PremiumMost Asian indices tracked Friday's Wall Street gain to close in green. Tokyo market shed as investors are waiting for BoJ policy decision amidst a strong yen. Mainland China and Hong Kong closed in green, and European stocks traded higher in the morning session.
Indian shares reversed gains on Monday amidst volatility due to extended foreign investor selling and higher oil prices, which offset better-than-expected earnings from the country's largest private lender HDFC Bank.
The Nifty 50 ended down 62 points at 17,894, while the S&P BSE Sensex fell 170 points to 60,092. Both benchmarks had risen over 0.5% intraday during the session.
Barring IT, PSU Bank and FMCG, all the other 10 major sectoral indexes declined with Finance, Media, Auto and Metal falling the most. PSU Bank rose 1.6% and IT 1.1%.
All top stock climbers were from the IT sector with Tech Mahindra adding 3% followed by HCL Tech, Infosys, Wipro and TCS with each gaining more than a per cent. Adani Enterprises and Axis Bank shed more than 2%.
Japan's Nikkei share average ended at more than a week low on Monday with exporters feeling the pressure from a stronger yen as investors bet the Bank of Japan could be forced to tweak stimulus settings again as soon as this week. The Nikkei fell 1.14% to close at its lowest since Jan. 5. The broader Topix lost 0.88%.
China stocks jumped to a four-month high aided by strong foreign inflows, while Hong Kong shares edged up as investors doubled down their bets on economic recovery after Chinese health officials said COVID-19 infections in the country had peaked.
China's blue-chip CSI300 Index ended the session up 1.6%, while the Shanghai Composite Index climbed 1%. Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index was 0.04% higher.
European shares inched higher on Monday, extending their sharp rally since the start of 2023, as healthcare stocks boosted the benchmark index to a near nine-month high.
UK's export-oriented FTSE 100 edged higher on Monday, with banks and life insurance companies among the top gainers, while investors looked ahead to a week lined up with key domestic economic data including inflation.
Electric vehicle maker Triton EV is in the process to acquire debt-ridden AMW Motors' manufacturing plant in Bhuj for ₹210 crore, according to sources.
The source told PTI on the sidelines of the Auto Expo 2023 that the National Company Law Tribunal, Ahmedabad bench has approved a resolution plan submitted by Triton Electric Vehicle LLC last month.
"Triton Electric Vehicle LLC has emerged as the successful bidder for plant and machinery, land and building etc of AMW Motors for ₹210 crore. The resolution plan has been approved by NCLT, Ahmedabad bench on December 21, 2022," the source said.
When contacted, Triton EV founder and managing director Himanshu Patel confirmed the development.
"We are working on completing the regulatory process and approvals. We will try to make the plant operational at the earliest possible time frame after all approvals are in place," Patel said. (PTI)
India's merchandise trade deficit in December widened to $23.89 billion as against $21.10 billion year-on-year (YoY). However, the number was largely flat as compared to $23.89 billion in the previous month, according to the data released by the commerce ministry on Monday. A trade deficit occurs when a country imports more than it exports. In other words, when a country buys more than it sells, it has a trade deficit.
The country's merchandise exports in December last year dipped by 12.2% to $34.48 billion as compared to $39.27 billion in the same month last year. (Read More)
The Supreme Court on Monday listed on 18 January US tech-giant Google's plea challenging the order of the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal(NCLAT) refusing an interim stay on the competition regulator imposing a ₹1,337 crore penalty on it. The SC bench, comprising Chief Justice DY Chandrachud and Justices PS Narasimha and J B Pardiwala, asked senior advocate AM Singhvi, appearing for Google, to clarify on Wednesday if standards deployed in Europe can also be deployed in India. (Read More)
The latest report by the United Nations agency has given a negative forecast regarding the job sector for 2023. The International Labour Organization (ILO)'s latest report has predicted a whopping rise in the unemployment rate this year. ILO's report stated that growth is expected to slow down sharply to 1% this year due to the economic fallout of the war in Ukraine, high inflation, and tighter monetary policy. ILO's latest job forecast is lower than its previous estimate of 1.5% growth for 2023. (Read More)
India's ShareChat, a short video-sharing platform backed by Google and Temasek, said on Monday it let go of around 20% of its employees, as startups face increasing pressure from investors to cut costs.
