PremiumGlobal investors remain uncertain about the future course of interest rates and inflation and the negative sentiment is getting reflected in the market as Asian indices had a mixed day. Moreover, the drag in Adani stocks came back to haunt the investors after MSCI Inc said it was reviewing the number of shares linked to the group that were freely tradable in public markets.
The Adani-Hindenburg saga came back to haunt the indices on Thursday but managed to end in the green on the back of a good showing by Finance and IT stocks.
Adani stocks once again ended deep in the red after MSCI Inc said it was reviewing the number of shares linked to the group that were freely tradable in public markets
Sensex gained 140 points to close at 60,806. Meanwhile, Nifty ended with marginal gains of 21 points to close just below 17,900, at 17,894.
Adani Enterprises shed 11% and Adani Ports 3%. Hero MotoCorp also shed 2% and Cipla more than 1.5%. Bajaj Finserv led the stock chart along with Hindalco, HDFC Life and Asian Paints, with each gaining around 2%.
Among sectoral indices, Metal dragged the most as it dropped more than 1.5%. Auto, Pharma and Realty also shed in today's session. IT and Media managed to make reasonable gains to close in the green.
Shares were mixed Thursday in Asia after Wall Street gave back some of its recent gains on persisting uncertainty over interest rates and inflation.
Japan's Nikkei index ended lower on Thursday, marking a retreat from its near two-month highs, as the benchmark index tracked downbeat performances on Wall Street. The earnings season witnessed a mix of big winners and losers.
Materials maker Teijin and Pacific Metals posted gains of about 6% each following upbeat quarterly earnings, while Fujifilm sagged 2.38%. The Nikkei share average ended 0.08% lower.
Shares in China and Hong Kong added to their gains on Thursday as investors remained upbeat on China's economic recovery after a poll showed that new yuan loans extended by Chinese banks likely surged to a record high in January.
China's blue-chip CSI 300 Index rose 1.34%, while the Shanghai Composite Index climbed 1.18%. Hang Seng Index rose 1.6% and Hang Seng China Enterprises Index added 1.73%.
European shares touched a fresh nine-month high on Thursday as Germany's Siemens AG and UK's AstraZeneca boosted earnings euphoria, and helped offset concerns over hawkish Federal Reserve speakers. The pan-European STOXX 600 was up in the morning session extending gains for the third straight session.
A slate of upbeat earnings from blue-chip companies kept UK's FTSE 100 pinned near record levels on Thursday. However, shares of Entain tumbled after a report suggested US casino operator MGM was ending talks to takeover the betting firm. The blue-chip FTSE 100 was hovering near record levels hit in the previous session.
State-owned Hindustan Aeronautics Limited on Thursday reported a net profit of ₹1,155.2 crore, up 23.8% on-year as against ₹933.4 crore reported in the year-ago period.
Revenue from Operations fell 3.9% to ₹5,665.5 crore as compared to ₹5,893.8 crore in the corresponding quarter of last year. (Read More)
Telecom equipment maker Nokia on Thursday said it will extend manufacturing of PON optical line terminals (OLTs) to its factory in Sriperimbudur near Chennai to cater to rising demand from local customers in India and global markets. PON stands for Passive Optical Network.
In a statement announcing the latest move, Nokia said shifts in consumer behaviour, from home working to data-rich entertainment services, are driving demand for broadband. (Read More)
Sustainalytics has downgraded the ESG scores of several Adani Group companies, following a report by a short-seller raising concerns about corporate governance at the conglomerate last month.
The scores for “business ethics controversy" for Adani Total Gas Ltd. and Adani Transmission Ltd. were downgraded from “low" to “moderate," the ratings agency said Wednesday. The score is designed to reflect the risk to investors of a controversy triggered by weak business ethics.
Adani Green Energy Ltd., which previously had no score, was assigned a “moderate" rating. Adani Enterprises Ltd.’s “significant" score remained unchanged, but its outlook was downgraded to “negative" from “neutral" in that area.
