Opening Bell:
Gift Nifty is down by 61.5 points in the early morning trade, indicating a negative opening for Indian stock market.
Asian markets traded lower tracking overnight losses in the US stocks. Japan’s Nikkei 225 fell 1.30%. South Korea’s Kospi index declined 1.51%, while the Kosdaq index dropped 2.3%. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index futures stood at 17,158, compared to the HSI’s close of 17,085.33. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 eased 0.4%.
U.S. stocks tumbled in a broad sell-off on Wednesday as Alphabet shares slid after the Google parent posted disappointing earnings and as U.S. Treasury yields rose, reviving fears that interest rates could stay higher for longer. The benchmark S&P 500 index notched its fifth daily decline in six to close below the closely watched 4,200 level. The Nasdaq Composite slumped to its biggest single-session percentage drop since Feb. 21, with interest rate sensitive megacaps weighing heavily the tech-laden index. The Dow Jones Industrial Average finished modestly lower. The Dow fell 0.32%, the S&P 500 lost 1.43% and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 2.43%.
Stocks News:
👉 Jubilant Foodworks: Jubilant Foodworks Ltd on Wednesday reported a 26.1% decline in its consolidated net profit to ₹97.20 crore in the second quarter ended on September 2023. The company had posted a consolidated net profit of ₹131.53 crore in the July-September quarter of the previous fiscal. Its revenue from operations during the quarter increased 5.15% to ₹1,368.63 crore against ₹1,301.48 crore in the year-ago period, it added.
👉 Welspun India: Home textiles major Welspun Living Ltd on Wednesday reported a multi-fold rise in consolidated net profit to ₹200.41 crore for the September quarter. The company had posted a net profit of ₹8.33 crore in the year-ago period, according to a regulatory filing by Welspun Living. Its revenue from operations rose 18.71 per cent to ₹2,509.08 crore during the second quarter of the current fiscal as against ₹2,113.46 crore in the year-ago period.
👉 Indus Towers: Indus Towers recorded a net profit of ₹1,295 crore in Q2FY24, which is 49% higher than ₹872 crore reported in the year-ago period, as per the unaudited consolidated financial results released on October 25. The company’s revenue during the September 2023 quarter, however, dipped by 10% on-year, as it came in at ₹7,133 crore as compared to ₹7,967 crore reported in the September 2022 quarter.
👉 Tech Mahindra: Tech Mahindra posted a staggering 62% drop in net profit in the September quarter, rounding off what was one of the worst quarters for this industry in the past five years, barring the Covid-disrupted period. Its revenues for the period were at $1.55 billion, down 2.8% sequentially in constant currency terms, while net profit fell 29.3% sequentially, and a whopping 62.5% from a year earlier to $59.5 million.
👉 Foreign institutional investors sold shares worth Rs 4,236.60 crore, while domestic institutional investors purchased Rs 3,569.36 crore worth of stocks on October 25, provisional data from the National Stock Exchange showed.
Domestic and International Events
- Several countries, including India, Switzerland, Russia, and Japan, have criticized the EU and the UK for their safeguard measures on steel imports, stating that they are inconsistent with global trade rules. The countries, speaking at the World Trade Organisation’s Safeguards Committee meeting, argued that the measures violated WTO rules.
- Given the sheer size of infrastructure development taking place across the country, India has emerged as the biggest project funding market for the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), a top bank official said on Wednesday. Stating that financing of a lot more new infrastructure projects is under discussion for next year, AIIB South Asia Director General Rajat Misra said, “Lending to India will continue to grow as the bank balance sheet will also grow.” Misra was speaking to PTI on the sidelines of Singapore International Energy Week here. Formed in December 2015, the AIIB has to date funded sovereign Indian infrastructure projects to the tune of USD 10 billion.
- Safe-haven gold gained on Wednesday, buoyed by continued conflict in the Middle East, while investors looked forward to key U.S. economic data for further cues on the Federal Reserve’s policy path. Spot gold was up 0.5% at $1,979.79 per ounce, having declined in the previous two sessions and trading below a five-month high hit last week. U.S. gold futures rose 0.3% to $1,991.90.
- Oil prices rose about 2% on Wednesday, buoyed by worries about conflict in the Middle East, but gains were capped by higher U.S. crude inventories and gloomy economic prospects in Europe. Brent crude futures rose $2.06, or 2.34%, to settle at $90.13 a barrel. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures rose $1.65, or 1.97%, to close at $85.39 a barrel.
Key Equity Indices
| EMERGING | LATEST | % 1D |
| Hang Seng | 17,085 | 0.6 % |
| Shanghai Composite | 2,974 | 0.4 % |
| DEVELOPED | LATEST | % 1D |
| Dow Jones | 33,036 | (0.3) % |
| DAX | 14,892 | 0.1 % |
| FTSE 100 | 7,414 | 0.3 % |
| Nikkei | 31,270 | 0.7 % |
| Straits Times | 3,079 | (0.2) % |
