What happened last week - Week 45

Last week the market had a great turnaround. Everything looked bullish and there were very few stocks that moved southwards. The biggest news came from the US where the Democrats candidate, Joe Biden, is set to become the next President. All the markets gave this news a big thubs up and the Indian markets too looked bullish. More results were announced last week and some of them had a great quarter. Most notable results of last week were Divi's Lab, State Bank of India, Vedanta Limited, Cipla, ITC, Voltas, BEM and MRF. State Bank of India had a 4% increase in consolidated revenue, but the PAT jumped by 48%. The bank made lower provisions in Q2FY21 when compared to Q1FY21 and Q2FY20. In Q2FY20 the bank had made a profit of Rs. 3,484.30 crore on sale of partial investments in its subsidiary SBI Life Insurance Company. This profit was also added to the books as exceptional item, otherwise the year on year growth would have been almost 100%. ITC had a relatively better quarter than Q1FY21. The revenue was up by 2.18% year on year, but the profit declined by 18.23%. The result shows that the revenue from cigarette sales is nearing pre-COVID numbers and the FMCG - others segment has done exceedingly well in this quarter. Hotel business still needs some time to recover from the jolt. Divi's Lab reported very good numbers for the querter. The whole pharma sector is also doing well. There may be profit booking in the coming weeks, but the market looks bullish. Auto sales have touched newer highs in October 2020.