The Adani Group has shed more than $100 billion in market value since Hindenburg Research accused it of stock manipulation and accounting fraud in a Jan. 24 report. Selling is expected to intensify because active investors are rushing to sell ahead of passive funds, as index providers and ESG ratings firms put the companies under review. (Bloomberg)
Aditya Birla Group's metals flagship Hindalco Industries on Thursday reported a consolidated net profit for the December quarter at ₹1,362 crore, down 63% year-on-year. The same was ₹3,675 crore in the corresponding quarter of last year.
Hindalco's revenue from operations came in at ₹53,151 crore, up 6% on-year as against ₹50,272 crore in the same quarter of last year. (Read More)
IRCTC, the tourism and ticketing arm of Indian Railways, on Thursday, reported a consolidated net profit of ₹256 crore for the December quarter (Q3FY23), up 22.8% from ₹208 crore reported in the last year period.
On a sequential basis, net profit after tax rose 13% from ₹226 crore clocked in the September quarter (Q2FY23).
Revenue from operations has also soared 70% to ₹918 crore for the December quarter as against ₹540 crore in the corresponding quarter of the last fiscal. (Read More)
Natco Pharma on Monday reported a net profit of ₹62.3 crore, down 22.5% as against ₹80.4 crore on -year. Revenue came in at ₹492.5 crore, down 12.1% as compared to ₹560.5 crore YoY.
The company has also declared third interim dividend of ₹1.25, i.e., 62.50%. The date for taking on record of its shareholders eligible for the purpose of payment of the third interim dividend i.e., record date is fixed as Tuesday, the 21st day of February, 2023. The payment of said interim dividend will be from l March, 2023. (Read More)
Inflows into Indian equity mutual funds jumped nearly 72% to 125.47 billion rupees ($1.52 billion)in January, their highest in four months, data from the Association of Mutual Funds in India (AMFI) showed.
The inflows had more than tripled in December to 73.03 billion rupees.
The rise in inflows last month offset some of the pressure on the markets, which witnessed heavy selling by foreign investors. Foreign selling in Indian equities hit a seven-month high of $3.51 billion in January, according to official data.
The broader indexes, NSE Nifty 50 and S&P BSE Sensex fell over 2% each in January.
"Mutual fund investments are acting as a counterbalance to foreign portfolio outflows," N.S. Venkatesh, chief executive officer of AMFI said, adding that over 900,000 new investors have poured money into mutual funds in January.
"The rise in equity mutual fund inflows in a volatile market shows that investors have reposed their faith in equities as a wealth creator and multiplier," Venkatesh said. (Reuters)
Indian tyremaker MRF reported a 16% jump in quarterly profit on Thursday, as raw material prices eased and a pickup in economic activity led to higher demand for its now-pricier tyres.
Standalone profit from continuing operations was 1.69 billion rupees ($20.46 million) for the third quarter ended Dec. 31, according to an exchange filing.
MRF's total expenses rose 14% to 53.81 billion rupees, nearly half of the increase in the first six months of the current fiscal year.
Revenue from operations rose about 15% to 55.35 billion rupees.
Profits at tyremakers have climbed as raw material prices pulled back from Russia-Ukraine war-induced highs. They also benefited from tyre price increases that were implemented last year to cushion the hit from a surge in rubber prices.
MRF's rivals Apollo Tyres and JK Tyre & Industries also reported upbeat quarterly earnings earlier this month. (Reuters)
ONGC Videsh Ltd, the overseas investment arm of state-owned Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC), is eying exploration and production assets in Africa and Latin America.
OVL signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with YPF SA of Argentia on the sidelines of the India Energy Week in Bengaluru, a company statement said.
"The MOU seeks to enhance cooperation between the two companies in the energy sector, including but not limited to cooperation in the areas of exploration and development of upstream oil and gas opportunities, promote investment and cooperation, and forging closer ties between research and training centres," it said.
YPF, Argentina's largest integrated energy company, is 51 per cent owned by the Argentine Government and 49 per cent listed in the New York and Buenos Aires stock exchanges.
It is engaged in oil and gas exploration and production, being the largest shale operator outside of the United States of America, and is also involved in transportation, refining and marketing of natural gas and petroleum products. (PTI)
Pakistan is optimistic its nearing an agreement with the International Monetary Fund to resume a $6.5 billion bailout package, a funding that will alleviate distress in a nation facing severe shortage and soaring inflation.
