PremiumFed official on Friday said he favours a lower rate hike in their next interest rate policy update as rates are already high enough to be slowing the economy. Meanwhile, strong earnings reports by US tech giants is also supporting the positive mood
Shares of JSW Energy slipped 6.2 percent on Monday, January 23 after the company reported a 45 percent decline in its consolidated net profit to ₹180 crore for the third quarter that ended December 31, 2022, as against ₹323.93 crore during the previous quarter ended December 2021. The company informed that the decrease is primarily due to lower short-term sales YoY, partly offset by the contribution from Vijayanagar Solar and higher other income in the quarter.
The government is unlikely to announce capital infusion for public sector banks (PSBs) in the upcoming budget because their financial health has improved significantly and they are on track to earn a combined profit of ₹1 lakh crore, according to PTI, citing sources.
For the first quarter of the current fiscal year, all 12 public sector banks earned a cumulative profit of about ₹15,306 crore, registering a 9.2% growth annually, while in the second quarter, the PSBs continued the same magnitude and posted a 50% YoY jump in combined net profit at ₹25,685 crore. (Read More)
Retirement fund body EPFO net added 16.26 lakh new subscribers in November 2022, registering a 16.50% rise as compared to the year-ago period, the Ministry of Labour & Employment said on Friday. The data indicate a 25.67 per cent increase in net additions compared to the previous month in October 2022, the data showed.
Of the total 16.26 lakh members added during the month, around 8.99 lakh new members came under the ambit of EPFO for the first time thus, showing that new members joining EPFO has increased by 1.71 lakh, from 7.28 lakh in October 2022. (Read More)
Oil prices drifted lower in early trade on Monday, thinned by the Lunar New Year holiday in east Asia, but held on to most of last week's gains on the prospect of an economic recovery in top oil importer China this year.
Brent crude futures was down by 46 cents, or 0.5%, to $87.17 at 0349 GMT, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures fell 36 cents, or down 0.4%, to $81.28 a barrel.
Last week Brent rose 2.8%, while the U.S. benchmark logged a 1.8% gain.
Analysts said that the optimism around China's reopening will likely drive oil prices higher.
Sukrit Vijayakar, director of energy consultancy Trifecta in Mumbai said the market wants to preserve long positions in case China growth resumes.
Data shows a solid pick-up in travel in China after COVID-19 curbs were eased, ANZ commodity analysts said in a note, pointing to a 22% jump in road traffic congestion so far this month from a year earlier in the country's 15 key cities. (Reuters)
Ultratech Cement witnessed a mixed performance in terms of profitability in December 2022 quarter (Q3FY23), however, revenue garnered strong growth. Consolidated Q3 PAT dropped by 38.03% to ₹1,058.20 crore compared to ₹1,707.72 crore in the same quarter a year ago. However, sequentially, the company's PAT rose by 40.02% as against a profit of ₹755.73 crore posted in the September 2022 quarter. Consolidated revenue from operations came in at ₹15,520.93 crore in Q3FY23, rising by 19.53% from ₹12,984.93 crore in Q3 of the previous fiscal. Also, revenue was up by 11.72% from ₹13,892.69 crore in the preceding quarter.
ICICI Bank on Saturday reported an over 34% jump in its net profit at ₹8,312 crore in December 2022 quarter on a consolidated basis, helped by an overall healthy performance. ICICI Bank shares rose more than a per cent to ₹883 apiece on the BSE in Monday's opening deals. The bank posted a deposit growth at a slower 10.3% amid the 'war for deposits' in the system, and the management pointed out to comfortable levels on liquidity coverage when asked about the divergence.
“Higher earnings growth was delivered by Home Finance, whereas Pru Life and Securities lagged. Asset quality stays robust & bank beefed up reserves. We raise estimates & keep ICICI Bank among our top-picks," said brokerage Jefferies which has a Buy tag on the bank stock and a target price of ₹1,150. (Read More)
The rupee rose by 19 paise to breach the 80 level against the US currency for the first time in two months on Monday due to a weak dollar in overseas markets.
A fall in crude oil prices and early gains in equity markets also supported the local currency, according to forex dealers.
At the interbank foreign exchange market, the rupee opened higher at 80.92 to a dollar against the previous close of 81.17. The local unit moved in a range of 81.02 to 80.88 in morning deals.
