Select stocks flared up on the Bombay Stock Exchanges (BSE) to hit new 52-week high on Tuesday (May 2) morning though the BSE Sensex was down almost 50 points. Federal Bank, whose Q4 net profit rose 25 times, low-cost carrier SpiceJet, car-maker Maruti Suzuki India Ltd. (MSIL), hospital chain Fortis Healthcare and metal company Hindalco Industries were trading with gains in the range of 2 to 5 percent after hitting new highs.
Federal Bank hit a new year-high of Rs 115.30, SpiceJet Rs 112.90, Hindalco Rs 203.85, Fortis Rs 224.10, Indiabulls Housing Finance Rs 1,051.80 and MSIL Rs 6700.
MSIL, which is India's largest car-maker, posted 23.4 percent growth in domestic vehicle sales at 1,44,492 units for April 2017 as against 1,17,045 cars sold in April 2016.
Nissan Motor India sold 4,217 cars (ncluding models of its subsidiary Datsun), up 39 percent rise from its April 2016 sales.
"Nissan is proud of the performance of the recently launched new Terrano and the continued confidence that customers are showing in the Datsun redi-GO. Across India, we are strengthening our footprint, introducing products and services that customers want and value," Arun Malhotra, managing director of Nissan India, said in a statement.
In two-wheelers, Hero Motocorp sold 5.91 lakh vehicles in April 2017, a decline of 3.5 percent over April 2016 sales.
On the other hand, Royal Enfield motorcycle sales grew 25 percent to 60,142 in April 2017 while exports rose 36 percent to 1,578 units.
Hindalco was apparently up on the back of eight core industries reporting 5 percent growth for March 2017 on a year-on-year basis. The provisional data was published by the Indian government on Monday, May 1.
Private-sector lender Federal Bank reported robust numbers for the March 2017 quarter (Q4) last Friday. The lender's net profit rose 25 times to Rs 256 crore from Rs 10 crore in the corresponding period last fiscal. The bank declared a dividend of 45 percent. The gross and net non-performing assets (NPAs) 2.33 percent and 1.28 percent, respectively, as on March 31, 2017.
"Federal Bank has come out with a strong set of results for the quarter. Business growth remained robust with loan and deposits growing by 26% and 23% respectively. Slippages during the quarter at INR 244 cr were also lower compared to INR 274 cr in Q3FY17," Siddharth Purohit, sr. equity research analyst-banking, at brokerage Angel Broking, said in a note.