“I hope some issues will be resolved within 24-48 hours, Pakistan Energy Minister Khurram Dastgir Khan told Geo Television in an interview Feb. 8, suggesting talks would extend from a scheduled conclusion on Thursday.
“Detailed and vigorous discussions have been held in the past 10 days and I hope talks will be concluded successfully," Khan said. “We will be able to revive this program. There is no deadlock."
The mood has brightened since Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s remarks last week that the IMF is giving the government a “tough time" with negotiations. Sharif’s comments came after the government already loosened grip on the rupee and raised fuel prices to meet IMF conditions even if it means paying a political cost during national elections later this year. (Bloomberg)
Data observability platform Acceldata on Thursday said it has secured Series C funding of $50 million (around ₹400 crore) led by existing investor March Capital. The round also saw participation from Sanabil Investments, Industry Ventures and Insight Partners, among others.
The company did not disclose the valuation post this fundraise. Acceldata will deploy the fresh infusion to expand its go-to-market and scaling up product innovation.(Read more)
A long-term share investor not just enjoys benefit of appreciation in stock price but from other rewards that a listed company announces over the time from its capital reserves. Dividends, bonus shares, buyback of shares, rights issues, etc. are some of the major benefits that a long term stock investor enjoys over the short term investors. These rewards goes on to multiply one's return many-folds. Those who want to know how these long-term rewards impact one's investment, one needs to look at Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd or BPCL share price history.
This Navratna company has been giving dividends to its shareholders on a regular basis whereas it has announced bonus shares on four occasions since 2000. So, if an investor had invested in this state-owned company's stock. (Read More)
~FIIs losing grounds to FDI, Indian MF. FIIs’ Indian equity portfolio (in dollar) increased 1.8x since 2014, portfolio value of FDI in listed Indian equities jumped 4.1x and Indian MFs by 5.8x during the same period
~Indian MFs counterbalanced FIIs. Indian MFs neutralized the impact of FII selloff in 2022 … the money to MFs coming mainly through SIP
~Annualized equity return in US dollars: 2000-22 – medium term 1-5 years. Indian equities the best among G-20 in terms of return and consistency
~Annualized equity return in US dollars: 2000-22 – longer term over 5 years. Indian equities the best among G-20 in the longer term also
~Equity market capitalization outside the US – 2012 and 2023. Indian equity market the fourth largest globally and one of the fastest growing
ArcelorMittal SA expects steel demand to rebound this year, driven by an economic recovery and a rebuild of inventories in the firm’s key markets.
Apparent consumption of steel outside of China — a key barometer of the world economy — is projected to increase 2% to 3% in 2023, after contracting in key regions last year, the company said Thursday in a statement. Steel demand in the Europe and the US are both seen rising as customers replenish their stockpiles.
“As we look ahead, evidence suggests that the customer destock we saw in the second half of 2022 has peaked, hence providing support to apparent steel consumption and steel spreads," ArcelorMittal Chief Executive Officer Aditya Mittal said in the statement.
The company was more cautious about Chinese demand, seeing an expansion or contraction of 1%, as the woes of the country’s property sector prevent a more robust recovery despite the lifting of coronavirus restrictions.
The world’s biggest steelmaker outside of China saw earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization drop to $1.26 billion in the final quarter of 2022, after a slump in demand forced it to idle some European capacity. That was slightly higher than analyst estimates. Lower prices and high energy costs, driven by the war in Ukraine, also eroded its margins. (Bloomberg)
Shera Energy Limited launched its Initial Public Offering (IPO) earlier this week on Tuesday, February 7, 2023 and Thursday, February 9, 2023, is the last day to bid for the issue. The SME IPO, which aims to garner ₹35 crore through its initial share sale, has an issue band price of ₹55 – ₹57.
As of 11:30 am on the last day on Thursday, Shera Energy IPO is oversubscribed 9.67 with retail investors category overbooked 19.86 times, qualified institutional buyers (QIBs) 0.01 times, and non-institutional investors (NIIs) 22.37 times, as per the exchanges data.
