PremiumCaution prevailed among investors as most Asian indices hovered around the flat zone in today's session. Hong Kong remained an exception as it continued its rally. Tokyo and Shanghai ended flat. European shares were trading higher in the morning session.
Indian benchmark indices continued to remain under pressure but cut back on some of the losses towards the end to 0.2% lower. Investors chose caution ahead of US inflation data scheduled to be released later today.
Sensex fell 150 points to close at 59,958. Sensex was down 400 points intraday but pared much of the losses. Nifty also shed 38 points to end at 17,858.
Most indices ended in red but IT and Media gained reasonably to end in green. Bank, Oil & Gas, and FMCG tumbled the most in today's session.
Among stocks, Ultratech Cement, HCL Tech, SBI Life, Dr Reddy's and L&T gained more than a per cent and topped the charts. Divi's Lab dropped more than 3%, and Reliance Industries and BPCL around 2% on Thursday.
Asian equities struggled on Thursday as profit-taking offset optimism ahead of data set to show another softening of US inflation, giving the Federal Reserve room to slow interest rate hikes.
Japan's Nikkei share average ended little changed on Thursday with banking stocks rallying amid speculation about a Bank of Japan (BOJ) stimulus tweak heading into next week's policy meeting. The Nikkei ended the day up 0.01%. The markets initially tracked overnight Wall Street gains.
Hong Kong stocks finished Thursday with more gains after swinging through the day, while Mainland China indices ended flat. The Hang Seng Index rose 0.36%. The Shanghai Composite Index edged up 0.05%, while the Shenzhen Composite Index on China's second exchange added 0.1%.
European shares edged higher on Thursday amid caution, while Logitech dropped on cutting sales outlook after quarterly miss. The pan-European STOXX 600 rose in the morning session. UK's FTSE 100 rose on Thursday as gains in commodity stocks outweighed losses in retailers such as Tesco.
India's second top IT company Infosys Ltd will announce its earnings for the third quarter ended December 2022 for the current fiscal or Q3 FY23 on Thursday, after market hours. Infosys shares were trading almost flat with 0.05% gain at ₹1,472 apiece on the BSE ahead of its Q3 results announcement. (CHeck here for live updates)
Kamdhenu Ventures, the paints business of Kamdhenu Group, will be listed on the stock exchanges BSE and NSE later this month, said Group CMD Satish Agarwal. The paints division was separated from the steel business of the group last year for better management focus and operational flexibility, its CMD Satish Agarwal said, citing reasons for the demerger.
There are plans to raise ₹200 crore through multiple routes and expand the paints business post listing, said Satish Agarwal, CMD, Kamdhenu Group. (Read More)
China's auto sales rose 9.5 per cent last year as electric vehicle purchases nearly doubled, but demand in the global industry's biggest market slumped in December, foreshadowing weaker growth this year, a trade group reported on Thursday.
Sales of SUVs, sedans and minivans rose to 23.6 million, according to the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers. Total vehicle sales, including trucks and buses, edged up 2.1 per cent to 26.9 million.
In December, sales fell 6.7 per cent from a year earlier to 2.3 million as consumer spending weakened under pressure from anti-virus restrictions that kept millions of people at home and an economic slowdown caused by tighter controls on corporate debt. Total vehicle sales fell 8.4 per cent to 2.6 million.
CAAC forecast steady growth this year but said annual sales might rise only 3 per cent. (PTI)
China's Alibaba Group sold a 3.1% stake in Indian digital payments firm Paytm worth $125 million through a block deal on Thursday, a source with direct knowledge of the matter told Reuters.
Alibaba, which held a 6.26% stake in Paytm as at end-September, sold the stake at 536.95 rupees apiece, the source said.
Paytm's stock fell as much as 8.8% to 528 rupees in afternoon trading, and was last down 5.8% as of 2:37 p.m. IST.
Morgan Stanley advised Alibaba on the deal, the source said.
