Experts Financial News

Domestic benchmark index NSE Nifty fell 0.75 points to 23952.45, while the BSE Sensex traded 37.3 points down at 79180.75.

Honda Cars India on Friday said it will hike prices across its model range by up to 2 per cent from January next year, in order to partially offset the impact of rising input costs. The company sells models like Amaze, City and Elevate in the domestic market. The automaker will increase the prices of its models by up to 2 per cent from the beginning of January 2025, Honda Cars India Vice President — Marketing and Sales Kunal Behl said. The company has been making strong efforts to absorb price increases during this year, ensuring minimal impact on customers, he added.

Bharat Electronics Ltd. traded 0.72 per cent in Friday's trade at 11:06AM (IST). Around 121,040 shares changed hands on the counter. The counter opened at Rs 298.00 and touched an intraday high and low of Rs 301.95 and Rs 297.25, respectively, in the session so far. Shares of the company of Bharat Electronics Ltd. quoted a 52-week high of Rs 340.35 and a 52-week low of Rs 163.95.

ICICI Lombard General Insurance Company Ltd. traded 0.97 per cent in Friday's trade at 11:12AM (IST). Around 628 shares changed hands on the counter. The counter opened at Rs 1898.00 and touched an intraday high and low of Rs 1915.60 and Rs 1889.00, respectively, in the session so far. The stock of ICICI Lombard General Insurance Company Ltd. quoted a 52-week high of Rs 2285.85 and a 52-week low of Rs 1354.80.

A 2019 paper co-authored by Arvind Subramanian, former Chief Economic Advisor to the Government of India, and Josh Felman sheds light on the economic challenges India faced at the time. The authors highlighted a "Four Balance Sheet Challenge," warning that the economy was heading toward an «Intensive Care Unit» due to mounting financial stress. Subramanian argued that the roots of this issue could be traced back to the "Twin Balance Sheet Problem."

Cholamandalam Investment & Finance Company Ltd. 0.35 per cent to Rs 1217.80 at 10:20AM (IST) in Friday's trade. The scrip hit a high of Rs 1228.50 and low of Rs 1209.30 so far during the session. The stock had closed at Rs 1213.45 in the previous session. The counter had a total traded volume of 10:20AM shares so far with a turnover of Rs 0.63 crore on BSE. The stock traded at a price-to-earnings multiple of 26.50 and a price-to-book ratio of 4.96.

Benchmark NSE Nifty index fell 35.0 points to 23916.7 amid selling in frontline bluechip stocks.

Sagility India today rallied 5% in early trade to hit its upper circuit and a fresh all-time high of Rs 46.09 on the BSE as global brokerage firm Jefferies initiated coverage on the stock with a ‘buy’ rating and a target price of Rs 52. The target indicates an upside potential of 18% for the stock from its previous closing price.

Au Small Finance Bank Ltd. 0.91 per cent to Rs 553.75 in Friday's trade as of 10:15AM (IST). The stock hit a high price of Rs 557.40 and low of Rs 548.75 during the session. The return on equity (ROE) for the stock stood at 12.28 per cent. Traded volume on the counter stood at 10:15AM shares and turnover at Rs 0.79 crore around that time. The stock of Au Small Finance Bank Ltd. quoted a 52-week high price of Rs 813.00 and 52-week low prices of Rs 540.90, respectively.

KPI Green Energy Ltd.(up 3.85%), ACME Solar Holdings Ltd.(up 2.69%), India Power Corporation Ltd.(up 2.21%), GE Vernova T&D India Ltd.(up 1.62%), Karma Energy Ltd.(up 1.43%), Orient Green Power Company Ltd.(up 1.42%), Adani Power Ltd.(up 1.27%), Hitachi Energy India Ltd.(up 1.01%), NTPC Ltd.(up 0.86%) and Adani Green Energy Ltd.(up 0.83%) were among the top gainers.

foreign institutional investors (FIIs) remain net buyers of Indian stocks this month with the good-old financials and IT on top of the buying list, 3 sectors — oil and gas, auto and FMCG — saw $1 billion exit. NSDL data shows that in the first fortnight of December, FIIs sold Rs 5,337 crore worth of stocks in oil and gas sector, Rs 1,823 crore in auto and another Rs 1,655 crore in FMCG. The combined sell-off in all these 3 stocks have crossed $1 billion-mark.

