Commentary Financial News

ICICI Bank and HDFC Bank emerging as the biggest gainers. Last week, the BSE benchmark declined 156.61 points, or 0.19 per cent. While HDFC Bank, Bharti Airtel, ICICI Bank, and the State Bank of India were the gainers, Reliance Industries, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), Infosys, Hindustan Unilever, ITC, and Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) suffered a combined erosion of Rs 76,622.05 crore from their market valuation.

Markets regulator Sebi on Friday clarified that investors can continue using 3-in-1 accounts to apply online for public issues of debt securities, non-convertible redeemable preference shares, municipal debt securities, and securitised debt instruments. This is in addition to the existing modes of application, Sebi said in a circular. A three-in-one trading account combines a savings account, a demat account, and a trading account into a single integrated solution. In this case, the clients would have their funds in their bank account, earning interest on the cash balances.

Revenue from operations in the reported quarter stood at Rs 693.50 crore, up 14% over Rs 608.04 crore posted by the company in the corresponding quarter of the previous financial year.

Adani Power Ltd. traded at Rs 606.3 on BSE at 01:29PM (IST) on Friday, down 0.46 per cent. The stock quoted a 52-week low price of Rs 289.3 and a high of Rs 896.75. Earlier in the day, the stock saw a gap up opening.

MphasiS Ltd. traded at Rs 3082.9 on BSE at 01:23PM (IST) on Friday, up 0.08 per cent from previous close. The scrip quoted a 52-week low price of Rs 2068.45 and a high of Rs 3186.95.

Max Healthcare Institute Ltd. rose 0.17 per cent to Rs 935.95 in Friday's trade. It hit an intraday high of Rs 943.3 and low of Rs 924.85, respectively, during the day. The stock quoted a 52-week high price of Rs 1117.05 and low of Rs 538.95.

Pankaj Pandey, Head Research, ICICIdirect.com, says typically, any year, one could easily get 10-12% kind of a correction, and multiple corrections in the market. So 6% is already run, at max possibly 4-5% is very much possible. But Pandey thinks that the market ideally should bottom out at current levels. The second half is expected to be better because a lot of ordering, tendering should happen given the fact that H1 was quite soft. A lot of sectors in the second half are expected to do well. ICICIdirect is maintaining a target price of 27,500 for Nifty and about 15-16% CAGR growth in earnings for the next two years. How are you looking at the overall earnings because that is a bit disconcerting? There is such a divergence from what the Street was pencilling in and the kind of commentary and the kind of results that a lot of companies have been putting out and also across-the-board, the slowdown seems to be quite evident. How much of a concern is that? Pankaj Pandey: Overall, this was expected to be a softer quarter. We are already at peak margins of 19-20% for Nifty. So, incrementally margin expansion was definitely not the case. And we all know that in big sectors like IT, the demand is still soft and possibly Q4 is where some bit of a revival can be expected and obviously, we will have US elections impacting the sentiment as well and commodity prices continue to remain soft whether it is for steel, whether it is for cement.

IT services company LTIMindtree shares are in focus on Friday after the firm reported 8% year-on-year (YoY) growth in its consolidated net profit at Rs 1,251 crore in the quarter ended September 2024. Revenue from operations in the reporting period rose 6% year-on-year to Rs 9,433 crore. In dollar terms, revenues for the quarter stood at $1.1 billion, showing a growth of 5% year-on-year and 3% quarter-on-quarter.

Andrew Holland, CEO, Avendus Capital, says it will be a margin story this earning season and the talk is on the pressure on margins and how that can be relieved. Holland does not think there is anywhere to hide at the moment. One can only hide in a bit of cash. So, increasing cash levels for the next few months would not be a bad idea given that earnings are not going to help. We have got the US elections and geopolitical problems plus, China is expected to do another stimulus. All of that plays badly for India in the short term. Did you anticipate this kind of carnage on Bajaj Auto post its numbers? Andrew Holland: It was not the numbers per se, it was more the commentary, wasn’t it? Whilst the festive season has picked up a little bit, it is nowhere near anyone's expectations. So, it has really thrown a damper on the whole market because we are all hoping or the market was hoping that the festive season would start to see a pickup in consumption and that is clearly not likely to happen now. On top of that, we anyway expected a weak earning season across the board. The market valuations does not support downgrades whether it is a company or the sector or the market overall. If the earnings continue like this, we could see another 5% correction from here.

