Sensex ends above 60,600, Nifty tops 17,900; Realty, IT, Metal shine

Indian shares rose for 7th session in a row on Thursday as strong earnings from major firms like Bajaj Finance overshadowed rising recession fears in the United States, ahead of the April series derivatives expiry.

The Nifty 50 climbed 101 points to end at 17,915, while the S&P BSE Sensex gained 350 points to end above 60,600, at 60,649. Fourteen of the 15 major sectoral indices advanced in today's session.

Bajaj Finance and Bajaj Finserv were among the top gainers after reporting a solid fourth-quarter profit. Bajaj Auto, SBI Life and UPL were among the other top gainers. HDFC Life shed 2.2% and Hindustan Unilever 1.6% and were among the top laggards in the Nifty 50 index.

Among sectoral indices, only FMCG ended in the red as it shed marginally. Realty jumped 1.5% with IT, Auto and Metal also featuring among major gainers in today's session.

Globally shares mostly fell echoing the drop on Wall Street, as worries about the US banking sector and inflationary pressures weighed on investor sentiment.

Japan's Nikkei share average fell for a second straight session, led by steep declines by heavyweights Nomura Holdings and Advantest following dour earnings reports.

The Nikkei declined 0.23% retreating further from an eight-month peak touched on Tuesday. The broader Topix reversed an early drop, and was up 0.05%.

China and Hong Kong stocks were up on Thursday. Mainland China rally was led by insurance companies as better-than-expected earnings boosted sentiment, while investors continued to weigh geopolitical tensions and economic data to gauge the pace of China's recovery.

China's blue-chip CSI300 Index and the Shanghai Composite Index both closed up 0.7%. Hong Kong's benchmark Hang Seng Index was up 0.4%, while the China Enterprises Index added 0.3%.

European shares edged lower on Thursday, despite a raft of positive corporate earnings, as troubles at U.S. lender First Republic Bank continued to rattle investors over the global banking sector.

The UK's FTSE 100 edged higher on Thursday, snapping a three-day losing streak as markets cheered upbeat corporate updates, while shares of Capricorn Energy fell due to a full-year operating loss.

Tejas Khoday, Co-founder and CEO of FYERS feels that the new SEBI regulations require brokers to maintain segment-wise segregation on a client level, and failure to abide will attract heavy penalties. Other than that, it may reduce their income that such brokers were able to generate through the use of BGs which generally provide 2x exposure on the funds pledged with the banks. It could create a working capital crunch too. Penalties on Proprietary & Client fund segregation could potentially add to this crunch.

Moreover, if a broker is creating BGs out of client funds and using the limits assigned by the banks with the clearing corporation for funding client positions either in Cash (MTF), Peak margins, or RR mode, it may impact their clients as they will be unable to do so going forward.

FMCG Godrej Consumer Products Ltd (GCPL) is going to acquire the FMCG business from the diversified group Raymond, which includes Park Avenue and KamaSutra brands, industry sources said on Thursday.

The deal will strengthen the portfolio of the Godrej Group FMCG arm GCPL and foray into sexual wellness categories.

An announcement of the deal is expected from both companies in the second half of Thursday.

E-mail queries sent to both companies remained unanswered by the time of filing of the story.

Both the brands -- Park Avenue and KamaSutra -- are under Raymond Consumer Care, which is a step-down unit of the Singhania-family owned Raymond, known for its shirting and lifestyle business.

Raymond was trying to sell this consumer care business for some years. (PTI)

The Secretary General of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) Haitham Al Ghais said on Thursday that the International Energy Agency (IEA) should be "very careful about further undermining" oil industry investments, seen as vital for global economic growth.

Al Ghais added that OPEC and OPEC were not targeting oil prices but focusing on market fundamentals, and that finger pointing and misrepresenting the actions of the oil exporters and their allies was "counter-productive". (Reuters)

China stocks were up on Thursday, led by insurance companies as better-than-expected earnings boosted sentiment, while investors continued to weigh geopolitical tensions and economic data to gauge the pace of China's recovery.