Alibaba and Morgan Stanley did not immediately respond to Reuters' requests for comment. (Reuters)
The government on Wednesday said 18,600 toys have been seized in the last one month from major retail stores, including those of Hamleys and Archies at airports and malls across the country, for lack of BIS quality mark. Meanwhile, consumer protection regulator CCPA has also issued notices to three major e-commerce players -- Amazon, Flipkart and Snapdeal -- for alleged violation of toys quality control order, it said. Since January 1, 2021, the government made it mandatory for toys to conform with safety norms specified by the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS), a national standards setting body. "We received complaints from domestic manufacturers of sale of toys that do not conform with the BIS standard. We conducted 44 raids in last one month and seized 18,600 toys from major retail stores," BIS Director General Pramod Kumar Tiwari said in a press conference. The raids were conducted at retail stores, including those of Hamleys, Archies, WH Smith, Kids Zone and Cococart located at major airports and malls across the country, he said. A legal action will be taken against retailers as per the provisions under the BIS Act, Tiwari said. Central Consumer Protection Authority (CCPA) chief Nidhi Khare said, "We have also issued notices to Amazon, Flipkart and Snapdeal for selling toys without BIS quality mark." (PTI)
Workers at Twitter Inc.’s Singapore office were told to empty out their desks and vacate the premises, said people familiar with the situation, as Elon Musk continues to pare expenses around the globe.
Twitter staff were informed via email Wednesday that they had until 5 p.m. to leave the CapitaGreen building and resume their duties remotely from Thursday, one of the people said, asking not to be named discussing private information. Singapore-based staffers have now been reassigned as remote workers in Twitter’s internal system until further notice, the person added. (Read More)
Zee Entertainment Enterprises Limited (ZEEL), the official broadcast partner of DP World International League T20 (DP World ILT20), has signed Paytm, Kurkure Playz, Kent RO, and Gulf Oil as sponsors.
The broadcaster said it has for now mainly on-boarded advertisers from these consumer categories. "This is a significant milestone for the global cricketing league and testifies its inherent differentiation in terms of quality of league’s players, 6 franchise brand power and our platform’s massive strength," it said in a statement. The inaugural season begins 13 January. (Read More)
India’s oldest conglomerate, Tata Group, is planning to set up electric vehicle cell-manufacturing operations in Europe as it tries to accelerate its British marque unit’s shift to battery-powered cars.
Jaguar Land Rover and Tata Motors will be the anchor customers for the facility, which will also sell battery cells to the wider market, Tata Motors Chief Financial Officer P.B. Balaji said in an interview at the India Auto Expo taking place this week on the outskirts of New Delhi.
“We are well covered on the production plans for batteries, but we will require some cell capacity coming into Europe," Balaji said. (Read More)
India's gold imports in December plunged 79% from a year earlier to the lowest level in at least two decades for the month as a rally in local prices near record high dampened demand, two government sources told Reuters on Thursday.
Lower imports by the world's second-biggest consumer of the precious metal could limit gains in global prices trading near their highest in eight months.
The drop in imports could help in bringing down India's trade deficit and support the rupee.
India imported 20 tonnes in the December, down from 95 tonnes a year ago, said a government official, who asked not to be named since he is not authorised to speak to the media.
In value terms, December imports plunged to $1.18 billion from $4.73 billion a year ago, he said.
India's gold imports in 2022 dropped to 706 tonnes from 1,068 tonnes a year ago, another government official said. (Reuters)
India reported 197 new coronavirus infections in the last 24 hours, according to the Union Health Ministry data updated on Thursday. With this, the active cases in the country has now declined to to 2,309. The total tally of Covid cases was recorded at 4.46 crore (4,46,80,583).
The overall death toll stands at 5,30,723 with one death reconciled by Kerala, the data updated at 8 am stated. The daily positivity was recorded at 0.10 per cent while the Weekly positivity rate was pegged at 0.11 per cent. (Read More)
Increasing interest rate cycles and better returns from equity weigh down on mutual funds focussed on investing in fixed income securities in 2022, with the segment witnessing a net outflow of ₹2.3 lakh crore, while a reversal of trend is expected in 2023 on anticipation of slowdown in the rate hike cycle.
