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high-quality stocks at a discount, believing in their long-term potential. But what exactly makes certain stocks stand out during downturns? The answer lies in trust and fundamentals. Some investors rely on strong financials, visionary leadership, and robust management when selecting stocks. Others gravitate toward legacy brands that have consistently weathered market turbulence.

Aswath Damodaran, a professor of finance at New York University. In his latest analysis of global cash return policies, Damodaran found that Indian firms distributed just 31.1% of their earnings in the form of dividends and stock buybacks—far lower than their global peers. While one can argue that this signals a strong reinvestment cycle fueling long-term expansion, it can also be seen as a symptom of weak shareholder rights and management’s reluctance to part with excess cash.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. This week, the new US president addressed the US Congress in what turned out to be the longest speech in history. Apart from talking about immigration, geopolitical conflicts and making America great again, Donald Trump reiterated his strong stance on tariffs.

S Jaishankar during a discussion at Chatham House in London. The shift, largely driven by US President Donald Trump’s foreign policy, is helping reshape global alliances. “If I were to look at the big priorities of this president, many of them work for us,” Jaishankar stated. “He seems to be committed to keeping energy prices reasonably affordable and stable—we welcome that. He is putting a lot of emphasis on tech and on the use of tech as a game changer in global politics. That offers a lot of possibilities for us.” Jaishankar noted that the US administration under Trump is actively moving towards multipolarity, a shift that aligns with India’s vision for the future. “We see a president and an administration moving towards multipolarity, and that is something which suits India.”

«What we have seen in the past is whenever there is a tariff or anything like that, the metal prices usually go up in the near term and that is actually positive for companies like Hindalco,» says Parthiv Jhonsa, Anand Rathi Institutional Equities. I want to first really talk about what is happening in the world. We have been speaking with the managements of Hindalco, Nalco, etc. The managements firmly believe that these tariffs will not really impact them. Do you think that is the same? Parthiv Jhonsa: We need to understand that over especially last two months, the entire metal has seen a lot of to-and-fros internationally. Yes, companies like Hindalco where Novelis has a huge presence in USA, something like these tariffs would actually not make a huge difference or a huge dent to them because they have a good presence in USA.

Nuvama Institutional Equities has initiated coverage on Afcons Infrastructure Ltd (AIL) with a ‘buy’ rating and a target price of Rs 535, as it believes that the company is ‘in a league of its own’. The target price given by the brokerage firm implies a 23% upside potential from current levels.

An equal-weighted basket of China’s seven tech heavyweights including Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. and Tencent Holdings Ltd. — dubbed the “7 titans” by Societe Generale SA — has gained more than 40% this year. That compares with an about 10% drop in an index of the Magnificent Seven stocks, whose slump has also pushed the Nasdaq 100 Index to the brink of a correction.

Bohra Industries Ltd.(up 4.98%), Zuari Agro Chemicals Ltd.(up 3.87%), Deepak Fertilisers & Petrochemicals Corporation Ltd.(up 3.22%), Aries Agro Ltd.(up 3.10%), The Fertilisers and Chemicals Travancore Ltd.(up 3.04%), Gujarat State Fertilizer & Chemicals Ltd.(up 2.93%), Khaitan Chemicals & Fertilizers Ltd.(up 2.78%), Rashtriya Chemicals & Fertilizers Ltd.(up 2.71%), Madras Fertilizers Ltd.(up 2.39%) and National Fertilizers Ltd.(up 2.31%) were among the top gainers.

The NSE Nifty index was trading 54.3 points up at 22599.0, while BSE Sensex was up 139.61 points at 74479.7 at the time of writing this report.

retaliatory tariffs against US farm produce from corn to chicken are designed to hurt Donald Trump's voter base, but remain restrained enough to allow room for the adversaries to hash out a trade deal, analysts say. Since taking office in January, Trump has unleashed a storm of tariffs against friends and foes alike, this week hiking blanket duties on Chinese products, adding to a plethora of existing levies. Beijing swiftly responded with countermeasures targeting imports of American farm products — many of which are produced in the rural heartlands that voted resoundingly for Trump in the November election.

The Nifty futures closed positively with gains of 0.80%, at 22,620 levels on Thursday.

Axis Bank Ltd.(up 1.49 per cent), Punjab National Bank(up 0.81 per cent), Federal Bank Ltd.(up 0.52 per cent), HDFC Bank Ltd.(up 0.42 per cent) and IDFC First Bank Ltd.(up 0.35 per cent) were among the top gainers.

economic data to gauge the Federal Reserve's interest rate trajectory, which could also have a bearing on the domestic rate cycle. While yields on most bonds were flat, that on the 10-year benchmark bond rose slightly after the Reserve Bank of India did not include the note in next week's bond purchase.

