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Benchmark indices closed higher after investors sentiments were boosted by dovish comments from the US Federal Reserve officials and as international oil prices hovered around $90 per barrel. For the week, the Sensex rose 0.44% to 66,282.74 and the Nifty 50 index closed 0.5% higher at 19,751.05.
In broader markets, the BSE Midcap index climbed 0.71% to 32,305.62 and the BSE Smallcap index jumped 0.86% to 38,184.83.
Top gainers among Nifty sectoral indices were Realty [4.31%], Auto [2.84%], FMCG [1.83%], Media [1.45%], Oil & Gas [1.43%]. Top losers were PSU Bank [-3.24%], IT [-1.65%], and Consumer Durables [-0.6%].
For the week, FIIs were net sellers for Rs 3970.7 crore and DIIs were net buyers for Rs 7,085.8 crore in the cash segment.
The Indian rupee closed at 83.26 against the US dollar on Friday.
Meanwhile, oil prices jumped more than 5% on Friday as Israel-Hamas conflict escalated. WTI Crude Oil stood at $87.69 per barrel and Brent Crude Oil stood at $90.89 per barrel. Spot gold price was at $1932.82 per ounce.
Company News
Tata Consultancy Services (TCS): The country’s largest IT services company has recorded 8.7% YoY growth in profit at Rs 11,342 crore for the quarter ended September FY24, better than analysts’ estimates. Revenue for the quarter grew by 7.9% YoY to Rs 59,692 crore, with constant currency revenue growth of 2.8%. The IT major’s board has approved a buyback of 4.09 crore shares (1.12%) at Rs 4,150 per share aggregating to Rs 17,000 crore. An interim dividend of Rs 9 per share was also approved by the board, with October 19 as the record date.
Infosys: The IT services company has posted a 4.5% sequential growth in net profit at Rs 6,212 crore for the quarter ended September 2023. Revenue rose 2.8% QoQ to Rs 38,994 crore, with sales in dollar terms rising by 2.2% QoQ to $4,718 million, and constant currency revenue growth stood at 2.3% for the quarter. The company announced an interim dividend of Rs 18 per equity share and the record date is October 25. Meanwhile, Temasek has extended the Infosys-Temasek digital services JV by five years.
HCLTech: The IT services company has recorded a net profit of Rs 3,832 crore for the quarter ended September FY24, up 8.4% over the preceding quarter. Revenue rose by 1.4% sequentially to Rs 26,672 crore, with dollar revenue growing 0.8% and constant currency revenue growth at 1% compared to the preceding quarter. An interim dividend of Rs 12 per equity share was declared, with the record date set for Oct. 20.
Larsen & Toubro (L&T): The Hydrocarbon Business of L&T has recently secured a Letter of Intent for a mega onshore project from a client in the Middle East. The scope of the work involves engineering, procurement and construction of Gas Compression Plants. As per Larsen & Toubro’s (L&T) classification, the value of the ‘mega project’ is more than Rs 7,000 crore.
Bank of Baroda: The public sector lender announced that its board has approved raising long term bonds worth Rs 10,000 crore for financing of infrastructure and affordable housing. The fundraising will be in single or multiple tranches during the current financial year and beyond, the bank said in exchange filing.
Indian Oil (IOCL): The company’s board has accorded approval to the investment plan of IndianOil NTPC Green Energy (JV) for setting up of renewable energy power plants and approved the equity contribution of up to Rs 1660.15 crore towards IndianOil’s share of 50% in the equity share capital of the JV company. The board also appointed Anuj Jain, Director (Finance) of the company has been designated as the CFO of the company.
HDFC Asset Management Company (HDFC AMC): The company’s net profit grew 20.17% YoY to Rs 437.56 crore and total income rose 17.92% YoY to Rs 765.22 crore in Q2FY24. The AMC had a quarterly average assets under management of Rs 5,24,700 crore as of end of September 2023 compared to Rs 4,29,300 crore in the year-ago period.
HDFC Life Insurance: The company reported a consolidated net profit of Rs 378 crore for the second quarter of FY24, a growth of 15% from Rs 329 crore in the same quarter last fiscal. The company’s net premium income in Q2FY24 increased 13% to Rs 14,797 crore from Rs 13,138 crore in the year-ago period. The first-year premium recorded a growth of 6% YoY at Rs 2,566 crore in the reported quarter compared to Rs 2,423 crore in the year-ago period. The total assets under management (AUM) at the end of September 2023 quarter stood at Rs 2.64 lakh crore, a rise of 18% YoY.
