Market Highlights: IT, Bank, Auto sector lift Sensex by 550 pts, Nifty gains 180 pts; NTPC, ONGC jump

Indian shares on Friday saw broad-based gains after data showed the economy grew at its quickest pace in a year in the first quarter, which could boost foreign investor inflows. The market witnessed a broad-based buying with most sectors climbing in today's session.

The Nifty 50 index gained 181 pts to close the week at 19,435, while the S&P BSE Sensex increased 550 pts to 65,387. Today's rally ensured that the indices ended with gains in this week's trading.

Official data on Thursday showed that India's GDP expanded 7.8% on an annual basis in the June quarter, while concerns over dry weather conditions persisted.

Investors now await the U.S. jobs report due later in the day. A rise in unemployment could allow the Federal Reserve to pause rate hikes at its September meeting.

Almost all indices climbed in today's trading with Metal rising almost 3%, with Bank, IT, and Auto gaining more than a per cent each. The Pharma index shed 0.5% and was the index to have ended lower.

Jio Financial, NTPC and ONGC topped the stock charts and added more than 4% each. Tata Steel and JSW Steel climbed 3.5% each. Among laggards, Cipla and Dr Reddy's dropped more than 0.5% each.

Asian shares edged higher on Friday as China stepped up efforts to support its housing sector and stabilise the yuan, though investors remained cautious ahead of U.S. jobs data that could make or break the case for further rate hikes.

Japan's Topix index closed at a 33-year high in a broad rally as investors looked for bargains and scooped up undervalued stocks, with Sony Group and financials leading the gains.

The broader Topix climbed 0.76% to its highest close since July 1990. The index advanced 3.7% for the week, its sharpest gain since the week ended Oct. 7, 2022. The Nikkei rose 0.28% posted a weekly gain of 3.44%.

China shares rose led by property stocks, as Beijing rolled out more measures to support the sputtering housing sector and factory activity surprisingly expanded last month.

China's blue-chip CSI300 Index closed up 0.7%, while the Shanghai Composite Index gained 0.4%. The Hong Kong market was closed due to typhoon Saola. Dor the week, China's CSI300 Index rose 2.2%, while Hong Kong's benchmark Hang Seng Index added 2.4%.

European shares struggled for direction on Friday, as support from energy and mining stocks was offset by weak performances in German copper producer Aurubis following a profit warning and Volkswagen after a brokerage downgrade.

The blue-chip FTSE 100 index rose on Friday led by heavyweight oil and miner stocks, although a drop in insurer Direct Line's shares pressured midcaps, ahead of a highly anticipated U.S. jobs reading.

The International Monetary Fund warned that emerging markets must grapple with post-pandemic risks from tougher global financial conditions, the fragmentation of world trade into rival blocs and the impact of climate change.

Those forces are “transforming the economic landscape and making the world more volatile and uncertain,” Gita Gopinath, the fund’s No. 2 official, said at a central banking conference in Cape Town, South Africa on Friday.

Addressing those interconnected challenges will require an array of tools, she said, including more efficiently raising revenue and spending, diversifying trade, accelerating reforms to attract more investment, and implementing fiscally and socially sustainable climate strategies. (Bloomberg)

he government on Friday launched a new scheme called ‘mera bill mera adhikaar’ to encourage consumers to insist on invoices at the time of purchase.

The scheme introduced in Haryana, Assam, Gujarat and the union territories of Dadra and Nagar Haveli, Daman and Diu and Puducherry offers consumers a chance to win ₹1 crore, ₹10 lakh and ₹10,000 as incentive.

The minimum value for invoices to be considered for the draw has been kept at ₹200. All invoices issued by GST registered sellers will be eligible for the scheme and maximum 25 invoices will be considered from an individual in a month. (Read More)

Sovereign Gold Bonds (SGBs) are issued for a tenure of eight years but one can redeem these gold bonds prematurely after five years. The premature redemption window opens every six months.

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) issued a calendar detailing SGB tranches premature redemption during the period October 01, 2023, to March 31, 2024. (Read More)

Gensol Engineering shares have emerged as one of the standout multibagger stocks in the recent history of the Indian stock market. Despite being a small-cap stock with a market capitalization of ₹2,346 crore, it has managed to double shareholders' investments in the last six months, yielding an impressive return of 110 percent.

