PremiumIndian shares may open higher on Thursday tracking global shares that were largely firm. Though US inflation was at its highest in decades, it largely met economists' expectations, cooling some fears that the Federal Reserve would have to pull back support even more forcibly than already expected.
India’s December retail inflation quickened to a five-month high of 5.56% amid soaring food prices, while industrial growth slipped to a nine-month low of 1.4% as pent-up demand during the festive months failed to sustain in November.
The unwelcome combination poses a dilemma for the RBI, which needs to raise interest rates to contain inflation even as businesses need monetary support to revive growth and add jobs. (Full report)
India’s three leading software services companies—Tata Consultancy Services Ltd (TCS), Infosys Ltd, and Wipro Ltd—kicked off the earnings season on Wednesday, reporting strong revenue numbers for the seasonally weak fiscal third quarter.
Infosys outshone its rivals, raising its full-year revenue growth forecast to 19.5-20% in constant currency from the 16.5-17.5% it had predicted earlier, citing strong demand.
Wipro, which forecasts for the quarter ahead, expects its March quarter revenue to grow in the range of 2-4% in constant currency from the preceding three months, translating to full-year growth of 27-28%. TCS does not give a revenue growth forecast but has indicated an upbeat outlook.
TCS’s net profit for the December quarter grew 12.3% from a year ago to ₹9,769 crore on the back of robust revenue growth of 16.3% to ₹48,885 crore. Consensus Bloomberg estimates pegged TCS’s profit at ₹9,980 crore and revenue at ₹48,533 crore. The Mumbai-based company’s dollar revenue grew 15.4% in constant currency to $6.52 billion.
Oil prices slipped on Thursday, trimming big gains from the previous two sessions, amid uncertainty over near-term demand as cases of the highly contagious Omicron variant of the coronavirus surge around the globe.
U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures slipped 7 cents, or 0.1%, to $82.57 a barrel, after climbing 1.7% in the previous session. Brent crude futures shed 6 cents, or 0.1%, to $84.61 a barrel, after rising 1.3% on Wednesday.
The Biden administration on Wednesday imposed its first sanctions over North Korea's weapons programs following a series of North Korean missile launches, including two since last week.
The sanctions targeted six North Koreans, one Russian and a Russian firm Washington said were responsible for procuring goods for the programs from Russia and China.
The U.S. Treasury said the steps aimed both to prevent the advancement of North Korea's programs and to impede its attempts to proliferate weapons technologies. (Reuters)
Besides the ten companies, shares of firms like Tata Metaliks, GTPL Hathway, CESC and Mindtree will be in focus as they announced their December quarter earnings today
Asia stocks were mixed Thursday. Nikkei index fell 0.37%; Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 Index rose 0.6%; Hang Seng Index rose 0.4%; Kospi index and Shanghai Composite Index was little changed
US stock indexes rose on Wednesday after data showed that while US inflation was at its highest in decades, it largely met economists' expectations, cooling some fears that the Federal Reserve would have to pull back support even more forcibly than already expected.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 38.3 points, or 0.11%, to 36,290.32, the S&P 500 gained 13.28 points, or 0.28%, to 4,726.35 and the Nasdaq Composite added 34.94 points, or 0.23%, to 15,188.39.
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