Category: BUSINESS

Mumbai: The domestic benchmark indices opened flat on Wednesday as selling was seen in the auto, IT, PSU bank, financial service, FMCG, metal, realty and media sectors.

At around 9.28 am, Sensex was trading at 78,014.77 after dropping 184.34 points or 0.24 per cent, while Nifty was trading at 23,662.2 after declining 45.70 points or 0.19 per cent.

On the National Stock Exchange (NSE), 749 stocks were trading in green, while 826 stocks were in red.

Nifty Bank was down 117.25 points or 0.23 per cent at 50,084.90. Nifty Midcap 100 index was trading at 56,405.35 after dropping 463.95 points or 0.82 per cent. Nifty Smallcap 100 index was at 18,568.10 after declining 105.35 points or 0.56 per cent.

According to market experts, the trend of strong US macros weakening emerging markets is continuing. The US 10-year bond yield has spiked to 4.67 per cent on better-than-expected jobs numbers and indications of the services sector doing very well.

This means the Fed may hold rates in January leading to further strengthening of the dollar and rising bond yields.

“The fall out of this on the Indian macros is that the RBI may hold rates in February against the market expectation of a cut. In this macro setting, FIIs are likely to continue selling, putting pressure on the market,” they added.

Meanwhile, in the Sensex pack, Zomato, Tech Mahindra, Tata Motors, Infosys, IndusInd Bank, HCL Tech and HDFC Bank were the top losers. Maruti, Sun Pharma, Nestle India, L&T, PowerGrid, ITC, M&M, Axis Bank and Kotak Mahindra Bank were the top gainers.

The Dow Jones declined 0.42 per cent to close at 42,528.36. The S&P 500 declined 1.11 per cent to 5,909 and the Nasdaq declined 1.89 per cent to close at 19,489.68 in the last trading session.

In the Asian markets, Jakarta and Seoul were trading in green. While Hong Kong, China, Bangkok and Japan were trading in red.

Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) sold equities worth Rs 1,491.46 crore on January 7 and domestic institutional investors bought equities worth Rs 1,615.28 crore on the same day.

Seoul: LG Electronics, South Korea’s leading home appliance maker, on Wednesday estimated its fourth-quarter operating profit decreased more than 53 percent from a year earlier due to global economic uncertainties.

Operating profit for the three months ended in December dropped to an estimated 146.1 billion won ($100.7 million) from 312.5 billion won in the same period of 2023, the company said in a regulatory filing.

Sales, however, increased 0.2 per cent to 22.77 trillion won. The data for net earnings was not available, reports Yonhap news agency.

For the whole of 2024, LG Electronics said its operating profit likely decreased 6.1 percent on-year to 3.43 trillion won, while its sales climbed 6.7 percent to hit an all-time high of 87.74 trillion won.

The company said its operating profit went down due to a rise in shipping costs and one-off costs sparked by its stock consolidation efforts, but its flagship home appliances business showed robust performance.

LG Electronics‘ home appliances unit is expected to post annual sales of over 30 trillion won for the second consecutive year in 2024.

The company will release its final earnings report later this month.

Meanwhile, the company announced a strategic partnership with Microsoft, aiming to lead artificial intelligence (AI) innovations by combining its customer insights from various devices and spaces with the U.S. tech giant’s advanced AI technologies.

Under the partnership, the two companies will collaborate on the development and advancement of AI agents for use in various spaces ranging from homes to vehicles, hotels, offices and more, LG Electronics CEO Cho Joo-wan said during a press event at CES 2025 in Las Vegas.

LG Electronics has incorporated Microsoft’s speech recognition and synthesis technologies in its AI home hub project, enabling the AI to understand customers’ various accents in different situations.

LG Electronics and Microsoft also plan to co-develop a new AI agent that not only interacts with customers but also predicts their needs and preferences.

New Delhi: The number of LPG connections for household kitchens in the country has more than doubled to 32.83 crore, as of November 1, 2024, from 14.52 crore in 2014, according to the year-end review of the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas released on Tuesday.

As many as 10.33 crore LPG connections have been released under the Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana (PMUY) for poor families who get the cooking gas at a subsidised price. Since the inception of the Scheme, about 222 crore LPG refills have been delivered to the PMUY households as about 13 lakh refills are being taken daily, according to the official statement.

A targeted subsidy of Rs. 300 per cylinder is being given to all Ujjwala beneficiaries.

