Commentary Financial News

Shareholder resolutions with more than 20% dissent from institutional shareholders dropped to 16% in the recently concluded proxy season, down from 17% in the previous two fiscals, as per data from primeinfobase.com. In actual numbers, 1,581 out of 10,092 resolutions saw more than 20% of institutional shareholders express their dissent in FY25 so far. However, 98% of them still passed, mostly owing to high promoter holding in the companies.

rupee slipped 1 paisa to an all-time low of 84.40 against the US dollar in early trade on Thursday, weighed down by unabated foreign fund outflows and strong dollar demand from investors. Forex traders said the downward pressure on the USD/INR pair is largely driven by persistent inflation and significant foreign outflows. At the interbank foreign exchange, the rupee opened at 84.40 against the greenback, registering a fall of 1 paisa over its previous close.

Siddha Ventures Ltd.(up 20.00%), Multibase India(up 19.99%), Fluidomat Ltd(up 19.99%), Banco Products(up 18.14%), Mahalaxmi Rub(up 17.73%) and Dishman Carbogen(up 16.74%) were among the stocks that surged over 15%.

At around $1.06, the euro has slumped nearly 5% from more than one-year highs in September when a weakening economic outlook stopped it in its tracks.

Shares of ended the day as top gainers in the pack.

stood among the top gainers.

shares opened slightly lower on Wednesday, mainly dragged by technology stocks, while investors focussed on a key U.S. inflation print due later in the day that could alter market expectations on the Federal Reserve's interest rate path. The pan-European STOXX 600 slipped 0.1%, as of 0809 GMT, extending losses after a near 2% drop on Tuesday.

Ashok Leyland Ltd. 0.88 per cent to Rs 219.35 at 01:58PM hours (IST) on Wednesday. Earlier in the day, the stock saw a gap down start to the session. As per data available on BSE, total traded quantity on the counter stood at 358,929 shares with a turnover of Rs 7.78 crore till 01:58PM (IST). The stock traded at a price-to-earnings (P/E) multiple of 24.35, while the price-to-book value ratio stood at 5.58.

HDFC Asset Management Company Ltd. 2.17 per cent to Rs 4300.65 in Wednesday's trade as of 01:48PM (IST). The stock hit a high price of Rs 4366.60 and low of Rs 4260.00 during the session.

GAIL (India) Ltd. 1.85 per cent to Rs 190.45 at 12:41PM (IST) in Wednesday's trade. The scrip has hit a high of Rs 194.70 and low of Rs 189.85 so far during the session. The stock had closed at Rs 194.05 in the previous session. The counter has had a total traded volume of 315400 shares so far with a value of Rs 6.04 crore on the NSE. It traded at a price-to-earnings multiple of 10.88 and a price-to-book ratio of 1.55.

Lupin Ltd. traded 2.31 per cent in Wednesday's trade at 12:51PM (IST). Around 8,814 shares changed hands on the counter. The scrip opened at Rs 2111.95 and touched an intraday high and low of Rs 2111.95 and Rs 2036.75, respectively, in the session so far. The stock of Lupin Ltd. quoted a 52-week high of Rs 2312.00 and a 52-week low of Rs 1153.55.

FSN E-Commerce Ventures, which operates Nykaa will be in focus today as the company reported strong numbers in the second quarter ended September 2024. Nykaa reported 66% growth in its consolidated net profit at Rs 13 crore in the second quarter. It was Rs 7.8 crore in the last quarter.

earnings season is underway and as many as 540 companies will announce their quarterly numbers for the July-September 2024 period today. Key results to watch out for include that of Vodafone Idea, Eicher Motors and GRSE. Apart from the above, Optiemus Infracom, Panacea Biotech, Pasupati Fincap, MRO-Tek Realty, MPDL, Monind, Kaveri Seed Company, Jagatjit Industries, Gita Renewable Energy, Emerald Leisures, Arkade Developers, Aayush Wellness, Brigade Enterprises, Crane Infrastructure and a few others will announce their quarterly results.

Tata Power Company Ltd. traded 2.69 per cent in Tuesday's session at 01:08PM (IST). The stock opened at Rs 431.55 and has touched an intraday high and low of Rs 436.25 and Rs 418.50, respectively, during the session so far. The stock quoted a 52-week high of Rs 494.85 and a 52-week low of 251.40. About 487,800 shares changed hands on the counter so far.