This was way higher than a net withdrawal of ₹34,545 crore from the segment in 2021, the Association of Mutual Funds in India (Amfi) data showed.
While it has been a challenging time for debt funds overall, the category is likely to see a reversal in this trend in 2023 on indication of a slowdown in the rate hike cycle, Kavitha Krishnan, Senior Analyst Manager Research, Morningstar India, said.
"As equity markets continue to look too stretched from a valuation's perspective, investors might move into medium term debt categories that will offer them a better risk reward ratio. Credit funds have also been presenting a good investment opportunity, considering the widening of spreads between G-secs and corporate bonds," she added. (PTI)
Shares of DB Realty Ltd surged to hit the upper circuit level of 5% to ₹89 apiece on the BSE in Thursday's trading session after the company said that it has executed a settlement agreement with lender Reliance Commercial Finance Ltd on Tuesday, January 10, 2023, for the loans given by the lender in the past.
“We wish to inform you that the company and its wholly owned subsidiary company, Goregaon Hotel and Realty Ltd (Goregaon Hotel) have executed Settlement Agreements with Reliance Commercial Finance Ltd on 10th January, 2023 for the loans given by the lender in the past. In line with the company's objective to reduce the debt obligations, the parties have agreed to settle all the claims in relation to the Loan Agreements by way of amicable settlement in accordance with the terms and conditions as detailed in the agreements..," the company informed in an exchange filing on Wednesday. (Read More)
The Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) has issued show cause notice to Samsung India Electronics (SIEL), the Economic Times has reported on 12 January. As per the report, it has accused the local unit of South Korea's Samsung Electronics of evading import taxes worth ₹1,728.47 crore by misclassifying a product. The agency has also asked why it should not recover the money as duty along with the interest. Earlier this week, the notice was issued by Nhava Sheva Customs, the report stated. (Read More)
The Pune Labour Commissioner’s office has sent a notice to Amazon, summoning the e-commerce major on 17 January in connection with its voluntary separation program (VSP) introduced a couple of months ago to reduce its headcount. The labour office has called for a meeting following the complaint of Nascent Information Technology Employees Senate (NITES), a welfare organisation for IT and its related sector employees in India. (Read More)
The Indian rupee weakened marginally against the dollar on Thursday ahead of data that investors consider critical in gauging the size of the U.S. Federal Reserve's next rate hike.
The rupee was quoting at 81.6625 per U.S. dollar by 10:52 a.m. IST against 81.5750 on Wednesday. The slight decline comes after the local currency's 1.4% rally over the previous three sessions.
Volumes on USD/INR have picked up along with the rupee's unexpected move higher.
After two downward surprise readings on U.S. inflation, the rupee and other emerging market currencies will be hoping for more relief when the December reading is released later in the day.
Economists polled by Reuters expect both the annual headline inflation and the core inflation to fall to 6.5% and 5.7%, respectively. The headline inflation surged to 9.1% in June 2022. (Reuters)
The Q3FY23 business update of Adani Wilmar (AWL) augurs a sequential improvement in performance, highlighted domestic brokerage and research firm Edelweiss, adding that although Adani Wilmar competes in an extremely competitive business (edible oil and foods/FMCG), it has consistently delivered strong volume growth across segments. Moreover, its commitment to expand the foods basket would help moderate its excessive dependence on the edible oils basket. AWL is committed to grow both organically and inorganically in the foods segment.
“FY23 was an abnormal year for oil players due to high volatility in oil prices, which affected AWL’s margins. That said, following a significant correction in palm oil from its peak, AWL’s margin profile would be better in FY24. Even so, keeping in mind rural slowdown and likely higher competition (entry of Reliance), we are cutting FY23/FY24E EPS by 23.1%/7.3%," the note stated. (Read More)
The lawmakers from the US State of Washington have urged the Biden administration to help remove or reduce the tariffs on American apples imported to India as the country's fruit industry has incurred significant losses due to New Delhi's retaliatory measures.
