Markets This Week: Sensex, Nifty end higher; JSW Steel top gainer, ITC top loser

Among sectoral indices, the Nifty Metal surged 5 percent this week. The Nifty IT rose 2 percent and the Nifty Pharma advanced 2.5 percent. The Nifty Bank was also up 1.2 percent for the week. However, the Nifty Realty shed 3.3 percent and the Nifty PSU Banks were lower by 2.2 percent. The Nifty Auto was also in the red this week.

JSW Steel, Bharti Airtel, Tata Steel, BPCL and Titan were the top Nifty gainers, up between 7 percent and 11.5 percent. Bajaj Finance, Nestle India, HUL, Vedanta, Hindalco and UPL were some of the other gainers for the week.

JSW Steel rose over 11 percent after metal stocks recovered from the Coronavirus scare as China’s central bank stepped in to cut interest rates and support the economy.

Bharti Airtel was up over 8 percent as the telecom major recorded highest ever growth in 4G subscriber addition. The company, however, reported a higher-than-expected consolidated net loss at Rs 1,035 crore for the third-straight quarter in the current fiscal.

BPCL rallied 7 percent after reports said that Russia's largest oil producer Rosneft was keen to bid for the state-owned oil marketing company.

Titan also gained 7 percent after the company reported a growth of 12.9 percent in profit to Rs 470 crore for the quarter ending December 2019. Total sales during the same period grew by 9.4 percent to Rs 6,206 crore.

Meanwhile, ITC, Zee, L&T, Eicher Motors and Hero MotoCorp were the top laggards in the Nifty50 index this week, down 2.5-9 percent. Kotak Bank, Bajaj Auto, Tata Motors, Cipla, Yes Bank and Sun Pharma also gave negative returns for the week.

ITC plunged over 9 percent for the week after finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman during the union Budget 2020 increased excise duty on cigarettes across various lengths. Downgrades by various brokerages also weighed on the sentiment.

Zee lost over 7 percent after the ministry of corporate affairs (MCA) ordered an inspection of the firm’s books on allegations of corporate governance lapses and also because of the resignations of some of its independent directors. In the clarification, issued on February 5, the company acknowledged that the MCA is seeking certain information and inspection under Section 206(5) of the Companies Act 2013, but it further added that the information sought by MCA is already available in the public domain.

Hero MotoCorp shed 2.5 percent this week after its total sales in January declined by 13.9 percent to 5.01 lakh units, compared with 5.82 lakh units sold in the same month of 2019.

Ajanta Pharma, HEG, Natco Pharma, JSPL, Aditya Birla Fashion, Info Edge and SRF were the major mid-cap gainers, up 9-25 percent for the week.

Ajanta Pharma soared nearly 25 percent after its consolidated net profit soared 61.1 percent to Rs 107.76 crore in Q3 as against Rs 66.90 crore reported in the same quarter year ago. Net sales also advanced 34.2 percent year-on-year (YoY) to Rs 651.21 crore in December quarter.

Aditya Birla Fashion was up over 11 percent after the company reported impressive December quarter results (Q3FY20). The company’s standalone profit before tax (PBT) during the quarter jumped 58 percent year on year (YoY) at Rs 111 crore against Rs 70 crore in the year-ago quarter. Revenue grew by 12 percent at Rs 2,562 crore on YoY basis.

Among losers, Manappuram Finance, Exide Industries, HUDCO, Indian Bank, Varroc Engineering, Future Consumer, and Canara Bank fell 6-11 percent for the week.

Manappuram Finance shed 11 percent after Baring India divested stake worth over Rs 721 crore in the company through open market transactions. As per the bulk deal data on BSE, Baring India Private Equity Fund II and Baring India Private Equity Fund III offloaded a total of 4,14,60,136 shares at an average price of Rs 174 per share.