“We have been asking clients to buy ICICI Bank. The second is HDFC Bank. The stock has been an underperformer vis-à-vis the entire banking sector and can lead the rally from here. Third is the State Bank of India. The numbers were a little below Street estimates, but for the next few quarters, numbers would be strong for PSU banks. SBI should lead the rally.”

Data showed Maruti Suzuki and Bajaj Auto are the most widely covered stocks on the Street, with54 analysts covering the two stocks, while Grasim Industries and Bajaj Finserv are the least covered stocks (10 analysts covering these stocks). Here are Nifty50 stocks ranked by their popularity:

How Anuj Poddar staunched cash haemorrhage, repaid debt and more than doubled the market cap of Bajaj Electricals.

Tata Motors saw an EPS estimate cut of 25% last month, while JSW Steel's EPS estimate was slashed by 16%. Wipro, Tech Mahindra, Shree Cement, and Tata Steel, among others, have seen EPS estimates drop by 5-7% in the last four weeks, according to Bloomberg consensus estimates.

A surge in demand for mobile phones, personal computers, televisions and appliances during the pandemic had led to a demand-supply mismatch for semiconductors, causing a shortage of the component for automakers and forcing them to cut down vehicle production for several months in the past one year.

“Inflation erodes the purchasing power of our kind of customers, 70% of our customers earn below Rs 40,000 per month and that section is therefore weak and gets hit by inflation. So that is a little bit of a red flat on the horizon. In our judgement, the industry is still in decline of about minus 3 to minus 5%”

“Inflation erodes the purchasing power of our kind of customers, 70% of our customers earn below Rs 40,000 per month and that section is therefore weak and gets hit by inflation. So that is a little bit of a red flat on the horizon.”

Passenger vehicle segment should witness a robust growth on a large order book and production ramp-up, with automakers such as Tata Motors, M&M and Maruti Suzuki expected to log 49 per cent, 28 per cent and 8 per cent volume growth, respectively, in July, the brokerage firm said.

The NSE Nifty index closed 287.8 points up at 16929.6

The NSE Nifty index closed 287.8 points up at 16929.6

Dangee Dums, Campus Activewear Ltd., Fidel Softech Ltd., Astra Microwave and International Constructions Ltd., hit their fresh 52-week highs during the day.

Shree Cements, Bharti Airtel, UltraTech Cem., Cipla and Bajaj Auto were among the top losers on NSE in today's trade.

Bajaj Auto Ltd., incorporated in the year 2007, is a Large Cap company (having a market cap of Rs 112385.81 Crore) operating in Auto sector.

The NSE Nifty index closed 157.95 points up at 16641.8