Market closes flat, HDFC Life Insurance's Q2 net profit rises 19% YoY to Rs 326.2 crore

Trendlyne Analysis

Nifty 50 lost over 90 points from its day’s high but still closed marginally higher on a volatile day of trade. Indian indices closed in the green for a sixth straight session. European stocks traded in the red amid political chaos in the UK after Liz Truss resigned as UK’s Prime Minister on Thursday. Most major Asian indices closed in the red, in line with the US indices, which closed lower on Thursday. US stocks gave up their gains from the start of the trading session and closed lower as investors continued to assess the impact of high inflation on company financials. The NASDAQ 100 fell 0.5% while the Dow Jones closed 0.3% lower. Brent crude oil futures traded marginally lower as traders weigh demand concerns due to slow economic growth amid high inflation against quarantine easing in China.

Nifty Smallcap 100 closed flat, following the benchmark index. Nifty Media and Nifty Metal closed higher than Thursday’s levels. Nifty IT closed lower, tracking the NASDAQ 100, which closed in the red on Thursday.

Nifty 50 closed at 17,583.75 (19.8, 0.1%), BSE Sensex closed at 59,307.15 (104.3, 0.2%) while the broader Nifty 500 closed at 15,082.45 (-29.7, -0.2%)

Market breadth is moving down. Of the 1,929 stocks traded today, 575 were on the uptick, and 1,282 were down.

Stocks like Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders, Castrol India, Rajesh Exports, and RHI Magnesita India are in the overbought zone.
HDFC Life Insurance is rising as its Q2FY23 net profit rises 19% YoY to Rs 326.2 crore with net premium income rising nearly 15% YoY. The company’s solvency ratio rises 20 percentage points YoY to 210%. The company shows up on the screener for companies with an improving net cash flow over the past two years.
Axis Bank and Federal Bank hit their all-time highs of Rs 898.5 and Rs 134.8, respectively. Both stocks rise for two consecutive sessions.
HDFC Securities reiterates 'Add' rating on Nippon Life India with a target price of Rs 350. This indicates an upside of 29.4%. The brokerage expects the company to capitalise on its increasing credibility to raise institutional capital. It estimates the company's revenue to grow at a CAGR of 13.7% over FY22-25.
Amit Syngle, CEO and MD of Asian Paints says that material inflation during Q2FY23 was 2%. He expects the company's gross margin to improve to 37-38% once inflationary pressures ease down.

#OnCNBCTV18 | We saw strong inflationary trends in #Q1, 6% materials inflation. Price increase was 3% vs inflation of 7%, that impacted company. If deflationary trend continues, we should get back to 18-20% #EBITDA margin, says Amit Syngle of Asian Paints pic.twitter.com/iz0kPCtAfZ
— CNBC-TV18 (@CNBCTV18Live) October 21, 2022
Hardware Technology & Equipment, Banking and Finance, and Oil & Gas sectors rise more than 3% over the past week.
Bharat Dynamics (BDL) is rising as it signs a memorandum of understanding (MoU) alongside Dassault Aviation with the Indian Armed Forces. The MoU is for the integration of BDL weapon systems like astra and smart anti-airfield weapons on Rafale aircrafts.
Nazara Technologies' Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Manish Agarwal resigns, his resignation is effective from December 1. The company approves the change in designation of Nitish Mittersain to the new CEO and Joint Managing Director.
MRF, Kotak Mahindra Bank, and ICICI Bank trade above their third resistance or R3 level as market trades higher.
KNR Constructions completes its second transaction of a 51% stake transfer in KNR Shankarampet Projects to Cube Highways and Infrastructure III Pte yesterday. The total transaction amounts to Rs 154.6 crore.
IEX is falling as it reports a fall in Q2FY23 net profit by 8.4% YoY to Rs 71 crore with revenue falling 13.8% YoY. Revenue from the power exchange segment also fell as electricity volumes fell 18.4% YoY because of supply constraints and high energy prices. The company shows up on the screener listing stocks with declining revenue for the past three quarters.
ICICI Securities is optimistic about Sonata Software’s growth potential as it upgrades its rating to ‘Add’ from ‘Hold’ and increases the target price to Rs 578 from Rs 566. This implies an upside of 13.5%. The brokerage believes that the company is trading at an attractive valuation. It also has a healthy growth outlook on the international and domestic business segments of the firm. It expects the company’s revenue to grow at a CAGR of 22.7% over FY22-24.
Delhivery falls in trade as around 32.4 lakh shares (0.4% equity) amounting to Rs 131.7 crore change hands, according to reports.