As per market observers, shares of Shera Energy are commanding a premium i.e., GMP (Grey Market Premium) of ₹11 in the grey market today. The SME stock is expected to make its market debut next week on Friday, February 17, 2023 on the NSE Emerge platform. (Read More)
Shares of Adani Wilmar Ltd (AWL) surged more than 5% to ₹440 apiece on the BSE in Thursday's early deals after the edible oil major reported a 16% increase in its consolidated profit to ₹246 crore for the third quarter ended December 2022 as compared to ₹211 crore in the year ago period. Adani Wilmar, which sells its cooking oils and some other food products under the Fortune brand, is a 50:50 joint venture (JV) between business conglomerate Adani Group and Singapore-based food processing company Wilmar International.
“Adani Wilmar (AWL) posted a good set of numbers with EBITDA/PAT up 20%/16.4% YoY – well ahead of our estimates; revenue was up 7.4% YoY and in line with our estimates. Overall volumes grew by 16% YoY driven by Food and FMCG/industry essentials, thereby continuing to diversify its revenue base. Gross/EBITDA margins expanded by 140 bp/42 bp YoY and 160 bp/213 bp QoQ. Strong demand on the back of festivities and weddings, gradual recovery in rural markets and a bumper kharif crop acted as tailwinds in Q3FY23," said domestic brokerage and research firm Edelweiss. (Read More)
Credit Suisse Group on Thursday reported its worst annual loss since the 2008 global financial crisis, battered by scandals and heavy losses that led to unprecedented customer withdrawals.
Switzerland's second-biggest bank posted a net loss in the fourth quarter of 1.39 billion Swiss francs ($1.51 billion), in line with an analyst consensus estimate of 1.34 billion francs compiled by the lender.
The bank had flagged in November a hefty quarterly loss.
The result compares with a 2 billion franc loss in the same quarter a year earlier, and brings Credit Suisse's total net loss in 2022 to 7.29 billion francs, marking its second straight year in the red. (Reuters)
Restaurant Brands Asia (RBA IN) – Amnish Aggarwal – Head of Research - Prabhudas Lilladher: Rating: ACCUMULATE | CMP: Rs107 | TP: Rs145
Q3FY23 Result Update - BK India on track; Indonesia strategy revamped
Quick Pointers:
§ On track to meet FY23 store targets of 390 stores for BK India
§ Success of BK Café, Breakfast Menu and Innovations key to ADS growth
We change our FY23/FY24/FY25 EPS by 1%/-32%/-5% given 1) higher corporate overheads (ESOP provision) and 2) lower than expected margin expansion. Restaurant Brands Asia (RBA) reported in-line margins despite increase in operating expenses due to sustained traction in older stores and cost control, despite ADS dropping to Rs120k on softer demand. We believe Jan’23 price hike will help neutralize the impact of increased overheads on store expansion. BK is looking to promote margin accretive chicken offerings in South market & compete vs incumbents. Indonesia operations has lower ADS vs pre COVID; new strategy is expected to improve ADS with 1) relaunch/innovation in Whopper range 2) increased focus on chicken offering 3) focus on FSDT format and store rationalization.
We believe RBA India operations are on track and should report mid-single digit pre IND AS EBIDTA with small profit in FY24 and full turnaround in FY25 given sustained customer traction and likely gains from BK Café in FY24. We believe Indonesia business will take time to turnaround given delay in post COVID recovery, business restructuring and initial losses in Popeyes (5/30 stores in FY23/FY24). We value the company at ₹145 (Rs156 earlier) on SOTP basis. Maintain ACCUMULATE.
In order to use the Twitter Blue services in India on mobile, users would need to pay ₹900 per month for both Android and iOS devices. While the price for a subscription plan on the web will cost users ₹650 per month. The Elon Musk owned company is also offering an annual subscription plan for web users that will be billed annually and cost ₹6,800.
