JSW Neo Energy’s Wind Capacity Award; Profit Growth at Hindalco Industries; Mahindra & Mahindra’s Production Expansion

Opening Bell:

Gift Nifty is down by 31 points in the early morning trade, indicating a negative opening for Indian stock market.

Asian markets mostly rose as more markets return to trade from the Lunar New Year holiday, including South Korea and Singapore. Japan’s corporate goods price index rose 0.2 percent in January, beating the 0.1 percent expected by economists polled by Reuters. That compares with the revised 0.2 percent growth rate for December. Japan’s Nikkei 225 popped 1.82 percent on its open, crossing the 37,000 mark and pushing 34-year highs, while the Topix climbed 1.02 percent.

The S&P 500 lost 4.12 points, or 0.08 percent, to end at 5,022.49 points, while the Nasdaq Composite lost 42.74 points, or 0.27 percent, to 15,947.92. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 135.76 points, or 0.35  percent o 38,807.45

Stocks News:

👉 Mahindra & Mahindra reported production of 1,01,169 units in the month of January 2024, growing 32.4 percent over the corresponding period of the last fiscal. Sales grew by 17.7 percent YoY to 72,198 units, but exports fell 42 percent YoY to 1,746 units during January.

👉 Hindalco Industries subsidiary Novelis has recorded net income attributable to the common shareholder at $121 million for the quarter ended December FY24, growing 10-fold over $12 million in the year-ago period. Net income, excluding special items, grew by 81 percent YoY to $174 million. Net sales decreased 6 percent YoY to $3.9 billion for the third quarter of fiscal year 2024, driven by lower average aluminum prices as shipments were in line with prior year levels. Adjusted EBITDA was up 33 percent YoY at $454 million.

👉 Steel Authority of Indi Has reported consolidated net profit at Rs 423 crore for the October-December period of FY24, falling 22 percent on a high base as in Q3 FY23, there was an exceptional gain of Rs 298 crore. Revenue from operations fell 6.8 percent year-on-year to Rs 23,349 crore for the quarter.

👉  JSW Neo Energy, a wholly owned subsidiary of the company, has received a letter of award for a wind capacity of 500 MW from the Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI). As per the construction of the bid, a 700 MW greenshoe option is available over the awarded capacity. This could further enhance the company’s total awarded capacity by 525 MW to a maximum of 1,025 MW.

👉 Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) net bought shares worth Rs 126.60 crore, while domestic institutional investors (DIIs) purchased Rs 1,711.75 crore worth of stocks on February 12, provisional data from the NSE showed .

Domestic and International Events

• Growth in India’s industrial output edged up to 3.8 percent in December 2023, according to data released by the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation on February 12. At 3.8 percent, the latest industrial growth figure as per the Index of Industrial Production (IIP) is up from the November 2023 figure of 2.4 percent. In December 2022, India’s industrial output had grown by 5.1 percent.

• India’s headline retail inflation rate decelerated to a three-month low of 5.10 percent in January due to easing food prices, according to data released by the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation on February 12. The Consumer Price Index (CPI) inflation print in December 2023 was 5.69 percent. At 5.10 percent, the latest CPI inflation figure is as per expectations, with economists having predicted prices likely rose 5.09 percent year-on-year in the first month of 2024.

• Gold price trades in negative territory for the fifth consecutive day, trading near $2,018 during the early Asian session on Tuesday. The high-for-longer rate narrative from the US Federal Reserve exerts some selling pressure on the non-yielding yellow metal. Investors await crucial US inflation data.

• Oil prices were little changed on Tuesday for a second straight day as uncertainty about the pace of potential U.S. interest rate cuts and the impact on fuel demand offset worries about Middle East tensions that could disrupt supply.