Experts Financial News

hit a new high, small and midcaps are believed to be overpriced, leaving investors wary to invest more in equity. Given all this, where should investors invest their money in 2024? We asked a few experts where should one invest if they have ₹5 lakh and they believe a large majority of this sum should be allocated to large-cap mutual funds, while the remainder in debt securities.

Benjamin Franklin says: "An investment in knowledge pays the best interest". It highlights the importance of gaining knowledge before you start something, whether your investments or anything else. Hence, if you are beginning your investing journey in 2024, you must understand some personal finance ratios and rules.

cryptocurrency tokens were trading lower in Thursday's trade amid expectations that the global rate easing cycle may not come as early as some had initially thought. At 11:33 a.m., BTC was trading 0.2% lower at $42,757, while the second most popular token, Ethereum, was down 1.3% at $2,529. At the same time, the global cryptocurrency market cap declined by 0.63% in the last 24 hours to approximately $1.68 trillion. «The overall crypto market is at $1.68 trillion with Bitcoin and Ether witnessing marginal fluctuation from the previous day. If Bitcoin closes above $43,000 this week, then we may witness a healthy surge in its price in the coming weeks,» said Shivam Thakral, CEO of BuyUcoin. Meanwhile, ZebPay Trade Desk said, «This drop in Bitcoin price coincided with US investors turning towards institutional investment products following the approval of spot ETFs. Long liquidations totaling over $27 million occurred within 24 hours on January 17, with Bitcoin long liquidations accounting for the majority, wiping out $19.5 million.»

Varun Beverages Ltd. traded 1.4 per cent up at Rs 1231.4 at around 01:12PM (IST) on Thursday. The stock had closed at Rs 1248.9 in the previous session.

growth in earnings for the quarter ended December. However, the growth in both topline and bottomline is expected to be in single digits because of a weak show by the oil-to-chemicals (O2C) business. Meanwhile, numbers across parameters are expected to drop sequentially mainly because of the O2C vertical. Consolidated revenue of RIL is likely to rise 5% YoY to Rs 2.31 lakh crore, but fall about 2% sequentially, according to the average of estimates given by nine brokerage firms. Consolidated net profit is expected to grow 9.3% YoY to Rs 17,257 crore, but drop nearly 1% sequentially. Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization or EBITDA is expected to increase 4% YoY to Rs 40,030 crore, but fall sharply by 11% sequentially. The toy-to-telecom conglomerate is scheduled to release its earnings after market hours on Friday.

Siemens Ltd. traded at Rs 4051.95 on BSE at 01:06PM (IST) on Thursday, down 1.37 per cent from previous close. The stock quoted a 52-week low price of Rs 2811.95 and a high of Rs 4244.55.

HUL) is expected to report muted numbers for the quarter ended December in the backdrop of weak volume growth, price cuts, and rising advertising costs. India’s bellwether in the fast-moving consumer goods sector is expected to report a 6% year-on-year (YoY) growth in net profit to Rs 2,653 crore, on the back of a moderate 1% growth in revenue to Rs 15,378 crore, the average of estimates given by 13 brokerages showed. Sequentially, the bottomline is seen falling 2.4%, while the topline growing at a moderate 0.7%.

Info Edge (India) Ltd. fell 1.4 per cent to Rs 5097.65 at 12:56PM hours (IST) on Thursday. Earlier in the day, the stock saw a gap down start to the session.

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United Spirits Ltd. traded at Rs 1072.0 on BSE at 12:46PM (IST) on Thursday, down 2.14 per cent from previous close. The scrip quoted a 52-week low price of Rs 730.9 and a high of Rs 1125.0.

Pidilite Industries Ltd. traded 1.63 per cent down at Rs 2715.2 at 12:35PM (IST) on Thursday, even as BSE benchmark Sensex dropped 259.38 points to 71241.38. The stock had closed at Rs 2760.3 in the previous session.

Vedanta Ltd. traded 0.73 per cent higher in Thursday's session at 12:30PM (IST). The stock opened at Rs 265.15 and has touched an intraday high and low of Rs 268.35 and Rs 258.0, respectively, during the session so far.

Lupin Ltd. rose 0.93 per cent to Rs 1413.25 at 12:04PM hours (IST) on Thursday. Earlier in the day, the stock saw a gap down start to the session.

ACC Ltd. fell 0.53 per cent to Rs 2240.8 at 11:54AM hours (IST) on Thursday. Earlier in the day, the stock saw a gap down start to the session.