To recall, Twitter Blue offers a bunch of features for paid users such as undo tweet, early access to some features, edit tweet button, ability to post longer and high-quality videos along with prioritised rankings in chats. According to the company, Twitter Blue subscribers will now encounter half the amount of ads which will be seen by normal users on their home timeline. (Read More)
Fintech company Angel One Limited (formerly known as Angel Broking Limited) witnessed 54.5% YoY growth in its client base to 12.89 million in January’23 as it acquired 0.39 million clients. The company's overall equity turnover market share expanded by 77 bps to 21.9%; Average Daily Turnover touched ₹17.02 trillion, a 108.9% Y-o-Y growth, and booked 86 million orders, higher by 28.5% Y-o-Y. The average client funding book stood at ₹13.93 billion.
Indian state-run banks and large state-run insurers are expected to be active buyers in the government's second green bond issue as well, as foreigners may not show major interest, senior treasury officials said.
The Reserve Bank of India will sell 40 billion rupees ($484.3 million) worth of 7.10% 2028 sovereign green bonds on Thursday and a similar amount of 7.29% 2033 sovereign green bonds — the exact quantum and tenors as in its debut auction last month. The proceeds will be used to fund green investments.
Market participants expect the yields to be four to five basis points lower than the prevailing market levels due to strong demand. The five- and 10-year government bond yields were trading at 7.26% and 7.34%, respectively.
"State-run banks and insurance companies will continue to buy green bonds and that too at a premium. There may not be any major participation from foreign players for the second auction as well," said Naveen Singh, head of trading at ICICI Securities Primary Dealership. (Reuters)
Yes Bank shares have remained under base building mode after climbing to its 52-wek high of ₹24.75 apiece levels in December 2022. In fact, Yes Bank share price further dipped after the Q3 results announcement in January 2023. But, on Wednesday session, Yes Bank share price tried to come out of the base building mode and ended higher after a long gap. Yes Bank share price today has opened upside as well, triggering speculation whether the Yes Bank stock has bottomed out and is gearing for another leg of rally in upcoming sessions.
Speaking on Yes Bank shares, Girish Sodani, Head of Equity Market at Swastika Investmart said, "The second half of the calendar FY22 was about banking PSUs giving multi-bagger returns to their shareholders. The rally was led by improvements in asset quality & record growth in advances. As Yes Bank stock gives 24% return in last 1 Yr. Yes Bank is doing well after its management came under the control of State Bank of India. Apart from this, FM’s mechanism to tackle bad loans is going to helper stressed banks including Yes Bank." (Read More)
Dr V K Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist at Geojit Financial Services: RBI’s projection of GDP growth at 6.4% and CPI inflation at 5.3% for FY 24 is encouraging and good news for equity markets. If these projections materialise India Inc’s earnings for FY24 will not be impacted and Nifty EPS of around 1100 would be achievable. This means Nifty is now trading at below 18 times FY24 earnings, good enough to attract investment. However, the unabated selling by FIIs - selling in 24 trading days and buying in only 3 trading days in the cash market so far in 2024 - will act as a major restraint on any potential breakout rally. For a sustained rally in the market, the FII strategy has to change. Indications from the Fed that rates are likely to remain “higher for longer" is a negative for equity markets. This view will change if the disinflationary process underway gathers momentum.
Long-term investors can use weakness in the market to slowly accumulate high-quality banking, IT, capital goods and cement stocks.
Shares of REC Ltd started trading ex-dividend on Thursday with the stock rising 0.5% to ₹118 apiece on the BSE in opening deals on the record date of the same. While announcing its earnings for the third quarter ended December 2022 (Q3 FY23), REC Ltd had said that its board also approved and declared the second interim dividend of ₹3.25 per share for the financial year 2022-23.
The company announced the “declaration of 2nd interim dividend @ ₹3.25 (Rupees Three and Twenty Five Paise only) per equity share ₹10/ - each for the financial year 2022-23 as approved by the Board of Directors of REC Limited in its meeting held on January 30, 2023." (Read More)
India’s newly created infrastructure-financing institution is planning a maiden bond issue of 50 billion rupees ($610 million) in the next quarter, according to a senior official at the company.
The institution wants to test the market in terms of pricing with the small issuance, Rajkiran Rai, managing director at the National Bank for Financing Infrastructure and Development, India’s new development finance institution, said in an interview.