“The Government’s efforts have led to an uptick in LPG consumption by Ujjwala families. The per capita consumption in the number of 14.2 kg domestic LPG cylinders has gone up from 3.01 in 2019-20 to 3.95 in 2023-24. In the current year, which is still under progress, the per capita consumption has reached 4.34 (pro-rata basis refills till October 2024),” the statement explained.

As of November 2024, around 30.43 crore LPG consumers are enrolled under the government’s PAHAL scheme that directly transfers LPG subsidies to the bank accounts of beneficiaries who earn an income of less than Rs 10 lakh per annum. To date, more than 1.14 crore customers have given up their LPG subsidy under the ‘GiveltUp’ campaign, the statement said.

Since 2014, the number of LPG distributors has increased from 13,896 to 25,532 as on November 1, 2024, enhancing the availability of cooking gas for consumers. More than 90 per cent of new distributors are catering to rural areas, the statement added.

The year-end review also highlighted that the length of operational Natural Gas Pipeline in the country has also increased from 15,340 km in 2014 to 24,945 km in 2024 making the environment-friendly fuel available to more consumers.

The development of about 10,805 km Natural Gas Pipeline is under execution. With the completion of these pipelines, the national gas grid would be completed and would connect all major demand and supply centres in India. This would ensure easy availability of natural gas across all regions, the statement said.

As many as 307 Geographical Areas have been earmarked for the development of city gas distribution (CGD) infrastructure for piped cooking gas and fuelling vehicles. The potential coverage of about 100 per cent of the country’s area and 100 per cent of the population is being targeted. As on September 30, the total number of piped gas connections and CNG Stations in the country was 1.36 crore and 7,259, respectively, the review added.

Mumbai: Adani Group shares saw a bullish trend on Tuesday, as buying was seen in almost all of the group’s stocks, led by Adani Green Energy and Adani Power.

At 1.19 p.m., Adani Green Energy gained 2.47 percent, Adani Power gained 2.33 per cent, and Adani Energy Solutions gained 1.96 percent.

Apart from this, Adani Group’s flagship company Adani Enterprises stock was up 1.72 per cent.

Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone (APSEZ) stock is trading with a gain of 1.36 per cent and Adani Total Gas stock is up by about 0.3 per cent.

The stock of the group’s cement companies Ambuja and ACC was up by about 1.50 per cent.

During this period, the market cap of the group has increased by about Rs 16,000 crore to nearly Rs 12.80 lakh crore.

In the recent past, there have been many positive developments about Adani Group’s companies that boost investors’ confidence.

Recently, Adani Petrochemicals, a subsidiary of Adani Enterprises, announced a joint venture with Indorama Resources named ‘Valor Petrochem’. Adani Petrochemicals will have a 50 per cent stake in this joint venture.

Through this joint venture, the Adani Group plans to take advantage of Indorama’s expertise in the petrochemicals sector.

Adani Petrochemicals was established in 2021. It aims to set up refineries and petrochemical complexes in the country.

Indorama Ventures, the parent company of Indorama Resources, is a leading global petrochemical company with operations in over 35 countries. Thailand-based Indorama is one of the world’s largest producers of integrated polyester products and fibres and a major chemical sector player.

Meanwhile, Sensex and Nifty were trading in the green with a rise of nearly 0.4 per cent.

On the National Stock Exchange (NSE), 1,724 stocks were trading in green, while 487 stocks were in red.

Mumbai: The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) bought another eight tonnes of gold in November 2024 as Central banks around the world continued their buying spree with a collective purchase of 53 tonnes of the precious metal during the month, according to the latest World Gold Council (WGC) report.

The decline in gold prices during November, following the US election, may have provided some central banks with the added impetus to accumulate the precious metal, the report pointed out.

RBI has, like other central banks, been buying gold as a safe-haven asset. The strategy of holding gold is primarily aimed at hedging against inflation and reducing foreign currency risks, especially in times of uncertainty triggered by geopolitical tensions.

With the addition of eight tonnes of gold to its reserves in November, the RBI has increased its buying to 73 tonnes in the first 11 months of 2024 and its total gold holdings to 876 tonnes, maintaining its position as the second largest buyer during the year after Poland.

The People’s Bank of China (PBoC) has resumed gold purchases after a six-month gap, adding five tonnes of gold to its reserves, increasing its year-to-date net purchases to 34 tonnes and its total reported gold holdings to 2,264 tonnes (5 per cent of total reserves), the report said.

Meanwhile, the Monetary Authority of Singapore was the month’s largest seller, reducing its gold reserves by 5 tonnes, bringing the year-to-date net sales to 7 tonnes and overall gold holdings to 223 tonnes, it added.