The rupee was trading at 80.98, showing gains of 19 paise over the previous close, at 0930 hrs.
The US dollar index, which gauges the greenback's strength against a basket of six currencies, declined 0.35 per cent to 101.65 amid concerns over US economic growth.
Crude oil prices also declined as traders awaited more clues on Chinese economic recovery and thin Asian trade volumes, analysts said. (PTI)
India’s bid to streamline bankruptcy proceedings includes provisions that could change the proportion of money creditors get from a firm’s liquidation.
To speed up proceedings and counter a mounting caseload, the Ministry of Corporate Affairs last week published published dozens of proposed amendments to the insolvency code, giving the public until Feb. 7 to provide input. Any changes to the law would have to be voted on by parliament.
Provisions under consideration include the introduction of a new electronic case management system, penalties for frivolous claims, and changes to the way secured and unsecured creditors can be treated when a company’s remaining assets get sold.
“These amendments, if it goes through, would go a long way in smoothening the process, reduce timelines and thereby improving the recoverability," said Prakash Agarwal, director and head of financial institutions, India Ratings and Research. “Given the limited clarity on the distribution of proceeds, there was lot of litigation taking place." (Bloomberg)
Shares of Yes Bank plunged more than 9% to ₹17 apiece on the BSE in Monday's opening deals after the lender reported a 80% fall its in quarterly net profit for the three-month period ended December 2022 as provisions for bad loans increased. Net profit fell to ₹51.5 crore from ₹266 crore in the year-earlier period. Analysts had expected profit to rise to ₹336 crore, according to Refinitiv IBES data.
India's overall oilmeal exports so far during the current financial year - April to December - were 60 per cent higher year-on-year at around 2.82 million tonnes, data compiled by vegetable oil industry body, The Solvent Extractors' Association of India (SEA), showed.
Oilmeals are basically the residue left over after the extraction of oil from oilseeds, and they are widely used as livestock feed the world over.
Till November, the total exports were at 2.39 million tonnes.
In December alone, exports of India's oilmeal were provisionally reported at 4,33,430 tonnes, up 153 per cent from 1,70,869 tonnes the same month last year, data showed.
Notably, the country's rapeseed exports during the first nine months of the current financial year set a new record and broke the earlier highest record export of 1.24 million tonne in 2011-12. So far in 2022-23, the total rapeseed exports were at 1.67 million tonne.
"Currently India is the most competitive supplier of rapeseed meal to South Korea, Vietnam, Thailand and other Far East Countries at USD 255 per tonne FOB (free on board) India while rapeseed meal Hamburg ex-mill quoted at USD 405 per tonne," SEA said in a release earlier this week. (ANI)
Nuvama Alternative & Quantitative Research highlighted the high conviction inclusions and exclusions for the upcoming review of the MSCI global standard index. The global index provider MSCI (Morgan Stanley Capital International) rebalances its indices semi-annually and quarterly. The announcement date is expected to be on Friday, February 10, 2023, whereas the adjustment date on Tuesday, February 28, 2023.
The brokerage and research firm's analysis and final predictions suggest that Bank of Baroda and CG Power could be two stocks that may see the possible inclusions in the index review whereas Biocon could see the exclusion in the February 2023 Rejig. (Read More)
Dr V K Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist at Geojit Financial Services: Nifty’s 17800-18200 range has been holding for sometime now. To break the upper end of the range, the market needs positive triggers. Early Q3 results broadly have been positive with IT companies and banks delivering good results. This trend continues with the latest results from ICICI and Kotak Bank. Reliance, too, has delivered a decent set of numbers. Positive news from the Fed meeting outcome and the Union Budget on 1st February can break the upper band of the Nifty range and take the market higher. On the contrary, if the Fed message and the Budget deliver negative news, the lower end of the range can be broken. Sustained FII selling is a near-term negative. Investors may wait for and watch these crucial numbers.
Spotify Technology SA is planning layoffs as soon as this week in an effort to curtail costs, according to people familiar with the plans. The number of job cuts wasn’t specified. Spotify laid off 38 people from its Gimlet Media and Parcast podcast studios in October, as well as podcast editorial employees in September. The music-streaming giant has about 9,800 employees, according to its third-quarter earnings report.
