– Indian companies eye capex, investment push
– Mauritius exits FATF ‘grey List’
– Petrol, diesel prices up for 3rd straight day
– ZEE to consider Invesco’s EGM demand
Now lemme give you a quick glance on the state of the markets.
Dalal Street is likely to have a positive start this morning. Nifty futures on the Singapore Exchange traded 17 points higher at 8:25 hours (IST). Asian shares opened lower on Friday, before making a recovery as the US rally boosted the markets but a dearth of fresh market-moving events otherwise made investors cautious. MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan rose by 0.02 per cent.
Elsewhere, the yield on 10-year Treasuries was at 1.70%. The dollar gained on Thursday against a basket of currencies, erasing earlier losses, boosted by better jobs and housing data, and as US Treasury yields rose. Bitcoin steadied after slipping back from its recent record. Oil prices rose on Thursday to extend gains from the previous session as U.S. crude and fuel inventories tightened further, with supplies of gasoline hitting a two-year low, pointing to strong demand. Brent crude futures climbed 17 cents, or 0.2%, to $85.99 a barrel.
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That said, here’s what is making news.
Top Indian Bitcoin exchanges are recording an over 100% increase in trading volumes in the last few days even as the value of the digital currency continued to soar with a single Bitcoin trading over the $66,000 mark on Thursday, buoyed by US regulatory permission for an investment vehicle allowing trade in Bitcoin futures granted earlier on Wednesday.
Input cost inflation chipped away at Asian Paints’ profitability during the quarter to September even as the company posted strong volume growth. Revenue growth was strong at 33% but a steep rise in raw material costs hit realisations. Operating margins nosedived to 12.7% from the year-ago level of 23.6% – the lowest in recent years. Asian Paints has taken price increases on its products but those have not proved sufficient in protecting the margins.
Investors in ITC might have to endure a phase of renewed uncertainty as worries about higher taxes on tobacco could put a lid on gains. The government’s recent decision to form an expert group with representation from other ministries, which will suggest tax rate options on all tobacco forms in the upcoming Union Budget on February 1, took the wind out of the ITC stock’s sails just as it looked like the share price was poised to catch up with the rest of the market.
LASTLY,
Even as the soaring stock market lures investors, caution is in the air with several leading indicators turning unfavourable including the gap between earnings yield and bond yield, market cap-GDP ratio, standard deviation of index returns, and slowing pace of earnings upgrades. In 2021, the market made a new record high in 48 days, the highest since 2014, the data compiled by Motilal Oswal Financial Services show. The pace of appreciation of stocks within a short span of time shows a rise in speculative trade.
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NOW Before I go, here is a look at some of the stocks buzzing this morning…
Larsen & Toubro (L&T) will be investing up to Rs 5,000 crore
to implement and adopt green energy into its manufacturing
and construction sites to achieve carbon and water neutrality targets by 2035-2040.
Amazon on Wednesday filed another petition in the Supreme Court to
stay an order of the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) that had allowed Future Retail Ltd (FRL) to convene meetings of its shareholders and creditors to seek approval on a sale proposal to Reliance Retail.
Sajjan Jindal-led JSW Steel has reported its highest-ever consolidated quarterly net profit of Rs 7,179 crore, up more than four times, paced by a more profitable product mix and robust export demand in the fiscal second quarter.
IDBI Bank reported a 75 per cent rise in net profit to Rs 567 crore in the quarter ended September 2021 from Rs 324 crore a year ago due to higher net interest income (NII) and lower interest, staff and tax expenses.
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Do also check out over two dozen stock recommendations for today’s trade from top analysts on ETMarkets.com.
That’s it for now. Stay with us for all the market news through the day. Happy investing!