In another noteworthy development for shareholders, Gensol Engineering has informed the Indian stock market exchanges that it intends to propose the issuance of bonus shares during its upcoming board meeting scheduled for September 5th, 2023. This announcement adds an interesting dimension to the company's growth story, further engaging the interest of investors. (Read More)

Genus Power shares were locked in 5% upper circuit on Friday's session after the company's arm bagged order worth ₹2,247.37 crore for the supply of smart meters. Genus Power share price opened at ₹271.60 apiece on BSE.

In its exchange filing, the company stated that its step-down arm has been issued a letter of award for ₹2,247.37 crore for the appointment of Advanced Metering Infrastructure Service Providers (AMISPs), which includes design of the Advance Metering Infrastructure (AMI) system with supply, installation, and commissioning with FMS of 24.18 Lakh Smart Prepaid Metres, system metres, including OT Metres, and corresponding energy accounting under the DBFOOT model. (Read More)

Jupiter Life Line Hospitals IPO: Jupiter Life Line Hospitals has announced the price band and other details of its forthcoming initial public offering (IPO).

Jupiter Life Line IPO price band has been fixed at ₹695 - 735 per share. The IPO will open for subscription on September 6 and close on September 8. The anchor book for the Jupiter Life Line IPO will open on September 5.

The company has reduced the fresh issue size in the IPO to ₹542 crore from ₹615 crore earlier. (Read More)

An Amazon shareholder has filed a lawsuit against founder Jeff Bezos and the Amazon board alleging directors failed to fully vet a decision to award launch contracts for the company's Project Kuiper satellite project to Blue Origin, Bezos's space company.

The lawsuit filed by Cleveland Bakers and Teamsters Pension Fund earlier this week claims that the Amazon board awarded contracts worth billions of dollars to Blue Origin and did not consider rival Elon Musk-owned SpaceX as an alternative launch provider despite its track record.

Amazon's Project Kuiper is a planned network of over 3,000 satellites designed to beam broadband internet to remote regions. That makes it a rival to Musk's Starlink. (Reuters)

Maruti Suzuki's share price displayed impressive performance by surging over 2 percent to reach a new all-time high of ₹10,216.65 during intraday trading on September 1st, as reported on the BSE. The stock initially opened at ₹10,000, slightly lower than the previous closing price of ₹10,007.10. However, it swiftly gathered momentum, hitting this historic peak.

Around 1 pm, Maruti Suzuki's stock was trading at ₹10,150.05 on the BSE, reflecting a 1.43 percent increase.

It's noteworthy that on a monthly basis, the stock has maintained its positive momentum since April of the current year. Over the last six months, this heavyweight stock has recorded a gain of nearly 16 percent, outperforming the equity benchmark Sensex, which experienced an approximately 10 percent gain during the same period. (Read More)

Stock market experts have noted that Exxaro Tiles is currently trading at appealing valuations when compared to its peers such as Kajaria Ceramics, Cera Sanitaryware, Somany Ceramics, and others. With expectations that the real estate sector will perform well in the coming quarters, the market sentiment has turned bullish on this relatively smaller tiles manufacturer.

These experts have suggested that the stock could maintain its upward trajectory, potentially reaching levels of ₹170 per share in the near term. This outlook reflects optimism about the company's growth prospects in the context of the broader real estate industry, which is expected to drive demand for its products.

India’s splurge on cheap Russian crude may be over, as New Delhi’s traditional suppliers in the Middle East step back in with attractive conditions.

“Our dependence on Russian oil is going to decrease sharply,” Oil Minister Hardeep Puri said in an interview. “The cost viability from the Gulf is much more attractive now.”

India’s consumption of Russian crude has soared since President Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine in February last year, ousting Saudi Arabia and Iraq from the top spots. From negligible levels, it soared to account for nearly half of supplies in May.

However, rising prices have squeezed the discount on Russian crude and limited the attractiveness of those spot purchases, making other sources, some with term contracts, appealing once again. Moscow has also said this week it plans to extend export curbs. (Bloomberg)

Mahindra & Mahindra (M&M) on Friday said its total automotive wholesales increased by 19 per cent to 70,350 units in August.