The RBI’s gold purchases have shot up by five-fold over the quantity of the precious metal bought in the same period of 2023, according to WGC figures.

According to the data, the RBI’s total gold reserves have now gone up to 890 tonnes, of which 510 tonnes are held in India.

According to WGC, the central banks that bought gold during the month are those of Poland adding 21 tonnes and Uzbekistan buying nine tonnes.

These large purchases of gold by central banks have also been driving up prices of the precious metal in the global market.

More than half of the RBI’s gold reserves are held overseas in secure custody with the Bank of England and the Bank of International Settlements, while approximately a third is stored in the RBI’s vaults in Nagpur and Mumbai.

The Reserve Bank shifted 100 metric tonnes of its gold kept in bank vaults in the United Kingdom to its own vaults in India in 2024 as there was enough domestic storage capacity in the country.

The shifting of the gold reserves is expected to result in a saving in the high fees that were paid for the use of vaults in the UK.

Mumbai: The domestic benchmark indices opened higher on Tuesday as buying was seen in the energy, PSE, auto, IT, PSU bank, financial service, pharma, FMCG, metal and realty sectors.

At around 9.27 am, Sensex was trading at 78,292.85 after rising 327.86 points or 0.42 per cent, while Nifty was trading at 23,744.85 after gaining 128.80 points or 0.55 per cent.

On the National Stock Exchange (NSE), 1,724 stocks were trading in green, while 487 stocks were in red.

Nifty Bank was up 258.50 points or 0.52 per cent at 50,180.50. Nifty Midcap 100 index was trading at 56,737.20 after rising 370.25 points or 0.66 per cent. Nifty Smallcap 100 index was at 18,534.15 after gaining 108.90 points or 0.59 per cent.

According to market experts, the 1.6 per cent cut in Nifty on Monday appears to be an overreaction to the HMPV virus concerns. Nifty corrected by 388 points, which means the correction was triggered by short selling by bears trying to exploit the negative sentiments.

“The resilience of the pharma and health care stocks also indicate the influence of the virus concerns on the market. Clarification by the government that there is no room for undue concern from the virus, which is not new, can facilitate a rebound in the market, led by momentum stocks,” they mentioned.

In the Sensex pack, Titan, HCL Tech, IndusInd Bank, Bajaj Finance, Adani Ports, Bajaj Finserv, Nestle India, PowerGrid and Tech Mahindra were the top gainers. Whereas, Zomato, M&M and Tata Motors were the top losers.

The Dow Jones declined 0.06 per cent to close at 42,706.56. The S&P 500 gained 0.55 per cent to 5,975.40 and the Nasdaq gained 1.24 per cent to close at 19,864.98 in the last trading session.

In the Asian markets, Hong Kong and China were trading in red. Seoul, Jakarta, Bangkok and Japan were trading in green.

Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) sold equities worth Rs 2,575.06 crore on January 6 and domestic institutional investors bought equities worth Rs 5,749.65 crore on the same day.

New Delhi: Global brokerage firm Jefferies has downgraded Zomato’s shares to ‘hold’ as it revised the target lower, citing increasing competition as a threat to the online food aggregator’s profitability.

Although valuations appear reasonable considering Zomato’s strong execution and growth opportunities, Jefferies is “worried on the rise in quick commerce competition.”

Jefferies has set a target price of Rs 275 per share from Rs 335 apiece earlier, as analysts expect a year of consolidation for the stock after it doubled in value in 2024.

Additionally, Jefferies sharply cut its EBITDA forecast for Blinkit, Zomato’s quick-commerce arm, for fiscal years 2026-27. The brokerage also halved its target multiple for Blinkit to six times.

The market capitalisation of Zomato has grown to Rs 2.55 lakh crore in the last 12 months, as its stock rallied by almost 100 per cent.

Meanwhile, Anand Rathi Share and Stock Brokers Ltd. initiated coverage on Zomato and Swiggy with a ‘buy’ rating, as these firms diversify their portfolios beyond food delivery to capture a larger share of the growing intracity e-commerce market.

Amid the surge in quick commerce industry, the food collection take-away segment in India is projected to register a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of over 7.7 per cent during 2023–28.

The rapid rise of quick commerce in India is reshaping the retail landscape, with urban populations progressively seeking fast delivery services for daily necessities, according to GlobalData, a leading data and analytics company.

According to Grant Thornton Bharat Dealtracker, quick commerce fund raising activity headlined in November, which otherwise witnessed a subdued activity as deals have been delayed/ postponed to 2025.

November 2024 saw 163 transactions totalling $10.8 billion. The quick commerce space remained a bright spot, with notable fundraises by Zepto, Swiggy and Zomato.

