L&T’s Q3 net profit up 15%, M & M Financial Services down 12%

Opening Bell:

Gift Nifty is down by 49.5 points in the early morning trade, indicating a negative opening for Indian stock market.

On Wednesday, Asian markets experienced a downturn, influenced by the varied performance on Wall Street the previous night and in anticipation of the US Federal Reserve’s policy decision and the upcoming release of significant economic data in the region. The Nikkei 225 in Japan dropped by 0.75%, with the Topix also seeing a decline of 0.26%. South Korea’s Kospi experienced a 0.17% decrease, while the Kosdaq witnessed a drop of 0.32%. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index futures suggested a potentially flat opening.

On Tuesday, the US stock market indices concluded with a mixed performance in anticipation of the Federal Reserve’s interest rate decision, coupled with investors closely monitoring prominent corporate earnings. The Dow Jones Industrial Average saw a 0.35% increase, reaching 38,467.31, while the S&P 500 experienced a slight dip of 0.06%, closing at 4,924.97. Conversely, the Nasdaq Composite finished 0.76% lower at 15,509.90.

Stocks News:

👉 Larsen & Toubro: The infrastructure major has recorded 15% on-year growth in consolidated net profit at Rs 2,947 crore for the quarter ended December FY24. Consolidated revenue from operations grew by 19% year-on-year to Rs 55,128 crore, driven by the ramp-up in execution of the strong order book in the projects and manufacturing portfolio, while EBITDA margin dropped 50 basis points to 10.4% for the quarter. L&T received orders worth Rs 75,990 crore at the group level during the quarter, rising 25% over a year-ago period aided by strong ordering momentum in the Middle East.

👉 Mahindra & Mahindra Financial Services: The non-banking finance company has reported net profit of Rs 553 crore for the October–December period of FY24, falling 12% compared to the year-ago period. Net interest income grew by 10% YoY to Rs 1,815 crore, but net interest margin fell 60 basis points to 6.8% for the quarter.

👉 SRF: The chemical company has registered a 50.4% on-year decline in consolidated net profit at Rs 253.4 crore for third quarter of FY24, missing analysts’ estimates, impacted by lower topline as well as weak operating performance. Consolidated revenue from operations dropped 12% YoY to Rs 3,053 crore for the quarter.

👉 TCS: Announced a 15-year expansion of its partnership with Aviva, the British insurance, wealth and retirement provider, to transform its business and enhance customer experience.

👉 Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) net sold shares worth Rs 1,970.52 crore, while domestic institutional investors (DIIs) bought Rs 1,002.70 crore worth of stocks on January 30, provisional data from the NSE showed.

Domestic and International Events

• The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has raised its 2024-25 GDP growth forecast for India by 20 basis points to 6.5%, although it continues to trail expectations of Indian authorities. At 6.5%, the multilateral agency’s revised growth forecast for next year is 20 basis points lower than its estimate of 6.7% for 2023-24. One basis point is a hundredth of a percentage point. Similarly, the Fund has also raised its growth forecast for 2025-26 by 20 basis points to 6.5%.

• US job openings unexpectedly rose in December, while data for the prior month was revised higher. Job openings were up 101,000 to 9.026 million on the last day of December, the Labor Department’s Bureau of Labor Statistics said in its monthly Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey, or JOLTS report. Economists polled by Reuters had forecast 8.75 million job openings in November.

• Crude oil prices rose on Tuesday amid higher global economic growth forecasts and escalating tensions in the Middle East. Brent crude futures rose 0.57% to settle at $82.87 a barrel, while US West Texas Intermediate crude ended up $1.04, or 1.35%, at $77.82.

• Gold imports to India surged 26.7% to $35.95 billion from April to December, compared to the same period a year earlier, driven by robust demand. In December alone, imports of the precious metal soared by 156.5% to $3 billion. Switzerland remains the largest source of gold imports, accounting for about 41% share, followed by the UAE (about 13%) and South Africa (about 10%). Despite the rise in gold imports, India’s trade deficit narrowed to $188.02.

Key Equity Indices

EMERGING	LATEST	% 1D
Hang Seng	15,703	(2.3) %
Shanghai Composite	2,831	(1.8) %

DEVELOPED	LATEST	% 1D
Dow Jones	38,467	0.4 %
DAX	16,972	0.2 %
FTSE 100	7,666	0.4 %
Nikkei	36,066	0.1 %
Straits Times	3,150	0.3 %