Infosys will release its December quarter earnings after market hours

Opening Bell:

SGX Nifty is up by 52.0 points in the early morning trade, indicating a positive opening for Indian stock market.

Asia-Pacific shares notched gains as investors look ahead to the US consumer price index report Thursday. Economists expect inflation to have cooled in December, which could signal to the Federal Reserve that previous interest rates hikes have had their intended effects. The Japanese Nikkei is down by 0.07 percent. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng is up by 0.87 percent and South Korea’s Kospi is up by 0.23 percent in early morning deals.

US stocks ended higher on Wednesday as investors were optimistic ahead of and inflation report that could give Federal Reserve room to dial back on its aggressive interest rate hikes. The S&P 500 gained 1.28 percent; and the Nasdaq Composite added 1.76 percent respectively.

Stocks News:

?HCL Technologies is all set to report its October-December earnings numbers on January 12 and analysts are forecasting a 3 percent sequential growth in constant currency (CC) terms, which is likely to be greater than its peers.

?Sah Polymers, a bulk packaging solutions provider, is expected to debut on the stock exchanges on January 12 with gains over the IPO sale price, supported by healthy subscription and better financial performance, analysts said. However, they are concerned about rich valuations and a competitive environment.

?An undisclosed shareholder of FSN E-Commerce Ventures Limited, the parent company of Nykaa, is offering 14.2 million shares in a block trade, Bloomberg reported on January 12. Reportedly the shares are being offered at Rs 148.90 a piece as the shareholder is looking to raise $26 million via block.

?Infosys will release its December quarter earnings after market hours. Consolidated revenue is seen rising nearly 19% on year, and 4% sequentially to Rs 37,890 crore, according to the average of estimates given by 10 brokerages. The net profit is seen rising 11% on year and 7.2% sequentially to Rs 6,455.40 crore. Infosys is seen retaining its sales growth and margin guidance for FY23.

?Foreign institutional investors (FII) have net-sold shares worth Rs 3,208.15 crore, continuing selling for the 14th session in a row, but domestic institutional investors (DII) have managed to offset the FII outflow to a major extent by net-buying shares worth Rs 2,430.62 crore on January 11, as per provisional data available on the NSE.

Domestic and International Events

• Oil prices climbed 3 percent to a one-week high on Wednesday as hopes for an improved global economic outlook and concern over the impact of sanctions on Russian crude output outweighed a massive surprise build in US crude stocks.
• The Federal Reserve will likely hike its target interest rate for the last time at its Jan. 31-February 1 monetary policy meeting, raising it by 50 basis points (bps) to a range of 4.75-5.00 percent, HSBC said in a research note.
• India and the United States are developing a mechanism for the Indian fishermen to be able to export shrimps for the American consumers, Union Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal said Wednesday.
• Adani Group on announced that it has plans to invest Rs 60,000 crore in mineral exploration, energy, agriculture, renewable energy and coal sectors in Madhya Pradesh India.

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