SBI reported a massive 68.5% year-on-year growth

Opening Bell:

SGX Nifty is down by 17 points in the early morning trade, indicating a negative opening for Indian stock market.

Asian shares eased on Monday after a run of upbeat economic data from the US and globally lessened the risk of recession, but also suggested interest rates would have to rise further and stay up for longer. The Japanese Nikkei is up by 0.27 percent. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng is down by 1.74 percent and South Korea’s Kospi is up by 2.63 percent in early morning deals.

A gauge of global stocks dropped more than 1 percent, while US Treasury yields and the dollar gained on Friday after a shockingly strong US jobs report renewed concerns the Federal Reserve may remain aggressive in its path of interest rate hikes as it tries to tame inflation.

Stocks News:

?State Bank of India reported a massive 68.5% year-on-year growth in standalone profit at Rs 14,205 crore for December FY23 quarter, with net interest income growing 24% to Rs 38,069 crore for the quarter, beating analysts’ estimates. Fall in provisions, higher other income & operating income boosted profitability.

?ITC recorded a 21% year-on-year growth in profit at Rs 5,031 crore for quarter ended December FY23 despite tepid revenue growth, supported by healthy operating performance. Revenue for the quarter at Rs 16,226 crore grew by 2.3% aided by cigarettes, FMCG others, hotels and paper segments, but agri business tanked 37% YoY to Rs 3,124 crore.

?Interglobe Aviation reported a 11-fold year-on-year increase in profit at Rs 1,422.6 crore as revenue for the quarter at Rs 14,933 crore increased by 60.7% and EBITDAR at Rs 3,399 crore grew by 70.3% compared to year-ago period with EBITDAR margin expansion of 130 bps YoY.

?The Government of India has directed Vodafone Idea to convert AGR dues of Rs 16,133 crore into equity shares. The company has been directed by the Ministry of Communications to issue 1,613.31 crore equity shares of the face value of Rs 10 each at an issue price of Rs 10 each. The Government passed the said order for conversion of AGR dues into shares on February 3.

?Foreign institutional investors (FII) sold shares worth Rs 932.44 crore, while domestic institutional investors (DII) purchased shares worth Rs 1,264.74 crore on February 3, as per provisional data available on the NSE.

Domestic and International Events

• Job growth in US accelerated sharply in January while the unemployment rate hit more than a 53-1/2-year low of 3.4 percent, pointing to a stubbornly tight labor market, and a potential headache for Federal Reserve officials as they fight inflation.
• Foreign portfolio investors will lose a preferential tax rate on interest from Indian government securities and corporate and foreign currency bonds, a senior tax official said on Saturday. Foreign portfolio investors have been enjoying a lower 5 percent tax on interest earned on bonds since 2013, making investments in the country more attractive. Ending this treatment would require them to pay a 20 percent tax on interest income from July 1.
• Oil prices inched up in early trade on Monday after falling around 8 percent last week to more than three-week lows as jitters over major economies outweighed signs of a demand recovery in China, the world’s top oil importer.
• India’s forex reserves jumped to an over six months high in the reporting week ending on January 27 to $576.76 billion. According to the Weekly Statistical Supplement released by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on February 3 showed that forex reserves rises by $3.03 billion to $576.76 billion during the week ending January 27.

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