In a letter to US Trade Representative Katherine Tai and Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo, all members of the House of Representatives from Washington State and other two senators said the tree fruit industry suffered losses due to India’s retaliation to US tariffs.
On average, 30 per cent of the apples, cherries, and pears produced in the Pacific Northwest are exported and India was once a strong market. With retaliatory tariffs in place, Washington state apple growers have continuously lost market share in India, the lawmakers said.
Prior to the implementation of these tariffs, India was our number two export market, valued at USD 120 million annually, they said. (PTI)
India has requested the United States to speed up the issuance of business visas so that people can undertake short trips to pursue their business and trade interests, said Union Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal on Wednesday.
Addressing a press conference after participating in the 13th India-US Trade Policy Forum in Washington, the minister said, “We found very good resonance to our request that issuance of business visas which is taking a long time back home in India is an area which needs to be expedited, so that business persons interested on both sides, need to have faster processing of business visas so that trade, investment does not suffer." (Read More)
Nykaa share price fell on January 12 after news reports said 1.4 crore shares of parent company FSN E-Commerce Ventures changed hands in a large trade today. Nykaa share price fell more than 2% on January 12 after news reports said 1.4 crore shares of parent company FSN E-Commerce Ventures changed hands in a large trade today. (Read More)
Shares of Sah Polymers made their positive market debut on Thursday with the stock listing at ₹85 apiece on the NSE, a premium of more than 30% of as compared to its IPO issue price of ₹65 per share. On the BSE, Sah Polymers shares started trading at ₹89 a piece.
The initial public offer (IPO) of polymer manufacturer Sah Polymers was subscribed over 17 times on the last day of subscription. The initial share-sale received bids for 9,79,44,810 shares against 56,10,000 shares on offer. The offer had opened for public subscription on Friday, December 30, 2022 and will conclude on Wednesday, January 4, 2023. (Read More)
The funding for India's startups dropped by 33 per cent to $24 billion in 2022 as compared to the previous year. However, it was nearly double the amount recorded in 2019 or 2020, said a PwC India report on Wednesday. Global investors were still positive about the Indian startup ecosystem despite the global slowdown, as per the report titled 'Startup Tracker-CY 22'.
"Funding for Indian startups in CY22 was nearly $24 billion, a drop of 33 per cent in comparison to CY21 but was still more than twice the funds raised in CY20 and CY19 each", it said. (Read More)
Dr V K Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist at Geojit Financial Services: The US inflation data expected tonight will be market-moving. If the December inflation data declines to 6.5% as the market expects with a 0.1% decline on a monthly basis, that can lead to the Fed downshifting its rate hiking with a 25 bp hike in February and then pausing. This can trigger a rally in equity markets. On the other hand, if inflation remains high, there can be a market sell off. So watch out for this crucial data.
In India, FIIs continued their selling spree for the 14th straight session taking the cumulative selling to ₹19795 crores, dragging the market down.
An important lesson from market experience in 2022 is that despite FII selling of ₹146048 crores Nifty went up by 4.3 %. Therefore, even though FII selling can have a short-term impact, that is unlikely to last. If incoming economic data turns out positive, domestic investors can trump FIIs like in 2022.
The banking sector is expected to report a healthy performance in Q3FY2023E, led by strong loan growth, margin improvement, and lower credit costs. The banking sector is expected to report 35 per cent year-on-year growth in earnings in December quarter, on the back of healthy loan growth and lower credit cost, says brokerage Sharekhan. The brokerage expects Net interest income (NII) growth to be higher at 23 per cent year-on-year on account of solid loan growth.
