Opening Bell:
SGX Nifty is up by 25.0 points in the early morning trade, indicating a positive opening for Indian stock market.
Shares in Asia fell alongside US equity futures after stocks closed little changed on Wall Street and a gauge of volatility slid to the lowest level in more than a year. Japan’s Nikkei 45 lost 0.16% in early trade, while South Korea’s Kospi slid 0.17% and the Hang Seng is up by 0.21% respectively. U.S. stock futures pointed to a lower open on Wall Street on Wednesday as investors weighed mixed earnings reports from some major companies. Dow Jones S&P 500 ticked down by 0.23 percent where as the Nasdaq Composite closed slightly higher by 0.03 percent.
Stocks News:
?Ultra Tech Cement announced an increase in the capacity of its grinding unit at Patliputra, Bihar, to 4.7 mtpa with the successful commissioning of its 2.2 mtpa brownfield expansion. This additional capacity will help the company to service the fast-growing cement demand in the East region and will also help to increase its blended cement ratio. Its total grey cement manufacturing capacity in India now stands at 129.15 mtpa.
?ICICI Securities has reported a consolidated net profit of Rs 263 crore for the quarter ended March, which is down 23%, compared with Rs 340 crore in the corresponding period of last year.
?Bank of Maharashtra board of directors will meet on April 24 to consider a proposal of raising capital up to Rs 7,500 crore for FY24, via follow-on public offer (FPO)/rights issue/ qualified institutional placement (QIP) / preferential issue or any other mode.
?Norges Bank on account of the Government Pension Fund Global has bought 20 lakh shares or 1.73% equity stake in Bajaj Electricals via open market transactions at an average price of Rs 1,045 per share, amounting to Rs 209 crore. However, foreign portfolio investor Small Cap World Fund Inc has offloaded 22.36 lakh shares or 1.94% stake in the company at same average price
?Foreign institutional investors (FII) sold shares worth Rs 13.17 crore, whereas domestic institutional investors (DII) bought shares worth Rs 110.42 crore on April 19, National Stock Exchange’s provisional data showed.
Domestic and International Events
- The windfall profit tax on domestically produced crude oil has been reimposed to Rs 6,400/tonne, starting April 19, 2023, after it had been scrapped off to zero in the previous announcement made on April 4.
- In the overseas markets, both gold and silver were trading lower at USD 1,986 per ounce and USD 24.79 per ounce, respectively. Gold prices declined in Asian trading hours on Wednesday due to pullback in US dollar and bond yield,
- Oil prices fell on Thursday as muted U.S. economic data and expectations of interest rate hikes pushed up the U.S. dollar, prompting fear of a stronger dollar hurting global oil demand by making it more expensive.
- The global shortage of rice, one of the most consumed food grains in the world, is set to be the largest in the last two decades, according to New York-based research firm Fitch Solutions.
Key Equity Indices
| EMERGING | LATEST | % 1D |
| Hang Seng | 20,368 | (1.4) % |
| Shanghai Composite | 3,370 | (0.7) % |
| DEVELOPED | LATEST | % 1D |
| Dow Jones | 33,897 | (0.2) % |
| DAX | 15,895 | 0.1 % |
| FTSE 100 | 7,899 | (0.1) % |
| Nikkei | 28,607 | (0.2) % |
| Straits Times | 3,324 | 0.4 % |
