Commentary Financial News

According to the data, foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) made a net withdrawal of Rs 13,047 crore in Indian equities this month (till January 19). They pulled out over Rs 24,000 crore from equities during January 17-19. Before this, FPIs made a net investment of Rs 66,134 crore in December and Rs 9,000 crore in November.

At first glance, of course, the demon st r at ion of i nve stor confidence in a hitherto neglected investment pocket, which makes up nearly a sixth of the weighting on the Nifty, appears difficult to square with performance in the immediate past. Business growth has remained muted for most IT majors in the third quarter owing to multiple headwinds related to uncertainty in decision-making, deferred discretionary and technology spends, US recession concerns, and geopolitical tensions. Hence, the sentiment for Q4 is far from cheerful.

Market expert Ajay Bagga says the worst seems to be definitely over for the IT sector but the recovery will be slow. As we saw from the order books and the commentary of sluggish order flows coming through, margins are not that great and expectation is that it could take two to three quarters for things to normalise. What will be critical is how soon can they get onto the bandwagon of things like generative AI and machine learning. Those are the value additions that the market is looking to reward. But the worst is definitely over.” What is the market telling you because the midcap rally continues unabated and some very sharp earnings reactions, be it on the positive side by the IT big boys or on the negative by an HDFC Bank or for that matter, even IndusInd and Unilever? Ajay Bagga: Yes, quite surprising moves, actually, if you see and most of the impact has been due to the FII moves. Rs 23,000 crore worth shares being sold in these first few days, which was a surprise. We were not expecting a selloff by the FIIs and especially not of this magnitude. Maybe it is related to some of the Chinese money or the foreign money invested in China getting withdrawn and we being a collateral damage within GEM funds. Maybe some part of it was that. But I do not think fundamentally the earnings were that bad for the banks or were that good for the IT companies to see such sharp reactions.

At first glance, of course, the demonstration of investor confidence in a hitherto neglected investment pocket, which makes up nearly a sixth of the weighting on the Nifty, appears difficult to square with performance in the immediate past. Business growth has remained muted for most IT majors in the third quarter owing to multiple headwinds related to uncertainty in decision-making, deferred discretionary and technology spends, US recession concerns, and geopolitical tensions.

Hindustan Unilever (HUL) fell over 3% to the day's low of Rs 2,487 on Saturday following its December quarter earnings where the fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) sector bellwether reported disappointing earnings on Friday. The commentary by a couple of brokerages was uninspiring for investors with CITI reiterating an 'Equal Weight' rating, while Nuvama trimmed EPS estimates even as it retained a buy stance. The company posted a net profit growth of a mere 0.6% year-on-year (YoY) to Rs 2,519 crore while missing the ETNow poll estimate of Rs 2,724 crore. Revenue from operations fell 0.3% YoY to Rs 15,188 crore and also trailed estimates of Rs 15,533 crore. Read More: HUL Q3 Results: PAT rises just 0.6% YoY to Rs 2,519 crore, trails estimate Here's what brokerages recommended:

interest rates and resilient growth in 2024 took the S&P 500 stock index to a record high on Friday, after two roller-coaster years featuring soaring inflation, tumult in the banking industry and economic unease. The benchmark index topped 4,820 in the afternoon, as chipmakers and big technology stocks powered gains on optimism around artificial intelligence (AI). This put the index above its previous record intraday high of 4,818.62 set on Jan.

Federal Reserve won't start easing policy until May, traders bet on Friday, capping a week during which stronger-than-expected economic data and commentary from central bankers chipped away at financial market confidence in the idea of an earlier start to interest-rate cuts. On Friday, a widely watched measure of consumer sentiment rose to its highest level in 2-1/2 years, and Chicago Fed President Austan Goolsbee said the U.S. central bank won't commit itself to rate cuts until it is surer that inflation is on track to a healthy 2%. Futures contracts that settle to the Fed's policy rate fell, and now reflect about a 47% chance of a Fed rate cut by March, down from 55% earlier in the day. Just a week ago the probability of an interest-rate cut in March from the current range of 5.25%-5.5% was seen at nearly 80%, reflecting faster-than-expected declines in inflation.

Sensex cracked 1,628.01 points, or 2.23%, to end at 71,500.76, while the Nifty 50 ended 460.35 points, or 2.09%, lower at 21,571.95. “Hawkish Fed commentary, escalating tension in the Middle East, and a spike in bond yield dented investor sentiment. On the domestic front, the market would look at quarterly results for stock-specific action and we expect indices to consolidate after a sharp sell-off," said Siddhartha Khemka, Head - Retail Research, Motilal Oswal Financial Services Ltd.