"There is a growing market consensus that the current global economic downturn would be a much more sustained one, and we thus have to, unfortunately, seek more cost savings by reducing our team size," ShareChat Chief Executive Officer Ankush Sachdeva said in an internal memo seen by Reuters. (Read More)
Paytm Payments Bank on Monday said it has received final approval from the Reserve Bank of India to operate as a Bharat Bill Payment Operating Unit (BBPOU).
Under Bharat Bill Payment System (BBPS), a BBPOU is allowed to facilitate bill payment services of electricity, phone, DTH, water, gas insurance, loan repayments, FASTag recharge, education fees, credit card bill and municipal taxes.
BBPS is owned by the National Payments Corporation of India.
So far, Paytm Payments Bank Ltd (PPBL) has been undertaking this activity under in-principle authorisation from RBI.
"PPBL has got the final approval from RBI to operate as Bharat Bill Payment Operating Unit (BBPOU) under the Payment and Settlement Systems Act, 2007. As an entity under Bharat Bill Payment System (BBPS), PPBL has got the final authorization to conduct bill payment and aggregation business as a BBPOU," the company said in a statement.
Under RBI's guidance, PPBL will display all agent institutions onboard on its website. (PTI)
National Investment and Infrastructure Fund Ltd’s (NIIF) Fund of Funds has announced an anchor commitment of ₹400 crore (around $48.5 million) to consumer-focused Nykaa and Fabindia-backer Lighthouse Advisors Pvt. Ltd’s fourth alternative investment fund (AIF) to become its first domestic institutional investor.
“With a target size of up to ₹3,500 crore (around $425 million), Lighthouse India Fund IV AIF will invest in high-growth businesses in sectors such as healthcare, specialty manufacturing, digital transformation, and consumer products and services," NIIF said in a statement. (Read More)
India Inc is likely to see an average salary increment of 9.8 per cent in 2023, slightly higher than a 9.4 per cent hike in 2022, and for top talent the increase will be much more, says a survey.
According to Korn Ferry's latest India Compensation Survey, organizations are focused on retaining critical and key talent through various talent management initiatives and formal retention and compensation plans.
The survey that covered 818 organisations with more than 800,000 incumbents noted that salaries are set to increase by 9.8 per cent in India in 2023.
While the increment was significantly down at 6.8 per cent in the pandemic-hit 2020, the current growth trend reflects the resilience and ability of leaders and employees to reimagine and rebuild for a sustainable future.
In alignment with India’s focus on accelerated digital capability building, the survey has projected substantial increments in life sciences & healthcare and high technology sectors at 10.2 per cent and 10.4 per cent, respectively. (PTI)
Federal Bank on Monday reported at % rise in its standalone net profit at ₹803.6 crore during the third quarter ended December 2022 for the current fiscal or Q2 FY23, up 54% as compared to ₹521.7 crore in the same quarter in the previous fiscal. Shares of Federal Bank were trading nearly a per cent higher at ₹139 apiece on the BSE in afternoon deals.
The lender's net interest income (NII), which is the difference between the interest earned and expended, rose 27% to ₹1,956 crore as compared to ₹1,539 crore year-on-year (YoY). Its provisions (other than tax) and contingencies slipped to ₹198.7 crore versus ₹267.8 crore QoQ and from ₹213.9 crore YoY. (Read More)
Viacom18, owned billionaire Mukesh Ambani's Reliance Industries Ltd., has picked up media rights for the Women’s Indian Premier League (WIPL) for ₹951 crore for the next five years. The company will pay a per match value of ₹7.09 crore during 2023-27, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) said on Monday. BCCI secretary Jay Shah, in a tweet, congratulated the broadcaster and said it was a "massive win for women's cricket". It is expected that the five teams for the first edition of WIPL will be revealed on 25 January. (Read More)
Oil dropped for the first time in eight sessions as traders took stock of a complex outlook for worldwide demand, with China’s reopening delivering a lift while other parts of the global economy slow.
West Texas Intermediate fell toward $79 a barrel after rallying more than 8% last week. China ditched Covid-19 curbs in late 2022 after years of strict lockdowns. That’s set to improve economic activity and mobility, with analysts forecasting oil demand in the top crude importer will likely hit a record.
