Share markets in India are presently trading on a positive note. Benchmark indices advanced today tracking firm global cues.
Further, talks of an economic stimulus for small businesses battered by the coronavirus outbreak improved sentiment.
Reportedly, the government may unveil fiscal stimulus amounting to 0.3% of the country's gross domestic product, focusing on small and medium sized businesses, real estate firms and banks.
The BSE Sensex is trading up by 524 points while the NSE Nifty is trading up by 146 points.
The BSE Mid Cap index and the BSE Small Cap index are trading up by 0.9% and 0.7%, respectively.
Sectoral indices are trading mixed with stocks in the energy sector and telecom sector witnessing buying interest, while power stocks are witnessing selling pressure.
The rupee is currently trading at 75.44 against the US$.
Gold prices are currently trading down by 0.1% at Rs 46,134.
Speaking of the current stock market scenario, after a sharp rally in the past few weeks, the markets have turned volatile again.
You would be interested in knowing when the market will likely bottom out.
Vijay Bhambwani, editor of Weekly Cash Alerts, has the answer and he has recorded a video about it.
You can check the same here - This is When the Stock Market Will Bottom Out
Moving on, market participants are tracking Shree Cement share price, TCI Express share price, and SBI Cards and Payment Services share price as these companies are scheduled to announce their March quarter results (Q4FY20) later today.
You can read our recently released Q4FY20 results of other companies here: HYPERLINK "https://www.equitymaster.com/research-it/quarterly-results-analysis/GACM/AMBUJA-CEMENT-Announces-Quarterly-Results-4QFY20-Net-Profit-Up-70/4156/?utm_source=8-qtr-results&utm_medium=website&utm_campaign=annual-financial-info&utm_content=AMBUJA%20CEMENT" \t "_blank" Ambuja Cement, IndusInd Bank, Axis Bank, Tech Mahindra, Reliance Industries, Marico, Kansai Nerolac, NIIT Technologies, Persistent Systems, SKF India.
In news from the banking sector, public sector banks (PSBs) sanctioned loans worth Rs 5.66 lakh crore for the March-April period to 41.81 lakh accounts, according to the finance ministry.
The borrowers represented the micro small and medium sized enterprises (MSMEs), retail, agriculture and corporate sectors.
Reportedly, PSB loans amounting to Rs 265 billion have been sanctioned in 2.37 lakh cases for MSMEs.
This is part of the PSB initiative to prioritise pre-approved emergency credit lines and enhanced working capital requirements to the sector.
Meanwhile, PSBs sanctioned loans worth Rs 773.8 billion to non-banking financial companies (NBFCs) and housing finance companies (HFCs) between March 1 and May 4.
Including the Reserve Bank of India's (RBI) targeted long term repo operations (TLTRO) window, PSBs extended Rs 1.08 lakh crore of financing to ensure business stability and continuity.
The finance ministry said that the three-month loan moratorium facility announced by the RBI has been availed by 3.2 crore PSB accounts.
On Thursday, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said that the Indian economy is poised to recover from the recent crisis brought upon by the coronavirus pandemic with PSB sanctioning loans worth Rs 5.66 lakh crore in just two months.
Speaking of the banking sector, the low access to credit for micro small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) tells us there is a huge opportunity for lenders.
This is evident from the chart below:
Of the 60 million MSMEs in India, only 11% had access to credit from organised lenders. Most of them are self-financed or get credit from unorganised sources.
Here's what Tanushree Banerjee wrote about this in one of the editions of The 5 Minute WrapUp...
Tanushree is counting on 7 top stocks from the Indian stock market that will benefit from this megatrend.
As per her, now is the right time to buy these stocks to profit from the Rebirth of India. You can read about them here.
Moving on to news from the FMCG sector, shares of Hindustan Unilever (HUL) rose 4% today after institutional investors bought stake in the company via open market on Thursday.
The NSE bulk deal data showed that foreign portfolio investor Societe Generale, a French multinational investment bank and financial services company, bought 129 million shares of HUL at an average price of Rs 1,902.
UK-based Glaxo-SmithKline (GSK) offloaded its stake in HUL via block deals, yesterday.
According to the term sheet, over 133 million shares were offered in the range of Rs 1,850-1,950 to investors through a special block window.
The deal is valued roughly between Rs 246 billion to Rs 259 billion.
Note that last week, HUL reported a 7% decline in volumes in Q4FY20. The company's profit before tax fell 10.6% to Rs 19.9 billion, while net profit declined 1.2% year-on-year (YoY) to Rs 15.2 billion.
HUL share price is presently trading up by 3%.
To know more about the company, you can HUL's latest result analysis on our website.
And to know what's moving the Indian stock markets today, check out the most recent share market updates here.
For information on how to pick stocks that have the potential to deliver big returns, download our special report now!
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