Market At Close

- Market Slips Lower For 4th Straight Day To Post Biggest Losing Streak Since Sep 2020

- Sensex, Nifty & Nifty Bank Turn Negative While Midcap Index Is Up 1% For The Year

- Nifty & Sensex Down 5% & Nifty Bank 7% From Record High Hit Earlier This Month

- Nifty Closes Below 14,000 For The 1st Time In 2021, Ends 271 Pts Lower At 13,968

- Sensex Falls 938 Points To 47,410 & Nifty Bank 914 Points To 30,285

- Midcap Index Drops 340 Points To 21,115; NSE Advance-Decline Ratio At 1:2

- Majority Of Sectoral Indices Slip While Volatility Index Surges Over 5%

- 39 Nifty Stocks Close In The Red; Tata Motors, Titan, GAIL, Hindalco Top Losers

- Financials Contribute Over 50% To Nifty’s Fall; HDFC Twins & ICICI Top Contributors

- ITC, Tech Mahindra, Wipro & HCL Tech Gain In A Weak Trading Session

- Rane Madras, Tata Elxsi, Hind Copper Graphite India Amongst Top Midcap Gainers

- Tata Steel long, MSTC, ICICI Sec, JK Tyre Top Midcap Losers

- BSE Erases 83% Of Market Cap Gained In 1st 2 Weeks Of Jan In Last Four Days

Closing Bell | The Indian equity benchmark indices, Sensex and Nifty ended almost 2 percent lower on Wednesday dragged by heavy selling across the key sectors. The Sensex plunged 937.66 points, or 1.94 percent to close at 47,409.93, while the Nifty ended at 13,967.50, down 271.40 points, or 1.91 percent. The Nifty Bank and Financial Services led the losses while the pharma, metal and auto indices also reeled under pressure. Among broader indices, Nifty Smallcap100 outperformed the benchmarks, ending 0.15 percent higher, while the Nifty Midcap100 ended 1.58 percent lower.

On the Nifty, Tata Motors, Tata Steel, Titan Company, IndusInd Bank and Hindalco industries led the losses, while Tech Mahindra, SBI Life Insurance, Wipro, ITC and UltraTech Cement were the top gainers.

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Welspun Industries Q3FY21 | The company’s consolidated net profit rose to Rs 180.8 crore in the quarter ended December 2020 versus Rs 73.2 crore in the same quarter last fiscal. Its revenue increased 29.2 percent YoY to Rs 2,029 crore from Rs 1,570.7 crore, YoY.

Cabinet approves MSP for copra | The Union Cabinet has approved MSP for milling Copra and ball Copra. The MSP has increased 52 percent over and above at Rs 10,335 cost of production for milling copra and by 55 percent for ball copra.

Targeting positive growth this year, profits to remain flat: SBI Life Insurance

SBI Life posted a mixed set of Q3 earnings as the company met street expectations on VNB margins owing to an improvement in the product mix but profit came in lower.

CNBC-TV18’s Yash Jain spoke to Mahesh Kumar Sharma, MD & CEO at SBI Life Insurance on Q3 earnings. "If you look at VNB margin we have gone up 100 basis points over last year. This is what is indicative of the robustness of the business, fact that we have done something good and this is something which will lead to increased profits going forward. Next year onwards, we will be reaping these benefits." Watch here.

European stocks fall; focus on Fed and US tech earnings

Europe's share indexes opened lower on Wednesday, while investors focused on the US Federal Reserve meeting and US tech giants' earnings, a Reuters report said. MSCI world equity index, which tracks shares in 49 countries, was down 0.1 percent, having edged down in the last week after it hit a new all-time high on January 21. In the Asian session on Wednesday, shares were hurt by some profit-taking, as investors grew wary of stretched valuations. European share indexes opened in the red. The STOXX 600 was down around 0.3 percent. London's FTSE 100 was down 0.2 percent while Germany's DAX was down 0.5 percent. The dollar rose against a basket of currencies as European markets opened, and was at 90.275, up 0.1 percent on the day.

NALCO | The company's board approved share buyback at Rs 57.50 per share via tender offer of upto 13.03 crore shares.

Market Update | Sensex tumbles over 900 points, turns negative for 2021. Nifty breaches 14,000 for the first time since January 4, Nifty is now down more than 5 percent from the record high of 14,753.55 hit on January 21. Financials contribute nearly 50% to Nifty's fall. All sectoral indices lower while Volatility Index surges

Unichem Laboratories | The company has received US FDA nod for Zonisamide Capsules, used for treatment of partial seizures in adults with Epilepsy.