Crude has had a bumpy start to the year, collapsing in the opening week before rebounding. In addition to China’s swift pivot, support for crude prices in recent sessions has come from growing expectations that the Federal Reserve is now nearing an end to rate hikes, and a weakening dollar. Traders are also tracking the impact of sanctions on Russian oil and product flows. (Bloomberg)
Japan's Nikkei share average ended at more than a week low on Monday, with exporters feeling the pressure from a stronger yen as investors bet the Bank of Japan could be forced to tweak stimulus settings again as soon as this week.
The Nikkei fell 1.14% to close at 25,822.32, its lowest close since Jan. 5. The broader Topix lost 0.88% to 1,886.31.
The yen reached its strongest since May at 127.215 per dollar with speculators ramping up wagers that the BOJ's yield curve controls are becoming untenable amid rising inflationary pressure.
The central bank sets policy on Wednesday, after shocking markets last month by doubling the band that it lets the 10-year Japanese government bond yield move around zero, to a range of -0.5% to 0.5%.
The benchmark yield exceeded that target for a second day on Monday, reaching 0.51%. (Reuters)
India's annual wholesale price index (WPI) inflation for the month of December 2022 eased to 4.95%, at a 22-month low, mainly due to fall in prices of food articles and crude petroleum, the government data showed on Monday. The Wholesale Price Index (WPI)-based inflation was 5.85% in November 2022 and 14.27% in December 2021.
“The decline in the rate of inflation in December 2022 is primarily contributed by fall in prices of food articles, mineral oils, crude petroleum & natural gas, food products, textiles and chemicals & chemical products," the commerce and industry ministry said in a statement. The WPI Inflation slipped below 5% for the first time since February 2021. (Read More)
Around 58 per cent of developers expect housing prices to increase this year because of rise in input costs, while 32 per cent builders feel it will remain stable, according to a survey.
According to the 'Real Estate Developers Sentiment Survey', by Realtors apex body CREDAI, real estate consultant Colliers India and property research firm Liases Foras, 43 per cent of developers expect residential demand to remain stable in 2023, while 31 per cent feel the demand would increase up to 25 per cent.
As many as 341 real estate developers from various parts of the country participated in the joint survey conducted during the last two months.
"An overwhelming 58 per cent of the developers feel that housing prices are likely to rise in 2023 amidst volatile input costs, economic uncertainties and sustained inflation rates," the report said.
However, the survey revealed that about 32 per cent of the developers believe that the prices will remain stable in 2023. (PTI)
State-owned NHAI has no information about faulty FASTags and the penalties collected from motorists in case their FASTags are non-functional at highway toll plazas.
In case a motorist does not have a FASTag or it is non-functional, then the person has to pay double the toll charges at toll plazas.
According to the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI), more than 6 crore FASTags have been issued as on October 31, 2022.
However, it has no information about the number of faulty FASTag cases and the total amount of penalty collected from users despite having their vehicles fitted with the Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) tag.
In response to RTI queries about the number of faulty FASTag cases and the amount of penalties collected from the users for non-functional FASTags, NHAI said, "no such data is available". (PTI)
Shares of L&T Finance Holdings surged up to 5% to hit a 52-week high level of ₹98 apiece on the BSE in Monday's trading session after the company on Friday reported a 39% jump in net income to ₹454 crore for the December 2022 quarter, driven by record retail loan sales. The key profitability gauge net interest margin (NIM) and fee income rose 70 bps to 8.80% whereas Retail NIM and fees reached 11.38%, up 25 bps.
The non-banking lender in the earnings stated said that the highest-ever quarterly retail loan sales had its retail portfolio mix rising to 64% of the total loan book, up from 58% in the year-ago quarter, Dinanath Dubhashi, the managing director & chief executive officer (MD and CEO) of L&T Finance said that the company is progressing well on its journey towards mission 2026 to become a digitally-enabled retail finance company. (Read More)
China stocks jumped to a four-month high on Monday, while Hong Kong shares also advanced, as investors doubled down their bets on economic recovery after Chinese health officials said COVID-19 infections in the region likely peaked.
** China's blue-chip CSI300 Index rose 2% by the lunch break, while the Shanghai Composite Index climbed 1.4%. Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index was up 0.7%.
