Bata India reported a 15% year-on-year growth in profit

Opening Bell:

SGX Nifty is down by 44.5 points in the early morning trade, indicating a negative opening for Indian stock market.

Asia Pacific markets traded mixed on Wednesday after the release of US inflation data that came in hotter-than-expected. The Japanese Nikkei is up by 0.08 percent. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng is down by 1.49 percent and South Korea’s Kospi is down by 0.83 percent in early morning deals.

Wall Street stocks ended mixed on Tuesday after US consumer price data for January offered little to change expectations about the Federal Reserve’s path forward on interest rate hikes. The S&P 500 declined 0.03 percent and the Nasdaq Composite was up 0.57 percent respectively.

Stocks News:

?The Competition Commission of India has approved acquisition of certain equity shares of consumer food company LT Foods by SALIC International Investment Corporation based in Saudi Arabia. SALIC is an investment company with holdings in various international companies specialised in the fields of agriculture and trading of food commodities both in Saudi Arabia and internationally

?Bata India reported a 15% year-on-year growth in profit at Rs 83.1 crore for quarter ended December FY23, supported by operating performance. Numbers were lower than analysts’ expectations. Strong portfolio evolution, strong footprint expansion across touchpoints coupled with improving cost efficiencies helped drive revenue growth and increase margins despite significant inflationary pressure.

?For the quarter ended December, Siemens registered PAT from continuing operations at Rs 438 crore, an increase of 80% year-on-year. Revenue from continuing operations was at Rs 3,596 crore.

?Apollo Hospitals Enterprise healthcare services provider has registered a 33.3% year-on-year decline in consolidated profit at Rs 162.3 crore for third quarter of FY23, impacted by weak operating performance. The higher purchase of stock-in-trade and employee expenses impacted operating numbers.

?Foreign institutional investors (FII) bought shares worth Rs 1,305.30 crore, while domestic institutional investors (DII) purchased shares worth Rs 204.79 crore on February 14, NSE’s provisional data showed.

Domestic and International Events

• The US Bureau of Labor Statistics reported on Friday that the Consumer Price Index (CPI) rose by 6.4 percent from January 2022, slightly higher than the estimated rate of 6.3 percent. Inflation in the US continued to surge in January, with the latest data showing higher-than-expected increases both year-on-year and month-on-month.
• Oil prices settled 1 percent lower on Tuesday as traders worried about mounting supplies, and prices extended losses in post-settlement trading after sources said data from the American Petroleum Institute showed a large build in US crude oil and distillate inventories.
• The yield on the 10-year benchmark bond eased marginally after hitting an over two-week high in the morning on buying by banks amid attractive prices and better-than-expected cut-offs at state development loan auctions.
• The wholesale price-based inflation declined to 2-year low of 4.73 per cent in January on easing prices of manufactured items, fuel and power, even though food articles turned expensive. This is the eight straight month of decline in the rate of wholesale price-index (WPI) based inflation. It was 4.95 per cent in December 2022 and 13.68 per cent in January last year.

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