Opening Bell:
Gift Nifty is down by 71 points in the early morning trade, indicating a positive opening for Indian stock market.
Asian markets rebounded after mostly falling on Wednesday after hotter-than-expected US inflation data stoked concerns the Federal Reserve might keep interest rates higher for longer.
Wall Street ended sharply higher on Wednesday as ride-hailing platforms Lyft and Uber rallied, while Nvidia displaced Alphabet as the US stock market’s third most valuable company. The S&P 500 climbed 0.96 percent to end the session at 5,000.62 points. The Nasdaq gained 1.30 percent to 15,859.15 points, while Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.40 percent to 38,424.27 points.
Stocks News:
đ Hindustan Unilever is in talks with Andhra Pradesh government to collaborate on palm oil production in the state. HUL sought to partner with more than 15,000 farmers in Andhra Pradesh to create at least 30,000 hectares of oil palm plantations. The proposed plan will lead to investments of over Rs 300 crore during the project development period. The proposed palm oil mill is expected to create over 1,000 direct and indirect jobs in the state.
đ Aditya Birla Fashion & Retail Ltd. posted a consolidated net loss of Rs 77.9 crore for the quarter ended December FY24, against a profit of Rs 15.8 crore in the year-ago period, partly impacted by higher other expenses. Revenue from operations grew by 16.1 percent YoY to Rs 4,166.7 crore for the quarter..
đ Indiabulls Housing Finance reported standalone profit of Rs 225.74 crore for the quarter ended December FY24, falling 1.6 percent compared to the year-ago period. Net interest income dropped 46.9 percent year-on-year to Rs 196.61 crore for the quarter.
đ Container Corporation of India has signed an addendum to the existing Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Container Company of Bangladesh (CCBL), which extended its validity for a further period until April 7, 2027. The said MoU was earlier executed in 2017 for developing modalities for running container trains between India and Bangladesh to facilitate cross-border trade, besides developing various infrastructure, logistics businesses, and project-related services.
đ Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) net sold shares worth Rs 3,929.60 crore, while domestic institutional investors (DIIs) purchased Rs 2,897.98 crore worth of stocks on February 14, provisional data from the NSE showed.
Domestic and International Events
⢠Even as the Red Sea crisis pushes up shipping expenses, Indian exporters are getting some relief from the higher cost burden by negotiating rates afresh with their buyers, a government official said. The Drewry World Container Index, which serves as a composite measure of container freight rates, reached $3,786 per 40-foot container in the week up to February 8, up 90 percent when compared with the same week last year, and 167 percent more than average 2019 (pre-pandemic) rates of $1,420.
⢠US producer prices fell more than initially thought in December, revised government data showed on Wednesday. The producer price index for final demand dropped 0.2 percent in December instead of dipping 0.1 percent as previously reported, annual revisions of the PPI data published by the Labor Department’s Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) showed.
⢠Gold prices extended declines on Wednesday, languishing below the key $2,000-per-ounce mark, pressured by a stronger-than-expected U.S. inflation report that caused investors to pull back on bets of rate cuts by the Federal Reserve.
⢠Oil futures sank by $1 a barrel on Wednesday as surging US crude inventories pushed down prices and a possible security threat to the U.S. that might dampen oil demand in the world’s largest economy.
| EMERGING | LATEST | % 1D |
| Hang Seng | 15,879 | 0.8 % |
| Shanghai Composite | 2,866 | 1.3 % |
| DEVELOPED | LATEST | % 1D |
| Dow Jones | 38,423 | 0.4 % |
| DAX | 16,945 | 0.4 % |
| FTSE 100 | 7,568 | 0.8 % |
| Nikkei | 37,703 | (0.7) % |
| Straits Times | 3,139 | (0.1) % |