Info Edge (India): The company said that the board of its subsidiary Redstart Labs (India) has agreed to invest about $400,000 in Ray IOT Solutions Inc. at applicable exchange rate. Ray IOT is engaged in the healthcare sector and develops a non-contact breathing and sleep tracker for babies.
LTIMindtree: The IT services company announced that it has been selected as a strategic partner for SAP services by Infineon Technologies AG, a global semiconductor leader in power systems and IoT. Through this partnership, LTIMindtree supports Infineon to modernise its SAP application landscape, enrich the user experience, streamline business processes, and deliver contemporary digital operations across both SAP S/4HANA and SAP Cloud Solutions.
Ashok Leyland: The company has bagged an order for 1,666 Buses from Tamil Nadu State Transport Undertakings. The buses will be equipped with the advanced iGen6 BS VI technology, featuring a robust 147 kW (197 hp) H-series engine. The company said in an exchange filing that this is the single largest BSVI order received from State Transport Undertakings and will further contribute to strengthening Ashok Leyland’s dominant position in the bus industry. The order is expected to be executed between November 2023 and March 2024.
Multi Commodity Exchange of India (MCX): The company said it will go live with the new commodity derivatives platform on October 16. The exchange will conduct mock trading on October 15.
Anand Rathi Wealth: The company said its consolidated revenue was up 34.19% YoY to Rs 182.58 crore in Q2FY24. Its consolidated net profit rose 34.29% YoY to Rs 57.68 crore in Q2FY24 from Rs 42.95 crore in Q2FY23. The company’s asset under management grew 33.8% to Rs 47,957 crore in Q2FY24 from Rs 35,842 crore in the year-ago period.
Angel One: The company’s Q2FY24 consolidated revenue was up 40.6% at Rs 1047.9 crore as against Rs 745.3 crore in the year-ago period. Consolidated net profit climbed 42.62% to Rs 304.5 crore in Q2FY24 as against Rs 213.5 crore in Q2FY23.
Economy News
India’s retail inflation, as measured by the Consumer Price Index (CPI), fell to 5.02% in September due to easing food prices, according to data released by the National Statistics Office (NSO) on Thursday. In August 2023, CPI-based inflation was at 6.83% and in July 2023, India’s CPI stood at 7.44%.
Industrial output which is measured by the Index of Industrial Production (IIP) expanded by 10.3% in August 2023 compared with a contraction of 0.7% in August 2022.
India’s overall trade deficit fell to $4.92 billion in September 2023 compared to trade deficit of $15.03 billion in September 2022. Overall exports (Merchandise and Services) stood at $63.84 billion in September 2023 as against $64.61 billion in the corresponding period last year. Overall imports (Merchandise and Services) stood at $68.75 billion in September 2023 as against $79.64 billion in September 2022.
Global Markets
The US markets closed mixed as investors assessed inflation data amid dovish signals from the Federal Reserve officials. For the week, the S&P 500 gained 0.45%, the Dow Jones Industrial jumped 0.79%, and the Nasdaq lost 0.18%.
On the economic front, the Labor Department reported that core producer price index, which excludes food and energy, rose 0.3% in September. On an annualized basis, core producer prices increased 2.7% year-on-year. Meanwhile, the consumer price index increased 0.4% month-on-month and 3.7% YoY in September. Core CPI, which excludes volatile food and energy prices, increased 0.3% month-on-month and 4.1% year-on-year.
Japan’s stock markets gained over the week, with the Nikkei 225 index surging 4.3% and the broader Topix index climbing 2%. The Japanese Yen depreciated to around JPY 149.6 against the US dollar, from about JPY149.2 the prior week.
Most Chinese shares closed lower as investors were worried over the country’s economic recovery. The CSI 300 index fell 0.71%, the SSE Composite index dropped 0.72%, and the Hang Seng index rose 1.87%.
China’s CPI remained unchanged in September from a year earlier, after a rise of 0.1% in August. Producer prices fell 2.5% YoY in September as against a 3% drop in the preceding month. China’s exports fell 6.2% in September from a year earlier, slower than the 8.8% drop in August. Imports also declined by 6.2%, compared to 7.3% contraction in August.