Central Bank of India on Thursday posted a 51 per cent jump in profit at Rs 913 crore in the second quarter ended September 2024. The lender had earned a net profit of Rs 605 crore in the same quarter a year ago. Total income increased to Rs 9,849 crore during the quarter under review, as against Rs 8,412 crore in the same period last year, Central Bank of India said in a regulatory filing.

Bharat Forge Ltd. dropped 0.79 per cent to Rs 1463.35 at 01:07PM (IST) in Thursday's trade. The counter has hit a high of Rs 1475.4 and low of Rs 1443.35 so far during the session. The stock had closed at Rs 1475.05 in the previous session. The counter has had a total traded volume of 8718 shares so far with a value of Rs 1.27 crore on the NSE. It traded at a price-to-earnings multiple of 73.12 and a price-to-book ratio of 7.33.

Tata Power Company Ltd. rose 1.61 per cent to Rs 452.9 in Thursday's trade. It hit an intraday high of Rs 462.7 and low of Rs 451.5, respectively, during the day. The stock quoted a 52-week high price of Rs 494.85 and low of Rs 230.75.

Cummins India Ltd. slipped 2.13 per cent to Rs 3715.1 in Thursday's trade as of 12:47PM (IST). The stock hit a high price of Rs 3838.55 and low of Rs 3711.0 during the session.

Macquarie has a neutral rating on Bajaj Auto while Jefferies has a buy rating on KIE Industries. Macquarie has maintained its outperform rating on Zydus Life and Investec has retained a sell rating on L&T Technology.

In the wake of TD Bank’s recent money-laundering guilty plea, with a steep US$3-billion penalty and the imposition of roadblocks to future growth in the United States, it is now established fact that the bank experienced justice under U.S. anti-money-laundering laws. A Financial Times commentary stated: “The punishments are severe. But then again, so were the failings.” It’s a perspective shared by media commentary everywhere.

Quant Mutual Fund has invested around Rs 2,000 crore in the Adani Enterprises Qualified Institutions Placement (QIP). The QIP committee has approved the total issue size aggregating to approximately Rs 4,200 crore, under the issue by provisions of SEBI ICDR Regulations. As a percentage of total issue size, Quant Mutual Fund has invested nearly 47% in the QIP. Among the list of participants, a major stake was held by Quant Mutual Fund. Five schemes were from Quant Mutual Fund. Quant Small Cap Fund got the highest stake where around 24.68 lakh shares were allotted which is nearly 17.40% of the total issue size.

Wipro is expected to report a revenue decline of 1.1% to 1.7% on a year-on-year (YoY) basis for the quarter ended September 30, 2024, according to average estimates from five brokerages, which have pegged the topline in a range of Rs 22,134 crore to Rs 22,516 crore. Estimates for the company's net profit growth for Q2 are expected to range between 5.5% and 19.5%, resulting in PAT of Rs 2,646 crore to Rs 3,161 crore.

Sebi) has raised the position limit — restrictions put in place on the maximum holdings — for trading members in the equity derivatives segment. The overall position limits for client and proprietary trades, in index futures and options contracts will be set at ₹7,500 crore or 15% of the total open interest or outstanding positions in the market, Sebi said in a circular on Tuesday. This would come into effect immediately.

Shares of Garuda Construction and Engineering Ltd on Tuesday jumped over 12 per cent in market debut trade against the issue price of Rs 95. The stock listed at Rs 103.20, registering a jump of 8.63 per cent from the issue price on the BSE. During the day, it surged 27.08 per cent to Rs 120.73. Shares of the firm ended at Rs 106.83, rising 12.45 per cent. At the NSE, shares of the firm made the debut at Rs 105, up 10.52 per cent. The stock soared 27.35 per cent to Rs 120.99 during the day. It later ended at Rs 105.

Marico Ltd. traded 0.47 per cent down at Rs 685.75 at 01:17PM (IST) on Tuesday, even as BSE benchmark Sensex dropped 256.91 points to 81716.14. The stock had settled at Rs 689.0 in the previous session. The stock quoted a 52-week high price of Rs 719.8 and 52-week low of Rs 486.75, respectively. As per BSE data, total traded volume on the counter till 01:17PM (IST) stood at 4462 shares with a turnover of Rs 0.31 crore.

Globe Civil Projects Ltd on Tuesday said it has filed preliminary papers with markets regulator Sebi to raise funds through an initial public offering. The initial public offering (IPO) is entirely a fresh issue of 1.9 crore equity shares with no offer-for-sale component, according to the DRHP filed with Sebi. The company plans to list the shares on BSE and NSE.