Indian equity benchmarks rose nearly 2 per cent on Thursday, capping a truncated trading week with their strongest weekly performance in over four years. The rally was sparked by renewed risk-on sentiment following progress in trade negotiations and expanded tariff exemptions.
The Reserve Bank of India's (RBI) Monetary Policy Committee's (MPC) decision to cut the repo rate by 50 basis points (bps) to 5.5% was contrary to the expectations of many economists. Firstly, most of the economists expected the MPC to cut the repo rate by 25 bps citing the weakening of inflation, prospects of economic growth, geopolitical uncertainty and comfortable system liquidity.
From the Sensex pack, ITC, Hindustan Unilever, Mahindra & Mahindra, HDFC Bank, Eternal, Kotak Mahindra Bank, State Bank of India and ICICI Bank were the major gainers. IndusInd Bank, Power Grid, Bharti Airtel, Infosys, and Bajaj Finserv were among the laggards.
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Among the Sensex components, Mahindra & Mahindra, Bharti Airtel, Tech Mahindra, Titan, Infosys, JSW Steel, Bajaj Finserv, HDFC Bank, Larsen & Toubro and Kotak Mahindra Bank were the major gainers. Maruti, State Bank of India, Power Grid, Tata Motors and IndusInd Bank were the laggards.
HDFC Bank's market capitalisation (market cap) touched Rs 13 trillion in Thursday's (December 28, 2023) intra-day trades as the largest private sector lender is set to report its sharpest monthly rally in the past two years. At 10:33 AM; HDFC Bank's market cap stood at Rs 13.03 trillion, the BSE data shows. The stock was up 1 per cent at Rs 1,717.90 in intra-day trades on December 29, inching towards its record high of Rs 1,757.80 touched on July 3, 2023.
Stock market benchmark indices Sensex and Nifty tumbled over 1 per cent each on Friday as tensions soared between India and Pakistan, fuelling fears of a wider conflict.
From the Sensex pack, Tata Motors, NTPC, Bajaj Finserv, Power Grid Corp, Titan, Asian Paints, IndusInd Bank, Maruti Suzuki India and Tata Steel were among the biggest gainers. Sun Pharmaceuticals, ITC, Hindustan Unilever, Bharti Airtel, UltraTech Cement and Reliance Industries were among the laggards.
Maruti, Bajaj Finance, Titan, Kotak Mahindra Bank, HDFC Bank, IndusInd Bank, Mahindra & Mahindra and Larsen & Toubro were among the major gainers. Wipro, HCL Technologies, Nestle, Tata Consultancy Services and Tata Motors were among the laggards.
From the Sensex basket, Power Grid, IndusInd Bank, Tata Motors, JSW Steel, NTPC, HCL Technologies, Tata Steel, ICICI Bank, Mahindra & Mahindra, Axis Bank, HDFC Bank and Reliance Industries were among the major laggards. Among the gainers, Hindustan Unilever climbed over 5 per cent. Tech Mahindra, Nestle, ITC, Wipro, Tata Consultancy Services and Kotak Mahindra Bank were the other major gainers.
HDFC Bank has been conscious in not accepting high-cost deposits, which have resulted in slower growth in October-December, said Sashidhar Jagdishan, managing director and chief executive officer, during an interaction with Goldman Sachs recently. He said during times of tight liquidity, short terms hardened, as was the case in October-December. "Not only did we participate, but we also gave up which came up for maturity," he said.
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HDFC Life Insurance Company on Thursday said it has received GST demand orders of over Rs 27 crore for alleged short payment of taxes. In two separate regulatory filings, the insurer said it has received tax demand orders of over Rs 16.5 crore and Rs 10.5 crore from authorities for alleged short payment of GST and input tax credit claim mismatch.
Benchmark equity indices Sensex and Nifty surged more than 1 per cent on Monday, registering their fifth day of rally on the back of buying in banking and IT shares after encouraging quarterly earnings and foreign fund inflows. The 30-share BSE Sensex jumped 855.30 points or 1.09 per cent to settle above the 79,000 mark at 79,408.50.
Without changes to the taxation rules, buybacks are expected to remain scarce.
Tata Motors, State Bank of India, UltraTech Cement, Tata Consultancy Services, Tata Steel and Asian Paints were among the other laggards from the 30-share pack. Maruti, Bharti Airtel, Power Grid, Hindustan Unilever and HDFC Bank were among the gainers.
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HDFC Bank on Tuesday said RBI has given approval to the group to acquire up to 9.5 per cent stake each in six lenders, including ICICI Bank and Axis Bank.
Selected applicants will receive a monthly stipend of Rs 4,500 from the government and an additional Rs 500 from participating companies as a part of the Prime Minister Internship Scheme (PMIS) 2025.
Strong margins in the jewellery segment in Q4FY25, steady growth guidance for FY26 and expectations of outperformance in the organised jewellery sector boosted sentiment for the largest listed jewellery maker by market capitalisation, Titan Company. The stock was the highest gainer on the benchmark indices (Sensex as well as Nifty), rising 4.1-4.5 per cent at close on Friday, taking the total gains over the past month to about 12 per cent.
Between March 2022 and September 2023, HDFC Bank added 56,310 employees.
Bharti Airtel, ICICI Bank, Eternal, Mahindra & Mahindra, HCL Technologies, HDFC Bank, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Tata Consultancy Services and Bajaj Finance were also among the laggards.
