India's most valued company, Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL), reported a robust performance in the third quarter of the current financial year (Q3FY25), surpassing analyst expectations. This coupled with positive commentary by brokerages led to the stock of the oil-to-telecom conglomerate surging as much as 4.44 per cent to hit an intraday high of Rs 1,325.1. It settled at Rs 1,301.3 apiece, up 2.57 per cent.
'With India's growing capabilities in the space sector, this creates promising opportunities for enhanced collaboration and market access.'
The rating affirmation reflected RIL's strong business profile - a large-scale refinery with a capacity of around 1.2 million barrels a day and dominant market position in petrochemicals.
Voltas saw strong growth in both UCP (Unitary Cooling product) and EMPS (electro mechanical projects) segments.
As the results season kicks in, the quarterly earnings numbers of several blue-chip firms -- such as Infosys and Reliance Industries -- along with global trends and trading activity of foreign investors, will determine equity market movement in the holiday-shortened week ahead, according to analysts. The domestic WPI inflation data for June -- scheduled to be announced on Monday -- will also influence trading sentiments, traders said. Markets will remain closed on Wednesday for Muharram.
Maruti Suzuki, Tata Motors, Mahindra & Mahindra, Hyundai and MG Motors are gearing up to introduce EVs in India.
In June last year, India unveiled its first list of 29 critical minerals open for private sector exploration and mining. Since then, 38 critical mineral blocks have been auctioned, but only 14 - less than 37 per cent - have found bidders. This modest achievement was secured only after the Centre conducted a second round of auctions when the first round fell flat, failing to attract the minimum required bidders.
'The RBI's MPC will maintain the current policy rates (6.50%) at the policy meeting, given ongoing inflationary pressures.'
'The jury panel said that my collection should not be limited to a college fashion show; it had much more potential. They encouraged me to sign up for the annual National Designer Awards organised by the World Designing Forum.'
The Street's optimism on India's largest listed automotive maker by market capitalisation is not misplaced, given the robust wholesale performance in recent months and the strong 2023-24 (FY24) October-December (Q3) results.
Passenger vehicle retail sales in India witnessed a 10 per cent on-year jump in July driven by new model launches and enhanced discounts, industry body FADA said on Monday. Total passenger vehicle retail sales rose to 3,20,129 units in July, as compared to 2,90,564 units in July 2023. "Dealers reported benefits from good product availability, attractive schemes, and a wider range of products," the Federation of Automobile Dealers Associations (FADA) vice president C S Vigneshwar said in a statement.
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman is likely to hold pre-budget consultations with industry chambers on June 20, sources said. The budget for 2024-25 fiscal is likely to be presented in Parliament in the second half of July. Industry sources said the pre-budget consultation with Sitharaman would be preceded by a meeting with Revenue Secretary Sanjay Malhotra on June 18.
Retail investors have become a force to reckon with in the last 10 years with their ownership of Indian equities rising 800 basis points, or 8 per cent, to 23.4 per cent during this period, suggests a recent note from Morgan Stanley. This number, Morgan Stanley said, is set to rise in the next few years as Indian households are still underinvested in equities. India's demographics, policy framework, investor education and modest positive real rates, it said, will fuel the 'equity cult' in India.
"The 2012 outlook for the Indian pharmaceutical industry is stable. The agency expects credit profiles to remain stable given that long-term earnings and profitability prospects remain intact with moderate capex," Fitch said in its report '2012 Outlook: Indian Pharmaceutical'.
Quarterly earnings of corporates, trading activity of foreign investors and inflation data are the key factors that are expected to drive the momentum in the equity markets this week, analysts said.
'In April, we saw a 10 per cent growth in our own volumes.'
Moody's keeps Reliance rating, cuts outlook
Deputy Governor Michael Patra warned about the spillover effects of food inflation.
There is nothing specific announced for Chemicals Industry, however, reduction in customs duty
Among the 30 Sensex companies, Mahindra & Mahindra, Power Grid, Sun Pharma, Nestle, UltraTech Cement, NTPC, ITC, ICICI Bank, Titan, Bajaj Finserv, Bharti Airtel, and HDFC Bank were among the biggest gainers. IndusInd Bank, Adani Ports, Tata Steel, Reliance Industries, Axis Bank and Bajaj Finance were among the laggards.
Global agency Fitch on Monday lowered the rating outlook of public sector companies including NTPC, SAIL and IOC to negative but said the downgrade of India's credit outlook to negative would not impact the rating of Reliance Industries.
Notwithstanding robust volume growth and a strong performance from Jaguar Land Rover (JLR), Tata Motors, the country's second-largest automobile (auto) manufacturer by market capitalisation, disappointed the Street with its January-March quarter (Q4) results for 2023-24 (FY24). While consolidated revenues saw a 13 per cent increase, lower-than-expected realisations in the Indian operations weighed down overall performance.
