The benchmark indices ended on a positive note in a highly volatile session on February 1, as Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman presented the Budget for the year 2022-23 Day. Gains in metal, pharma and capital goods stocks saw the Sensex close 848.40 points, or 1.46%, higher at 58,862.57, and the Nifty 237 points, or 1.37%, up at 17,576.80.
ITC | CMP: Rs 227.90 | The stock price jumped over 3 percent as taxes on cigarette and other tobacco products were left untouched by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in her Budget for the year 2022-23. As cigarette or tobacco business contributes more than 40 percent to the company’s revenue, the street always turns cautious on the scrip in the run-up to the Budget amid fear of an increased tax. Sitharaman, however, didn’t make any changes to the taxes, which experts said was positive for ITC.
Sun Pharma | CMP: Rs 891.90 | The scrip spiked close to 7 percent on February 1. The pharma company reported an 11 percent rise in its consolidated net profit to Rs 2,058.80 crore for the December quarter. It had posted a net loss of Rs 1,852.50-crore last year in the same quarter. Consolidated net sales for the quarter increased 11.41 percent from the year-ago period to Rs 9,814.17 crore. Total cost advanced 12 percent to Rs 7,829.38 crore. Operating EBITDA margin declined sharply to 17.12 percent in the quarter from 20.43 percent a quarter ago and 20.97 percent a year ago. Global brokerage firm CLSA retained buy call on the stock with the target at Rs 1,100 a share. Research firm Citi has maintained “buy” call and has raised the target to Rs 1,07 .
Tata Steel | CMP: Rs 1,166.55 | The share price gained over 7 percent after as the Budget focussed on infrastructure development, which in turn would increase steel production. Koushik Chatterjee, ED and CFO of Tata Steel, in an interview to CNBC-TV18 said anything on infrastructure is good for metals, especially steel. “Duties that are coming in essentially in relation to scrap customs duty, which is extended for a year to help the secondary producers I think that is fine. Broadly, this budget is focused on infrastructure development and that is going to enhance the metal intensity in the economy, which is going to be good for all metals and mining companies,” he added.
Shree Cement | CMP: Rs 25,595 | The stock price rose over 5 percent after Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman sharply increased the capital expenditure for 2022-23 in the Union Budget presented on February 1. The finance minister fixed the outlay on capital expenditure for next year at Rs. 7.5 lakh crore, sharply higher than the Rs 5.5 lakh crore budgeted for 2021-22. Analysts had expected the government to hike the capital expenditure outlay by 20 percent, whereas Budget 2022 hiked it by 35 percent.
BPCL | CMP: Rs 379.35 | The scrip shed over 4 percent after the standalone net profit during the December quarter came in at Rs 2,462.45 crore, down 11.3 percent from Rs 2,777.62 crore in the year-ago period. JP Morgan, however, has an overweight call on the stock with the target at Rs 550 a share. The profit was a miss likely because of consensus under estimating inventory.
