L&T reported strong 24% year-on-year growth

Opening Bell:

SGX Nifty is up by 76 points in the early morning trade, indicating a positive opening for Indian stock market.

Asia-Pacific shares traded mixed on Tuesday as investors look ahead to a range of economic data and a potential interest rate hike from the Federal Reserve. The Japanese Nikkei is down by 0.07 percent. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng is up by 0.25 percent and South Korea’s Kospi is down by 0.30 percent in early morning deals.

A gauge of global stocks retreated on Monday after six sessions of gains while US Treasury yields rose ahead of central bank policy announcements and data that may shed light on whether progress has been made in bringing down inflation. The S&P 500 lost 1.3 percent and Nasdaq Composite dropped 1.96 percent respectively.

Stocks News:

?L&T reported strong 24% year-on-year growth in consolidated profit at Rs 2,553 crore despite weak operating margin performance. Order book remained at Rs. 60,710 crore during the quarter reflecting a growth of 21 percent y-o-y. The company beat street estimates for net profit growth.

?UltraTech Cement Middle East Investments a subsidiary of UltraTech Cement from UAE,  has signed agreement to acquire 70% stake in Duqm Cement Project International, LLC, Oman, for $2.25 million.

?Abu Dhabi’s International Holding Company (IHC) announced that they will invest $400 million in Adani Enterprises’ ongoing Rs 20,000-crore follow-on public offer (FPO) via its subsidiary Green Transmission Investment Holding RSC Limited.

?A final hearing on the merger of HDFC with HDFC Bank will take place on February 3 at the Mumbai bench of the National Company Law Tribunal. The proposed merger has already received approval of equity shareholders, the Competition Commission of India, the Reserve Bank of India, and stock exchanges.

?Foreign institutional investors (FII) have net-sold shares worth Rs 6,792.80 crore, the highest ever outflow in a single day since March 8, 2022, whereas domestic institutional investors (DII) have net-bought shares worth Rs 5,512.63 crore on January 30, as per provisional data available on the NSE.

Domestic and International Events

• International Monetary Fund (IMF) has retained its GDP growth forecasts for India for 2022-23 and 2023-24 at 6.8 percent and 6.1 percent, respectively. Released on January 31 – a day before Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman presents the Union Budgetfor 2023-24 – the IMF said while the economy will slow down next year, it will subsequently pick up pace.
• Oil prices declined 2 percent on Monday, extending losses as looming increases to interest rates by major central banks weighed on demand and Russian exports remained strong.
• German economy unexpectedly shrank in the fourth quarter, data showed on Monday, a sign that Europe’s largest economy may be entering a much-predicted recession, though likely a shallower one than originally feared.

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