Stock Market LIVE: Indices expect cautious beginning; SGX Nifty trading flat

Stocks to Watch: HDFC Bank, Wipro, TCS, Sun Pharma, DMart, L&T Finance, REC, RailTel, Sula Vineyards, and NDTV

Federal Bank, Bank of Maharashtra, Angel One, Kesoram Industries, SVP Global Textiles, and Indian Acrylics will be among the stocks in focus as they declare their December quarter earnings today. (Read More)

Asian shares cautious, BOJ faces crunch policy decision

Asian shares started cautiously on Monday as investors waited nervously to see if the Bank of Japan (BOJ) will defend its super-sized stimulus policy at a pivotal meeting this week, while a holiday in U.S. markets made for thin trading. There were even rumours the BOJ might hold an emergency meeting on Monday as it struggles to defend its new yield ceiling in the face of massive selling. That had markets in an anxious mood and Japan’s Nikkei slipped 0.9% in early trading. (Read More)

Wipro Q3 net profit rises 2.8% to ₹3,053 cr; says tech spends robust amid macro uncertainties

Wipro Ltd on Friday reported a better-than-expected 2.8 per cent rise in consolidated net profit for the December 2022 quarter to ₹3,053 crore and exuded optimism about “strong” bookings for the fourth quarter despite global headwinds.

The company’s Q4 guidance, however, came below analysts’ expectations. Wipro said its IT services revenue is expected to grow in the range of -0.6 per cent to 1 per cent sequentially in constant currency in the quarter ending March 2023.

The Bengaluru-based company expects revenue from the IT services business for the full year to be in the range of 11.5-12 per cent in constant currency terms.

The revenues of Wipro – which competes with TCS, Infosys, HCL Tech and others in the market – stood at ₹23,229 crore in Q3FY23, 14.3 per cent higher than the same period of the previous year.

Seen sequentially, the revenue grew about three per cent over the September quarter, while the net profit rose 14.8 per cent quarter-on-quarter. (PTI)

SC to hear Google plea against CCI penalty today. Know more about the case

The Supreme Court of India is set to hear a plea filed by Google over the imposition of a ₹1,337-crore penalty by the Competition Commission of India. The global technology firm has challenged the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal’s refusal to provide interim relief. As things currently stand, Google will have to implement all changes by January 19 this year.

While Google licenses its Android system to smartphone makers, critics say that restrictions – such as the mandatory pre-installation of its own apps – is anti-competitive. It insists that the NCLAT “erroneously rejected” its request for relief “based on the Commission’s deeply flawed order”. (Read More)

Rupee outlook positive, central bank eyed; bond yields likely to rise

The Indian rupee is likely to rise further this week on the back of a struggling U.S. dollar but traders were inclined to be wary of possible dollar-buying intervention by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) that could limit sharp gains.

Government bond yields are expected to tick up as investors shift focus to the upcoming budget.

The rupee climbed 1.7% to 81.3250 per dollar last week, tracking a broad decline in the dollar index. The local currency is expected to trade between 80.80 to 81.70 this week.

The slowdown in the U.S. inflation rate for the sixth straight month in December has prompted investors to pile on to bets that the Federal Reserve will hike rates by 25 basis points (bps) at the next meeting.

There are a lot of positives for the rupee, including the Fed view, the broadly stable oil prices and the fall in Treasury yields, said Anil Bhansali, head of treasury at Finrex Treasury Advisors. (Reuters)

RattanIndia Enterprises completes acquisition of Revolt Motors

RattanIndia Enterprises has announced it has completed the acquisition of electric vehicle maker Revolt Motors and the firm has become a 100 per cent subsidiary of RattanIndia Enterprises. However, the quantum of the deal has not been ascertained.

“RattanIndia Enterprises Limited has completed the acquisition of 100 per cent shareholding in the electric motorcycles market leader Revolt Motors,” a company statement said.

According to the statement, Revolt Motors is the highest-selling electric bike in the country with its manufacturing facility in Manesar, Haryana. The EV maker has expanded its footprint pan-India with 30 dealerships spread across the country, according to RattanIndia Enterprises.

RattanIndia Enterprises in a statement said it seeks to significantly scale up Revolt’s growth and make it the largest EV two-wheeler company in the country. (ANI)

‘Drishyam 2’ to close box office run at Rs. 235 crore

Ajay Devgn’s mystery thriller ‘Drishyam 2’ is likely to end its box office run with collections of Rs. 235 crore, according to trade website Box Office India. With $7 million picked up overseas, this will mean a Rs. 340 crore plus gross worldwide total for the film, the second best post the pandemic after the Rs. 400 crore of ‘Brahmastra’.

