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Dalal Street closed lower during a volatile week due to weak corporate results, high inflation numbers, uncertainty around Russia-Ukraine peace talks and volatile crude prices. Fed chair’s comment of an aggressive rate hike of 50basis points in May weighed on the Indian markets. The Nifty 50 formed a Doji candlestick on the weekly technical charts. On a weekly basis, the Sensex slumped 1.96% to 57,197.15 and the Nifty 50 fell 1.74% to 17,171.95.
Broader markets also fell, tracking benchmark indices. The Nifty Smallcap 100 index fell 1.87%. The Nifty Midcap 100 index lost 1.6% on a weekly basis.
Top losers among Nifty sector indices were IT [-5.6%], Media [-4.2%], PSU Bank [-3.9%], Bank [-3.8%], Realty [-3.5%]. Top gainers were Auto [3.1%] and Energy [2.4%].
FIIs sold for Rs 18,443.8 crore in the cash segment on a weekly basis, while DIIs bought Rs 14,394.4 crore.
Company News
Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) and Future Group: Lenders to Future Group rejected a $3.4 billion deal for its retail assets from Reliance Industries Limited (RIL), banking sources said, adding to troubles at the firm which has been struggling to pay off debt since its business was hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic, according to Reuters news report.
“All secured lenders have voted against the scheme of arrangement put forward by Reliance,” said a senior executive at a state-owned lender.
Meanwhile, RIL hit a new lifetime high of Rs 2802 apiece as its shares advanced after foreign brokerage firm Morgan Stanley upgraded its target price to Rs 3,253, signalling about a 20% upside in the counter. The foreign brokerage expects value creation potential from RIL’s global pivot on energy security. The market cap of RIL inched towards Rs 19 trillion-mark as the shares rose over 10% from its lows in the week.
Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) and Zee Entertainment (ZEEL): Both the companies are among the firms that have signalled an intention to bid for broadcast rights of the IPL between 2023 and 2027, Bloomberg reported. Other companies include Amazon, The Walt Disney Co, Sony Group Corp, and fantasy-sports platform Dream11. BCCI will conduct the online auction starting June 12 to select winner/winners to globally telecast matches of IPL between 2023 and 2027.
Mindtree and L&T Infotech (LTI): Both the companies may consider a merger deal in the coming weeks, Bloomberg reported. The two companies, which have L&T as its parent organisation, could consider share swap ratios for the merger. Tie-up could give the new company better pricing power and lower costs. If the merger goes through regulatory approvals, it will replace Tech Mahindra as the fifth largest IT services company in India.
Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone (APSEZ): The company’s subsidiary, Adani Harbour Services, is acquiring 100% stake in Ocean Sparkle (OSL), a leading third-party marine services provider, for Rs 1530 crore. The transaction is expected to be completed within one month, according to its exchange filing. The company said the investment is in line with its strategy to increase its footprint in marine service market.
HCL Technologies: The IT services company saw its net profit zoom to Rs 3,593 crore for quarter ended March 2022. The net profit was Rs 1,102 crore in the year-ago period. The company’s revenue from operations for Q4 FY22 came in at Rs 22,597 crore, 15% higher than a year ago. HCL Tech expects revenue to grow between 12-14% in constant currency for the fiscal 2023.
The company’s board has declared an interim dividend of Rs 18 per share of Rs 2 each.For FY22, the net income increased to Rs 13,499 crore from Rs 11,145 crore in the previous fiscal. The revenue rose to Rs 85,651 crore from Rs 75,379 crore in FY21.
HDFC: The mortgage lender has sold its 10% stake in HDFC Capital to a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (ADIA) for about Rs 184 crore. ADIA is also the primary investor in alternative investment funds managed by HDFC Capital.
FSN E-Commerce Ventures (Nykaa): The company has bought 18.5% stake in Earth Rhythm for Rs 41.65 crore to expand its D2C business. It also picked up 60% in Nudge Wellness for Rs 3.6 crore and made its entry into dietary supplements and other nutricosmetics products. Further, Nykaa also acquired activewear and athleisure brand ‘KICA’ for Rs 4.5 crore, to help strengthen its active-wear play.
Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd (BPCL): The government is likely to take a fresh look at the oil refiner’s privatisation, including revising the terms of sale, an official said. “We need to go back to the drawing board on BPCL. There are issues in terms of consortium formation, geopolitical situation and energy transition aspects,” the official said. The official added that the transition towards green and renewable fuel has made privatisation difficult in existing terms.
ITC: The conglomerate said that it will acquire 10.07% stake in Blupin Technologies, the company that owns direct-to-consumer(D2C) brand, Mylo, for up to Rs 39.34 crore. The investment will provide the company an early mover advantage in the evolving content-to-community-to-commerce space and will provide an expanded presence in the D2C space, ITC said in a regulatory filing.
Coal India Ltd (CIL): The company said it has increased its supplies by 14.2 per cent to coal-based electricity generating plants in the first half of the current month, but soaring power demand due to hotter-than-normal summer seems to have dwarfed the upsurge in supplies. CIL said that it is coordinating with the ministries of coal, power and railways to build up stocks at power plants.
Nazara Technologies: The company’s subsidiary, Nodwin Gaming, in a board meeting has approved the acquisition of 35% of the paid up share capital of Brandscale Innovations by way of subscription to 567 equity shares having a face value of Rs 100/- each of Brandscale Innovations for a total consideration of Rs 10 crore.
Economy News
India’s inflation based on Wholesale Price Index (WPI) rose to 14.55% in March, according to data released by the Ministry of Commerce & Industry. The WPI-based inflation grew 13.11% during the month of February, while the WPI for January was revised to 13.68% from 12.96 per cent. The WPI inflation has remained in the double digits for the 12th consecutive month since April 2021.
The food articles category rose 8.06% in March, compared with 8.19% in the prior month. Vegetable prices rose 19.88% in March, against a rise of 26.93% in February. Potato prices climbed 24.62% while onions slipped 9.33%. Meanwhile, prices of fruits increased 10.62% in March, from 10.30% in February.
The fuel and power segment spiked to 34.52% last month from 31.50% in February. The manufactured products segment rose 10.71% in March, up from 9.84% in February.
Global Markets
Major Wall Street indices ended lower as the Fed’s chair Jerome Power said a 50-basis-point rate increase could be “on the table” for the May 3‒4 policy meeting and weak results from Netflix which fell 36.8% during the week. For the week, . For the week, the S&P 500 tanked 2.75%, the Dow fell 1.85%, and the Nasdaq plunged 3.83%.
The S&P Global US Composite PMI Output Index, which tracks the manufacturing and services sectors, showed business activity slowing down in April. The index fell to 55.1 in April, compared with 57.7 in March. The S&P Global U.S. Services PMI fell to 54.7 in April, from 58.0 in March.
Japan’s stock markets rose slightly during the week, with the Nikkei 225 index inching up 0.04% and the broader Topix rising 0.47%. The country’s core consumer price index rose 0.8% year-on-year in March and was behind other major developed economies.
Chinese markets fell as investors were concerned about the country’s economic growth due to severe lockdowns to contain the spread of coronavirus. For the week, the Hang Seng plunged 4.09%, the CSI 300 tanked 4.19% and the Shangahi Composite Index slumped 3.87%.
China’s gross domestic product expanded by 4.8% in the first quarter of 2022, according to the country’s statistics agency, compared with 4% expansion recorded in the final quarter of 2021.