** Beijing said on Saturday nearly 60,000 people with COVID-19 had died in hospital since it abandoned its zero-COVID policy last month. But on the bright side, Chinese health officials said the number of patients visiting fever clinics and needing emergency treatment was steadily falling, and the number of severe cases had also peaked.
** "Overall, the latest data confirmed that the worst of China's exit wave is behind us," OCBC Bank wrote in a note on Monday.
** China also reported a sharp rise in travel ahead of the Lunar New Year holiday, and on Sunday, China resumed the high-speed rail services between Hong Kong and the mainland for the first time since the beginning of the pandemic. The Chinese gambling hub of Macau expected a Spring Festival boom in tourism. (Reuters)
After the announcement of the Q3FY23 business update, Sula Vineyards shares have attracted huge buying interest by Dalal Street bulls in early morning deals on Monday. Sula Vineyards' share price today opened upside and went on to hit an intraday high of ₹357.70 apiece on NSE, logging its highest intraday rise of nearly 10 per cent on Monday.
According to stock market experts, Sula Vineyards shares are bouncing back from its lows after the strong Q3FY23 business update where it has reported strong 13 per cent YoY volume growth with realisation. In the recently ended December 2022 quarter, Sula Vineyards Ltd has reported its highest-ever quarterly gross billing, both from its own brands and from its wine tourism business. (Read More)
India's top carmaker Maruti Suzuki on Monday said it was raising prices by an average 1.1% across its models, with effect from Jan. 16, prompted by cost pressures.
In December, Maruti had said it would have to raise prices in January to pass on the impact from high inflation and cost pressures related to regulatory requirements. (Reuters)
Shares of India's Avenue Supermarts Ltd, which operates the D-Mart retail chain, fell to a six-month low on Monday after the company reported that quarterly core profit margins shrunk due to weak demand.
The company said its earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) margins fell to 8.34% in the third quarter from 9.39% a year earlier.
It said the decline mainly reflected a change in product mix and weaker-than-expected discretionary non-FMCG sales.
Avenue Supermarts's shares fell as much as 5.13% to 3,665.50 rupees on Monday. (Reuters)
Gold extended gains to hit fresh highs in Indian markets. On MCX, futures rose 0.35% to ₹56517 per 10 gram, surpassing previous high of ₹56,370, hit on Friday. Silver also firmed with futures rising 0.75% to ₹70,000 per kg level.
Gold rates have been on a upward trend since November, as a softer dollar and expectations of slower interest rate hikes from the US Federal Reserve added to bullion's shine. In global markets, spot gold was up 0.3% to nine-month high of $1,926.07 per ounce. The dollar index today further slipped 0.3%, making dollar-priced gold a more attractive bet. (Read More)
The rupee gained 9 paise to 81.29 against the US dollar in early trade on Monday supported by broad dollar weakness and a firm trend in domestic equities.
Forex traders said sustained foreign fund outflows weighed on investor sentiments and restricted the appreciation bias.
At the interbank foreign exchange, the domestic unit opened at 81.29 against the dollar, registering a rise of 9 paise over its previous close.
On Friday, it depreciated by 8 paise to close at 81.38 against the US dollar.
Meanwhile, the dollar index, which gauges the greenback's strength against a basket of six currencies, fell 0.32 per cent to 101.87.
Brent crude futures, the global oil benchmark, fell 0.53 per cent to USD 84.83 per barrel.
According to Sriram Iyer, Senior Research Analyst at Reliance Securities, the Indian rupee opened stronger on Monday, tracking a weak dollar and a possibility of smaller rate hike from the US Fed in February. (PTI)
Dr V K Vijayakumar, chief investment strategist at Geojit Financial Services: A major trend in the market in 2022 was the tug-of-war between FIIs and DIIs. The massive selling by FIIs was absorbed by DII buying. 2023 has begun on a similar note. Last week, FIIs sold equity for ₹9605 crores in the cash market and this was easily absorbed by DII buying of ₹ ₹10042 crores. So long as the fundamentals of the economy and corporate earnings are good, FII selling is unlikely to impact the market significantly. India’s macros are stable and early Q3 results indicate good earnings growth. Q3 results of IT majors and HDFC Bank indicate that IT and banking are on strong wicket. Some FIIs are shorting India and moving money to other markets like Taiwan, South Korea and Thailand, purely on valuation concerns. This trend is unlikely to last long. Dollar index dipping to 101.85 is positive for emerging market equity and India cannot be ignored for long.
