Sensex up 1000 pts, Nifty tops 16,900 in Fed relief rally; IT, Finance shine

Indian benchmark indices skyrocketed and gained almost 2% in today's session. Sensex jumped more than 1000 points to end at 56,857. Nifty regained the 16,900 mark and ended at 16,929 which is a gain of 288 points.

IT, Financial Services, and Realty led the rally and all the indices ended in the green. Bajaj finance twin stocks soared 10% following the announcement of bonus and stock split.

Other standout performers were Tata Steel, Kotak Bank, and IndusInd Bank. Bharti Airtel and Ultratech Cement lost around 1% in today's session.

Asian and European stocks rose on Thursday following a surge on Wall Street fuelled by hopes that the Federal Reserve could slow its pace of inflation-fighting interest rate hikes.

All Asian markets including Tokyo stocks closed higher. In Tokyo, bargain-hunting helped offset the negative impact of an appreciating yen against the dollar. The benchmark Nikkei 224 index ended up 0.36%.

Hong Kong was an exception and dropped today as the city's de facto central bank followed the Fed in lifting rates owing to its currency peg.

London's benchmark FTSE 100 index and Frankfurt's DAX also climbed in the morning session.

All eyes are now on the release of second-quarter growth data later Thursday. There is a growing concern that the sharp rise in rates is bearing down on the world's top economy and could send it into a painful recession.

Jubilant FoodWorks, operator of fast-food chains Domino's Pizza and Dunkin' Donuts, on Thursday reported a 63.01% increase in its consolidated net profit at ₹112.58 crore in the April-June quarter.

The company had posted a consolidated net profit of ₹69.06 crore in the same quarter of the previous fiscal, Jubilant FoodWorks Ltd (JFL) said in a regulatory filing.

Its revenue from operations during the quarter stood at 40.51% at ₹1,255.09 crore as against ₹893.18 crore in the year-ago period, it added.

Zenara Pharma on Thursday said it has received the CDSCO approval to manufacture and sell combination packs of Nirmatrelvir and Ritonavir tablets, indicated as an option for patients with mild to moderate COVID-19 symptoms.

The approval by the Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO) has been granted under the emergency authorisation route, Zenara Pharma said in a statement.

The tablets will be sold under the brand 'Paxzen' and are being manufactured at the company's USFDA-approved facility in Hyderabad, it added.

SBI Cards and Payment Services Ltd (SBI Card) on Thursday reported a two-fold rise in net profit to ₹627 crore in the first quarter ended June 30, due to a decline in delinquencies.

The SBI-promoted card issuance company had reported a net profit of ₹305 crore in the April-June quarter of the previous fiscal (2021-22).

Its total income during the quarter rose to ₹3,263 crore against ₹2,451 crore a year ago, SBI Cards said in a regulatory filing.

Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) Science and Technology and Minister of State (Independent Charge) Earth Sciences Jitendra Singh said India has a target of USD 300 billion in bioeconomy by 2030.

Bioeconomy is the production, utilization, and conservation of biological resources, including related knowledge, science, technology, and innovation, to provide information, products, processes, and services across all economic sectors.

In a written reply to a question in the Rajya Sabha on Thursday, minister Singh said India registered a sustained growth in bioeconomy

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday said that the dairy sector has been a major contributor to the growth of the rural economy in India and through the launch of technology-driven projects at Sabar Dairy the government will be able to support farmers and milk producers and help boost the rural economy.

He was addressing after the inauguration of various development initiatives at Sabar Dairy in Gujarat.

Gold and silver prices today edged higher in Indian markets after the US Federal Reserve signaled that it may slow the pace of interest rate increases in the future which pushed the dollar and pushed Treasury yields lower. On MCX, gold futures were up 0.55% to near a 3-week high of ₹51,000 per 10 gram while silver rose 2.5% to ₹56224 per kg. In global markets, the yellow metal had surged 1% in the previous session and was trading near $1,735.77 per ounce today.

