Sensex jumps 150 points driven by strong earnings

Mumbai: The 30-share benchmark S&P BSE Sensex Index was trading higher for a third consecutive day, up 150 points, after Wipro Ltd jumped over 7% on better-than-expected earnings.

At 12.04pm, the Sensex was up by 0.54%, or 150.51 points, at 28,272.40 points, while the 50-share CNX Nifty of the National Stock Exchange (NSE) was trading higher by 0.43%, or 37.05 points, at 8,550.85 points.

Among the gainers, Wipro Ltd rose 5.7% to Rs.587.05 after the company reported strong results helped by client additions and an increase in spending by customers in a seasonally weak quarter for information technology (IT) firms. Net profit in the three months ended 31 December rose 8.8% to Rs.2,192.8 crore from Rs.2,014.7 crore in the year-ago quarter, the company said on Friday. Revenue rose 6.7% to Rs.12,085 crore from Rs.11,327 crore a year earlier.

Gail India Ltd rose 4.7% to Rs.444.30 after a news report said that the company may not have to pay subsidies for this year as well as the next fiscal year.

Among the losers, Hindustan Unilever Ltd fell 1.7% to Rs.926.30 ahead of its earnings due later on Monday. According to 22 Bloomberg analysts, the company may report net sales of Rs.7,938.10 crore and a net profit of Rs.1,091.30 crore.

Among the BSE sectoral indices, consumer durables durables index was the top gainer, up 2.9%, followed by capital goods and oil and gas which were up 1.1% each. The Bankex and healthcare indices were up 0.8% each. The metal and power indices were up 0.6% each, while realty and Teck indices were up 0.4% each.

HCL Technologies Ltd rose 2.1% to Rs.1,672.90 after the company said that its board will meet on 28-30 January to consider bonus issue.

Rajesh Exports Ltd rose 15% to Rs.163 after the company said in a notice to BSE that it got an export order of Rs.1,780 crore.

Gateway Distriparks Ltd rose 6.9% to Rs.390 after the company said in a notice to BSE that its investor Blackstone GPV Capital Partners has sent a letter to the company and its arm Gateway Rail Freight Ltd requesting the company to effect initial public offer (IPO) of Gateway Rail Freight Ltd.

Oberoi Realty Ltd rose 3.5% to Rs.278 after the company reported a 16% increase in consolidated net profit at Rs.79.23 crore as compared with Rs.68.06 crore in the year-ago period.

V-Guard Industries Ltd fell 6.2% to Rs.1,068.45 after the company reported a 47.4% drop in its December quarter net profit to Rs.9.23 crore due to poor sales, write-down on inventories and a 50% hike in advertising spends.

SpiceJet Ltd rose 10% for the second consecutive session to Rs.22.55. Its principal shareholder and promoter Kalanithi Maran and his KAL Airways Pvt. Ltd will transfer ownership, management and control of the company to Ajay Singh, a co-founder who sold his stake in the airline in 2010. Financial details were not revealed, but around Rs.1,500 crore will be invested in the process.

Mahindra and Mahindra Financial Services Ltd fell 6.6% to Rs.287.70 after the company reported 14% decline in consolidated net profit to Rs.157 crore in December quarter due to higher loan provisions and write-offs.

GRUH Finance Ltd, Himachal Futuristic Communications Ltd, Hindustan Unilever Ltd, Hindustan Zinc Ltd, Info Edge (India) Ltd and Mindtree Ltd will issue their earnings for the December quarter later on Monday.

So far in 2015, the Sensex has rose 2.75%, while foreign institutional investors have sold $41.3 million from local equity markets and bought $1803.3 million from debt market.

Asian markets were trading lower, driven by China where the stock market fell hard, erasing all year-to-date gains. Shares of brokerages in China tanked after the regulator banned three of them from opening new margin trading accounts, reports Financial Times. The Shanghai Composite nosedived 6.3% at the open—which would be its largest drop since 2009. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng was down 1.2%, while Japan’s Nikkei Stock Average was up around 0.6%.

On Friday, US markets ended the roller-coaster week on a high note, as a rally in oil prices and calmer currency markets provided a rare boost of confidence, reports MarketWatch. Nasdaq Composite gained 1.4%, S&P 500 advanced 1.3% and Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 1.1%.