Stock Market LIVE: Sensex down 400 pts, Nifty sub-17K; auto, IT, financials hit

HDFC in focus, shares rise ahead of Q4 earnings today 

Rupee gains 6 paise to 76.44 against US dollar in early trade: PTI

India April Manufacturing PMI at 54.7 versus 54.0 in March 

Factory activity in India picked up last month, bolstered by a solid increase in demand as pandemic restrictions were eased, but rising energy prices pushed input costs to a five-month high, a private survey showed.

International demand also jumped robustly to a 9-month high after contracting in March and domestic demand was above average.

The Manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index compiled by S&P Global, improved to 54.7 in April from 54.0 in March.

Is Wipro’s turnaround story losing steam?

Wipro Ltd’s March quarter earnings were disappointing. 

In Q4FY22, IT services revenue grew 3.1% in constant currency (CC) terms sequentially, missing consensus estimate of 3.4%. Ebit margin declined 60 basis points sequentially to 17%. Ebit is short for earnings before interest and tax. One basis point is one hundredeth of a percentage point. Analysts at JM Financial Institutional Securities Ltd note that Ebit margin is the lowest since 1QFY19 levels impacted adversely by the dilutive impact of acquisitions made by Wipro through the past 18 months. (Read here)

Nifty sectoral indices in the red; IT, metals worst hit 

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Bajaj Auto April sales at 3,10,774 units vs 3,88,016 units a year ago: BSE release 

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Mahindra & Mahindra sells 45,640 vehicles in April, up 25% on year: BSE release 

Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd. today announced that its overall auto sales for the month of April 2022 stood at 45640 vehicles.

Mahindra’s farm equipment segment sold 39,405 units in India during April, up 51% on year.

Shares of the company traded 0.8% higher at ₹929.55 apiece on the BSE.

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Wipro Q4 results: Broad-based growth; outlook remains positive, says Reliance Research 

Wipro’s 4QFY22 IT services revenue grew by 3.1% QoQ/28.5% YoY in constant currency (CC) to $2.7bn, in line with our estimates. Sequential growth came at 3.1% in CC terms, vs. our estimate of 3%. EBIT margin of IT services business is at 17%, broadly in line with our estimate of 17.1%, due to high attrition rate. Net income stood at Rs30.9bn (up 4% QoQ/up 4% YoY), 2.6% higher than our expectation of Rs30.1bn. Nine large deal TCV signed with a combined TCV of over $400mn in 4QFY22. Management guided for 1QFY23 revenue from IT Services business to be at $2.75-2.80bn. This translates into a sequential growth of 1-3%. 

We expect the restructuring efforts, which include a simplified operating structuring, step-up in capability upgrade and talent management to bode well for WPRO in the medium term. However, margin pressure would continue. We lower FY23E-FY24E EPS estimates by 6% each, factoring weak margin profile. We retain our BUY recommendation and revise the target price to Rs570 (vs. the prior Rs720) and value the stock at 21x (earlier 25x) FY24E earnings.

At CMP, Wipro trades at 18.7x FY24E EPS, which is at 26%/17% discount to the larger peers (TCS/Infosys).

Top gainers/losers on Sensex in opening deals 

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Market view: Mitul Shah, Head Of Research at Reliance Securities

The markets are likely to see gap down opening, SGX Nifty is down 200 points compared to Friday’s spot Nifty closing. Asian markets trading in red with Nikkei is down 0.5%, while Hang Seng is closed for labour day.

Nifty tests 16,900 in pre-open 

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Sensex in the red in pre-open 

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Petrol, diesel prices unchanged for 26th straight day 

PM Modi in Germany for 1st in-person talks with Chancellor Olaf Scholz, co-chair 6th IGC

Jet fuel prices hit record high

Jet fuel prices on Sunday were hiked by 3.22% to an all-time high, reflecting a surge in global energy prices. This was the ninth straight increase this year.

The price of aviation turbine fuel (ATF) was raised by ₹3,649.13 per kilolitre, or 3.22%, to ₹1,16,851.46 per kl ( ₹116.8 per litre) in the national capital, according to a price notification of state-owned fuel retailers.

Stocks to Watch

Shares of RIL, HDFC, Maruti, Wipro, Yes Bank, Tata Motors, Adani group will be in focus today.

HDFC, Britannia Industries, Alembic Pharmaceuticals, Adani Wilmar, Castrol India, Devyani International, IDBI Bank, Inox Leisure, JBM Auto, Jindal Stainless, Mahindra & Mahindra Financial Services, Meghmani Organics are among the key companies scheduled to announce their earnings today

LIC IPO may spur opening of more demat accounts

Dalal Street has been bustling as a record 34.6 million new investors flocked to the bourses last fiscal. With this, India clocked 89.7 million dematerialized (demat) accounts by the end of March 2022, registering a jump of 63% in FY22, data from the Securities and Exchange Board of India showed. In FY21, the demat tally had risen nearly 35% to 55.1 million.

The relentless rally in stocks since the outbreak of the pandemic has lured younger and tech-savvy cohorts. (Read here)

Slowing coal, crude oil output drags down core sector growth

Growth in the eight infrastructure sectors of the economy slowed in March after recovering to a four-month high in the previous month after supply-side disruptions caused a contraction in coal and crude oil output and a slowdown in some others.

The sectors—coal, crude, natural gas, refinery products, fertilizers, cement, steel and electricity—expanded by 4.3% in March from 6% in February, data released by the ministry of commerce and industry showed on Friday. However, fertilizers, cement and electricity posted a swift recovery.

Market directionless, 16900-16800 key support: Sameet Chavan, Chief Analyst-Technical and Derivatives, Angel One

With the last two weeks of range-bound movement, the daily time frame chart exhibits a ‘Triangle’ pattern and prices are inching closer to their apex point. Hence, the breakout in either direction is imminent. As of now, we expect it to happen in the northward direction where 17400 – 17450 are the levels to watch out for. The moment we surpass this, we could see a lot of individual stocks participating in the next leg of the rally. This view would be negated if the index slides and sustains below the lower range.

Most of the key indices are placed at a crucial juncture and they are waiting for some trigger to make a move. We hope to witness a much-awaited breakout in the early part of May which will certainly bring back a wider smile in the traders’ fraternity.

Oil falls on China growth concerns even as EU weighs Russia import ban

Oil prices fell on Monday in holiday-sapped trade in Asia as concerns about slowing economic growth in China, the world’s top oil importer, outweighed fears of potential supply disruptions from a looming European Union ban on Russian crude.

Brent crude futures fell $1.21, or 1.1%, to $105.93 a barrel, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures fell 99 cents, or 1%, to $103.70 a barrel. Markets in Japan, India and across Southeast Asia were closed for public holidays on Monday.

Prices fell after China released data on Saturday showing that factory activity in the world’s second-largest economy contracted for a second month to its lowest since February 2020 because of COVID lockdowns.