At a time when the main board initial public offerings (IPOs) have failed to make any significant buzz on Dalal Street, a good number of IPOs in the SME segment have delivered a whopping return to their shareholders. While SME stocks like Droneacharya Aerial have been hitting the circuit since it listing in secondary markets, there is a big list of SME shares that have remained a money-making stock for its investors since its listing in recent months.
BSE SME IPO Insolation Energy is one such public issue. It was launched in September 2022 at a price band of ₹36 to ₹38 and the public issue listed on the BSE SME exchange on 10th October 2022 at ₹76 apiece levels, giving a whopping 100 per cent premium to its allottees. (Read More)
A new study on Monday showed that the richest 1% in India now own more than 40% of the country's total wealth, while the bottom half of the population together share just 3% of wealth, according to the news agency PTI. The rights group Oxfam International has released the India supplement of its annual inequality report on the first day of the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting here.
It said that taxing India's ten richest at 5% can fetch entire money to bring children back to school. The report is titled ‘Survival of the Richest’. (Read More)
In cryptocurrencies, Bitcoin price today gained to trade above $21,000 as the world's largest and most popular digital token was trading with gains of more than 2% at $21,190. It crossed the level on Saturday, first since November 8, 2022. The price of Bitcoin was stuck in a narrow range around $16,000 to $17,000 for weeks before the latest breakout.
The overall market cap of the crypto universe rose above $1 trillion during the weekend for the first time since early November, according to data from CoinGecko. The global cryptocurrency market cap today was up over 2% in the last 24 hours to $1.04 trillion, as per the data by CoinGecko. (Read More)
STOCK IN FOCUS
Hero MotoCorp (CMP 2,728): In view of likely rural revival, focus on premium segment, HMCL’s market leadership position to capitalize on the demand recovery and attractive valuation, we have BUY rating on HMCL with a 1-Year Target Price of Rs3,000.
EQUITY INDICES
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New Delhi Television Ltd said on Friday that some more of its senior executives, including President Suparna Singh, had resigned, a move that comes less than a month after the Adani Group took control of about 65% of the Indian broadcaster.
NDTV's chief strategy officer, Arijit Chatterjee, and chief technology and product officer, Kawaljit Singh Bedi, also quit, resignations that come after founders Prannoy Roy and Radhika Roy left the company's board in December.
That was also when the Roys sold most of their stake in NDTV to the Adani Group, giving the billionaire Gautam Adani-led conglomerates control of the broadcaster four months after it launched a takeover attempt.
NDTV made several failed attempts to block the takeover, citing regulatory restrictions on moving shares.
The ports-to-energy conglomerate's takeover had stoked fears over the freedom of the press among some journalists and led to Ravish Kumar, a senior executive editor at NDTV, resigning soon after Adani acquired its stake. (Reuters)
Private lender HDFC Bank's quarterly profit rose 19%, surpassing estimates, at ₹12,259.5 crore for the third quarter ended December 2022 as compared to ₹10,342 crore in the corresponding quarter of the previous fiscal year.
“Results were in line with our expectation except for NIM, which remained flat qoq. We see loan repricing benefit to have larger impact on NIMs of other private peers like ICICI Bank & Axis Bank. The near term business strategy would focus on creating enablement for smooth amalgamation, hence growth in deposit and retail loan including SME/Agri would take centre stage," said analysts at PhillipCapital. (Read More)
Federal Bank, Bank of Maharashtra, Angel One, Kesoram Industries, SVP Global Textiles, and Indian Acrylics will be among the stocks in focus as they declare their December quarter earnings today. (Read More)
Asian shares started cautiously on Monday as investors waited nervously to see if the Bank of Japan (BOJ) will defend its super-sized stimulus policy at a pivotal meeting this week, while a holiday in U.S. markets made for thin trading. There were even rumours the BOJ might hold an emergency meeting on Monday as it struggles to defend its new yield ceiling in the face of massive selling. That had markets in an anxious mood and Japan's Nikkei slipped 0.9% in early trading. (Read More)