NaBFID, as the infrastructure-focused lender is called, plans to leverage the government’s equity capital to the extent of three or four trillion rupees through issuance of Tier-1 and Tier-2 bonds, among others, according to Rai. “It may take us three years to get there," he said.
India’s creaking infrastructure requires nearly $1 trillion in financing by 2025, and is a keystone of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s agenda to accelerate economic growth. In the latest budget, the government proposed raising capital spending by a third to 10 trillion rupees, which will boost NaBFID’s agenda, Rai said. (Bloomberg)
Zerodha co-founder Nikhil Kamath has a suggestion for Gen-Z entrepreneurs amid inflation. Sharing a chart of US Fed rates from July 1954 to January 2023, Kamath said that Gen-Z entrepreneurs won't see a high growth rate in their businesses because of the higher cost of capital.
Referring to the 15-year period (2008-2022) when the US kept its interest rates low even as the inflation was higher, Kamath on Twitter wrote, "Take the narrative of 2008 to 2022 was an anomaly, not the norm; what worked for millennials will not work for Gen Z - higher cost of capital will directly impact the growth rate". (Read More)
STOCK IN FOCUS
Blue Star (CMP 1374): With the higher earnings growth, better margin profile and improved business visibility over the medium term, we have our BUY rating on BLSTR, with a Target Price of Rs1,685.
Intraday Picks
HCLTECH (PREVIOUS CLOSE: 1145) SELL
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Oil edged up in early trade on Thursday, extending gains for a fourth consecutive day, as crude loading disruptions in Turkey and optimism over China's recovering demand continued to buoy sentiment.
Brent crude futures rose 14 cents, or 0.2% to $85.26 a barrel by 0239 GMT, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures firmed 11 cents, or 0.2% higher, to $78.58 a barrel.
Both benchmarks have gained more than 6% so far this week.
BP Azerbaijan declared force majeure on Azeri crude shipments from the Turkish port of Ceyhan on Feb.7 after a massive earthquake struck Turkey and Syria early on Monday. The disaster had halted operations at Ceyhan and disrupted crude oil flows from Iraq and Azerbaijan.
Hopes for a quick rebound in demand from China also supported oil prices as the world's second-largest oil consumer ended more than three years of a stringent zero-COVID policy involving city-wide lockdowns and mass testing in December. (Reuters)
Rohan Shah, Head Technical Analyst at Stoxbox: The U.S. equities closed lower on Wednesday, parring most of its previous session gains, the tech-focused stocks plummet the most, S&P 500 and Nasdaq lost more than a percent, 1.11% and 1.68% respectively, while Dow Jones declined 0.61%. Yields on government bonds snaps three days winning streak, with the yield on the benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury note falling to 3.613%, from 3.677%.
Indian equities closed on a strong note with all major indices ending in green, Nifty rose 150 points or 0.85%. Nifty has closed above intermediate resistance of 17800, sustenance above the same shall take index higher towards 18000-18180. While support past 17800 comes at 17680-17600. Nifty Bank closed marginally higher by 0.18%, Broader market, Nifty Mid Cap and Nifty Small closed higher at 0.91% and 0.84% respectively. All major Sectoral indices ended in green. The NiftyMetal and NiftyIT were the major gainers which were up 3.78% and 1.53%.
The markets are likely to see flat opening opening; SGX Nifty trading higher by 15 points compared to previous closing. Asian Markets are trading mixed; Nikkei is trading lower by 0.46% while Hang Seng is up by 0.39%.
Hindalco Industries, Hindustan Petroleum Corporation, Life Insurance Corporation of India, Lupin, Zomato, Adani Total Gas, Aurobindo Pharma, Bajaj Consumer Care, Greaves Cotton, Hindustan Aeronautics, Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation, Page Industries, Pfizer, Sapphire Foods India, Suzlon Energy, United Breweries, Ujjivan Financial Services, and Voltas focus on February 9 ahead of their quarterly results.
LIC, IRCTC, Hindalco, HPCL, Adani Total, Zomato, Aurobindo Pharma, and Bajaj Consumer Care will be among the stocks in focus as they declare their December quarter earnings today. (Read More)
A total of two stocks have been put under the ban for trade on Thursday, February 9, 2023 under the futures and options (F&O) segment by the National Stock Exchange (NSE). The securities have been put on ban under the F&O segment as they have crossed 95% of the market-wide position limit (MWPL), as per the NSE.