The company made a massive commitment to podcasting beginning in 2019. It spent over a billion dollars on acquiring podcast networks, creation software, a hosting service and the rights to popular shows like The Joe Rogan Experience and Armchair Expert. (Read More)
Revenue of the Indian leather apparel and accessories sector is expected to decline 7-8 per cent during the financial year 2023-24 (April-March), attributable to a slowdown in consumer demand in Europe and the US, said Crisil Ratings.
As much as 85-90 per cent of the production by the Indian leather apparel and accessories industry is exported. Europe and North America account for 75 per cent of this.
According to the rating agency, the expected fall in revenue is seen despite benefits that may emanate from a depreciating rupee. The depreciating rupee typically helps the export-oriented industry in getting higher realisation.
"Revenue is expected to be flattish in the current fiscal (2022-23), after the robust performance last fiscal, riding on strong demand-rebound, which had taken it beyond the pre-pandemic level," Crisil Ratings said in a report earlier this week. (ANI)
India's Bharat Petroleum Corp plans to shut its 156,000 barrels-per-day (bpd) Bina refinery in central India for about a month in June for maintenance, two sources familiar with the plan said. The state-run refiner also plans to shut half of its 240,000 bpd Mumbai refinery in western India for three to four weeks in September-October for maintenance, the sources said.
BPCL's spokesperson did not respond to a Reuters' request for comments.
Sources said the details of the shutdown plan are "tentative" and dates will be finalised later.
"As of now plan is to shut Bina refinery from June 1, once Numaligarh (refinery) is back from its shutdown," one of the sources said. (Read More)
STOCK IN FOCUS
Engineers India (CMP 88): Considering its asset-light business model, strong clientele base, foray into newer segments and healthy execution track record, we have our BUY rating on ENGR, with a SOTP-based Target Price of Rs100.
Intraday Picks
DABUR (PREVIOUS CLOSE: 566) BUY
For today’s trade, long position can be initiated in the range of Rs562-
559 for the target of Rs573 with a strict stop loss of Rs554.
SIEMENS (PREVIOUS CLOSE: 3,061) SELL
For today’s trade, short position can be initiated in the range of Rs3,085-
3,105 for the target of Rs2,980 with a strict stop loss of Rs3,157.
SRF (PREVIOUS CLOSE: 2,105) SELL
For today’s trade, short position can be initiated in the range of Rs2,114-
2,126 for the target of Rs2,055 with a strict stop loss of Rs2,155.
The Reserve Bank of India will likely appeal the Bombay high court ruling that quashed the regulator and Yes Bank administrator’s decision to write off additional tier-I (AT-I) bonds to save the lender from collapsing, according to two officials familiar with the matter.
This high court on Friday granted six weeks to Yes Bank to file its appeal against the order in the Supreme Court.
“RBI believes the writ petition is not maintainable and the order could have a huge sectoral impact. The central bank also believes that the administrator had all the powers of the board to write off the bonds and, therefore, the court’s argument is not valid," said one of the two officials aware of the matter, requesting anonymity. (Read More)
Axis Bank, IDBI Bank, Gland Pharma, Canara Bank, HFCL, Jindal Stainless, and Tata Communications will be among the stocks in focus as they declare their December quarter earnings today. (Read More)
Four of the 10 most valued firms together added ₹82,480.67 crore in market valuation last week, with HDFC Bank and Adani Total Gas emerging as the top gainers.
While Infosys and HDFC were the other gainers, Reliance Industries, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), ICICI Bank, Hindustan Unilever, State Bank of India and Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) faced erosion from their market valuation.
Last week, the 30-share BSE benchmark Sensex climbed 360.59 points or 0.59 per cent.
The valuation of HDFC Bank rallied ₹33,432.65 crore to ₹9,26,187.54 crore, the most among the top-10 firms.
Adani Total Gas, the new entrant to the coveted list, added ₹22,667.1 crore, taking its market valuation to ₹4,30,933.09 crore.