** China's blue-chip CSI300 Index and the Shanghai Composite Index both closed up 0.7%.

** Hong Kong's benchmark Hang Seng Index was up 0.4%, while the China Enterprises Index added 0.3%.

** Insurance shares soared 5.9%, with Ping An Insurance Group Co of China Ltd adding 10% by the daily limit, as the firm's better-than-expected first quarter earnings boosted investor sentiment.

** That led to a 1.4% rise in the CSI Financials Index .

** Meanwhile, China's industrial firms' profits shrank at a slightly slower pace in January-March but the decline remained in double digits as the economy struggled to fully recover from the exit to the zero-COVID policy. (Reuters)

NBFC-major Bajaj Finserv posted a 31.4% growth in consolidated net profit to ₹1,769 crore for the fourth quarter of FY23 compared to a profit of ₹1,346 crore in the same quarter a year ago. Consolidated revenue stood at ₹23,625 crore up by 25.2% versus ₹18,862 crore in Q3 of the previous fiscal.

Bajaj Finserv on Friday announced a dividend of ₹0.80 per share of face value of Re 1 for the financial year March 2023.

The said dividend will be dispatched on or about Friday, 28 July 2023 or Saturday, 29 July 2023, said Bajaj Finserv in its regulatory filing. (Read More)

The Indian government may oppose Hindustan Zinc's proposal to acquire its parent company Vedanta's global zinc business unless the valuation of the assets is reduced to a "more realistic" level, said a media report. HZL had proposed a $2.98 billion cash deal on January 19 to buy the assets, but the government, which owns a 29.54% stake in HZL, must give its consent for the deal to pass.

The proposal expired when HZL did not seek shareholder approval within the mandated three months, following strong opposition from the government.

"Even though the government is willing to examine any non-cash deal option (presented by HZL), the main issue of high valuation still remains. We are not comfort- able with this sort of valuation," The Economic Times reported quoting a senior official. (Read More)

The broadcast venture of India's Reliance has struck a deal with Warner Bros Discovery Inc. for its streaming platform JioCinema, making a big push to bring Hollywood content onto the platform and compete against Netflix and Amazon.

The deal between Reliance's Viacom18 would see Warner Bros as well as its HBO content becoming available on Reliance's JioCinema app, including popular movies and shows such as Succession, Game of Thrones, Lord of the Rings and the Harry Potter series, according to a joint statement by the companies.

Reuters reported the deal earlier on Thursday based on sources with direct knowledge of the deal.

The sources did not disclose the financials of the deal, but the statement described the content partnership as a "new multi-year agreement" which will start next month. (Reuters)

Maruti Suzuki India (MSI), the country's largest carmaker said its board has given an in-principle approval for creation of up to 10 lakh vehicles per year capacity in the new plant, which is expected to come up in phases depending upon the market situation.

In a virtual press meet after the Q4 results, Maruti Suzuki Chairman RC Bhargava said the new facility would be in addition to its upcoming manufacturing plant in Sonipat in Haryana.

He noted that work on the new plant would be carried out simultaneously with the Sonipat plant.

Indian IT services provider Coforge Ltd's fourth-quarter revenue and its revenue growth forecast for fiscal year 2024 were roughly in line with analysts estimates, in contrast to weaker-than-expected outlooks from its bigger peers.

Coforge's shares were up 1.4% in midday trading on Thursday, compared with a 0.8% rise in the Nifty IT index, while the benchmark Nifty 50 index was up 0.18%.

The top three Indian IT firms – Tata Consultancy Services Ltd, Infosys Ltd and HCL Technologies Ltd — have said their U.S. and European clients are delaying closing deals and even cutting back on or cancelling orders due to the turbulent macroeconomic environment.

Infosys' and HCLTech's revenue growth forecasts for the year ending March 2024 were in the single-digit percentage growth range and below market expectations. (Reuters)

Bitcoin pushed back toward $30,000, extending a recent period of turbulence around the closely watched round-number level.

