Opening Bell:
Gift Nifty is down by 7.5 points in the early morning trade, indicating a negative opening for Indian stock market.
Asian markets traded higher on Tuesday tracking overnight gains on Wall Street. Japan’s Nikkei 225 rallied 1.78%, while South Korea’s Kospi gained 0.87%. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index futures was higher at 17,886, compared with the HSI’s close of 17,640. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 added 1%.
Major US stock indices ended sharply higher on Monday as investors were optimistic about the start of the earnings season, while transportation and small-cap shares also jumped. Market participants were monitoring the Israeli war in Gaza, but appeared to be taking more of a risk-on stance on Monday, with safe-haven gold prices down. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.93%, the S&P 500 gained 1.06% and the Nasdaq Composite added or 1.2%.
Stocks News:
👉 HDFC Bank: HDFC Bank Ltd on Monday reported a 51% jump in profit in the September quarter, beating analysts’ estimates, on higher other income and lower provisions. The bank saw net profit rise to ₹15,976 crore in the quarter that ended 30 September from ₹10,605 crore in the year-ago period. That exceeded analysts’ estimates of ₹14,120 crore in a Bloomberg survey. The bank saw its net interest margin (NIM) narrow to 3.6% at the end of September from 4.1% in the preceding quarter.
👉Jio Financial Services: The financial services company has registered healthy growth for the quarter ended September FY24, with profit rising 101.3% quarter-on-quarter to Rs 668.18 crore and revenue from operations growing 46.8% QoQ to Rs 608.04 crore. Meanwhile, the board has appointed AR Ganesh as Group Chief Technology Officer of the company, with effect from October 16 .
👉 CEAT: The tyre company recorded consolidated profit of Rs 208 crore for the quarter ended September FY24, increasing significantly compared to Rs 7.8 crore in the same period last year, supported by healthy operating numbers and a fall in input costs. In Q2 FY23, profit was also impacted by an exceptional loss of Rs 23.7 crore. Revenue from operations grew by 5.5% YoY to Rs 3,053.3 crore for the quarter.
👉ICICI Securities: Brokerage firm ICICI Securities on October 16 posted a net profit of ₹424 crore in the quarter ending September 2023, marking a surge of 41% as compared to the year-ago period. In the second quarter of FY23, the company’s profit after tax stood at ₹300.4 crore, as per the regulatory filing. The total income in Q2FY24 came in ₹1,249 crore, which is 44% higher than ₹865.63 crore reported in the September 2022 quarter.
👉 Foreign institutional investors (FII) sold shares worth Rs 593.66 crore, while domestic institutional investors (DII) bought Rs 1,184.24 crore worth of stocks on October 16, provisional data from the National Stock Exchange (NSE) showed.
Domestic and International Events
- Wholesale inflation in India remained in the negative territory for the sixth straight month as prices fell 0.26% in September, data showed on Monday. Wholesale inflation had risen to a five-month high of -0.52% in the month of August. Economists polled by Reuters had estimated the wholesale price index for September would rise 0.5%. Wholesale prices fell 0.59% in September on a month-on-month basis after rising 0.20% in August.
- The Indian government plans to introduce a production-linked incentive (PLI) scheme for batteries to reduce costs and encourage the adoption of electric vehicles (EVs). The Union Power and New & Renewable Energy Minister, R K Singh, stated that the scheme aims to increase battery volumes and lower prices. He also highlighted the limited battery manufacturing capacity worldwide as a factor contributing to high prices.
- According to the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM), domestic passenger vehicle sales in September reached 3.61 lakh units, slightly higher than the 3.55 lakh units sold in the same period last year. Additionally, two-wheeler sales increased to 17.5 lakh units in September 2023, compared to 17.4 lakh units in September 2022.
- Gold held above the key $1,900 ceiling on Monday, despite a drop in prices due to technical selling following a fierce 3% rally in the previous session as the raging Israel-Hamas war sent investors scuttling to the safe-haven bullion. Spot gold dipped 1.1% to $1,910.70 per ounce by 0748 GMT and the US gold futures dropped 0.9% to $1,924.20.
Key Equity Indices
| EMERGING | LATEST | % 1D |
| Hang Seng | 17,640 | (1.0) % |
| Shanghai Composite | 3,074 | (0.5) % |
| DEVELOPED | LATEST | % 1D |
| Dow Jones | 33,985 | 0.9 % |
| DAX | 15,238 | 0.3 % |
| FTSE 100 | 7,631 | 0.4 % |
| Nikkei | 31,659 | (2.0) % |
| Straits Times | 3,164 | (0.7) % |