Cement maker Ambuja Cements continues to be a part of the ban list, whereas Indiabulls Housing Finance has been added to the F&O ban by the stock exchange for today. The NSE updates the list of securities in F&O ban for trade every day. (Read More)
Soon after Alphabet Inc's new chatbot shared inaccurate information in a promotional video, the Google parent company has lost $100 billion in market value on Wednesday. Its shares slid as much as 9% during regular trading, while its rival Microsoft shares rose around 3% before paring gains.
At first, Reuters pointed out an error in Google's advertisement for its chatbot Bard, which debuted on Monday, about which satellite first took pictures of a planet outside the Earth's solar system.
Google has been on its heels after OpenAI, a startup Microsoft is backing with around $10 billion, introduced software in November that has wowed consumers and become a fixation in Silicon Valley circles for its surprisingly accurate and well-written answers to simple prompts. (Read More)
Markets are looking for trust and transparency, Finland’s minister for foreign trade Ville Skinnari said on Wednesday in relation to the controversy over allegations surrounding the Adani group.
“In Finland, we always emphasize transparency. Everything is open and can be monitored and analyzed. This brings us back to the question of trust. The market is looking for trust. Where there is trust, there is money and investments. In the European Union, we really stress and emphasize the importance of smart policymaking and trust building," the visiting European minister said in response to a question on the Adani group at a press interaction. He was, however, optimistic about investments opportunities in the Indian “in the long run."
“India is a very interesting investment destination. I really believe that in the long run, India’s stock market and IPOs offer many opportunities for European and Finnish companies. The message from our companies is that let’s build up trust and transparency. That enables more investments," Skinnari said. (Read More)
Sheela Foam Ltd is in advanced talks to acquire furniture rental startup Furlenco, said three people with knowledge of the development, as the maker of the Sleepwell brand of mattresses looks to expand into newer business categories.
“The enterprise value (equity and debt) of Furlenco is being pegged at ₹500 crore," one of the people said.
Furlenco, which counts Lightbox Ventures and Zinnia Global Fund among its backers, has been scouting for financial investors for a while, the person added.
According to the second person, the discussions are at an advanced stage, and an announcement is likely soon “if all conditions are met". The person didn’t elaborate on the conditions. (Read More)
Adani Power, an Indian power and energy company, which is a part of Adani Group, on Wednesday said its consolidated net profit dipped by 96% on-year to ₹8.7 crore for the quarter ended 31 December, 2022 (Q3FY23). The company had reported a profit of ₹218.5 crore in the same quarter last year.
In the September quarter of this financial year, Adani Power had reported a 401.6% rise in consolidated profit after tax (PAT) at ₹695.53 crore as against ₹230.6 crore loss in the corresponding quarter last year.
The Adani Group firm's revenue from operations rose 44.8% to ₹7,764.4 crore as compared to ₹5,360.9 crore a year ago. (Read More)
The rupee appreciated 16 paise to close at 82.54 against the US dollar on Wednesday after the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) hiked the repo rate by 25 basis points.
A rally in the domestic equity markets and weakness in the greenback against major crosses overseas also supported the rupee, forex traders said.
However, surging crude prices in the international market and persistent foreign fund outflows restricted the appreciation bias in the local unit, they added.
At the interbank foreign exchange market, the local unit opened strong at 82.67 and touched an intra-day high of 82.47 and a low of 82.72 against the greenback.
It finally settled at 82.54, up 16 paise over its previous close of 82.70.
The Reserve Bank of India slowed the pace of interest rate increases for the second straight time when it on Wednesday expectedly increased borrowing cost by 25 basis points but hinted more to come as core inflation remained high. (PTI)
Entertainment giant Disney said Wednesday it was laying off 7,000 employees, in CEO Bob Iger's first major decision since he was asked back to lead the company late last year.
The layoffs follow similar moves by the US tech giants that have laid off thousands of workers as the economy sours and companies dial back a hiring spurt that began during the height of the pandemic.
