Another trend: A preference for coloured diamonds among brides, who are pairing them with their groom's birthstone. So, along with yellow or white diamonds, they are choosing pink, green, blue sapphires, emeralds or red rubies.
From the Sensex basket, Maruti, Mahindra & Mahindra, NTPC, JSW Steel, Larsen & Toubro, Reliance Industries, Axis Bank, and Power Grid were the major gainers. Nestle, Wipro, Tata Consultancy Services, HDFC Bank, Titan, HCL Technologies and Infosys were the laggards.
The RBI interest rate decision, industrial production data for June and the ongoing quarterly earnings from corporates would largely drive the stock markets this week, analysts said. Other major factors such as global market trends, the movement of oil prices and the trading activity of foreign investors would also influence trading, they added. "The market will have an eye on the RBI Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting, which will be announced on August 10, 2023. We are heading towards the last batch of Q2 earnings of key companies such as Adani Ports, Coal India, Hero MotoCorp, Hindalco and ONGC, among others, which will lead to stock-specific movement," said Pravesh Gour, senior technical analyst, Swastika Investmart Ltd.
'If their allocation to certain segments have become high due to strong returns over the past three-four years, they should rebalance their portfolios and bring them in line with their long-term asset allocation.'
rediffGURU Dr Ashish Sehgal counsels individuals on how to resolve conflicts and prioritise mental wellbeing.
This period of strong growth not only offers opportunities but also calls for strategic considerations to ensure sustainable development and equitable prosperity in the years to come, suggests Sujan Hajra.
'Everything about farming is enjoyable and relaxing.'
tailwinds of a remarkable year and handsome investor returns, Indian equities are set for an eventful journey in 2024, with a slew of local and global cues -- varying from interest rates to Lok Sabha polls to geopolitical happenings. Analysts are of the view that the bull run in the domestic equity market will continue, and over the next 3-6 months, the benchmark indices -- Sensex and Nifty -- could climb up to 7 per cent. In 2023, the 30-share BSE Sensex jumped 11,399.52 points or 18.73 per cent, and the NSE Nifty climbed 3,626.1 points or 20 per cent.
For every rupee in the government coffer, 70 paise will come from direct and indirect taxes, while the government will spend 23 paise towards the states' share of taxes and duties.
Arun Maira who worked for 25 years with the Tata Group, remembers his early years with Ratan Tata.
Create a balanced schedule that allocates time for both studies and skill development, suggests rediffGURU Aasif Ahmed Khan.
Analysts are expecting pharmaceutical companies to post sales growth of 10-11 per cent in the second quarter this financial year while the Ebitda (earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, and amortisation) margins are anticipated to improve by about 110 basis points. Ebitda improvement will be led by lower input costs because prices of active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) are 5-15 per cent lower year-on-year (Y-o-Y). Axis Capital said sales growth would be around 10 per cent, of which growth in the India market would be 11 per cent or so.
'Investors should not go for lump-sum investments in infrastructure funds at this point.' 'The SIP route is the best to avoid any major disappointment.'
Adani Enterprises Ltd, the flagship incubator of billionaire Gautam Adani's conglomerate, on Thursday reported a 37 per cent drop in March quarter net profit, bogged down by one-time past airport dues and commercial mining losses. Its consolidated net profit of Rs 450.58 crore in January-March - the fourth quarter of fiscal year 2023-24 - compares to Rs 722.48 crore net profit in the same period last year and Rs 1,888.45 crore earning in the preceding quarter, according to a stock exchange filing by the company.
Despite multiple headwinds at the start of 2023, the Indian markets delivered a strong performance, posting 19-20 per cent growth for the year. Even as new records were set, investor sentiment remains strong going into 2024, given the lower inflation, expectations of steady to lower interest rates, higher economic growth, and strong inflows. However, the overriding concern for most brokerages is valuations.
Serbia's Novak Djokovic beat Italy's Lorenzo Musetti 6-4 6-2 to reach his first Olympic final on Friday and will bid for gold in a blockbuster clash with Carlos Alcaraz.
The combined net profit of "early bird" companies, those that have declared their quarterly results, rose for the third consecutive quarter in July-September 2023 (Q2FY24). But the figures suggest a continued slowdown in revenue growth and stagnation in earnings over recent quarters. This slowdown is severe for companies in the manufacturing and non-financial service sectors.
The unlikely and newly-discovered star on the Jharkhand campaign trail is a 39-year-old feisty army brat, who is married to the state's chief minister. Wearing only saris, always sporting sindhoor, a tikka and bangles, Jharkhand political rallies haven't seen anyone like Kalpana Murmu Soren before! She brings both lively energy and style to the podiums/stages she graces, arriving like a breath of fresh air to make fiery speeches that ignite the crowd.
Mumbai-based Weizmann, part of a diversified group, will take to court its former partner Western Union Holdings, the American money-transfer giant, alleging that the United States-based company has imitated its trademark and logo. This, its lawyers say, constitutes a case of infringement and dilution of its intellectual-property rights.
With the rise in interest rates, bond yields have been on the rise; this will dent banks' treasury profits. Also, many retail borrowers may find it difficult to service their loans when the loan rates rise, points out Tamal Bandyopadhyay.