As the stock market braces for a potential pullback, with CNBC’s Jim Cramer pointing to overvalued tech stocks and artificial intelligence ventures, the impact on cryptocurrency markets, particularly Bitcoin price prediction, becomes a focal point of interest.

The recent release of the Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) for 2022-23 has generated a considerable measure of interest and commentary, some of which has appeared in this newspaper. Reading these reveals that improvements in data can only be useful if they are accompanied by a better understanding of statistics. To paraphrase an exchange from an old British sitcom, with statistics you can prove anything, even the truth.

Asian Paints is likely to post a mixed bag performance during the quarter ending December. The paint demand as per analysts though was satisfactory during festival month of November, nevertheless lost steam thereafter. The monsoon pattern remined erratic and was not supportive for huge pick up in demand during the quarter.

Third-party (TP) motor insurance has seen a continued decline in performance, with a notable decrease in a key metric in December. Last month, gross direct premium growth for this segment was just 6% year-on-year, a drop from the 7% increase recorded in the preceding two months, according to data from the General Insurance Council and the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (Irdai).

By Ankur Banerjee

₹40,101 DMart achieved in Q3FY20," said analysts from Nuvama Institutional Equities. DMart added five new stores last quarter taking the total count to 341 with a retail business area of 14.19 million square feet. For the nine-month ended December, 17 stores were added vis-à-vis 22 in the same period last year.

India vs Afghanistan, 2nd T20: The youngsters of Team India on Sunday displayed some exceptional cricketing skills to take ‘Men in Blue’ to their second victory against Afghanistan and clinch the series by 2-0. Yashasvi Jaiswal and Shivam Dube played a stunning innings to take the game home by 6 wickets. The only thing that sunk the hearts of Indian fans was Rohit Sharma's second consecutive dismissal on a duck.

Wipro were better than estimates. Expectations were low as Q3 is a seasonally weak quarter due to furloughs coupled with the ongoing demand uncertainty. Notably, management commentary is still cautious with large-caps not seeing a visible pick-up in discretionary IT demand just yet.

information technology shares as investors judged the third-quarter earnings of sector leaders-TCS and Infosys-weren't as adverse as expected. The optimism inspired markets to overlook the escalating tensions in the Red Sea, which caused a jump in oil prices to $80 a barrel, and a hotter US consumer inflation report in December. The BSE Sensex gained 847.27 points, or 1.2%, to close at 72,568.45, off the record high of 72,720.96.

companies soared on Friday, emerging as some of the biggest gainers in the day's trading, as investors were relieved that December quarter earnings of the sector giants-TCS and Infosys-and their management commentaries were not as gloomy as they were expecting. Infosys shares surged 8.08% to close at Rs 1,615 on Friday and TCS shares gained 3.92% to close at Rs 3,881.90. Wipro advanced almost 4%, while Tech Mahindra, HCL Tech and LTI Mindtree gained between 4.5% and 5% each. «Both TCS and Infosys have reported marginally better earnings compared to the muted investor expectations which has led to the rally,» said Sumit Pokharna, VP and IT analyst, Kotak Securities.

Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) jumped over 3% to the day’s high of Rs 3,860.25 on the NSE after the brokerages remained upbeat on IT bellwether following its Q3 results wherein it beat revenue expectations even as the bottomline trailed Street view. Morgan Stanley upgraded the stock to Overweight while raising its price target post the quarterly performance while Motilal Oswal and Nuvama reiterated their buy stance on the counter. Kotak Institutional Equities reiterated an ‘Add’ rating on TCS shares. TCS on Thursday reported higher-than-expected revenue for the quarter ended December 2023, but the bottomline trailed expectations. India’s largest software service provider reported a 2% year-on-year (YoY) growth in consolidated net profit for the quarter to Rs 11,058 crore, and revenue increased by 4% to Rs 60,583 crore. Also Read: TCS Q3 Results: Profit rises 2% YoY to Rs 11,058 crore; revenue up 4% Here is what they recommend!

robbery attempt last week.Social media reaction has poured in since police on Tuesday reported on the dual charges stemming from an incident on Jan. 5 in which a suspect allegedly struck a store clerk with a baseball bat and demanded money.However, police report the 22-year-old clerk was able to gain possession of the bat and followed the suspect outside the store.

Bharat Electronics (BEL), HAL (Hindustan Aeronautics Limited), Data Patterns, and BDL (Bharat Dynamics). An ‘add’ rating typically suggests that the stocks are recommended for purchase, but investors are advised to exercise some caution. The brokerage expects a steady performance from Data Patterns (+43 percent YoY), BEL (+22 percent YoY), HAL (+9 percent YoY) and BDL (+55 percent YoY) as execution usually picks up in the second half.