"The quantum of margin expansion is expected to be lower compared to the previous quarter due to increased cost of deposits to garner a higher share of retail liabilities. Non-interest income performance for banks would continue to remain weak, led by lower treasury income. Asset quality may improve further or is expected to remain stable with modest slippages (ex. Restructured) along with improvement in recoveries and upgrades," Sharekhan said in its report. (Read More)
Bitcoin price today gained to trade above $18,000 as the world's largest and most popular digital token was trading with gains of more than 4% at $18,224. Bitcoin has advanced for nine straight days, the longest such streak since 2020, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Bitcoin has added more than 10% this month and the second-largest token Ether about 17%.
Overall, the global cryptocurrency market cap today remained below the $1 trillion mark, even as it was up over 4% in the last 24 hours to $926 billion, as per the data by CoinGecko. (Read More)
STOCK IN FOCUS
Blue Star (CMP 1,249): 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 1-year revised Target Price of Rs1,520
Intraday Picks
FSL (PREVIOUS CLOSE: 103) BUY
For today’s trade, long position can be initiated in the range of Rs102-
103 for the target of Rs107 with a strict stop loss of Rs101.
APOLLO TYRE (PREVIOUS CLOSE: 319) SELL
For today’s trade, short position can be initiated in the range of Rs324-
326 for the target of Rs315 with a strict stop loss of Rs329.
CANFINHOME (PREVIOUS CLOSE: 550) BUY
For today’s trade, long position can be initiated in the range of Rs542-
547 for the target of Rs568 with a strict stop loss of Rs538.
Disney-Star, the media rights holder for bilateral matches at home, and the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) have been at loggerheads over the quantum of fees for the India-South Africa series, which was originally scheduled for 2020, but was held in 2022 due to the pandemic. According to the five-year media rights contract, signed in 2018, Disney Star agreed to pay ₹46.5 crore per match for all matches played in 2020, and ₹78.9 crore for 2022. Disney Star is of the view that it should pay ₹46.5 crore even in 2022 for the said series, given that technically it was from the third year of the 2018-23 cycle considering that matches were not played in 2020-21 following the outbreak of covid. (Read More)
Infosys, HCL Technologies, Cyient, GM Breweries, and Anand Rathi Wealth will be among the stocks in focus as they declare their December quarter earnings today. (Read More)
Subway is exploring a potential sale that could value the sandwich chain at more than $10 billion, according to a person familiar with the matter.
The process is in its early stages and Subway could still decide against pursuing a sale, said the person, asking not to be identified because the information isn’t public.
“As a privately held company, we don’t comment on ownership structure and business plans," Subway said in an email. “We continue to be focused on moving the brand forward with our transformational journey to help our franchisees be successful and profitable." (Read More)
After TCS reported a mixed set of numbers on January 9, Infosys is expected to announce its third-quarter earnings today. The IT major is expected to post better numbers than midcap counterparts, but the quarter that ended December 31 is usually slow for the IT companies on account of seasonality.
Infosys is expected to post 0.8%-4% revenue growth in the said quarter. Jefferies expects 3QFY23 revenue growth to be soft at 0.8% (QoQ) at $4,590 million due to higher-than-expected furloughs. Whereas, Axis Securities feels the company could report revenue growth of 4% QoQ and believes the management to retain the company’s revenue growth guidance for FY23E at 14%-16% (in CC terms). (Read More)
Passengers of a Bengaluru-bound SpiceJet plane had to wait for a long time at the aerobridge at Delhi airport on Tuesday, with the airline saying the flight was delayed due to weather disruption that led to incoming crew exceeding their duty time limit.
One of the passengers shared on social media a video of many co-passengers waiting at the aerobridge. In the video, some of them were heard asking for water.
The incident happened with passengers of SpiceJet flight SG 8133 from Delhi-Bengaluru.
A SpiceJet spokesperson said the flight was delayed on account of weather disruption in the network and the aircraft's previous rotation.