Scott Bessent, a seasoned Wall Street investor, was confirmed on January 28, 2025, as the 79th US Secretary of the Treasury, becoming the first openly gay cabinet member in a Republican administration. At 62, Bessent brings four decades of global investment experience to the role, having built strong ties with international financial leaders. His nomination secured bipartisan support in the Senate with a 68-29 vote. Republican Senator Mike Crapo praised Bessent’s commitment to economic growth, while Democratic Senator Ron Wyden expressed concerns about his alignment with President Donald Trump’s policies. «It is crucial to have a Treasury Secretary in place to navigate economic challenges, and I support his confirmation,» Wyden said. Despite reservations, several Senate Democrats backed Bessent, citing the need for stability in financial leadership.

At the interbank foreign exchange, the rupee opened at 87.13 and lost further to trade at 87.18 against the greenback in early deals, registering a depreciation of 6 paise from its previous closing level.

BEIJING — China's Minister of Foreign Affairs Wang Yi struck a more conciliatory tone on U.S. relations during a high-profile press conference on Friday, in contrast to the ministry's more aggressive language earlier in the week.

Laurus Labs will be in focus on Friday after the company approved an investment of Rs 83.3 crore in KRKA Pharma Pvt Ltd, a joint venture. In addition, KRKA d.d., Novo Mesto, Slovenia (the co-venturer), will invest Rs 86.7 crore in KRKA Pharma, thereby maintaining the current shareholding ratio of 51:49 between KRKA d.d., Novo Mesto, and Laurus Labs.

global economic uncertainty and market volatility, retail investors are being advised to hold some cash reserves rather than deploying all their capital into equities. Pankaj Pandey, Head of Research at ICICIdirect, cautioned that persistent global risks, including policy paralysis and trade tensions, could trigger further corrections in the Indian stock market. Speaking in an ET Now interaction, Pandey emphasized that uncertainty regarding global growth and inflation remains, primarily due to ongoing trade disputes between the world’s two largest economies. He warned that the market might not be fully factoring in the potential risks, making it prudent for investors to maintain some liquidity.

Sandip Sabharwal, asksandipsabharwal.com, says on a pure valuation basis, although many mid and smallcaps are looking very attractive right now, the initial up move as foreign funds come back, will be on the largecap side. The largecaps would move up first and then, small and midcaps could catch up. NBFCs, banks, the larger banks and the corporate-focused NBFCs, should be a decent part of the portfolio along with infrastructure-oriented companies. Auto should do well next year. What is it looking like in terms of macros with the RBI injecting further liquidity and crude significantly cooling off, while the tariff flip-flop continues. Does it seem like we could be close to bottoming out at an index level at least? Sandip Sabharwal: I mentioned on Monday that we are fully deployed because in our view risk-reward is extremely favourable in India. Given that the macros will be much better next year as liquidity improves, interest rates come down, government spending improves, and a lot of disruptions which were there last year are no longer there.

Oil prices were little changed on Friday but were set for their biggest weekly decline since October as the uncertainty around U.S. tariff policy is creating concerns about demand growth at the same time major producers are set to increase output. Brent futures rose 13 cents, or 0.19%, to $69.59 a barrel by 0217 GMT. U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude futures rose 8 cents, or 0.08%, to $66.44 a barrel.

Sudip Bandyopadhyay, Group Chairman, Inditrade Capital, says post correction, some of the larger banks, particularly SBI, is looking very good for somebody willing to build a long-term portfolio, Apart from that, one can look at some of the down-and-out banks which took a hit because of multiple reasons, particularly asset quality issues on the microfinance book. IndusInd Bank is one bank which I will definitely recommend from a little aggressive investors’ point of view. It is a good time to start buying into IndusInd Bank as well. Among pharma companies, one can go for domestic focused pharma companies like Mankind Pharma and pharma companies having significant manufacturing facilities in the US like Piramal Pharma. The other stock Bandyopadhyay likes is a defence PSU. There is a significant opportunity for Bharat Electronics (BEL) to perform and outperform. This correction should be taken as an opportunity to accumulate this stock. Some of the markers seem to be reversing. Crude is on our side and now RBI also is pumping in a whole lot of liquidity in the system. Do you think that is enough to turn around the markets? Sudip Bandyopadhyay: Well, it may not be enough in the long term, but the short-term market is very much excited.