BENGALURU: Investment NSW, Australia’s New South Wales government’s trade and investment attraction agency, has launched its office in Mumbai, which opened for business on Thursday. This comes four months after India and Australia signed an interim trade pact called economic cooperation and trade agreement (ECTA) in April. This is yet to be ratified by both the sides.

The Union Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) on 27 July approved an additional investment of $1,600 million (around ₹12,000 crore) by Bharat PetroResources Ltd (BPRL) for the development of the BM-SEAL-11 Concession Project in Brazil.

The BPRL also received the Cabinet approval to increase in the limit of equity investment by BPCL and authorised share capital of the firm from ₹15,000 crore to ₹20,000 crore. (Full Report)

FMCG major Nestle India Ltd on Thursday reported a 4.31% fall in its net profit at ₹515.34 crore for the second quarter ended June 30, amid inflationary pressures.

The company, which follows the January-December financial year, had posted a net profit of ₹538.58 crore in the corresponding period a year ago, Nestle India said in a regulatory filing.

However, Nestle India's net sales were up 15.72% to ₹4,006.86 crore during the period under review, as against ₹3,462.35 crore a year ago, the company said.

The pressure on Bangladesh’s economy is building, even though the nation’s default risk is low, according to Moody’s Investors Service.

“The main message is that although foreign-exchange reserves have dropped lately – this is from high levels, and the sovereign’s external vulnerability indicator is low,” said Camille Chautard, a sovereign analyst at Moody’s in Singapore.

Bangladesh is seeking a loan from International Monetary Fund to reduce macro economic risks and create financial buffers as surging import costs drain its foreign reserves.

The government has no proposal currently to include the toy industry under Production Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme, Union Minister of State for Commerce and Industry Som Prakash informed Parliament in reply to a question on whether it was planning to include the domestic toy industry under the special incentive scheme.

The Government had launched Production Linked Incentive (PLI) schemes in 14 sectors which will make Indian manufacturers globally competitive, attract investments, enhance exports, integrate India into the global supply chain and reduce dependency on imports.

Tokyo stocks closed higher Thursday as bargain-hunting helped offset the negative impact of an appreciating yen against the dollar following the US Federal Reserve's rate hike decision.

The benchmark Nikkei 224 index ended up 0.36%, or 99.73 points, at 27,815.48, while the broader Topix index increased 0.16%, or 3.10 points, to 1,948.85.

Riding on the positive wave after SEBI's nod for PVR-INOX merger to create India's largest multiplex chain, PVR and INOPX shares today hit fresh high in early morning deals. PVR share price today opened upside and hit intraday high of ₹2,056 per share on NSE, beating its previous life-time high of ₹2,034.05 apiece levels. Similarly, INOX share price surged around 1.50 per cent and hit fresh life-time high of ₹573 apiece levels on NSE. (Full Report)

The Indian rupee gained on Thursday, tracking strength in most other Asian currencies and equities, while bond yields eased after U.S. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell eased trader concerns over continued aggressive monetary tightening.

Powell sounded suitably hawkish on curbing inflation in his news conference, but also dropped guidance on the size of the next rate hike and noted that "at some point" it would be appropriate to slow down.

While declaring its financial results for the first quarter ended June 2022, Bajaj Finserv said its board has also approved the proposal of stock split or sub-division of equity shares as well as gave its nod for the issuance of bonus shares. Shares of Bajaj Finserv zoomed over 8% on the BSE.

The board sub-division of each existing equity share of the face value of Rs. 5/- (Rupees Five only) into Five (5) equity shares of the face value of Rs. 1/- (Rupee One Only) fully paid- up. It also approved the issue of One bonus equity shares of face value of Rs. 1/- (Rupees one only) for every 1 (one) fully paid-up equity share of Rs. 1/- (Rupees one only).

The medium-term prospects for bank credit growth look promising with rising personal and wholesale borrowings and a substantial buffer for loan provisioning. Credit rating agency CareEdge estimates the credit growth to be in the range of 12-13 per cent during 2022-23.

India's top oil explorer ONGC and its partners will invest USD 6.2 billion ( ₹50,000 crore) in green energy projects to produce carbon-free hydrogen and green ammonia as part of an ambitious decarbonization drive, officials said.