HDFC's valuation jumped ₹17,144.18 crore to ₹4,96,067.07 crore and that of Infosys climbed ₹9,236.74 crore to ₹6,41,921.69 crore. (PTI)
REC Ltd, a Maharatna Central Public Sector Undertaking is a subsidiary of Power Finance Corporation Limited (PFCL) and one of the dividend-paying stocks listed on Dalal Street. In the year 2022, this state-owned NBFC declared two interim dividends of ₹6 per equity share and ₹5 per equity share whereas it gave one final dividend of ₹4.80 per equity share, which means the PSU stock delivered three dividends in 2022 and total dividend given in the year gone by was ₹15.80 per equity share ( ₹6 + ₹5 + ₹4.80).
REC Ltd gave the first interim dividend of ₹6 per equity share in February 2022 and traded ex-dividend for the same on 15th February 2022. Later on it gave a final dividend of ₹4.80 per equity share and traded ex-dividend for this ₹4.80 per share dividend on 12th July 2022. The Maharatna PSU again announced an interim dividend of ₹5 per share and traded ex-dividend for the same on 7th November 2022. So, the PSU NBFC gave ₹15.80 per share dividend to its shareholders who remained invested in the scrip for entire 2022. (Read More)
The Indian rupee is expected to extend its gains this week, while government bond yields may move marginally higher due to worries about yet another year of elevated borrowing.
With a holiday-shortened week in India, the Chinese New Year, and no major data releases apart from U.S. economic growth and consumption prints towards the end of the week, market participants will keep a close eye on foreign portfolio inflows into Indian markets.
The rupee rose for a second straight week, gaining 0.25% over last week to end at 81.12 per dollar on Jan. 20, as the greenback slid on soft U.S. data.
The local unit is likely to add to its momentum and trade in a broad 80.50-81.50 range this week, analysts said.
"The rupee is expected to appreciate, but it may not go beyond 80.50-80.75 as the central bank could step in at those levels," said Arnob Biswas, head of FX research at SMC Global Securities. (Reuters)
The acquisition of IDFC Asset Management Company by the Bandhan Financial Holdings-led consortium is likely to be concluded this month with the payment of ₹4,500 crore, an official said on Sunday.
Re-branding of the company and mutual fund as Bandhan Asset Management Company Ltd and Bandhan Mutual Fund is also expected within January, he said.
"The deal transaction will be concluded with the payment of ₹4,500 crore next week. All approvals are in place," a top official of the consortium told PTI requesting anonymity.
Capital market regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India has granted “no objection" to IDFC Mutual Fund about its proposed change in ownership.
Banking sector regulator Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and the Competition Commission of India (CCI) have also given their approval earlier.
The logo of rechristened entity will be different from that of Bandhan Bank as the regulators were not in favour of such a proposal, he said. (PTI)
Vaishali Parekh has recommended three day trading stocks for today, here we list out full details in regard to those intraday stocks for Monday session:
1] Cochin Shipyard: Buy at ₹508, target ₹538, stop loss ₹500;
2] Greaves Cotton: Buy at ₹145, target ₹250, stop loss ₹143; and
3] Chalet Hotels: Buy at ₹340, target ₹356, stop loss ₹335. (Read More)
Private lender Kotak Mahindra Bank on Saturday said that the bank's board has approved issuance of listed, redeemable, unsecured non-convertible debentures on a private placement basis worth ₹2,000 crore in FY 2022-23.
“Approved issuance of listed, redeemable, unsecured non-convertible debentures (“NCDs"), in one or more tranches / series, on a private placement basis, for an amount not exceeding Rs. 2,000 crore, during the remaining period of FY 2022-23 under the prevailing Members’ approval," said Kotak Mahindra Bank in its regulatory filing. (Read More)
ICICI Bank on Saturday posted a surge of 34.5 per cent in its profit after tax to ₹8,792 crore, against ₹6,536 crore during the corresponding quarter the previous year.
The bank said the average current account and savings account (CASA) ratio was 44.6 per cent during the reviewed quarter. The lender said overall loan portfolio grew by 19.7 per cent year-on-year while domestic loan portfolio grew by 21.4 per cent year-on-year.
The lender's net non-performing assets (NPA) ratio declined to 0.55 per cent at December 31, 2022, from 0.61 per cent at September 30, 2022, the bank said. The lender in a statement released on Saturday said its provisioning coverage ratio on non-performing assets was 82 per cent at December 31, 2022.
