Adani stocks continued their downwards journey

Indian Markets:

• Nifty 50 Movement: Indices ended a tad below 17,650 mark after hitting the day’s high at 17,972.20 in afternoon trade.
• Budget for 2023-24 was laid down in the Parliament by the Union Finance Minister. Investors cheered after the central government announced a slew of measures to boost capital expenditure spending in country while simultaneously providing relief to highest taxpayers, all this coupled with reigning the fiscal deficit to below 4.5% of GDP by 2025-26.
• Within sectoral indices the Nifty FMCG index (up 1.13%), the Nifty IT index (up 0.93%) and the Nifty Healthcare index (down 0.03%) outperformed the Nifty50 index. Meanwhile, the Nifty PSU Bank index (down 5.68%) the Nifty Metal index (down 4.50%) and the Nifty Media index (down 2.70%) underperformed the Nifty50 index.

Global Markets:

• Dow Jones index futures were down 133 points, indicating a negative opening in the US stocks today.
• Shares in Europe and Asia advanced on Wednesday with investors keeping a close eye on the U.S. Federal Reserves next monetary policy decision later today.
• China’s factory activity in January signaled a further contraction from previous readings, albeit at a slower pace, marking the sixth monthly contraction in a row. The Caixin manufacturing Purchasing Managers Index for January came in at 49.2 on Wednesday, a slightly higher reading than Decembers 49.
• Japan’s factory activity logs another contraction in January, marking a third straight month of contraction. The au Jibun Bank Flash Japan Manufacturing Purchasing Managers Index held steady at 48.9, below the 50-point mark separating growth from contraction.
• US stocks edged higher on Tuesday on the back of strong earnings and encouraging inflation data.

Stocks in Spotlight:

• ITC slumped as much as 6.6% during the day after the government stepped up NCCD (National Calamity Contingent Duty) duty on cigarettes by about 16%. The stock later bounced 2.61% to settle after the media reported that the impact of NCCD on the overall volumes of the company is expected to be limited and also analysts are expecting that the hike in charges can be passed on to consumers hence having a negligible impact on company fundamentals
• Shares of other listed Adani Group companies slumped as Credit Suisse Group AG has stopped accepting bonds of Gautam Adani’s group of companies as collateral for margin loans to its private banking clients. This came after US-based short-seller Hindenburg Research’s adverse report on the conglomerate.
• The government gave a renewed thrust to the new tax regime in Budget 2023-24 today. Under the new income tax regime, individuals can opt to pay tax at the reduced rates without claiming the various tax exemptions and deductions. Insurance stocks declined on concerns that the new tax regime may reduce demand for new insurance policies. Many taxpayers take insurance policies only to benefit from Section 80C deduction. They will not be inclined to do so under the new tax regime.

News from the IPO world?

• Adani Enterprises calls off FPO, money to be returned to investors
• Enviro Infra Engineers get SEBI nod for raising money through IPO
• FirstMeridian Business Services files fresh draft papers for IPO; cuts issue size to Rs. 740 crore

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