LIVE: Global markets trend lower, Bajaj Finance, Embassy Parks announce results

While there was a rally across global markets yesterday, spurred by news of success in Moderna vaccine trials, US and European markets look unsteady today with bearish sentiment prevailing.
Companies announcing results included the NBFC bigwig Bajaj Finance, which saw net profits fall on covid-related provisioning. The company ends the quarter at NPA levels similar to the end of Q3, but says it is remaining cautious about growth as the impact of Covid related slowdowns become clear.
Embassy Office Parks REIT announced results and also said that it ended Q4 with a distribution to unitholders of Rs.531.7 crore (Rs.6.89 per unit) representing a 100% payout ratio for fourth quarter and full year. Full result dashboard.
Markets closed higher on hopes of a quicker than expected vaccine-led economic recovery. Nifty 50 closed at 8890.55 (67.3, 0.8%) , BSE Sensex closed at 30196.17 (167.2, 0.6%) while the broader Nifty 500 closed at 7293.25 (48, 0.7%). Market breadth is in the red. Of the 1609 stocks traded today, 664 showed gains, and 850 showed losses.
Adani Power, Vodafone Idea, Granules India are among the biggest gainers today.
Gujarat Thermis Biosyn up on strong quarter results - revenues jumped 154% YoY, and net profits jumped 335% YoY. The stock is one of the top momentum gainers today in the market. Full result dashboard
Godrej Consumer gets a BUY from Sharekhan with a lower target price, while Biocon gets a thumbs up from Axis Direct with a higher upside. Biocon's 'strong launch pipeline' the analysts wrote, is a positive.
ICICI Prudential Mutual Fund has sold Bodal Chemicals shares via an SAST transaction.
Strong ARPU (average revenue per user) growth - related to Bharti Airtel's efforts in discarding lowest revenue users - has helped drive share price up for the company, despite its surprise loss in Q4 related to provisions for payment to the government. The share price has hit a fresh year high today.
KEC International says it has won Rs 1,203 crore worth of orders in India, Bangladesh and Africa.
The market opened on an upbeat note with news of a potential vaccine from Moderna driving up stocks worldwide. Nifty 50 was trading at 8903.75 (80.5, 0.9%) , BSE Sensex was trading at 30326.92 (297.9, 1.0%) while the broader Nifty 500 was trading at 7302.90 (57.7, 0.8%). Market breadth is in the green. Of the 1395 stocks traded today, 831 were on the uptick, and 460 were down.

Riding High:

Largecap and midcap gainers today include Vodafone Idea Ltd. (5.45, 17.20%), Adani Power Ltd. (35.30, 14.24%) and Bharti Airtel Ltd. (598.80, 11.29%).

Downers:

Largecap and midcap losers today include UPL Ltd. (339.65, -9.62%), Hindustan Zinc Ltd. (174.10, -7.52%) and Oracle Financial Services Software Ltd. (2417.80, -6.47%).

Crowd Puller Stocks

25 stocks in BSE 500 are trading on high volumes today.

Top high volume gainers on BSE included Adani Power Ltd. (35.30, 14.24%), Inox Leisure Ltd. (185.35, 12.23%) and Bharti Airtel Ltd. (598.80, 11.29%).

Top high volume losers on BSE were AstraZeneca Pharma India Ltd. (2722.95, -10.75%), Atul Ltd. (4202.85, -6.73%) and HFCL Ltd. (9.15, -5.18%).

KPR Mill Ltd. (415.70, 2.36%) was trading at 10.4 times of weekly average. Nesco Ltd. (392.95, 0.87%) and Gayatri Projects Ltd. (13.85, 4.92%) were trading with volumes 8.3 and 7.5 times weekly average respectively on BSE at the time of posting this article.

BSE 500: highs, lows and moving averages

1 stock hit their 52 week highs, while 23 stocks were underachievers and hit their 52 week lows.

Stock touching their year highs included - Bharti Airtel Ltd. (598.80, 11.29%).

Stocks making new 52 weeks lows included - Bank of Baroda (36.50, -5.44%) and Cyient Ltd. (192.50, -1.94%).

8 stocks climbed above their 200 day SMA including Vodafone Idea Ltd. (5.45, 17.20%) and Amber Enterprises India Ltd. (1125.30, 4.38%). 3 stocks slipped below their 200 SMA including TV18 Broadcast Ltd. (21.15, -3.20%) and Colgate-Palmolive (India) Ltd. (1349.55, -2.21%).