In its first week, the film was performing best in Mumbai and Gujarat and had only dipped 10% on weekdays as compared to the opening weekend. The Mumbai circuit now stands at collections of Rs. 93 crore and since week seven, earnings in Delhi and Uttar Pradesh have also been closer to Mumbai on a daily basis. Even East Punjab is recording excellent collections now, Box Office India said. (Read More)

D-Mart Q3 profit rises 6.7% to ₹589.64 cr, sales up 25.5%

Avenue Supermarts Ltd, which owns and operates the retail chain D-Mart, on Saturday reported a 6.71 per cent increase in its consolidated net profit to ₹589.64 crore for the third quarter ended on December 31, 2022.

The company had posted a net profit of ₹552.53 crore in the October-December quarter a year ago, said Avenue Supermarts in a BSE filing.

Its revenue from operations was up 25.50 per cent to ₹11,569.05 crore during the quarter under review as against ₹9,217.76 crore in the corresponding quarter of the last fiscal.

Avenue Supermarts’ total expenses were at ₹10,788.86 crore, up 27.02 per cent in the third quarter of 2022-23 against ₹8,493.55 crore in the corresponding quarter of the last fiscal.

Commenting on the performance of DMart’s brick & mortar business, Avenue Supermarts CEO & Managing Director Neville Noronha said, “FMCG and staples segment continued to outperform the general merchandise and apparel segments. Gross margin percentage decline over the corresponding quarter of last year is a reflection of this mix change.” (PTI)

Buy or sell: Vaishali Parekh recommends 2 stocks to buy today

Vaishali Parekh of Prabhudas Lilladher has recommended two stocks to buy today, here we list out full details in regard to those day trading stocks:

1] GMR Infra: Buy at ₹41.10, target ₹43, stop loss ₹40.50; and

2] REC: Buy at ₹122.80, target ₹128, stop loss ₹120.50. (Read More)

RailTel bags ₹170 cr order for Puducherry smart city project

Indian Railways‘ wholly owned subsidiary RailTel Corporation of India Ltd has received a work order worth ₹170.11crore from the Puducherry government to design, develop, supply, install, test, commission and operations and maintenance of integrated command control centre (ICCC) and other associated activities for smart city.

The contract is for five years and will be completed in 10 months‘ time. “RailTel has been selected through competitive bidding and it is the first smart city project awarded by the Puducherry government,” the company said in a press release. (Read More)

HDFC Bank Q3 results 2023: Net profit jumps 18.5%, NII up 24.6%

Beating the street estimates, HDFC Bank Ltd has reported a strong rise in net profit and net interest income on a year-on-year (YoY) basis. The private lender reported a net profit of ₹12,259.50 crore in Q3FY23 against a Q3FY22 net profit of ₹10,342.20 crore, logging around 18.50 per cent YoY rise in the recently ended December 2022 quarter.

While announcing HDFC Bank Q3 results in 2023, the private lender reported robust growth in net interest income (NII). In the recently ended December 2022 quarter, HDFC Bank reported an NII of ₹22,987.9 crore, around 24.60 per cent higher than its NII of ₹18,443.50 crore in Q3FY22. (Read More)

TCS to trade ex-dividend on Monday: Record and payment dates here

Shares of India’s largest IT services company Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) will trade ex-dividend with respect to its third interim dividend of ₹75 per share, which included a special dividend of ₹67 per share for FY23, on Monday, 16 January. The record date for the dividends totalling ₹75 per share is 17 January 2023, i.e. investors’ eligibility for the dividend will be decided based on their holdings in the stock as of the said date. (Read More)

US stocks finish higher on Friday as bank shares rebound

Wall Street stocks finished a strong week in a positive fashion Friday, shaking off early weakness and pushing higher amid a turnaround in banking shares.

Major indices opened the day lower following results from JPMorgan Chase and other large banks that signalled expectations for a “mild” recession in 2023.

But markets reversed course in the middle of the session, a sign “the weakness was seen as a buying opportunity,” said Briefing.com analyst Patrick O’Hare, who noted the bank forecasts did not imply a deep downturn.

The market is “reasonably confident we’re not going to see the worst-case scenario of a hard landing,” O’Hare added.

The broad-based S&P 500 finished at 3,999.09, up 0.4% for the day and gaining 2.7% for the week.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average advanced 0.3% to 34,302.61, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index jumped 0.7% to 11,079.16.

The reversal also coincided with a surprisingly strong consumer sentiment report from the University of Michigan, said Art Hogan, an analyst at B. Riley Financial. (AFP)