Opening Bell:
Gift Nifty is up by 30.5 points in the early morning trade, indicating a positive opening for Indian stock market.
Asia markets traded higher on Thursday following overnight gains on Wall Street after the US Federal Reserve decided to leave its benchmark interest rates unchanged. Japan’s Nikkei 225 gained 1.22% and the Topix rose 0.95%. South Korea’s Kospi rallied 1.62%, while the Kosdaq jumped 2.10%. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index futures stood higher at 17,157 compared to the HSI’s close of 17,101.78. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 rose 1.17%.
US stock market indices ended higher on Wednesday after the US Federal Reserve kept interest rates unchanged, while comments from its top official fueled optimism that rate hikes were done even though the central bank left the door open for more. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rallied 0.67%, while the S&P 500 jumped 1.05%, The Nasdaq Composite ended 1.64%.
European markets were higher Wednesday, with investors awaiting the next interest rate decision from the US Federal Reserve. The Stoxx 600 index provisionally ended 0.7% higher, continuing positive momentum from the start of the week despite coming off the back of its worst monthly performance since September 2022.
Stocks News:
👉 Hero MotoCorp: Hero Motocorp posted a net profit of ₹1,054 crore in the second quarter of the fiscal year 2023-24, which is 47% higher as compared to ₹716 crore reported in the year-ago period, as per the financial results declared by the company on November 1. The automobile major clocked an operational revenue of ₹9,445 crore during Q2FY24, higher by 4.1% as compared to ₹9,075 crore recorded in the corresponding period of the previous fiscal.
👉 Tata Steel: Tata Steel Ltd on Monday swung to its highest quarterly loss in two fiscal years after it booked a ₹6,358 crore impairment charge related to a decarbonization project at its Port Talbot plant in the UK. The steelmaker reported a loss of ₹6,511 crore for the three months ended 30 September from a profit of ₹1,297 crore a year earlier. Tata Steel’s consolidated revenue from operations fell 7.5% to ₹55,682 crore during the quarter from ₹59,879 crore in the year earlier.
👉 Britannia: Britannia announced its July-September quarter results for fiscal 2023-24 (Q2FY24), reporting a rise of 19 per cent in consolidated net profit at ₹587 crore, compared to ₹490.6 crore in the corresponding period last year. The FMCG major’s revenue from operations in the second quarter of the current fiscal came in at ₹4,433 crore, registering a marginal rise of 1.2 per cent, compared to ₹4,379.6 crore in the year-ago period.
👉 Godrej Consumer: The FMCG major reported a 20.59% YoY rise in its net profit to ₹432.77 crore in the September quarter of FY23-24. Its revenue stood at ₹3,602 crore in the quarter under review. Godrej Consumer Products had earned ₹358.86 crore of net consolidated profit in the September quarter of the previous financial year. Its total revenue jumped by 6.19% to ₹3,601.95 crore against ₹3,391.92 crore in the year-ago period.
👉 Foreign institutional investors offloaded shares worth Rs 1,816.91 crore, while domestic institutional investors bought Rs 1,622.05 crore worth of stocks on November 1, provisional data from the National Stock Exchange showed.
Domestic and International Events
- The government’s Goods and Services Tax (GST) collections climbed 13% year-on-year in October to Rs 1.72 lakh crore, second-highest revenue collection ever, the Ministry of Finance said on November 1. “GST revenue collection for October 2023 is second highest ever, next only to April 2023. Revenue from domestic transactions (including import of services) is 13% higher year-on-year. Average gross monthly GST collection in FY 2023-24 now stands at Rs 1.66 lakh crore, which is 11% higher year-on-year,” the finance ministry said in a statement. At Rs 1.72 lakh crore, the October GST collections is 5.71% higher than what was collected in September. This is the eighth month in a row that the monthly GST collection has come in above the Rs 1.5-lakh-crore mark.
- The US Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell-led Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) left the benchmark interest rates unchanged in the range of 5.25% – 5.50%. The Fed’s decision to hold its benchmark lending rate at 22-year high gives policymakers time to “assess additional information and its implications for monetary policy,” the central bank said in a statement.
- Gold was flat on Wednesday ahead of the Federal Reserve’s policy decision, while all eyes will be on Chair Jerome Powell’s speech later for guidance on rate path. Spot gold was little changed at $1,986.19 per ounce. U.S. gold futures added 0.06% to $1,955.5.
- Oil prices edged higher Wednesday ahead of key meetings of global central banks this week, including the US Federal Reserve, while the market closely watched the latest developments in the Israel-Hamas conflict. Brent January crude futures rose 2.3%, or $1.97, to $86.99 a barrel, after falling more than 1% on Tuesday. Brent December futures settled 4 cents lower at $87.41 a barrel at the contract’s expiry on Tuesday. US West Texas Intermediate crude futures gained 2.6%.
Key Equity Indices
| EMERGING | LATEST | % 1D |
| Hang Seng | 17,102 | (0.1) % |
| Shanghai Composite | 3,023 | 0.1 % |
| DEVELOPED | LATEST | % 1D |
| Dow Jones | 33,275 | 0.7 % |
| DAX | 14,923 | 0.8 % |
| FTSE 100 | 7,342 | 0.3 % |
| Nikkei | 31,602 | 2.4 % |
| Straits Times | 3,077 | 0.3 % |
