large orders

• The leading large-diameter pipe maker has received multiple orders valued at ₹1,725 crore in total. This includes the reinstatement of an order for offshore pipes in Australia, which was deferred by the customer. 
• With these orders, the company has an order book of approximately ₹4,800 crore, after considering execution up to May 2021. The stock jumped over 6% intraday and hit its 52-week high. However, stock shed early gains and closed 0.8% higher for the day.

Private life insurers buck industry trend

• Last month, the life insurance industry reported an overall decline of 5.5% year-on-year in new business premium (NBP) as the country was tackling the second wave. NBP is the premium acquired from new policies in a year.
• The decline in the industry performance was largely due to a 12% decline in the performance of the insurance behemoth LIC. However, private life insurers saw an uptick of 14% in their NBP. Shares of major private life insurance companies, such as HDFC Life (2.8%), SBI Life (2.3%) and ICICI Pru (3.0%) have been upbeat so far this month. 

Closing bell

After yesterday’s pause in the recent rally, the markets succumbed to profit booking today. The decline was broadly in line with the fall seen in the major international indices. All eyes are now on the US retail inflation figures, which will be released tomorrow. It could open up the possibility of a change in interest rates. The US Fed has already conveyed its openness to hike rates, if required. In general, higher interest rates hurt equity market sentiments.

Good to know

What is a cash flow statement?

A cash flow statement of a company reveals how much cash is flowing in and out of the company over a certain period. For instance, it shows how much cash a company generated from its products or services and how much it has raised via equity or debt. It also reveals the amount a company is spending on capex or distributing as dividend to its shareholders. Most importantly, it reflects how much cash the company holds. There’s a market adage that goes “profits can be subjective but cash flows are always objective”.     

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