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Dalal Street ended higher for the third straight week as investors were buoyed after data showed retail inflation eased and inched towards India’s central bank target of 4%. The Sensex jumped rose 1.37% to end at 65,794.73 and the Nifty 50 index gained 1.58% to close at 19,731.80.
In broader markets, the BSE Midcap index surged 2.5% to 33,380.58 and the BSE Smallcap index soared 3.18% to 39,598.63.
Top gainers among Nifty sectoral indices were IT [5.07%], Realty [4.62%], Auto [3.8%], Metal [2.385], and Media [1.95%]. Top loser was Bank [-0.94%].
The Indian rupee fell 2 paise to 83.27 against the US dollar on Friday.
In international markets, WTI Crude Oil prices stood at $75.89 per barrel and Brent Crude prices stood at $80.61 a barrel. Meanwhile, spot gold prices in India rose to Rs 6,117 per gram for the week ended November 17, 2023, from Rs 6,024 a gram at the end of the preceding week.
During the week, Foreign Institutional Investors were net sellers for Rs 214.76 crore and Domestic Institutional Investors were net buyers for Rs 1580.39 crore in the cash segment.
Company News
Bajaj Finance: The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has directed the NBFC to stop sanction and disbursal of loans under its two lending products — eCOM and Insta EMI Card — with immediate effect. The action was taken by the Indian central bank due to non adherence of digital lending guidelines of the RBI, particularly, non-issuance of Key Fact Statements to the borrowers under these two lending products and the deficiencies in the Key Fact Statements issued in respect of other digital loans sanctioned by the company.
Tata Consultancy Services (TCS): The IT major’s board has approved the buyback of up to 4,09,63,855 fully paid-up equity shares of face value of Rs 1 each at Rs 4,150 per share for an aggregate amount not exceeding Rs 17,000 crore. The Company has fixed November 25, 2023, as the record date for the purpose of determining the entitlement and the names of the equity shareholders who shall be eligible to participate in the buyback, it said in an exchange filing.
ONGC: The state-owned company plans to invest about Rs 1 lakh crore in setting up two petrochemical plants to convert crude oil directly into high-value chemical products as it prepares for energy transition, PTI news agency reported citing top company officials. The company plans to raise petrochemical capacity to 8.5-9 million tonnes by 2030.
Asian Paints: The company has informed that the original installed production capacity of the Khandala plant has been increased to 4,00,000 KL per annum in order to meet the medium-term capacity requirements of the Company. About Rs 385 crores has been invested by the company towards the above increase in installed capacity and the same has been funded through internal accruals. The company had set up a paint manufacturing plant at Khandala, Satara, Maharashtra with an initial installed production capacity of 3,00,000 KL per annum.
Kotak Mahindra Bank: The lender’s board has appointed Ashok Vaswani as a Director and Managing Director as well as CEO and a key managerial personnel of the bank, for a period of three years, with effect from January 1, 2024, subject to the approval of the members of the bank. Vaswani, 62, has an experience of three and a half decades, initially at Citigroup and thereafter, at Barclays, of building and growing global businesses at scale.
Grasim Industries: The company reported a consolidated net profit of Rs 1,164 crore in Q2FY24, up 15% from Rs 1,009 crore in the year-ago period. Revenue from operations in the quarter under review rose 10% to Rs 30,221 crore from Rs 27,486 crore in the corresponding period of the previous year. The company posted an Ebitda of Rs 4,509 crore in Q2FY24, up 19% YoY from Rs 3,783 crore in the previous year period. The total capex outlay for the second quarter stood at Rs 1,650 crore, and Rs 1,269 crore was for the paints business.
Suzlon Energy: The renewable energy company said its S144 – 3 MW series of wind turbines received the RLMM (Revised List of Models & Manufacturers) listing from the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE). The company said that considering India’s varied wind regimes and terrains, the S144 turbine is designed to make it customizable for the site‐specific requirements for higher PLFs (Plant Load Factor).
Axis Bank: The Reserve Bank of India has imposed a monetary penalty of Rs 90.92 lakh on the lender Ltd for non-compliance of KYC norms and code of conduct. The bank failed to preserve records pertaining to the identification of customers and their address in certain cases, and made persistent calls to some of the customers. The bank also failed to ensure appropriate behaviour of recovery agents with some of the delinquent borrowers and failed to ensure a tape recording of the content/text of the calls made by the recovery agents to some of the customers, the central bank said.
JSW Infrastructure: The company has received Letter of Award from Karnataka Maritime Board, Government of Karnataka, for development of all-weather, deep water, greenfield port at Keni in Karnataka on Public Private Partnership basis. The estimated cost of the project is Rs 4,119 crore with an initial capacity of 30 MTPA. The proposed Keni Port would have modern environment-friendly mechanised facilities for handling of cape-size vessels.
Vedanta: The mining company informed that Malco Energy Limited, a wholly owned subsidiary of the company, has incorporated a new wholly owned subsidiary in the name of ‘Vedanta Copper International VCI Company Limited’ in Saudi Arabia for copper business for SAR (saudi riyal) 1,00,000.
Siemens Ltd: Siemens AG will buy 18% stake in its Indian subsidiary, Siemens Ltd, for €2.1 billion in cash. With this purchase, Siemens AG will increase its stake to 69% and the stake will be acquired from Siemens Energy, whose stake in Siemens Ltd will reduce to 6% from 24% now. Siemens Ltd is a joint venture between Siemens Energy and its parent Siemens AG.