Avenue Supermarts Ltd. 0.47 per cent to Rs 3868.00 in Tuesday's trade as of 01:02PM (IST) even as the benchmark Nifty ruled at 24024.35, 116.96 points. The scrip had closed at Rs 3886.35 in the previous session. The stock quoted a 52-week low of Rs 3645.65 and a high of Rs 5484.00. The company quoted a market-cap of Rs 251862.98 crore on the BSE.

Gautam Duggad, Head Of Research, Director — Institutional Equities, Motilal Oswal, says in consumption stocks, they are down from big overweight to neutral. They are more positive on IT, private banks, real estate and industrials, where they have increased weight. They used to be significantly overweight on consumer discretionary in our model portfolio for the last three years. But even there, they have cut some weights. They used to hold 11 consumption stocks, out of which 9 were discretionary till July. Now, that is down to 6 or 7. On the other hand, in private banks, they are overweight after two years and Tech, they have gone overweight in July. In October, they made it even bigger overweight. What about the underperforming pockets. Pretty much all of consumption has been subpar, as per Street anticipation. Do you think much of the pain is in the price, especially for some of the paint and FMCG categories and do they now become attractive buys or is the pain going to linger on for the next few quarters? Gautam Duggad: Consumption is a very broad ocean now. It is no longer just FMCG. You have at least 10 sub-categories in discretion apart from staples. Staples have clearly slowed down and the signs were visible even a few quarters back when we were seeing urban growth coming off. Today, we are in a situation where as per the Nielsen or some other syndicate data which has come out a couple of days back, the urban growth has come down with just 2.8% at a very top-down industry level, which was 11% a year back.

While stating that they are fully invested at all times with a bottom-up approach to investing in great businesses at attractive valuations, Trupti Agrawal, Fund Manager at WhiteOak Capital AMC, finds more opportunities within Private Financials, Consumer Discretionary, Industrials, Healthcare, and Communication Services. «Irrespective of market levels, at every point in time there will be companies which will be relatively undervalued and our portfolio will reflect some of these new ideas, if they meet our framework of great business,» she says. Edited excerpts from a chat: How have you been tweaking your portfolios in the last few months amid all the concern around valuation and earnings growth slowing down?

Mayuresh Joshi, Head Equity, Marketsmith India, says the ratings for UPL probably look a little bit weak whereas their peers – Paradeep Phosphates and Sumitomo Chemical can do well. For Biocon to a certain extent, numbers are very patchy. One good quarter has been followed by two bad quarters and therefore the consistency in numbers delivery is still not coming through. At this juncture, Syngene remains as a better player on Marketsmith watch list compared to Biocon. Any first thoughts on UPL or any other specialty chemical name that you like? Mayuresh Joshi: No, I think numbers are a tad below par for UPL. The Advanta or the seeds business, has done relatively better, but they are seeing pricing headwinds specifically in the crop protection business. Now within the geographies that they probably operate out of, we are seeing some scenarios where there have been instances of floods in a few European countries as well and therefore how does this revenue build up specifically in the second half that they are maintaining their guidance and specifically on the EBITDA front is something to be watched out for.

Sampath Reddy, Founder & CIO, Azurean Investment Managers, says generally speaking the domestic institutions are a lot more bottom-up in terms of investing style and they do have a lot of exposure to the mid and smallcap segment. A continuous positive inflows into the domestic institutions is helping the valuations of mid and smallcap companies. That is why the mid and smallcaps are still relatively expensive. Reddy also says he would not be very optimistic about the way things will pan out when the new US president takes over. He will probably wait and see whether the order books or the new large orders are coming through for the IT services companies. We have seen an uptick in sentiment in IT stocks since the US election. Is it likely to convert into earnings as well? Sampath Reddy: At this moment, most of the analysts are of the opinion that with the expectation of the tax cuts by the new president, there is a possibility that corporates might spend more on the IT side, I think that is what is leading to that optimism. But with the way the commentary has been, I am not sure where the earnings have come for the Q2 numbers. The momentum is mostly waning away. The growth rates are below the expectations for Q2. At this juncture, I would not be very optimistic about the way things will pan out when the new president takes over.

stock brokers to offer either the facility of trading in the secondary market using the UPI-based block mechanism to their clients similar to the ASBA facility or a three-in-one trading account facility from February 1. These qualified stock brokers brokers (QSBs) must offer one of these two options, in addition to the current mode of trading. The 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.

Shares of Infosys Ltd.(up 1.65 per cent), HCL Technologies Ltd.(up 1.63 per cent), Coforge Ltd.(up 1.43 per cent), Tech Mahindra Ltd.(up 1.36 per cent) and Tata Consultancy Services Ltd.(up 1.25 per cent) ended the day as top gainers in the pack.