We will be a net debt-free co in one or two quarters: APL Apollo Tubes

APL Apollo Tubes on Wednesday said that it expects to be net debt-free in another two quarters. “In coming one or two quarters, we will be a net debt-free company," said Deepak Goyal, CFO of APL Apollo Tubes in an interview with CNBC-TV18.

The company's debt reduced by Rs 100 crore in the third quarter, he said.

According to him, APL Apollo Tubes is expecting almost 20 percent volume growth in the next year.

“For this year, we will close positive growth and for next year, we are targeting almost 20 percent growth,” Goyal said. Continue reading.

Stove Kraft IPO subscribed 1.4 times on Day 2 of bidding

Stove Kraft's Rs 412.62-crore initial public offer (IPO) was subscribed 1.4 times on the second day of bidding. The issue received bids for 83.24 lakh equity shares against an offer size of 58.94 lakh shares.

As of 12:15 PM, the reserved portion of retail investors was subscribed 8.6 times while non-institutional investors subscribed 8 percent. However, qualified institutional buyers had still not started putting their bids yet. Read more here.

RITES | The company has secured a road sector project management consultancy work order from Kerala Infrastructure Investment Fund Board (KIIFB), Govt. of Kerala with a fee income of Rs 61.25 crore.

Emami Q3FY21 | The company reported 44.6 percent jump in its net profit at Rs 208.9 crore as against Rs 144.4 crore in a year ago period. Revenue rose 14.9 percent to Rs 933.6 crore from Rs 812.6 crore, YoY. EBITDA increased 28.9 percent to Rs 340.2 crore from Rs 264 crore, while EBITDA margin expanded by 390 bps to 36.4 percent from 32.5 percent, YoY.

Canara Bank Q3FY21 | The bank’s net profit increased 56.6 percent to Rs 696.1 crore from Rs 444.41 crore, while Net Interest Income fell 3.4 percent to Rs 6.081 crore from Rs 6,296.5 crore, QoQ. Canara Bank’s Gross NPA without SC dispensation was at 8.95 percent and Net NPA at 3.93 percent.

USFDA to conduct physical audit of Alembic Pharmaceutical’s injectable plant | The US FDA will start a physical audit of Alembic Pharmaceutical’s injectable plant in Karakhadi, Gujarat. This will be one of the first few audits by the US FDA post-COVID-19.

India Cements Q3FY21 | The company reported a standalone net profit of Rs 62 crore as against a loss of Rs 5.4 crore, YoY. Its standalone revenue fell 2.6 percent at Rs 1,160 crore versus Rs 1,191.1 crore, YoY.

Sterling & Wilson Solar | The company has successfully commissioned its second project in Oman. The 25 MW solar project was awarded to the company by global energy company Shell. SWSL commissioned this project on time with more than 300,000 safe manhours during the pandemic by following all the necessary safety protocols and measures set by the local authorities

PLI scheme for bulk drugs positive for Indian pharma industry, say experts

The government has approved the applications of Aurobindo Pharma and Karnataka Antibiotics and pharma. The approval is for four products and for both companies, the total investment is Rs 3,700 crore. Sudarshan Jain, Secretary-General, Indian Pharmaceutical Alliance and Nithya Balasubramanian, Director, Sanford Bernstein discussed the development with CNBC-TV18 on Wednesday. Sanford Bernstein’s Balasubramanian said, “I think the production-linked incentive (PLI) scheme should definitely give a kicker to the active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) industry. The biggest challenge for Indian companies has been their ability to match the scale that Chinese companies have built over the last several years. The PLI scheme should definitely support as long as the incentives last. It can level the playing field.” More here

Gold rate today: Yellow metal trades lower; support seen at Rs 48,620 per 10 grams level

Gold prices in India traded lower on the Multi Commodity Exchange (MCX) Wednesday amid a firm US dollar index and as investors awaited the Federal Reserve’s monetary policy decision, analysts said. At 11:30 am, gold futures for February delivery fell 0.52 percent to Rs 48,885 per 10 grams as against the previous close of Rs 49,143 and opening price of Rs 48,903 on the MCX. Silver futures traded 0.42 percent lower at Rs 66,258 per kg. The prices opened at Rs 66,231 as compared to the previous close of Rs 66,535 per kg. More here

Chennai Petroleum Corporation shares slump 18% post Q3

Shares of Chennai Petroleum Corporation (CPCL) tumbled over 10 percent on Wednesday after the company reported weak results for the December quarter. CPCL has posted a Rs 556.44 crore loss in the December quarter due to lower refinery run and tax expenses. It had reported a Rs 290.58 crore profit in the same period a year back. Revenue from operations fell to Rs 11,458.32 crore in the third quarter of the current fiscal, from Rs 11,965.01 crore a year back.