State-owned Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) has signed a pact with Greenko, one of India's largest renewable energy companies, to form a 50:50 joint venture for green energy projects.

All indices are in red with IT and finance/banking stocks leading the rally. Dr. Reddy's Laboratories was down a percent.

“We downgrade Bajaj Auto to ‘HOLD’ as there remains some concern on the export side of the business which could lead to near-term volume pressure. As the company, currently has higher exposure to export markets, there are challenges in terms of rising inflation, global recession, currency devaluation and higher interest rates. Also, 3W demand still remains weak. However, domestic 2W segment has witnessed some recovery on the back of marriage season, opening up of colleges and offices. We expect this trend to continue. As the semiconductor issue is now easing out, Bajaj will be working on filling the channel inventories ahead of the festive season to meet demand. We now factor in lower volume growth of 7/11% for FY23/24E (vs 11/9% earlier). HOLD with a target price of ₹4,120 (at 17x FY24E EPS). We see limited upside for the stock.”

Coca-Cola India and its bottling partners are investing around USD 1 billion (around ₹7,990 crore) to expand the production capacity by up to 40 per cent, a senior official of the beverage major said on Wednesday.

Besides, the company is also working to expand its addressable market in the country to increase the total addressable market by adding more products with relevant occasions, innovations and culture, its President - India and Southwest Asia - Sanket Ray said.

Sony Pictures Entertainment has announced its new leadership team for the movie business in India, with Shony Panjikaran and Lada Guruden Singh set to head its distribution and production verticals in the country.

Sony Pictures is further committing to investment in Indian theatrical projects, and has expanded its footprint in regional cinema including Telugu, Tamil, and Malayalam projects. (Full report)

The country’s active caseload currently stands at 1,46,323, bringing the tally to more than 4.39 crore cases since the onset of the pandemic in March 2020.

The central government had reviewed the Covid-19 situation in 115 districts of nine states showing a surge in covid cases and positivity rate and flagged concerns regarding low levels of testing and vaccination

Shares of India's Bajaj Finance jumped as much as 9% on Thursday, their biggest intraday gain since November 2020, a day after it reported that its June-quarter profit more than doubled on growth across segments and lower bad loan provisions.

The non-banking finance company on Wednesday reported consolidated profit after tax of 25.96 billion rupees ($325.37 million), while its assets under management grew by 28% to 2.04 trillion rupees.

Maruti Suzuki - ADD

Dixon Technology - ADD

Colgate-Palmolive - ADD

L&T - ADD

Russia further cuts the flows through the Nord Stream 1 pipeline to Germany, with it now operating at less than 1/5th of its normal capacity. European gas prices have jumped up to €204.85 (£172.08), the third highest price on record.

Shares of India's SpiceJet fell as much as 9.3% on Thursday, a day after the country's aviation regulator ordered the budget carrier to slash its approved fleet to 50% this summer for eight weeks, citing multiple safety snags.

The Director General of Civil Aviation also said on Wednesday the domestic airline will be subjected to "enhanced surveillance".

Tata Motors reported a widening consolidated net loss to ₹4,951 crore for the June quarter, from a ₹4,450.92 crore loss a year earlier, primarily on account of pressures faced by JLR. Consolidated revenue from operations during the period under review stood at ₹71,935 crore as against ₹66,406 crore in the year-ago period. (Full Report)

India's gold demand in the first half of 2022 jumped 42% from a year ago but consumption in the second half could be lower than last year as higher inflation erodes disposable income, the World Gold Council (WGC) said on Thursday.

Lower purchases by the world's second-biggest gold consumer could weigh on prices, which are trading near their lowest level in more than a year.

But falling demand for gold imports could help narrow India's trade deficit and support an ailing rupee.

Bajaj Finserv, Dr Reddy's Laboratories, Nestle India, Jubilant Foodworks, and SBI Life Insurance will be in focus as they declare their June quarter earnings today. (Full Report)

India's total imports from China increased by nearly 29 per cent in the past five years. Compared to 2017-18 and 2021-22, the annual imports from China rose from USD 89714.23 million to USD 115,419.96 million, Union Minister of State for Commerce and Industry Anupriya Patel informed Lok Sabha.