ICICI Prudential Life Insurance Company tanked over 10% on Thursday to the day's low of Rs 463.45 in Thursday's trade on the NSE as the Street was unimpressed by the company's December quarter earnings which saw a 3% increase in net profit to Rs 227 crore versus Rs 220 crore reported in the year-ago period. Net premium income was up 5% year-on-year (YoY) to Rs 9,928 crore mainly due to growth in first-year premium. Today's action in the stock of ICICI Prudential takes the declining trend to six sessions in a row while extending the price erosion to over 14% during this period. More than one crore shares changed hands on the NSE around 11 am triggering the selling pressure. For the nine months, the annualised premium equivalent, a measure of life insurance business computed as a sum of annualised first-year premium and 10% of single premiums, grew by 1.7% to Rs 5,430 crore. The company saw an increase in expenses, especially commissions, which resulted in the expense management ratio moving up to 18.3% during the quarter from 14.7% a year ago. Commissions paid including rewards and compensation to agents, brokers and intermediaries increased to Rs 1,000 crore during the quarter from Rs 391 crore in the year-ago period. The company's solvency ratio fell to 196% from 212%. Persistency or the number of policies saw some improvement.

ICICI Prudential Life Insurance share price cracked almost 10 per cent in early trade on BSE on Thursday, January 18, a day after the company announced its December quarter (Q3FY24) earnings. ICICI Prudential Life Insurance share price opened at ₹464.90 against the previous close of ₹515 and soon plunged to hit its 10 per cent lower circuit of ₹463.50. ICICI Prudential share price traded 7.52 per cent lower at ₹476.25 around 9:40 am.

Anand Tandon, Independent Market Analyst, says “Even if you had assumed that before this fall there was only a 10% upside, now there is a 15% to 17% upside. So, there is no particular reason that one should not be looking to buy in now, especially if you have a bullish view. Of course, if you are sceptical about the market, that is a different point of view altogether, but I would still think that a bank like HDFC Bank should be part of your core portfolio and there is not much that you can do other than to trade off at the margin. What to do with HDFC Bank now with the weakness that the stock is seeing? Anand Tandon: We are looking at an issue where the deposit growth is slower than what the market was anticipating and more importantly, it means that the credit growth, which is actually doing quite well, has to be slowed down a bit. But on the other hand, the extra capital that they have had to keep is now peaked out and therefore they will start to come down. The fall that they had already predicted, which had been forecast by the management that the ROE will have to fall by at least 50 basis points, has already started to play out. So, while it may take a little while longer for it to go back to a sensible growth number, I would still argue that you will get a reasonable double-digit growth from HDFC Bank going forward and this kind of fall, we keep hearing there is a lot of money on the sideline.

Asian Paints with a target price of Rs 3340. The current market price of Asian Paints Ltd.

earnings on Thursday along with 41 other companies. After HDFC Bank's results on Tuesday which left the Street unimpressed, investors will be keeping a close watch on the earnings of this fifth largest private bank. Among other important results that are likely to be tracked closely today include those of Indiamart InterMesh, Mastek, Metro Brands, Polycab, Home First Finance Company, Poonawalla Fincorp, South Indian Bank, Shoppers Stop and Tata Communications. On Wednesday, Asian Paints reported a 35% year-on-year (YoY) rise in consolidated net profit for the quarter ended December to Rs 1,448 crore. This was higher than the ETNow poll of Rs 1,353 crore. Consolidated revenue from operations grew by 5.4% YoY to Rs 9,103 crore but trailed estimates of Rs 9,356 crore. LTIMindtree was another Nifty company which reported a consolidated PAT of Rs 1,168.9 crore versus ET NOW poll of Rs 1,175 crore. The IT services company's net profit rose 17% YoY. The same stood at Rs 1,000 crore a year ago. Read More: IndusInd Bank Q3 result preview: Profit, NII to grow in double digits; asset quality stable

Aditya Birla Fashion and Retail (ABFRL), Ashok Leyland, Bandhan Bank, Chambal Fertilizers & Chemicals, Delta Corp, Hindustan Copper, Indian Energy Exchange (IEX), Metropolis Healthcare, National Aluminium Company, Polycab India, PVR Inox, Steel Authority of India (SAIL) and Zee Entertainment Enterprises (ZEEL). Biocon, The India Cements, Indus Towers, and Piramal Enterprises have moved out of the ban. The F&O contracts of any stock enter the ban period when the open interest (OI) on it crosses 95% of the market wide positions limits or MWPL. The ban on it is reversed only if the open interest falls below 80%. Traders who trade in indices do not encounter a situation of security ban.

“70-75% of the portfolio in our view should be in largecaps. Remaining should be largely in small caps and only very high conviction should be held in mid-caps,” says Varun Saboo, Head — Equities, Anand Rathi Shares and Stock Brokers. In an interview with ETMarkets, Saboo said: “There could be some element of populist measures as well which could aid consumer stocks in the near term,” Edited excerpts: The market seems to have climbed all wall of worries to hit fresh highs in the first week of January 2024. But, the voice is getting louder both domestic and global that these valuations are unsustainable. What is your take? Varun Saboo: We are definitely in one of the strongest runs, something which hardly anyone would have envisaged. However, in terms of valuations, there are a lot of midcaps that are trading rich and leave little room for upsides.