Mixed corporate earning results and caution ahead of the upcoming interim budget as well as the F&O expiry kept the indices from advancing on Wednesday as the Sensex and Nifty ended on a flat note.
Banking, capital goods and metal stocks gained over 1 percent while the energy and telecom stocks ended in the red.
The BSE Sensex closed 1.25 points lower at 35,591.25, after it shuttled over 350 points, while the broader Nifty finished at 10,651.80, down 0.40 points.
Heavyweights ICICI Bank and Tata Steel -- both rising over 5 percent -- saved the day for the Sensex. Also, mixed trading pattern in global shares as US-China trade talks kicked off earlier in the day made domestic investors even more cautious.
Bajaj Auto, IOC, Jubilant Food, JSW Energy, MAS Financial Services and Vinati Organic have announced their results on Wednesday.
Bajaj Auto – Miss
Shares of the company closed 2.65
Bajaj Auto reported 20.49 percent increase in consolidated net profit at Rs 1,220.77 crore for December quarter 2018-19, on account of higher sales volume.
Total income during the reported quarter went up 19.49 percent to Rs 7,879.34 crore as against Rs 6,595.22 crore in the year-ago period,
This is the second consecutive quarter the company reported operational miss as the margin declined 390 basis points (bps) at 15.6 percent y-o-y.
According to the company, the margins will improve by Q1 FY20.
IOC – Miss
Shares of the Indian Oil Corp (IOC) closed 2.07 percent lower at Rs 134.65 apiece on BSE.
The company reported 91 percent plunge in December quarter net profit after it suffered inventory losses due to falling oil prices. The company logged a profit of Rs 716.82 crore, or Rs 0.76 per share, in the third quarter of 2018-19 financial year, showing a decline of 90.9 percent year-on-year.
The company's Inventory losses is at Rs 6,655 crore and forex gain stands at Rs 2,084 crore.
Jubilant Food – Hit
Shares of the company closed 0.26 percent up at Rs 1,198.75 apiece on BSE.
Jubilant FoodWorks reported 46.16 percent jump in standalone net profit at Rs 96.5 crore for the quarter ended December 31, 2018, helped by the increase in same-store sales growth of Domino's Pizza. Same-store sales growth (SSG) refers to the year-over-year growth in sales for restaurants in operation for two whole years.
The operator of Domino's Pizza and Dunkin' Donuts' total income increased by 18.07 percent to Rs 942.85 crore as against Rs 798.5 crore in the year-ago period.
Domino's Pizza reported SSG of 14.6 percent in the quarter under review.
Dunkin' Donuts broke even in the third quarter of 2018-19 on the back of strong growth in the core portfolio of donuts and beverages, as also disciplined cost management.
At present, the company operates 1,200 Domino's Pizza and 32 Dunkin' Donuts outlets in the country. Domino's store addition of 35 in the December quarter is higher than street estimates of 20-23.
JSW Energy - Hit
Shares of the company closed at Rs 67.90, up 5.68 percent on BSE.
JSW Energy's consolidated net profit nearly trebled to Rs 147.08 crore for the quarter ended on December 31, 2018, compared to the year-ago period, mainly on account of higher revenues.
The total income of the company during the quarter under review stood at Rs 2,491.79 crore up from Rs 2,081.14 crore in the year-ago period.
During April to December period of the current fiscal, the company's net profit was Rs 678.70 crore compared to Rs 564.96 crore in the corresponding period last year.
MAS Financial Services – Hit
Shares of the company closed at Rs 525.00, down 2.65 percent on BSE.
The company's standalone net profit rose to Rs 45.45 for the quarter ended December 31, 2018, against Rs 25.34 a year-ago, on the account of strong balance sheet growth and improvement in operating efficiency.
The total income of the company during the quarter under review stood at Rs 161.86 crore, while net income (NII + other income) was up 34.1 percent at Rs.103.2 crore.
Vinati Organic – Hit
Shares of the company closed at Rs 1,575.00, up 1.42 percent on BSE.
The company's net profit almost doubled to Rs 70.7 crore for the quarter ended December 31, 2018, compared to the year-ago period.
The company reported a good set of numbers as its revenue grew by 63.2 percent at Rs303 crore in the quarter under review, against Rs 185.6 crore a year-ago period. EBITDA for the December quarter was at Rs 106.4 crore.
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