Opening Bell:
Gift Nifty is up by 27.5 points in the early morning trade, indicating a positive opening for Indian stock market.
Asian markets traded higher tracking Friday’s rally in US stocks and bonds amid increased bets of no more interest rate hikes. The MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan gained 0.5%, having already rallied 2.8% last week and away from one-year lows. Japan’s Nikkei 225 surged by 2%, and the Topix gained 1.45%, reaching its highest level in over a month. South Korea’s Kospi jumped by 2.14%, and the Kosdaq saw a significant increase of 3.39%. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index futures were up at 17,867, compared to the HSI’s previous close of 17,664.12. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 also rose by 0.40%.
The US stock market indices ended higher on Friday as bond yields fell sharply after data showed signs of slowing US jobs growth and an uptick in unemployment, resurfacing hopes that the interest rate hike cycle is near its peak. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rallied 0.66%, while the S&P 500 gained 0.94%, The Nasdaq Composite ended 1.38%.
European stock markets closed cautiously higher on Friday, rounding off a weekly rally powered by a series of solid earnings and a perceived dovish tilt from central banks. The Stoxx 600 ended 0.2% higher, led by retail stocks, which were up 1.7%. Oil and gas saw the biggest drop, down by 2.2%.
Stocks News:
👉 State Bank of India: India’s largest commercial bank, SBI reported an 8% year-on-year jump in the net profit as it grew from ₹13,264.5 crore in Q2FY23 to ₹14,330 crore in the quarter under review. The net interest income (NII) of the State Bank of India jumped 12.3% compared to the same period last year, reaching ₹39,500 crore. Additionally, there was a 21.6% growth in other sources of income, bringing it to ₹10,790 crore.
👉 Bank of Baroda: Bank of Baroda reported a net profit of ₹4,252.9 crore in the second quarter of fiscal year 2023-24 (Q2FY24), marking a surge of 28.4% as against the year-ago period, as per the financial results. The jump was credited to robust loan growth. The public sector lender’s NII grew by 6.5% year-on-year during the quarter under review, as it came in at ₹10,830.70 crore.
👉 Vedanta: The mining company has posted a consolidated loss of Rs 915 crore for the July–September period of FY24, against a profit of Rs 2,687 crore in the year-ago period. Consolidated revenue from operations increased by 6% YoY to Rs 38,546 crore in Q2 FY24, driven by higher sales volume, favourable movement in the exchange rate, and favourable arbitration awards, partially offset by lower commodity prices and strategic hedging gains in FY23, Vedanta Group is in advanced talks to raise a $1.25 billion private loan with an interest rate between 18 and 20% as it seeks to overhaul its debt.
👉 JSW Infra: JSW Infrastructure announced its July-September quarter results for fiscal 2023-24 (Q2FY24) on Friday, November 3, reporting a rise of 85% to ₹256 crore, compared to ₹138 crore in the corresponding period last year. The JSW Group company’s revenue from operations in the second quarter of the current fiscal stood at ₹895 crore, registering a growth of 25%, compared to ₹696 crore in the year-ago period.
👉 Foreign institutional investors offloaded shares worth Rs 12.43 crore, while domestic institutional investors bought Rs 402.69 crore worth of stocks on November 3, provisional data from the National Stock Exchange showed.
Domestic and International Events
- The capital expenditure by 54 large central public sector enterprises (CPSE) and the five departmental arms of the ministries, such as the Railway Board and National Highways Authority of India, rose 33% in the first half of the current fiscal with their spending reaching Rs 3.79 lakh crore by September 30, according to the latest data compiled by the Department of Public Enterprises. The capital expenditure by CPSEs stood at Rs 2.85 lakh crore in the same period last year and has already crossed 52% of their budget expenditure for the current financial year.
- Foreign Portfolio Investors (FPIs) withdrew more than Rs 3,400 crore from the Indian equity markets in the first three trading days of November due to rising interest rates and Middle East tensions. This follows withdrawals of Rs 24,548 crore in October and Rs 14,767 crore in September. FPIs had been consistently buying Indian equities from March to August, bringing in Rs 1.74 lakh crore during that period. The selling trend is expected to subside as the primary trigger for FPI selling, rising bond yields, has reversed following the US Federal Reserve’s dovish stance in its November meeting.
- Gold prices rose on Friday as the U.S. dollar and Treasury yields declined, reflecting expectations that the Federal Reserve would not raise interest rates further. Spot gold gained 0.4% to reach $1,994.28 per ounce, with a session high of $2,003.69. US gold futures settled 0.3% higher at $1,999.2. Weak U.S. job data for October, with slower job growth and cooling wage inflation, pointed to a softening labour market, with employers adding 150,000 jobs, falling short of the expected 180,000.
- Oil prices dropped over 2% on Friday due to easing Middle East tensions and expectations that the U.S. Federal Reserve might halt interest rate hikes. Brent crude futures fell by $1.92 (2.3%) to $84.89 a barrel, while US West Texas Intermediate crude futures declined by $1.95 (2.4%) to $80.51 a barrel. Both benchmarks recorded weekly losses of over 6%.
Key Equity Indices
| EMERGING | LATEST | % 1D |
| Hang Seng | 17,664 | 2.5 % |
| Shanghai Composite | 3,031 | 0.7 % |
| DEVELOPED | LATEST | % 1D |
| Dow Jones | 34,061 | 0.7 % |
| DAX | 15,189 | 0.3 % |
| FTSE 100 | 7,418 | (0.4) % |
| Nikkei | 31,950 | 1.1 % |
| Straits Times | 3,144 | 2.0 % |
