The equity barometers continued their uptrend in mid-afternoon trade with the Nifty touching 14,500 mark. Firm global cues and robust FII inflows in domestic equities boosted sentiment. At 14:28 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, surged 783.66 points or 1.61% at 49,347.99. The Nifty 50 index soared 222.55 points or 1.55% at 14,499.75.

Bajaj Finserv (up 6.58%), Bajaj Finance (up 5.16%), HDFC (up 3.56%) and Reliance Industries (up 1.56%) were major market movers.

The rally was broad based. The S&P BSE Mid-Cap index rose 1.99% while the S&P BSE Small-Cap index gained 1.47%.

Buyers outpaced sellers. On the BSE, 2,054 shares rose and 854 shares fell. A total of 151 shares were unchanged.

COVID-19 Update:

Total COVID-19 confirmed cases worldwide stood at 9,55,55,763 with 20,40,669 deaths. India reported 2,00,528 active cases of COVID-19 infection and 1,52,556 deaths while 1,02,28,753 patients have been discharged, according to the data from the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India.

Economy:

India's 2020-21 sugar production till 15 January 2021 is up by 33.76 lakh tonnes or 31% compared to the same period of the previous sugar season (October to September), according to a latest update from the Indian Sugar Mills Association (ISMA). A total of 487 sugar mills are in 33.76 lakh tonnes operation in the country as on 15 January 2021 and have produced 142.70 lakh tonnes of sugar, as compared to 108.94 lakh tonnes produced by 440 sugar mills as on 15 January 2020.

Buzzing Index:

The Nifty Metal index surged 1.45% to 3356.45, snapping its three-day losing streak. The index tumbled 6% in three days.

Hindustan Zinc (up 5.09%), Jindal Steel & Power (up 3.4%), Vedanta (up 2.4%), NMDC (up 2.32%), National Aluminium Company (up 2.3%), JSW Steel (up 1.59%), Hindalco Industries (up 1.42%), Coal India (up 1.3%), Tata Steel (up 0.9%) and Steel Authority of India (up 0.68%) climbed.

Earnings Impact:

Bank of Maharashtra surged 5.9% after the bank's net profit jumped 14.07% to Rs 154 crore on a 3.41% rise in total income to Rs 3,577 crore in Q3 FY21 over Q3 FY20. The bank posted a pre-tax profit of Rs 404 crore in Q3 FY21 as against a pre-tax loss of Rs 75 crore in Q3 FY20. Tax outgo during the quarter was Rs 250 crore. Operating profit improved by 7.13% to Rs 902 crore in Q3 December 2020 from Rs 842 crore in Q3 December 2019. The cost-to-income ratio stood at 51.92% in the December quarter as against 48.31% in the same period last year, mainly due to one-time expenditure of Rs 230 crore on account of wage revision arrears payable to retired employee.

On the asset quality side, gross non-performing assets (NPAs) stood at Rs 8,072.43 crore as on 31 December 2020 as against Rs 9,105.44 crore as on 30 September 2020 and Rs 15,745.54 crore as on 31 December 2019. Provisions & contingencies dropped 45.69% to Rs 498 crore in the third quarter as compared to the same period last year. Provision coverage ratio improved to 90% as on 31 December 2020 as against 83% as on 31 December 2019. The same was 87% as on 30 September 2020.

Vishwaraj Sugar Industries jumped 16.13% after the company's net profit soared 162% to Rs 30.46 crore on 18.6% decline in net sales to Rs 82.75 crore in Q3 December 2020 over Q3 December 2019. Profit before tax zoomed 169% to Rs 31.30 crore in Q3 December 2020 from Rs 11.63 crore registered in Q3 December 2019. Current tax expense in quarter ended December 2020 stood at Rs 0.83 crore.

Numbers to Track:

In the foreign exchange market, the partially convertible rupee appreciated to 73.215 compared with its previous closing of 73.28.

The yield on 10-year benchmark federal paper fell to 5.944% as compared to its previous close of 5.957%.

MCX Gold futures for 5 February 2021 settlement rose 0.24% to Rs 49,012.

The US Dollar index (DXY), which tracks the greenback's value against a basket of currencies, fell 0.2% to 90.573.

In the commodities market, Brent crude for March 2021 settlement rose 16 cents to $55.26 a barrel.

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