Market benchmarks Sensex and Nifty wilted under selling pressure on Friday after a five-day rally as investors pared exposure to banking, financial and consumer durable stocks amid mixed trends in global markets. Rising global crude prices, a depreciating rupee and persistent foreign fund outflows further weighed on sentiment, traders said.
Benchmark equity indices ended marginally higher on Thursday, trimming most of their intra-day gains, as investors turned cautious ahead of the quarterly results of IT behemoths TCS and Infosys later in the day. Announcement of the US inflation data and domestic macroeconomic numbers also forced investors to remain on the sidelines. The 30-share BSE Sensex climbed 63.47 points or 0.09 per cent to settle at 71,721.18.
'...which is possible through flexicap and multicap funds.' 'The latter has a better balance between large, mid and smallcap stocks.'
'The barbell strategy says that the best way to strike a balance between risk and reward is to invest at the extremes of the risk spectrum.'
Leading brokers are expected to increase brokerage rates in the coming weeks, as they navigate a series of regulatory changes that are expected to squeeze profitability. According to industry sources, top brokers may soon begin charging for equity trades and raise the flat fees for intra-day and derivatives trading by 10-30 per cent. Several smaller players have already hiked their brokerage charges, signalling a potential end to the zero-brokerage era that has drawn millions of new investors into the stock market and fuelled active trading.
The US Federal Reserve's interest rate decision, quarterly earnings of corporates and domestic macroeconomic data will influence trading in the equity market in a holiday-shortened week ahead, analysts said. Foreign funds' trading activity, monthly automobile sales data and global trends would also guide market movement this week, they added. Markets would remain closed on Monday on account of 'Maharashtra Day'.
Apollo HealthCo Ltd (AHL), a subsidiary of Apollo Hospitals Enterprise (AHEL), on Friday entered into a binding agreement to raise equity capital of Rs 2,475 crore from Advent International (Advent), one of the world's largest private equity (PE) players. The transaction will also see the merger of two units under Apollo Healthco - its wholesale pharma distribution unit Keimed Pvt Ltd and online healthcare business Apollo 24'7. The merger will take place in a phased manner over the next 24-30 months.
Do not underestimate the ingenuity of the Deep State in America to have its way. Keeping the guard down will be a catastrophic mistake on the part of the Delhi establishment. We could get hit when least expected. That's what happened in Bangladesh and Syria, warns Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
The Jammu and Kashmir administration on Saturday sacked six government employees, including five policemen, for their 'deep involvement in anti-national activities', officials said.
Ask rediffGURU and PF expert Milind Vadjikar your insurance, stocks, mutual fund and personal finance-related questions.
The bigger worry is that the miss for FY19 is likely to be significant even after assuming macro factors such as crude oil prices, rupee, input costs, and interest rates, do not worsen from the current levels, reports Vishal Chhabria.
Do not, however, enter expecting quick returns.
Domestic institutional investors pumped Rs 2.3 trillion into equities during H1 CY24. Of this, mutual funds contributed 80%.
After a sharp fall in the share prices of HDFC Bank and other private sector lenders in the past three days, the BFSI (banking, financial services and insurance) sector weighting in the Nifty50 has slipped to a seven-year low of 32.03 per cent, down from nearly 36.6 per cent at the end of March 2023 and 34.5 per cent at the end of December 2023.
When S Jaishankar became India's external affairs minister in May 2019, he was largely considered a political lightweight despite his undisputed mastery over foreign policy.
Analyst are cautious about the performance of IT services sector from January to March quarter (Q4) of FY24 and the first half (H1) of FY25. While the Bloomberg consensus on revenue implies the market is expecting 2-3 per cent growth on a quarter-on-quarter (Q-o-Q) basis for the IT majors through FY25, the H1FY25 is likely to see even flatter returns, and Q4FY24 is likely to be poor. There is likely to be some recovery in the second half (H2FY25) but even so, there's a chance that the market will be overall disappointed.
'When the bombing happened in the Taj Mahal hotel in 2008, that was a very sad moment, but he really took care of the people, took care of everybody and that was when you saw some of his best moments.' 'There are some things which we will never forget. That is when the best of a person comes out.'
Mortgage finance remains a structural growth opportunity in India with a policy focus on affordable housing, housing shortages, low mortgage penetration, and rising incomes as drivers. Affordable Housing Finance Companies (AHFCs) serve the mass market, low-income segments, which is the least-serviced category, and to operate in this segment, the mortgage provider needs good assessment skills. AHFCs and HFCs have also been increasing exposure in other mortgage segments (loan against property, developer loans among others).
Banks, the biggest component of the Indian equity market, are now trading at a big discount to the benchmark indicesThe BSE Bankex index, which tracks the share price of the 10 top listed banks, is trading at a trailing price to earnings (P/E) multiple of 15.3X, nearly a 40 per cent discount to the BSE Sensex current P/E of 24.37X. This is the biggest valuation gap between the two indices in at least 10 years. Similarly, the BSE Bankex price to book ratio (P/B) of 2.22X is 40 per cent lower than the current Sensex P/B ratio of 3.61X.
'While Indian markets are indeed not inexpensive, the valuations of largecap stocks are still a considerable distance from being overstretched.'
