28 Apr , 2021 By : Kanchan Joshi
MUMBAI: Indian markets on Wednesday surged for the third straight session amid better-than-expected earnings and dropping infection cases. Gains in global equities also boosted investor sentiments among.
At 9.50 am, the benchmark Sensex rose 0.7% to 49,284 points while Nifty gained 0.64% to 14,746 points.
"Q4 results continue to be good. Axis Bank's numbers confirm the trend of leading private sector banks growing their market share. Early bird midcap results are much better than expected. Midcaps are likely to outperform in the coming days", said V K Vijayakumar, chief investment strategist at Geojit Financial Services.
Bajaj Finance net profit rose 42% to Rs1,347 crore in the January-March period from Rs948 crore a year ago, as per its exchange filing. Net interest income fell 2.4% to Rs4,569 crore at the end of the March quarter, compared to Rs4,684 crore a year ago
Earlier last week, ICICI Bank Ltd and HDFC Bank Ltd reported earnings. ICICI Bank reported 260% surge in net profit while net interest income advanced 17%. Asset quality for the quarter improved 46 basis points quarter over quarter to 4.96% from 5.42%. Operating profit grew 16% while advanced rose 14%.
Meanwhile, HDFC Bank's operation growth continued to show improvement for past three quarters as advances were up 4.7% quarter on quarter, NII growth at 12.6% year on year while net profit increased 18.2% year on year. Asset quality improved to 1.32% from 1.38% a quarter ago.
Analyst says that the focus on operational growth with strong revival in retail advances remains positive for both banks. Robust asset quality performance amid tight underwriting standard and contingency buffer provides comfort against uncertainties in the current environment, analyst adds.
"It appears that markets are looking into the post-second wave scenario which is likely to emerge in May. The global support to markets continues with positive economic data from the US. The FOMC comment expected today is likely to reaffirm the Fed's accommodative stance, imparting further resilience to markets. In brief, the gloomy Covid scenario is unlikely to impact the market meaningfully", Vijaykumar added.
Meanwhile Maharashtra reported 66,358 new cases and 67,752 patients were discharged; Mumbai reported 4,014 new cases in 24 hours
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