The company's total dispatches to dealers stood at 59,049 units in August 2022.

The Mumbai-based auto major's passenger vehicle sales in the domestic market rose by 25 per cent to 37,270 units last month as against 29,852 units in April last year, the auto major said in a statement.

"We clocked our highest-ever SUV domestic sales of 37,270 (units) in a month with a growth of 26 per cent...While demand for our key SUV brands continue to be strong, we are keeping a close watch on the availability of semiconductors and select parts, for sustained and smooth scale up," M&M President, Automotive Division Veejay Nakra said. (PTI)

Years after managing two different verticals of the company, Ola founder and CEO Bhavish Aggarwal is mulling over to appoint a CEO for its cab business reported Economic Times.

The new CEO, possibly an ex-Unilever executive, is likely to join the company early next week, reported Economic Times citing sources. Till now, CEO Bhavish Aggarwal has remained the CEO of the company and managed its cab business along with e-scooters verticals. (Read More)

In the face of persistent concerns regarding inflation potentially impeding global economic growth, Moody's Investors Service has identified India as a "pocket of resilience" in this challenging scenario. Experts from Moody's have emphasized the favorable conditions marked by strong growth in countries such as India and Indonesia for the current year, as reported by CNBC.

Moody's anticipates a global slowdown in growth, as highlighted by Marie Diron, Managing Director for Global Sovereign and Sub-Sovereign Risk at Moody's Investors Services during discussions with CNBC. Diron also indicated that this global economic slowdown might have repercussions on Asia, impacting trade conditions and access to financing within the region. However, India's robust performance suggests it may weather these challenges more effectively than some other economies. (Read More)

The government has increased the price of natural gas to $8.60 per metric million British thermal unit (mmBtu) for September, from $7.85 in August.

However, the price of the gas from the nominated gas fields of ONGC and Oil India has been kept unchanged at the price cap of $6.5 per mmBtu.

"The price of domestic natural gas for the 1st September 2023 to 30th September 2023 is notified as $8.60/MMBTU on gross calorific value (GCV) basis," said the notification dated 31 August. (Read More)

BSE Ltd made an announcement on Friday that its board has given the green light to enhance the offer price for its planned share buyback program and has additionally established the record date for the initiative. The revised BSE share buyback price has been increased to ₹1,080 per share, up from the previous ₹816.

Furthermore, the BSE board has set the record date for the proposed share buyback on September 14, 2023.

The revised buyback price of ₹1,080 represents a 1.62% increase from the closing price on Thursday, which stood at ₹1,062.75 per share. It's worth noting that on Friday, the BSE share price exhibited notable growth, surging by over 4% to reach a 52-week high of ₹1,122.00 per share, surpassing the buyback price. (Read More)

Mohit Ralhan, Chief Executive Officer TIW Capital: The GDP growth came in at a solid 7.8% YoY in Q1 FY 2024. Both consumption and investment activity grew at a robust rate. This growth is quite significant since it has been achieved even though the government expenditure declined compared to Q1 FY 2023 and weak global demand weighed on exports. Services growth was led by financial and real estate services which grew at 12.2% YoY. Even other services like trade, hotel & transport grew at 9.2% YoY indicating the solid revival in contact intensive services post Covid. Construction also grew at 7.9% YoY. Manufacturing and mining also grew at 4.7% and at 5.8% respectively, making the up move quite broad based. Although there was a slowdown in agriculture and a sparse rainfall distribution in August may make its revival more challenging, the growth in major parts of economy has more than covered for this, confirming India's long term growth trajectory.

The government has sought an expression of interest for selling its full equity holding in Indian Medicines Pharmaceutical Corporation Limited (IMPCL) under the Ministry of Ayush, through strategic disinvestment where the government will give up its ownership and transfer management control to a private company.

The Department of Investment and Public Asset Management (DIPAM) issued an information memorandum where the government intends to sell its holding of 98.11% and the Kumaon Mandal Vikas Nigam Limited, an Uttarakhand government unit, holding the rest, at the price found through bidding. (Read More)