Gold prices are displaying weakness, falling by Rs 2,260/ 10 grams in the last one week while silver prices fell by Rs 5,600/kg in the same period.

buy call on Lemon Tree Hotels with a target price of Rs 190. The current market price of Lemon Tree Hotels Ltd. is Rs 154.25. Lemon Tree Hotels, incorporated in 1992, is a Mid Cap company with a market cap of Rs 12207.73 crore, operating in Tourism & Hospitality sector. Lemon Tree Hotels Ltd. key Products/Revenue Segments include Income from Rooms, Restaurants & Other Services and Other Operating Revenue for the year ending 31-Mar-2024.

Motilal Oswal Securities (MOSL) and Jefferies have initiated positive coverage on Anant Raj and Sagility, respectively, citing robust growth potential and strong fundamentals. MOSL highlights Anant Raj's leadership in the NCR real estate market and its early mover advantage in the data center localization wave, projecting significant growth in pre-sales and collections.

metal stocks, amid lingering concerns over a slower pace of rate cuts by the US Federal Reserve. The BSE Sensex was trading 300 points, or 0.41%, lower at 78,896.67. The Nifty50 was down 62.25 points, or 0.26%, trading at 23,889 around 9:53 am.

NACDAC Infrastructure has become one of the highest subscribed IPOs in the SME market history after receiving bids nearly 2,000 times higher than the shares on offer. The company was merely seeing Rs 10 crore through its public offer and planned to list its shares on the BSE SME platforms. The bids received were for 411 crore shares worth over Rs 14,000 crore as against just 20 lakh shares on offer. Post the bumper response for the IPO, the company will finalise the share allotment later today.

Vishal Mega Mart Ltd.’s trading debut Wednesday underscored this insatiable appetite for IPOs — shares of the retailer surged more than 40%. The feeding frenzy is set to roll into 2025, according to several women on the front lines.

Justin Trudeau will shuffle his Cabinet Friday. The prime minister's office confirmed late Thursday that Trudeau will participate in the swearing-in ceremony and chair a meeting with his new Cabinet later Friday. Trudeau is facing rising discontent over his leadership, and the abrupt departure of his finance minister on Monday could be something he can't recover from.

UnitedHealthcare's CEO was whisked back to New York by plane and helicopter Thursday to face new federal charges of stalking and murder, which could bring the death penalty if he's convicted. Luigi Mangione was held without bail following a Manhattan federal court appearance, capping a whirlwind day that began in Pennsylvania, where he was arrested last week in the Dec. 4 attack on Brian Thompson. The 26-year-old Ivy League graduate had been expected to be arraigned Thursday on a state murder indictment in a killing that at once rattled the business community and galvanized some health insurance critics, but the federal charges preempted that appearance. The cases will now proceed on parallel tracks, prosecutors said, with the state charges expected to go to trial first.

Reliance Industries shares will remain in focus on Friday after Venezuela's state oil company PDVSA and Reliance Industries resumed an oil swap arrangement that was previously halted due to U.S. sanctions. This development follows a U.S. license granted in July authorizing such trade, according to an internal PDVSA document. A supertanker carrying about 1.9 million barrels of Venezuelan Merey heavy crude departed earlier this month for India's Sikka port, while a unit of Reliance delivered a 500,000-barrel cargo of heavy naphtha to PDVSA this month in exchange, according to the document.

InterGlobe Aviation (IndiGo) and SpiceJet are likely to remain in focus today as the government, in its 55th GST Council meeting, may consider bringing ATF under the GST's ambit. As ET reported earlier, the 55th GST Council meeting is likely to discuss the possibility of bringing aviation turbine fuel (ATF) under the Goods and Services Tax (GST) regime, a significant development for the aviation sector.