Delhivery Large Trade | 32.41 lakh shares (0.4% equity) worth ?131.7 cr change hands at an average of ?400/sh pic.twitter.com/95oxBE4fTY
— CNBC-TV18 (@CNBCTV18Live) October 21, 2022
MphasiS’ Q2FY23 net profit rises 4.1% QoQ to Rs 418.5 crore, yet the stock is falling in trade. The revenue increase is driven by the banking & financial services segment and new deal wins. Coforge’s Q2 net profit surges 34.3% QoQ to Rs 201.1 crore. Profit grows on the back of robust deal wins and a rise in revenue from offshoring.
Hindustan Aeronautics inks a pact with the Indian Air Force for 70 HTT-40 indigenous trainer aircrafts worth Rs 6,800 crore.
Ramkrishna Forgings is rising as it bags an export order from a Swedish firm worth Rs 121.5 crore for making electric vehicle components. The company shows up on a screener with improving RoA for the last two years.
IndiaMART InterMESH is rising despite its Q2FY23 net profit falling 17% YoY to Rs 68.4 crore. Rise in employee benefits and other expenses resulted in the EBITDA margin to drop 17.7 percentage points YoY to 27.9%. The company features in the screener which reflects stocks with falling quarterly net profit and profit margin YoY.
CCI gives its nod to Carlyle Group and Advent International to acquire 10% stake each in YES Bank. YES Bank had announced raising of capital worth Rs 8,900 crore from the private equity firms, in July.

Verventa Holdings, an affiliate of Advent International and CA Basque Investments, part of the Carlyle Group are to acquire 10% stake each in Yes Bank. https://t.co/MWIREsE9v0
— Mint (@livemint) October 20, 2022
Bajaj Finance’s Q2FY23 net profit jumps 88% YoY to Rs 2,781 crore on the back of net interest income rising 31% YoY and growing loan disbursements. The company’s asset quality improves as its net non-performing assets fall 66 bps to 0.44%. The stock makes it to the screener for companies with consistent high stock price returns over the past five years.
Public sector banks like Canara Bank, Bank of India, Punjab & Sind Bank and UCO Bank are rising more than 2% in trade today. The broader sectoral index Nifty PSU Bank is also trading in the green.
Axis Bank’s Q2FY23 net profit rises 70% YoY to Rs 5,329.7 crore as provisions fall 19% YoY and net interest income rises 31% YoY. Revenue from corporate, wholesale and retail banking also increase in Q2. The bank’s asset quality improves with gross NPA and net NPA falling 103 bps and 57 bps YoY, respectively. The bank shows up on a screener of stocks with improving RoE for the last two years.

Riding High:

Largecap and midcap gainers today include Axis Bank Ltd. (900.40, 9.03%), Union Bank of India (49.15, 4.02%) and NHPC Ltd. (41.50, 4.01%).

Downers:

Largecap and midcap losers today include Laurus Labs Ltd. (486.25, -7.59%), Berger Paints (India) Ltd. (585.35, -5.41%) and PB Fintech Ltd. (379.65, -5.27%).

Movers and Shakers

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

Top high volume gainers on BSE included Finolex Cables Ltd. (494.85, 10.30%), KPIT Technologies Ltd. (711.95, 9.04%) and Axis Bank Ltd. (900.40, 9.03%).

Top high volume losers on BSE were Johnson Controls-Hitachi Air Conditioning India Ltd. (1,221.60, -6.33%), Route Mobile Ltd. (1,307.75, -6.09%) and Berger Paints (India) Ltd. (585.35, -5.41%).

Welspun India Ltd. (78.20, 1.76%) was trading at 10.1 times of weekly average. Jubilant Pharmova Ltd. (339.70, 5.14%) and VIP Industries Ltd. (709.65, 2.97%) were trading with volumes 7.8 and 6.7 times weekly average respectively on BSE at the time of posting this article.

BSE 500: highs, lows and moving averages

14 stocks made 52-week highs, while 12 stocks tanked below their 52-week lows.

Stocks touching their year highs included - Axis Bank Ltd. (900.40, 9.03%), Bank of Baroda (143.55, 2.03%) and Deepak Fertilisers & Petrochemicals Corporation Ltd. (1,031.05, -0.67%).

Stocks making new 52 weeks lows included - GlaxoSmithKline Pharmaceuticals Ltd. (1,355.95, -0.53%) and Johnson Controls-Hitachi Air Conditioning India Ltd. (1,221.60, -6.33%).

20 stocks climbed above their 200 day SMA including Thermax Ltd. (2,085.95, 4.46%) and Rallis India Ltd. (233.55, 3.25%). 15 stocks slipped below their 200 SMA including IRB Infrastructure Developers Ltd. (230.25, -4.82%) and Aptus Value Housing Finance India Ltd. (312.80, -4.24%).