HDFC Bank's latest shareholding data showed that the room for foreign investment has fallen just 5 basis points short of the threshold set by Morgan Stanley Capital International (MSCI) to fully include the stock in its indices. Currently, the index provider has applied an adjustment factor of 0.5 since the foreign room is less than 25 per cent. Removal of the adjustment factor will result in inflows of a massive $4.8 billion (Rs 40,000 crore) into HDFC Bank, according to Brian Freitas, a New Zealand-based analyst with Periscope Analytics.
'He has been one of the clearest thinkers in the history of business.'
Benchmark indices Sensex and Nifty fell for the third day running on Thursday, dragged by continuous selling in HDFC Bank and profit-taking in consumer durables and utility shares. The 30-share BSE Sensex fell by 313.90 points or 0.44 per cent to settle at 71,186.86. During the day, it tanked 835.26 points or 1.16 per cent to 70,665.50.
The country's largest private lender HDFC Bank on Saturday reported a 6.51 per cent decline in its consolidated net profit to Rs 16,474.85 crore in the April-June quarter compared to the previous January-March quarter. The city-headquartered lender, which merged its mortgage major parent HDFC into itself in July last year, had reported a net profit of Rs 17,622.38 crore in the March quarter. On a standalone basis, the net profit declined to Rs 16,174.75 crore in April-June 2024-25 from Rs 16,511.85 crore in January-March 2023-24.
From the Sensex pack, HDFC Bank, Maruti, Tech Mahindra, HCL Tech, ITC, ICICI Bank, Kotak Mahindra Bank and Bajaj Finance were among the biggest laggards. NTPC, Adani Ports, Mahindra & Mahindra, Tata Steel and IndusInd Bank were among the gainers.
After the latest rout, the American depositary receipt (ADR) premium of HDFC Bank to its local shares has shrunk to nearly zero. Shares of HDFC Bank on Thursday fell 3.1 per cent to Rs 1,490, extending its two-day decline to 11 per cent. Meanwhile, the ADR has slumped over 15 per cent in the past two trading sessions.
Gold prices tumbled by Rs 1,550 to Rs 91,450 per 10 grams in the national capital on Monday amid heavy selling by jewellers and stockists as well as weak global trend, according to the All India Sarafa Association. On Friday, the precious metal of 99.9 per cent purity had finished at Rs 93,000 per 10 grams.
Gold prices rose by Rs 70 to hit yet another record high of Rs 98,170 per 10 grams in the national capital on Thursday amid firm global demand, according to the All India Sarafa Association. On Wednesday, the precious metal of 99.9 per cent purity soared by Rs 1,650 to hit an all-time high of Rs 98,100 per 10 grams.
But there are challenges, observes Tamal Bandyopadhyay.
Trading sentiment in the equity market will largely be driven by domestic corporate quarterly earnings, any update related to US tariffs and foreign fund movements this week, analysts said. Investors would also focus on world market trends, movement of global oil benchmark Brent crude and the rupee-dollar trend for further cues, experts noted.
Securitisation - sale of loans to investors - by lenders, including banks and non-banking financial companies (NBFCs), crossed Rs 50,000 crore during the fourth quarter ended March 2025 (Q4F25). This is a tad higher than Rs 48,000 crore during the same period of FY24.
From the Sensex pack, NTPC, Tech Mahindra, Zomato, Axis Bank, Bajaj Finance, Infosys, Maruti, State Bank of India, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Reliance Industries, Hindustan Unilever, and HDFC Bank were the losers. IndusInd Bank, HCL Tech, Titan, Mahindra & Mahindra and Power Grid were the gainers.
All the BSE sectoral indices closed in the green. BSE Realty, Auto, Capital Goods and Industrials were lead gainers, jumping up to 5 per cent. IndusInd Bank was the lead gainer among Sensex shares, surging by 6.84 per cent. Tata Motors rallied 4.50 per cent. Larsen & Toubro, Axis Bank, Adani Ports, HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank and HCL Tech were also among the gainers. ITC and Hindustan Unilever were the only laggards.
Mahindra & Mahindra, Bharti Airtel, Tata Consultancy Services, Infosys, ICICI Bank, and ITC were the biggest laggards. Foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) offloaded equities worth Rs 4,294.69 crore on Friday, according to exchange data.
HDFC Bank expects to amalgamate its home loan major parent HDFC into itself by September next year, a top official said on Friday. Both HDFC and HDFC Bank held general meetings on Friday to seek shareholder approvals for what is billed as the largest merger in Indian corporate history at over $40 billion. At the time of announcing the merger on April 4 this year, the entities had said the merger will take 12-18 months.
From the Sensex pack, UltraTech Cement, Infosys, Bajaj Finserv, Axis Bank, HDFC Bank, Bharti Airtel, HCL Tech and Tata Consultancy Services were the biggest gainers. Zomato tanked nearly 6 per cent followed by IndusInd Bank which declined about 5 per cent. Adani Ports, Mahindra & Mahindra, Reliance Industries and Sun Pharma were also among the laggards.
M&M was the biggest gainer in the Sensex chart, rising 6.51 per cent, followed by NTPC, PowerGrid, SBI, HDFC Bank, Asian Paints and Wipro. In contrast, Axis Bank, ITC, HUL, Nestle India and Sun Pharma were among the laggards.
Among the 30 Sensex companies, JSW Steel, Tata Steel, Axis Bank, Reliance Industries, ICICI Bank, Hindustan Unilever, Kotak Mahindra Bank and Asian Paints were among the biggest gainers. In contrast, Mahindra & Mahindra, Sun Pharma, NTPC, Wipro, State Bank of India and Power Grid were among the laggards.