Hero MotoCorp: The company recorded its highest-ever festive sales, clocking more than 14 lakh units in retail sales during the 32-day festive period – between the first day of the Navratras and Bhai Dooj – this year. Riding on robust demand across rural markets as well as steady retail off-take in key urban centers, the company registered a 19% growth over the previous year, and surpassed its previous highest retail of 12.7 lakh units which was recorded in the festive period of 2019, the two-wheeler manufacturer said in an exchange filing.
TVS Motor Company: The two- and three-wheeler manufacturer said it has signed an agreement with Emil Frey, an automobile importer and retailer in Europe for import and distribution. This partnership signifies a significant step towards global expansion for TVS Motor Company.
Kalyan Jewellers: The jewellery retailer reported a 27.33% YoY growth in consolidated profit after tax at Rs 134.87 crore in Q2FY24 as against a PAT of Rs 105.92 crore in the corresponding period last fiscal. Revenue from operations of the company grew by 27.11% during the quarter under review at Rs 4,414.53 crore, compared to Rs 3,472.91 crores in the same period last fiscal. Total revenue from the company’s Middle East operations in Q2FY24 was at Rs 629 crore, up 5% from Rs 601 crore in the same period last fiscal. The company’s online division, Candere, registered a revenue of Rs 31 crore in Q2FY24 compared to Rs 37 crore in the same period in FY23.
Dr.Reddy’s Laboratories (DRL): The company received an approval from the USFDA to roll out wearable therapy device, Nerivio, for drug-free management of migraine. Nerivio is a prescription-based non-invasive device intended for acute and prophylactic (preventive) treatment of migraine with or without aura for adults and adolescents aged 12 years and above. Nerivio can be worn on the upper arm and the device is accompanied by the Nerivio app. This app can be used to control the intensity levels of the device.
PTC India: The company plans to divest its arm, PTC Energy, to ONGC for an enterprise value of Rs 2,021 crore, PTI reported citing a top official. With this, the company will achieve a debt-free status and the company will be more focused on improving core margin per unit rather than on increasing trade volumes, said Chairman and Managing Director Rajib K Mishra to PTI.
Dish TV India: The promoters of the company, the Goel family of the Essel group, have signed a settlement with the JC Flowers Asset Reconstruction Company for Rs 1,500 crore, Business Standard reported citing sources. As part of the settlement, JC Flowers ARC, which owns a 26% stake in Dish TV India, will return the shares to the Goel family, which were earlier acquired by Yes Bank following a default, the news report said. Subsequently, the company in an exchange filing said that it is neither aware of nor privy to the negotiations which have been referred in the news report.
Economy News
India’s retail inflation slipped to a four-month low of 4.87% in October, mainly due to easing food prices, government data showed. Retail inflation was at 5.02% in September 2023. Domestic wholesale price inflation remained in the negative territory for the seventh month in a row at (-) 0.52% in October 2023.
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) tightened norms for banks and NBFCs giving unsecured personal loans and credit card loans. However, the new stricter norms are not applicable to housing loans, education loans, vehicle loans, and loans secured by gold. The central bank has increased risk weights for personal loans by 25% to 125%. The RBI has also increased the risk weights on credit card receivables by 25% to 150% for scheduled commercial banks (SCBs) and to 125% for NBFCs. The new norms are effective immediately and are applicable for new and outstanding loans.
India’s overall trade deficit stood at $17.08 billion in October 2023 as against $14.52 billion in October 2022. The overall exports (including Merchandise and Services) stood at $62.26 billion in October 2023, up 9.42% YoY. Meanwhile the overall imports (including Merchandise and Services) stood at $79.35 billion in October 2023 as against $71.42 billion October 2022. Merchandise trade deficit widened to $31.46 billion in October 2023 from 26.31 billion in October 2022. In October 2023, merchandise exports stood at $33.57 billion, while merchandise imports was at $65.03 billion.
Global Markets
The US markets closed higher as data showed retail inflation slowed down in October and better-than-expected earnings from the US retailers. For the week, the S&P 500 rose 2.24%, the Dow Jones Industrial Average jumped 1.94% and the Nasdaq soared 2.37%.
Retail inflation in the US declined to 3.2% year-on-year in October as against 3.7% in September. Core CPI, which excludes volatile food and energy prices, rose 4% in the same period. On a monthly basis, the CPI remained unchanged in October, while the Core CPI increased by 0.2%. Retail sales fell 0.1% in October, according to the Commerce Department’s Census Bureau. Data for September was revised higher to show sales increased 0.9% as against 0.7% rise reported earlier.
Japan’s stock markets ended higher during the week, helped by upbeat earnings and latest US inflation data. The Nikkei 225 index soared 3.1% and the broader Topix index was up 2.3%.
On the economic front, provisional data showed that Japan’s gross domestic product fell 2.1% in the third quarter compared to the same period last year. The country’s economy shrank 0.5% from the preceding quarter. Japan’s wholesale inflation rose 0.8% year-on-year, down from 2.2% in September, due to fall in global commodity prices.
The yield on the 10-year Japanese government bond fell to 0.72% from 0.85% at the end of the previous week. The Japanese Yen closed around 149 against the US dollar during the week.
China’s equity markets ended mixed as investors were worried over the country’s economic growth. The Shanghai Composite index rose 0.51%, while the CSI 300 index lost 0.51%. In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng index gained 1.46%.