Bharat Electronics’ New Orders, ICICI Prudential’s Profit Growth

Opening Bell:

Gift Nifty is down by 54.0 points in the early morning trade, indicating a negative opening for Indian stock market.

Asia-Pacific markets had a mixed performance after a previous session decline, notably in mainland Chinese shares hitting a nearly five-year low. Australian markets extended losses for the fifth day, S&P/ASX 200 down 0.74%, awaiting crucial unemployment data. Japan’s Nikkei 225 rebounded by 0.29%, Topix by 0.28%, South Korea’s Kospi gained 0.12%, and Kosdaq rose 0.39%. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng futures remained flat at 15,274 after a 4% plunge on Wednesday, reaching its lowest level since November 2022. Investors are closely watching for clues on the Reserve Bank of Australia’s moves in its February meeting.

US stock market indices ended lower on Wednesday, with the benchmark S&P 500 falling to its lowest in over a week, as Treasury yields spiked after strong December US retail sales data diminished hopes of early interest rate cut by the US Federal Reserve. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 0.25%, while the S&P 500 fell 0.56%. The Nasdaq ended 0.59% lower.

European markets closed lower on Wednesday, while regional focus remained on the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. The Stoxx 600 index ended down 1.1%, with all sectors and major bourses in negative territory. Mining stocks led the losses, closing the session 2.1% lower.

Stocks News:

👉 LTIMindtree: India’s sixth largest IT services company reported robust earnings for the December quarter, with 17% year-n-year rise in consolidated net profit to ₹1,169 crore. Revenue from operations rose around 5% to ₹9,016 crore. However, operating margin dropped below its full-year guidance of 17-18% in Q3FY24, as higher than expected furloughs and less working days dented profitability. It reported operating margin of 15.4%, down 60 basis points from September quarter.

👉 Bharat Electronics: The aerospace and defence PSU on Wednesday said it has received two orders amounting to ₹1034.31 crore. The company received an order worth ₹695 crore from Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders Ltd, for supply of spares related to missile systems. The other order worth ₹339.3 crore is regarding combat management systems, composite communication systems, mobile autonomous stabilisation systems, and other spares. Its cumulative orders for FY24 are stands at ₹27,647.31 crore.

👉 ICICI Prudential Life Insurance Company: The life insurance company has reported a 3.1% on-year increase in net profit at Rs 227.47 crore for the quarter ended December FY24. Net premium income rose 4.9% year-on-year to Rs 9,928.8 crore, and net commission jumped 156% to Rs 1,001.7 crore compared to the year-ago period.

👉 Happiest Minds Technologies: The IT services company reported a 3.5% on-year and 2% sequential growth in net profit to ₹59.6 crore for the December quarter of FY24. Revenue from operations grew 11.7% year-on-year to ₹409.9 crore during the quarter. Revenue growth in dollar terms was 0.5% sequentially and in constant currency at 0.8% for the December quarter.

👉 Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) sold shares worth Rs 10,578.13 crore, while domestic institutional investors (DIIs) bought Rs 4,006.44 crore worth of stocks on January 17, provisional data from the NSE showed.          

Domestic and International Events

• The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor Shaktikanta Das on January 17 said that the Indian economy is likely to grow 7% in the next financial year 2024-25. “The government for structural reforms undertaken in recent years, saying they have boosted the medium and long-term growth prospects of the Indian economy,” Das said while speaking at a CII session on ‘High growth, low risk: The India story’ at Davos during the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting. Further, the RBI Governor added that amid a challenging global macroeconomic environment, India presents a picture of growth and stability. Last month, the central bank raised its GDP growth forecast for 2023-24 by a huge 50 basis points to 7% following the big upside surprise in the July-September data.

• The Indian government has disbursed approximately Rs 4,415 crore under the Production-Linked Incentive (PLI) schemes for eight sectors, including electronics and pharmaceuticals, until October of the current fiscal year. The PLI schemes, launched in 2021, cover 14 sectors and have a total outlay of Rs 1.97 lakh crore. The disbursement of Rs 4,415 crore represents incentives for sectors like large-scale electronics manufacturing, IT hardware, bulk drugs, telecom, food processing, and drones.

• Oil fell more than $1 on Wednesday as economic growth in China, the world’s second-largest crude user, slightly missed expectations, raising concerns about future demand, while U.S. dollar strength dented investor’s risk appetite. Brent crude futures fell $1.23, or 1.57%, to $77.06 per barrel. US West Texas Intermediate crude futures (WTI) were down 92 cents, or 1.27%, at $71.48.

• Gold prices hit a one-month low on Wednesday, down 1.1% to $2,005.29 per ounce, influenced by strong economic data boosting the dollar and Treasury yields. This decline, the largest since December 4, 2023, followed a 1.3% drop in the previous session. US gold futures also fell 1.1% to $2,007.3. The stronger-than-expected US retail sales in December contributed to reduced market expectations of a March rate cut.

Key Equity Indices

EMERGING	LATEST	% 1D
Hang Seng	15,277	(3.7) %
Shanghai Composite	2,834	(2.1) %

DEVELOPED	LATEST	% 1D
Dow Jones	37,267	(0.3) %
DAX	16,432	(0.8) %
FTSE 100	7,446	(1.5) %
Nikkei	35,478	(0.4) %
Straits Times	3,142	(1.3) %