Opening Bell:
Gift Nifty is down by 38.0 points in the early morning trade, indicating a negative opening for Indian stock market
Asian markets showed mixed reactions following the release of the latest U.S. Federal Reserve meeting minutes, which highlighted Fed officials’ concerns about persistent inflation. The minutes suggested that members were hesitant about potential interest rate cuts. In South Korea, the central bank maintained its benchmark policy rate at 3.5%, aligning with expectations from a Reuters poll. According to a Reuters survey conducted on May 21, the Bank of Korea is anticipated to reduce rates by 50 basis points in the fourth quarter.
The US stock market did not take the hawkish comments from April 30-May 1 US Fed meeting minutes. The benchmark indices closed marginally in the red with S&P 500 down 0.27% at 5,307, while Nasdaq ended 0.18% lower at 16,801. The Dow Jones Industrial Average finished down 0.5 percent at 39,671.04, Bloomberg reported. The US Treasury 10-year yield was up 1 bpd at 4.42%, while the Dollar Index topped out at 105.
Stocks News:
👉 In Q4 (Consolidated YoY), Power Grid Corporation of India reported a 3.6% decline in profit to Rs 4,166 crore, down from Rs 4,323 crore, and a 2.5% decrease in revenue from operations to Rs 11,978 crore, compared to Rs 12,286 crore. The company announced a final dividend of Rs 2.75 per share.
👉 Grasim Industries saw a 15.5% increase in profit to Rs 2,722 crore, up from Rs 2,355.7 crore, with revenue rising by 12.7% to Rs 37,727.1 crore, compared to Rs 33,462.1 crore.
👉 FSN E-Commerce Ventures (Nykaa) experienced a substantial 298% surge in profit to Rs 9.07 crore, compared to Rs 2.28 crore, and a 28.1% increase in revenue to Rs 1,667.9 crore, up from Rs 1,301.7 crore. Nykaa’s EBITDA margin also expanded to 5.6%, from 5.4%.
👉 In Q4 (Consolidated YoY), Jubilant Foodworks reported a profit surge of over sevenfold to Rs 207.5 crore, up from Rs 28.5 crore. This increase includes an exceptional gain of Rs 170.1 crore, compared to none in the previous period. Revenue grew by 24% to Rs 1,572.8 crore, up from Rs 1,269.8 crore.
👉 Foreign institutional investors sold Indian equities worth Rs 686 crore on May 22. Conversely, domestic institutional investors bought Rs 961 crore worth of equities during the same period.
Domestic and International Events
- India’s gold imports in 2024 could fall by nearly a fifth from the previous year, as record high prices spur retail consumers to exchange old jewellery for new items, the head of an industry body told Reuters. Lower imports by India, the world’s second biggest consumer of the precious metal, could cap a rally that carried global prices to a record this week. Affordability is severely affected by the rapid price increase, said Prithviraj Kothari, president of the India Bullion and Jewellers Association (IBJA). “Retail buyers prefer exchanging old jewellery for new.
- The minutes from the last U.S. Federal Reserve meeting revealed that some officials are open to raising interest rates, a hawkish stance that unsettled the markets. Participants noted disappointing readings on inflation over the first quarter,” stated the minutes released by the FOMC from the May 1 meeting. “It would take longer than previously anticipated for them to gain greater confidence that inflation was moving sustainably toward 2%.
- Oil prices eased for a fourth straight day on Thursday on worries that U.S. borrowing costs could be hiked again if inflation surged, a move that could hurt oil demand. Brent crude futures fell 27 cents, or 0.3 percent, to $81.63 a barrel. U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude (WTI) futures were down 35 cents, or 0.5 percent, at $77.14.
| EMERGING | LATEST | % 1D |
| Hang Seng | 19,196 | (0.1) % |
| Shanghai Composite | 3,159 | 0.0 % |
| DEVELOPED | LATEST | % 1D |
| Dow Jones | 39,671 | (0.5) % |
| DAX | 18,680 | (0.3) % |
| FTSE 100 | 8,370 | (0.6) % |
| Nikkei | 38,617 | (0.9) % |
| Straits Times | 3,308 | (0.2) % |
