Sensex, Nifty Clock Best Week Of 2019 On Budget Proposals
Indian equity benchmarks traded near day’s high as the investors digested Finance Minister Piyush Goyal’s Budget speech.
KEY HIGHLIGHTS
BQ Live
Closing Bell: Sensex Rises Over 200 Points, Nifty Ends Shy Of 10,900
Indian equity benchmarks clocked best week of 2019 on Narendra Modi government's last budget proposals.
The S&P BSE Sensex rose 0.59 percent or 213 points to 35,469 and NSE Nifty 50 Index advanced 0.58 percent 63 points to 10,894.
For the week, Sensex rose 1.2 percent and the Nifty advanced 1 percent.
The central government fiscal deficit for 2018-19 settled at 3.4 percent and it was maintained at the same level for next financial year, Finance Minister Piyush Goyal announced at the start of his budget speech.
Modi government also announced slew of populist measures by cutting taxes for middle-class and giving cash handouts to farmers.
Budget is lot less populist then expected, Ananth Narayan, professor at SPJIMR told BloombergQuint in an interview.
Fifteen of 19 sector gauges compiled by BSE ended higher led by the S&P BSE Auto Index’s 2.65 percent gain. On the flipside, S&P BSE Metal Index was the top loser, down 3.8 percent.
Mid- and small-caps ended on a mixed note as the S&P BSE MidCap Index rose 0.6 percent while the S&P BSE SmallCap Index rose 0.2 percent.
Jubilant Life Sciences Holds Gain After Q3 Earnings
Shares of the Noida-based drugmaker held on to gains after its profit met Bloomberg consensus estimates in December quarter.
Key earnings highlights:
- Net profit at Rs 260 crore versus estimate Rs 245 crore
- Revenue at Rs 2,350 crore versus estimate of Rs 2,364 crore
Dr Reddy’s Near Two-Year High After Q3 Profit Beats Estimates
Shares of Dr. Reddy’s laboratories Ltd. rose as much as 2.5 percent to Rs 2,789, its highest level since March 2017. The pharmaceutical company’s quarterly profit rose 45 percent on a yearly basis and topped analysts estimates during the three months ended December.
Key earnings highlights (Q3, YoY)
- Revenues up 1 percent at Rs 3850 crore (Bloomberg estimate at Rs 3,878 crore)
- Net profit up 45 percent at Rs 485 crore (Bloomberg estimate at Rs 380 crore)
- Ebitda up 6 percent at Rs 815 crore (Bloomberg estimate at Rs 754 crore)
- Margins at 21.1 percent versus 20.2 percent (Bloomberg estimate at 19.4 percent)
Market Check: Sensex, Nifty Trade Volatile
Indian equity benchmarks fluctuated between gains and losses as banking stocks weigh after SBI announced its quarterly results.
Both the S&P BSE Sensex Index and the NSE nifty 50 Index traded at little changed at 36,291 and 10,836 respectively.
The benchmark indices were weighed down by banking shares—ICICI Bank Ltd., Axis Bank Ltd. and SBI.
Continued Fiscal Slippage Negative For India, Says Moody's
The government has announced a number of expenditure measures, which will increase outlays and put pressure on its ability to meet its fiscal deficit target, according to Moody’s Investor Services.
"Ongoing slippage from the government’s budgeted fiscal deficit targets over the past two years, and our expectation that the government will face challenges meeting its target again this coming fiscal year (ending March 2020) does not bode well for medium term fiscal consolidation,” Associate Managing Director of Sovereign Risk Group, Gene Fang said in a note.
“We view this continued slippage as credit negative for the sovereign." He highlighted India's high debt burden as its biggest challenge which is "not expected to diminish rapidly".
At the same time, Moody's said that policies aimed at promoting expenditure efficiency through rationalisation of government schemes and better-targeted delivery, including through direct income transfer schemes, are credit positive. However, that will only be the case if the schemes are implemented correctly.