"As a result of this, the incoming crew was not legal to operate the subsequent flight to Bengaluru and crew was arranged from another incoming flight which was legal as per duty time limitation," the spokesperson said in a statement. (PTI)
IT major HCL Technologies is set to announce its December quarter result on 12 January, after IT bellwether Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) kickstarted the result season earlier this week. HCL Technologies is expected to post 2.7%-3.4% revenue growth in the said quarter.
Jefferies expects 3QFY23 revenue growth at 3.4% (QoQ cc) at $3,185 million driven by 25% QoQcc growth in products segment, but a lower 1% (QoQ c)c growth in the Services segment due to seasonal weakness. (Read More)
French billionaire Bernard Arnault has named his daughter Delphine as head of LVMH luxury empire's Dior fashion house in a leadership shuffle. In another shuffle, Pietro Beccari, who has been the head of Dior since 2018, will be moving to replace long-time Louis Vuitton CEO Michael Burke, 65. The management changes will be effective on 1 February.
Delphine has been executive vice president at Louis Vuitton since 2013, supervising the brand's product-related activities. Previously, she served as deputy managing director at Christian Dior Couture. (Read More)
The rupee gained 13 paise to close at 81.61 against the US dollar on Wednesday, driven by foreign inflows from bonds selling and overall weakness in crude oil prices.
However, a muted trend in domestic equities dented investor sentiments and capped the sharp gains in the rupee, traders said.
At the interbank foreign exchange market, the local unit opened at 81.73 and touched an intra-day high of 81.52 and a low of 81.82 against the greenback.
It finally ended at 81.61, registering a rise of 13 paise over its previous close.
On Tuesday, the rupee settled at 81.74 against the US dollar.
"Indian Rupee appreciated on Wednesday extending gains of the previous day on foreign inflows from bonds selling...and overall weakness in crude oil prices," said Anuj Choudhary - Research Analyst at Sharekhan by BNP Paribas.
However, FII outflows and recovery in US Dollar capped sharp gains. (PTI)
Sah Polymers IPO listing date has been fixed on 12th January 2023 i.e. today. As per the information available on BSE website, effective from Thursday, January 12, 2023, the equity shares of Sah Polymers Limited shall be listed and admitted to dealings on the exchange in the list of 'T' group of securities. According to stock market experts, the public issue worth ₹66.30 crore received better than expected response despite being highly priced. They said that polymers market is expected to surge and company's fundamentals are looking strong, so the stock may have a positive debut on Dalal Street today. (Read More)
India is testing the waters of a sluggish global green bond market with its debut sale this month that aims to raise $2 billion for sustainable projects. Indian officials have been clear they want a significant “greenium" for the sale to lower the nation’s borrowing costs, and that will require attracting enough foreign investors to the rupee-denominated debt.
Green bond sales dropped for the first time in a decade last year, as monetary policy tightening hit issuance, and as asset managers came under fire for alleged greenwashing. Companies and governments worldwide raised a total of $863 billion in green, social and sustainability-linked bonds in 2022, a 19% drop from the record $1.1 trillion in 2021, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. (Read More)
U.S. stocks rallied Wednesday as investors locked in their final moves ahead of a highly anticipated report on inflation, one that could show whether Wall Street's rising optimism recently has been warranted or overdone.
The S&P 500 climbed 1.3% for its second straight gain before Thursday morning’s inflation data. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose nearly 269 points, or 0.8%, while the Nasdaq composite gained 1.8%.
Stocks have started 2023 with gains on hopes that cooling inflation and a slowing economy may get the Federal Reserve to ease off its sharp hikes to interest rates. Such increases can help stamp out high inflation, but they also slow the economy by design and raise the risk of a recession while hurting prices for stocks and other investments.
Economists expect Thursday’s report to show inflation is continuing to cool from its summertime peak, down to 6.5% last month from 7.1% in November and from more than 9% in June. The hope on Wall Street is that such a trend toward normal could convince the Fed to soon halt its blistering set of rate increases, many of which were at shock-and-awe levels that were triple the usual amount. (AP)
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