The largest token rose as much as 3.7% on Thursday before paring the advance to trade at $29,055 as of 7:40 a.m. in London. Smaller tokens including Ether, Cardano and Avalanche made gains too.

“We’re seeing short positions getting liquidated into a market that exhibits thin order books, pushing up the Bitcoin price,” said Stefan von Haenisch, head of sales trading at OSL SG Pte in Singapore.

Bitcoin surged as much as 7.3% on Wednesday but quickly erased the move and fell into the red, leaving investors scratching their heads — as is often the case with swings in crypto prices.

Some market watchers pegged the April 26 rally to the notion that the token is viewed as a hedge for US banking angst, which flared again around First Republic Bank. The hedge argument is based on the contention that Bitcoin embodies an alternative to the fiat-based banking sector. (Bloomberg)

Hindustan Unilever (HUL) reported a 12.74 per cent year-on-year (YoY) rise in consolidated net profit at ₹2,601 crore for Q4FY23 against a profit of ₹2,307 crore in the same quarter last year.

Akshay Ashok – Research Analyst, Prabhudas Lilladher Pvt Ltd recommendations for Bajaj Finance (BAF IN): Rating: BUY | CMP: Rs6,056 | TP: Rs7,835

Q4FY23 Result Update - Strong growth momentum across businesses

Quick Pointers:

§ Gross NPA/Net NPA at 0.94%/0.34% in Q4 vs 1.14%/0.41% of Q3FY23.

§ Disbursed 29.6 MM loans, added 11.6 MM(record high) new customers in FY23

We maintain ‘BUY’ rating and our TP at ₹7,835 on (7x Sep’24E PABV) as our FY24/25 estimates remain unchanged. The impact of rate hikes on cost of funds is more gradual than anticipated although we expect NIM’s to moderate to 11.8% in FY24 from 12.1% in FY23. Management has maintained AUM growth guidance in the corridor of 25%-27% even as competition intensity remains high especially in consumer finance and mortgage segment. Re-rating can happen if company manages to achieve growth guidance and increase stickiness of new to franchise customers. Maintain ‘BUY’.

Reserve Bank Governor Shaktikanta Das on Thursday said the Indian banking system has remained resilient and not adversely impacted by recent events in the global financial ecosystem.

Speaking at a global conference on financial resilience organised by RBI-promoted College of Supervisors here, Das said, "the Indian banking system has remained resilient and has not been affected adversely by the recent sparks of financial instability seen in some advanced economies."

In the remarks that come weeks after the blow-up of the Silicon Valley Bank, which led to distress in the financial sector in the US and Europe, Das said RBI's stress tests show Indian banks will be able to maintain their capital buffers above the minimum requirements even in the case of the most distressing of events. (PTI)

The NSE tweaked how it accounts for spun-off companies in its various equity indexes in order to reduce churn in their constituents.

The move comes as big companies such as HDFC Ltd and HDFC Bank are merging, with potential for entities to be spun off, and Reliance Industries Ltd plans to list Jio Financials separately.

The change will apply to any such spin-offs approved by shareholders of the parent companies on or after April 30, the NSE said in a circular late on Wednesday.

Currently, all newly listed entities are excluded from indexes, and in cases of indexes with fixed constituents, are replaced with another eligible stock.

But now, any newly listed spun-off businesses will be initially included in a relevant index at a constant price, which is the difference between the demerged firm's closing price the day before the ex-demerger date and the price during a special pre-open session on the ex-demerger date. (Reuters)

Sabre Corporation which is one of the leading software and technology provider that powers the global travel industry, and Air India, one of India’s leading airlines and a Star Alliance member, today announced a new multi-year deal that enables travel agents and corporations around the world to access Air India fares and seats through Sabre’s extensive global travel marketplace.

Having recently placed the biggest aircraft order in aviation history for 470 aircraft, Air India is forging ahead with ambitious expansion plans. In addition to the distribution services, Air India is utilizing Sabre’s consultancy expertise to help determine optimal routes for its existing and new fleet. (Read More)