The US Federal Reserve's interest rate decision is the biggest event that would drive sentiments in the domestic stock market this week, besides a host of macroeconomic data from the global front and trading activity of foreign investors, analysts said. The Indian equity market had an exceptional last week, with both the Nifty and Sensex hitting their all-time high levels on Thursday.
Over the years, stakeholders have realised this power of the Budget as a platform and it has captured the imagination of a cross-section of the Indian citizenry, from the industry to the aam aadmi.
The Reserve Bank of India on Friday retained its projection for retail inflation at 4.5 per cent for the current fiscal assuming a normal monsoon, while emphasising that uncertainties related to food price outlook warrant a close monitoring. Consumer Price Index (CPI)-based retail inflation has been projected at 4.5 per cent with quarter-wise projections at 4.9 per cent in Q1 (April-June), 3.8 per cent in Q2, 4.6 per cent in Q3, and 4.5 per cent in Q4.
Domestic air passenger traffic grew 5.1 per cent year-on-year to an estimated 138.9 million in May and was significantly higher by around 14 per cent than pre-Covid levels, credit ratings agency Icra said on Thursday. Icra also said the outlook on the Indian aviation industry is stable amid the continued recovery in domestic and international air passenger traffic with a relatively stable cost environment and expectations of the trend continuing in FY2025.
In previews of Q2FY25 and beyond, industry analysts are expecting a turnaround for IT services. High teens earnings per share or EPS growth is expected for the next two-three financial years. The hopes are backed by deal wins of above $100 billion as at Q1FY25, up 16.6 per cent year-on-year ( Y-o-Y).
Wholesale inflation fell to a 3-month low of 2.04 per cent in July on decline in prices of food items especially vegetables, government data released on Wednesday showed. The decline in wholesale price index (WPI) based inflation in July came after it rose for four months in a row till June, when it was 3.36 per cent. It was (-) 1.23 per cent in July last year. In April wholesale inflation stood at 1.19 per cent.
The severity of the second wave of COVID-19 infections in India poses a key challenge for the FMCG industry and the spread of the virus to rural areas on a relatively higher scale as compared to the first wave is also expected to weigh on industry growth outlook, according to ITC Ltd. There is heightened uncertainty around the timing and shape of the recovery trajectory of overall economic growth in India due to the virus, the company said in its Annual Report for 2020-21. In terms of consumption, urban-led recovery may be relatively muted compared to the first wave as consumers switch to precautionary savings mode and rising healthcare costs eat into household spending, while rural demand may also be blunted by the large-scale spread of the virus to the hinterland in the second wave.
The Prime Minister's Economic Advisory Council will on Wednesday release the outlook for the Indian economy for the current fiscal and is likely to scale down growth projection from earlier 8.5 per cent to 7.5-8 per cent.
In calendar year 2024, the stock price of Trent has zoomed 160% As compared to the 18% rally in the BSE Sensex during the same period. It has outperformed the market in the past 10 consecutive years.
With rapid adoption of emerging technologies, the Information Technology and Business Process Management (IT-BPM) industry is expected to generate about 3 lakh jobs this fiscal year, according to a report. The IT-BPM workforce is on the trajectory to grow 7 per cent in FY23, with the overall headcount increasing from 5.1 million to 5.45 million (close to 3 lakh jobs being created), the report by TeamLease Digital, the specialised staffing division of TeamLease Services said. The 'Digital Employment Outlook Report for H1-2023' highlighted that the demand for digital skills will grow 8.4 per cent by the end of this fiscal year.
Forecast of single digit growth this financial year worries analysts, as other firms have provided better outlook.
It will be the second Budget of the Modi 3.0 government and eighth straight Budget for Nirmala Sitharaman, rare in Indian polity.
More than half (56 per cent) of chief economists expect the global economy to weaken in 2024, with most saying the pace of geo-economic fragmentation will accelerate, according to the latest "Chief Economists Outlook" released on Monday at the World Economic Forum (WEF). The report indicates that the global economic prospects remain subdued and uncertain. Challenges include tight financial conditions, geopolitical rifts, and the rapid development of generative artificial intelligence (AI).
'Retail investors, who had not seen such a massive correction in the SMID universe since COVID-19, are witnessing something like this for the first time. Panic profit booking may continue.'
'When interest rates rise, the NAVs of these funds will fall.' However, they won't fall as much as longer-duration funds.
'While most companies were bullish before the second wave of double-digit sales growth in FY22, that may not be the case now.'
Snapping the two months slide, the country's merchandise exports rose marginally by 0.5 per cent to $34.58 billion in September while trade deficit narrowed to $20.78 billion. According to official data released on Wednesday, imports increased by 1.6 per cent to $55.36 billion in September compared to $54.49 billion in the year-ago period. The trade deficit, or the gap between imports and exports, was $20.8 billion during the same month last year.
