Equities end flat for the week despite Sensex touching fresh 2-year high
While ITC continued with its robust operating margin in the Cigarette unit, capital goods major L&T delighted the market with a strong y-o-y 14% growth in its order book during the period.
The net profit of Auto giant Maruti Suzuki more than doubled to R501 crore compared to the last year, its first increase in earnings after 18 quarters. All these three bluchips were the biggest gainers during the week; they advanced 3% to 5% during the period.
The top losers among the Nifty scrips, too, featured companies that disappointed the market with their third quarter earnings. Hindustan Unilever, the blue-eyed boy of the defensive space that ruled the market in the last two year with annual gains of 30%, reported lower-than-expected volume growth in three months to December at 5% . The company’s decision to increase the royalty payment to its parent Unilever to 3.15% of sales by fiscal 2018 weighed heavy on the stock, which fell 3% during the week after a dozen analyst downgrades.
Even Tata Motors faced some earnings downgrade after the company guided for lower Ebitda or operating margins for the period. The stock, which plunged 10% intra-day on Thursday, was the biggest loser among the Nifty stocks, with an 8% decline in the week to R301.05.
Thursday also saw heavy selling in debt-ridden infra, realty and capital goods companies from the mid-cap and small-cap space. Scrips like IVRCL, Lanco Infra, D B realty, IRB Infra and Punj Lloyd dropped 8-19% after investors turned cautious
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