The minister was responding to a question on the details of commodity-wise trade with China during the last five years.

A large portion of the total imports are animal or vegetable fats; ores, slag and ash; mineral fuels, inorganic chemicals, organic chemicals, fertilizers, tanning or dyeing extracts, miscellaneous chemical products, plastic and articles, paper and paperboard, cotton, textile fabrics, footwear, glass and glassware, iron and steel, copper; nuclear reactors, boilers, machinery, and mechanical appliances; electrical machinery, furniture, among others, government data showed.

Reliance Securities research shows:

STOCK IN FOCUS

Astral (CMP Rs.1,794)

In view of the strong all-round growth ahead, rising market share, revival in infrastructure and real estate activities, foray into new segments, we have BUY rating on the stock, with a Target Price of Rs2,215.

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Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, posted its first revenue decline in history Thursday, dragged down by a drop in ad spending as the economy falters — and as competition from rival TikTok intensifies.

The results largely followed a broader decline in the digital advertising market that is dinging Meta rivals such as Google, Twitter — which also posted a revenue decline — and Snap. Google's parent company Alphabet reported its slowest quarterly growth in two years on Tuesday.

CEO Mark Zuckerberg said Meta is slowing its pace of investments and plans to “steadily reduce” employee growth after a hiring blitz earlier this year.

Cryptocurrency prices today surged with Bitcoin trading above the $22,000 mark. The world's largest and most popular cryptocurrency rose more than 8% to $22,757. The global cryptocurrency market cap today was above the $1 trillion mark, as it surged more than 7% in the last 24 hours to $1.09 trillion, as per CoinGecko.

Tokyo stocks opened higher on Thursday, extending rallies on Wall Street after the US Federal Reserve announced a large interest rate hike. As the day went on, the caution kicked in and the index is now trading flat. 

Two stocks have been put under the ban for trade on Thursday, July 28, 2022 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 has crossed 95% of the market-wide position limit (MWPL), as per the NSE.

Indiabulls Housing Finance and Delta Corp continue to be part of F&O ban list by the stock exchange for today. The NSE updates the list of securities in F&O ban for trade every day.

The US chip supplier Qualcomm Inc on 27 July forecast fourth-quarter revenue below Wall Street targets bracing for a difficult economy and a slowdown in smartphone demand which may hurt its mainstay handset chip business.

The US chip supplier Qualcomm Inc now expects smartphone sales to fall 5% in 2022, compared with its prior outlook for flat growth.

Oil extended gains after a big draw in US crude inventories, while the prospect of a slower pace of interest-rate hikes from the Federal Reserve swept across markets, buoying commodities.

West Texas Intermediate futures climbed toward $99 a barrel after closing 2.4% higher in the previous session. US crude stockpiles dropped by the most since the end of May, while exports rose to a record, according to government data. The spread between WTI and global benchmark Brent is continuing to widen as a reduction in Russian flows exacerbates market tightness in Europe.

Higher mortgage rates have sent home sales tumbling. Credit card rates have grown more burdensome, and so have auto loans. Savers are finally receiving yields that are actually visible, while crypto assets are reeling. 

The Federal Reserve' on Wednesday raised its benchmark interest rate by a sizable 0.75 percentage point for a second straight time. The step comes to cool the economy and defeat the worst outbreak of inflation in two generations

The Reserve Bank on Wednesday suggested that banks and other financial institutions could consider eliminating the use of paper at their branches as well as introducing e-receipts at ATMs.

In a discussion paper on 'Climate Risk and Sustainable Finance', the RBI said it intends to prepare a strategy based on the global best practices on mitigating the adverse impacts of climate change, learnings from participation in standard-setting bodies and other international fora.

The thrust of the strategy would include broad guidance for all RBI Regulated Entities to have appropriate governance and strategies to address climate change risks and risk management structure to effectively manage them from a micro-prudential perspective, it said.