Hindustan Unilever Profit Up; Bajaj Finance Net Profit Jumps 14%; Torrent Pharmaceuticals Profit Rises 21%; Infosys Invests €5 Million in UVC Partners

Opening Bell:             

Gift Nifty is down by 71.0 points in the early morning trade, indicating a negative opening for Indian stock market                                  

Asian markets traded lower on Wednesday, mirroring the overnight losses on Wall Street. Japan’s Nikkei 225 remained flat, while the Topix fell by 0.23%. South Korea’s Kospi dropped 0.7%, and the Kosdaq was down marginally. Hong Kong Hang Seng index futures indicated a flat opening. The downturn in the Asian markets reflects ongoing economic concerns affecting investor sentiment globally.

The U.S. stock market ended marginally lower on Tuesday as investors focused on the latest earnings reports from Alphabet and Tesla. The Dow Jones Industrial Average declined 57.35 points, or 0.14%, to close at 40,358.09. The S&P 500 eased 8.67 points, or 0.16%, to finish at 5,555.74, while the Nasdaq Composite ended 10.22 points, or 0.06%, lower at 17,997.35.

Stocks News:

👉 Hindustan Unilever reported a 2.7% growth in net profit to ₹2,538 crore in the first quarter of FY25. Revenue increased by 1.3% to ₹15,339 crore. EBITDA rose by 2.4% to ₹3,606 crore, with the margin expanding to 23.5%. The company achieved an underlying volume growth of 4% and anticipates low-single-digit price growth in the second half of the financial year. Year-over-year, the company’s net profit rose 3% to ₹2,538 crore in Q1FY25.

👉 Bajaj Finance reported a 14% increase in net profit to ₹3,912 crore in Q1FY25, with net interest income rising by 25% to ₹8,365 crore. However, both Gross NPA and Net NPA showed a slight increase. Despite these gains, Bajaj Finance’s Q1FY25 net profit numbers missed street expectations.

👉 Torrent Pharmaceuticals reported a 21% increase in net profit to ₹457 crore and a 10.3% rise in revenue to ₹2,859 crore in Q1FY25. EBITDA grew by 14.3% to ₹904 crore, with the margin expanding by 110 basis points to 31.6%.

👉 Infosys has invested €5 million for a minority stake in the German venture capital fund UVC Partners. The investment will be made incrementally over an approximately five-year period as capital is called. UVC Partners focuses on solutions leveraging artificial intelligence (AI) and Deep Tech to assist clients in their business transformation efforts.

👉 The foreign institutional investors (FIIs) turned net sellers on July 23 as they sold equities worth Rs 2975 crore, while domestic institutional investors bought equities worth Rs 1418 crore on same day.

Domestic and International Events

• Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, typically not known for making concessions, faced a significant test with his budget on Tuesday. The budget demonstrated his ability to manage a coalition government following a surprising poll result last month, though it came with challenges. For the first time in his career, Modi has had to depend on allies to govern, a departure from his previous successes in securing large majorities for his Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) both nationally and in Gujarat.

• Japan’s factory activity contracted slightly in July, while the service sector expanded, helping overall activity in Japan’s private sector return to growth, according to a business survey. The au Jibun Bank flash Japan manufacturing purchasing managers’ index (PMI) slipped to 49.2 in July from 50.0 in June, Reuters reported. Conversely, the au Jibun Bank flash services PMI rose to 53.9 in July, the highest in three months, swinging from 49.4 in June. The au Jibun Bank flash Japan composite PMI, which combines both manufacturing and service sector activity, rose to 52.6 in July from 49.7 in June.

• Gold rates were flat in early Asian trade ahead of US economic data that could influence the Federal Reserve’s rate-cut timeline. Spot gold was little changed at $2,409.66 per ounce, while US gold futures rose 0.1% to $2,410.50.

• Crude oil prices rose on Wednesday after several days of decline amid falling US crude inventories. Brent crude futures for September rose 0.54% to $81.45 a barrel, while US West Texas Intermediate crude for September gained 0.49% to $77.34 per barrel.