"I do not make this decision lightly. I have enormous respect and appreciation for the talent and dedication of our employees worldwide," Iger said on a call to analysts after Disney posted its latest quarterly earnings. (Read More)
Hero MotoCorp Ltd’s record gross profit per vehicle in the December quarter (Q3FY23) was not enough to lift investor sentiments. Shares of the company closed 1.4% lower on Wednesday while the benchmark Nifty50 index was up 0.85%.
What gives? Overall performance remains muted. The sequential rise of 254 basis points (bps) in Q3 gross margin to 30.6% did not translate to commensurate improvement at the Ebitda (earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization) level. One basis point is 0.01%. This was due to adverse operating leverage thanks to weak volumes and a rise in other expenses. Ebitda margin was up by only 10bps sequentially to 11.5% in Q3. Moreover, Ebitda margin was impacted to the tune of 70bps owing to spends on its electric vehicle (EV) launch, Vida V1, Hero said in the earnings call. (Read More)
Telecom firm Bharti Airtel and Vultr, a privately-held cloud computing company, on Wednesday announced a strategic partnership to offer cloud solutions to enterprises in India.
As per the pact, Airtel will offer Vultr's suite of cloud solutions to its enterprise customers, especially those in the digital space and help them gain global reach and cost-performance edge to build, test, and run demanding cloud workloads, a statement said.
The cloud solutions will be hosted in Airtel's data centres across Bengaluru, Mumbai and Delhi-NCR, enabling businesses to scale their digital operations globally.
"Businesses of all sizes and across all industries can now leverage cutting-edge cloud technologies to accelerate digital innovation, optimise global cloud performance, and maximise return on global cloud spend," the statement said, adding that they will also be able to avail simple and transparent pricing to avoid billing shocks. (PTI)
France's TotalEnergies has put on hold a planned investment in Adani Group's USD 50 billion hydrogen project pending results of an audit launched following allegations by a US short-seller, chief executive Patrick Pouyanné said on Wednesday.
While the partnership where the French oil giant was to take a 25 per cent stake in the hydrogen venture of the Adani group was announced in June last year, TotalEnergies has not yet signed a contract, he said at an earnings call. (Read More)
Indian software service providers may let go of around 2,500 recent recruits for failing screening tests mere months after they were onboarded, even as some industry experts claimed the downsizing resulted from companies taking on more people than they needed during the pandemic.
“We expect around 2,500-plus freshers to be removed from these companies due to poor performance, post-training," said Anshuman Das, chief executive and co-founder of Careernet, a talent solutions provider. The hit is larger this year as the number of campus hires has been lower than in the past two years of the covid-19 pandemic. (Read More)
Stocks fell on Wall Street Wednesday, giving back some of their recent gains as uncertainty about interest rates and inflation continues to reign.
Investors also reviewed another set of mixed earnings reports from big companies. The latest round of financial results and forecasts could help give Wall Street a clearer picture of how inflation is shaping consumer spending and business plans.
The S&P 500 fell 46.14 points, or 1.1%, to 4,117.86 and is now on track for weekly losses after a few days of choppy trading. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 207.68 points, or 0.6%, at 33,949.01. The Nasdaq composite fell 203.27 points, or 1.7%. to 11,910.52.
The pullback follows Tuesday’s gain of 1.3% for the S&P 500, which came after the first public comments by Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell since the central bank raised interest rates last week. Markets found some solace in Powell’s signaling that Friday’s exceptionally strong jobs report wouldn’t by itself push the Fed to get more aggressive on interest rates.
But analysts pointed out that Powell’s comments were just as tough on inflation as before. He said that while he has seen improvements in inflation, the road ahead is still long to get it fully under control. The Fed can help drive down inflation by raising interest rates and keeping them high, but that also raises the risk of a deep recession and hurts investment prices in the meantime.
The Fed has been saying that it plans to hike interest rates a couple more times and then hold them at a high level at least through the end of the year. Wall Street moved its forecast for how high rates will go by the summer closer to the Fed's following Friday’s blockbuster report showing much stronger job growth than expected, which could raise the pressure on inflation. But investors are still betting on the possibility of a cut to rates late this year. (AP)
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