Net interest income (NII) of the bank increased by 34.6 per cent year-on-year to ₹16,465 crore during October-December quarter from ₹12,236 crore in the year-ago period. The net interest margin was 4.65 per cent in the reviewed quarter, against 3.96 per cent during the corresponding quarter the previous year. (ANI)
Billionaire Gautam Adani's group plans to spin off businesses like hydrogen, airports and data centre between 2025 and 2028 after they achieve a certain investment profile, it's Chief Financial Officer Jugeshinder Singh said.
Adani Enterprises Ltd, which is looking to raise ₹20,000 crore in a follow-on share sale, is the business incubator for the group. Over the years, businesses such as ports, power and city gas were first incubated in AEL before being spun off or demerged into separate listed companies.
AEL currently houses new businesses such as hydrogen, where the group plans to invest USD 50 billion over the next 10 years across the value chain, flourishing airport operations, mining, data centre and roads and logistics.
"The businesses have to achieve a basic investment profile and maturity before being considered for a demerger. Between 2025 and 2028 we think these businesses can achieve the desired levels for a demerger," Singh told PTI. (PTI)
JSW Steel on Friday reported an 85.50% year-on-year (YoY) slump in its consolidated net profit for the fiscal third quarter ended December (Q3FY23) to ₹474 crore. The steelmaker had reported a profit of ₹4,516 crore in the year-ago period. Revenue from operations grew 2.79% YoY to ₹39,134 crore. Operating Ebitda (earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation) was at ₹4,030 crore during the quarter under review, with a margin of 13%.
Total income during October-December rose to ₹39,322 crore from ₹38,225 crore a year ago. Expenses were also higher at ₹38,288 crore as against ₹31,986 crore. (Read More)
Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Industries Ltd beat analysts’ expectations for quarterly profit as its new consumer ventures compensated for the decline in its chemicals business. Net profit fell 15% to ₹15,792 crore in the three months ended 31 December from ₹18,549 crore in the year earlier on rising expenses. However, the December quarter profit beat the ₹14,537 crore consensus analyst estimate, according to a Bloomberg survey.
The company’s consumer-facing ventures, Reliance Jio and Reliance Retail, posted strong growth, even as improved refining margins boosted the oil-to-chemicals (O2C) business despite weakness in the petrochemicals segment. Additionally, higher gas prices benefited the oil and gas exploration and production business. (Read More)
India’s IT and startup sectors may lay off 15,000 to 20,000 employees in the next six months, battling slowing demand after the hiring frenzy of the last two years inflated salary costs. Recruitment consultants expect fewer hiring mandates in the months ahead and have decided not to enter new businesses for now.
However, even as some IT and startup companies will shed staff to manage costs, others within the same sectors are hiring, too.
“We expect about 20,000 layoffs over the next few quarters. Over the last year, companies faced the fear of missing out on talent hiring and recruited in large numbers and paid them many folds more than inflation and market standards," said Lohit Bhatia, president of workforce management for recruitment firm Quess Corp. (Read More)
A rough week on Wall Street dominated by worries about a weakening economy ended Friday with a broad rally that gave the market its best day in two weeks.
The S&P 500 rose 1.9%. Despite the gains, the benchmark index still ended with its first weekly loss in the last three. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 1% and the Nasdaq composite closed 2.7% higher.
Technology and communication services stocks powered much of the gains as investors cheered another big quarterly surge in Netflix’s subscribers. Remarks from a Federal Reserve official also helped build hope among investors that the central bank may decide to slow its pace of interest rate hikes as soon as next month.
The major indexes started the week in the red largely because of worries that the economy may not be able to avoid a scarring recession. Several reports on the economy came in weaker than expected, as the full weight of the Federal Reserve’s hikes to interest rates last year started to make their way through the system.
Not long ago, bad news on the economy was often perversely good news for Wall Street. That’s because investors took it to mean the Fed may ease up on its rate hikes. But the bad news on the economy is increasingly becoming bad news for Wall Street, too, which is worrying more about the prospects of a serious recession.
But on Friday, Fed Gov. Christopher Waller said he favors just a quarter-point hike on Feb. 1, when the central bank gives its next interest rate policy update. Waller also said that rates are already high enough to be slowing the economy. The remarks could have helped calm rising-rate worries in the market. (AP)
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