Nifty50: 17,605 ▲ 142 (+0.8%)
Sensex: 58,926 ▲ 460 (+0.7%)
- The markets shrugged off the initial weakness and continued to move up for the rest of the day.
- In all, 37 of the Nifty50 stocks ended in the green, indicating broad-based buying.
- The RBI today kept the interest rates unchanged for the 10th time in a row.
Among the Nifty sectoral indices, Media (+1.66%) and Metal (+1.24%) were the top gainers, while Auto (-0.05%) and PSU Bank (-0.05%) were the top losers.
| Top gainers | Today's change |
| ONGC | ▲ 3.6% |
| TATA Steel | ▲ 2.0% |
| Infosys | ▲ 1.9% |
| Top losers | Today's change |
| Maruti | ▼ 1.6% |
| IOC | ▼ 0.8% |
| Shree Cement | ▼ 0.7% |
For more updates on F&O, click here.
Here are the top stories of the day.
SAIL logs strong growth
The government owned steel producer posted a standalone revenue of ₹25,245 crore, up 27% year-on-year. In spite of higher coking coal prices and employee expenses, its net profit grew 12% year-on-year to ₹1,443 crore.
The management believes that the performance will improve in the coming quarters on the back of increased infrastructure spending announced in the Union Budget. The company reduced its borrowings by about 15% over Q2 and will focus on lowering even further. Its borrowings stood at ₹19,128 crore at the end of December quarter.
Prestige's profit rises
The Bengaluru-based realtor posted a consolidated revenue of ₹1,378 crore, down 25% year-on-year. However, its net profit increased 59% year-on-year to ₹93 crore due to lower finance costs. Its net debt increased to ₹4,171 crore as compared to ₹3,088 crore in the second quarter.
The realtor has completed 256 projects across residential, commercial, retail and hospitality segments spanning across 146 million sq.ft. Its collections grew 70% year-on-year to about ₹2,430 crore. Shares of Prestige Estates have been consolidating for the past few months.
Fuel costs dent ACC's Q3
The cement major’s net profit declined 40% year-on-year to ₹281 crore. The profit was impacted due to a surge in fuel costs.Further, its consolidated revenue grew 2% year-on-year to ₹4,226 crore due to muted cement demand marginally supported by better realisations.
The cement sector is one of the beneficiaries of the proposed ₹7.5 lakh crore capex announced in the recent Union Budget.
IPO Corner
As per reports, LIC is likely to file its draft red herring prospectus (DRHP) tomorrow. The Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDAI) has reportedly cleared LIC’s IPO proposal. The government is eyeing a valuation of over ₹14 crore, which could be India’s biggest IPO to date.
Good to know
What is alpha?
Alpha refers to the excess return on an investment over and above the benchmark return. For instance, if Nifty has delivered 20% returns in the last one year and a mutual fund portfolio has registered 25% return for the same period, the excess 5% return over the benchmark is the alpha. Active portfolio managers seek to generate alpha in diversified portfolios.
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