New Delhi: Investors’ wealth tumbled Rs 10.98 lakh crore on Monday as markets crashed due to an across-the-board selloff, amid concerns over third-quarter earnings growth and foreign fund exodus.

The 30-share BSE benchmark Sensex tanked 1,258.12 points or 1.59 per cent to close below the 78,000 level at 77,964.99. During the day, it plunged 1,441.49 points or 1.81 per cent to 77,781.62.

The NSE Nifty slumped 388.70 points or 1.62 per cent to 23,616.05.

The market capitalisation of BSE-listed firms dived Rs 10,98,723.54 crore to Rs 4,38,79,406.58 crore (USD 5.11 trillion).

From the 30-share blue-chip pack, Tata Steel, NTPC, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Power Grid, Zomato, Adani Ports, IndusInd Bank, Asian Paints, ITC and Reliance Industries were among the biggest laggards.

Titan, HCL Tech and Sun Pharma were the gainers.

“The Indian equity markets are witnessing a sharp decline today, with both Nifty and Bank Nifty slipping below their 200-day moving averages (DMA). The sell-off can be attributed to a rise in Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) selling and concerns surrounding the upcoming Q3 earnings season.

“Additionally, fears related to the new HMPV have added to the bearish sentiment, triggering fresh rounds of selling after the recent counter-trend pullback rally,” Santosh Meena, Head of Research at Swastika Investmart, said.

FIIs offloaded equities worth Rs 4,227.25 crore on Friday after a day’s breather, according to exchange data.

The BSE smallcap gauge cracked 3.17 per cent and the midcap index fell by 2.44 per cent.

“Indian equities faced intense selling pressure amid concerns regarding the outbreak of HMP virus and sharp fall in banking stocks post lacklustre quarterly updates,” Siddhartha Khemka, Head – Research, Wealth Management at Motilal Oswal Financial Services Ltd, said.

All BSE sectoral indices ended lower, with utilities tumbling 4.16 per cent, power (3.73 per cent), services (3.45 per cent), metal (3.15 per cent), oil & gas (3.15 per cent), energy (3.03 per cent), industrials (2.97 per cent) and commodities (2.74 per cent).

As many as 3,474 stocks declined while 656 advanced and 114 remained unchanged on the BSE.

“Emerging markets are undergoing consolidation due to uncertainties surrounding new US economic policies, the Fed’s hawkish stance on future rate cuts, potential upward revision for CY25 inflation, and a strong dollar, all negatively impacting market sentiment. The primary catalyst for a sharp sell-off in the domestic market appears to be concerns over the Human Metapneumovirus (HMPV).

“Additionally, the initial Q3 consensus earnings estimate suggests a potential gradual recovery in domestic corporate earnings, which could explain the domestic market’s underperformance compared to global markets led by premium valuation,” Vinod Nair, Head of Research at Geojit Financial Services, said.

Mumbai: The Indian stock market turned red in the afternoon trading session on Monday after opening in the green.

Both the benchmark indices fell by more than 1 per cent.

All sectoral indices were trading in the red. Nifty PSU Bank was trading in the red with a decline of more than 3 per cent.

Auto, metal, reality and media sectors were down by more than 2 per cent.

At around 12:00 pm, the Sensex was trading at 77,979.54 after declining 1,243.57 points or 1.57 per cent, while Nifty was trading at 23,607.35 after declining 397.40 points or 1.66 per cent.

On the National Stock Exchange (NSE), 291 stocks were trading in the green, while 2,221 stocks were in the red.

Nifty Bank was down 930.85 points or 1.83 per cent at 50,057.95.

Nifty Midcap 100 index was trading at 56,604.75 after dropping 1,326.30 points or 2.29 per cent.

Nifty Smallcap 100 index was at 18,552.30 after declining 481.40 points or 2.53 per cent.

In the Sensex pack, Tata Steel, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Asian Paints, Power Grid, NTPC, M&M, Ultra Tech Cement, IndusInd Bank, Zomato, Maruti Suzuki, HDFC Bank, Reliance and Nestle India were the top losers.

According to experts, the market is likely to be influenced by the negative factors impacting FII flows and some positive domestic factors which can support the market.

“The external macro construct continues to be unfavourable with the dollar index at 109 and the 10-year US bond yield at 4.62 per cent. The FIIs are likely to continue selling till the yields decline and the dollar stabilises,” they noted.

Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) sold equities worth Rs 4,227.25 crore on January 3 and domestic institutional investors bought equities worth Rs 820.60 crore on the same day.