Stocks of Indian steel companies are reeling from pricing pressure that is partly blamed on cheap imports. The stocks have declined up to 9 per cent on the NSE in one month, likely allowing investors an opportunity to use the correction to enter the pack as pricing pressure eases. "In steel or any other commodity, if prices or spreads are nearing their bottom, it can be an opportune time to invest in those stocks. In India, domestic fundamentals such as steel consumption remain robust, hence one can take fresh positions in these counters," said Amit Dixit, an analyst at ICICI Securities.
Stocks of Indian steel companies are reeling from pricing pressure that is partly blamed on cheap imports. The stocks have declined up to 9 per cent on the NSE in one month, likely allowing investors an opportunity to use the correction to enter the pack as pricing pressure eases. "In steel or any other commodity, if prices or spreads are nearing their bottom, it can be an opportune time to invest in those stocks.
The Budget proposals are expected to boost the fortunes of consumer goods and fast-moving consumer goods companies, which have been struggling with poor consumer demand for more than a year. The Budget announcements, such as the increase in standard deduction by Rs 25,000 for income-tax payers and slab revisions, will put more money in their hands, boosting consumer demand. Private consumption is also likely to benefit from a new scheme to offer internships to 10 million youths in the country's top 500 companies.
Hindalco's market capitalisation became lumpier after a merger with group company Indo Gulf Corporation's copper business, but the scrip's value took a beating during the week.
Almost all major metal and mining firms would be affected by the Supreme Court ruling canceling 214 coal blocks, but Naveen Jindal's JSPL and Aditya Birla Group's Hindalco would be among the worst hit, analysts said.
Four years after buying Novelis, a company three times its size, Hindalco is now banking on the Atlanta (US)-headquartered aluminium rolling and recycling major to fund its Rs 23,000-crore expansion plan in India.
In FY23, Indian operations accounted for 41.6 per cent of the consolidated revenue of India's top five multinationals, up from 34 per cent in FY18 and 33.2 per cent and 34.2 per cent in FY21.
A court asked for further investigation into an illegal coalfield allocation case involving Hindalco Industries on Tuesday, rejecting an earlier report from the CBI that said the probe was likely to be closed.
Aditya Aluminium project ready but clearances still stuck for mine
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has started scrutinising the file received from the Prime Minister's Office on coal block allocation to Hindalco to understand the circumstances on the basis of which the earlier decision to reject the company's application for the same was reversed.
Global aluminium giant Alcan Inc on Friday announced its plan to sell its 45 per cent stake in India's Utkal Alumina International Ltd, its joint venture with Aditya Birla group flagship Hindalco Industries.
Indian Aluminium Company Ltd vice-chairman A K Agarwal on Wednesday ruled out the merger of the company with its parent Hindalco Industries Ltd.
The decision was taken in the meeting of the Board of Approval headed by Commerce Secretary Rajeev Kher on September 18.
A reading of the reports suggests that there is no standard practice for reporting political contributions and it is left to the company's discretion to report them as they find fit.
Hindalco Industries Ltd plans to acquire Straits (Nifty) Pty Ltd, which owns the Nifty Copper mines in Australia.
Claim could be over fee for guarantees given for loans to acquire Novelis.
Mahan Coal claims it is being targeted at the behest of 'foreign masters' of the Western world.
I-T will now ask the company to produce documents and validate the source of the recovered cash.
The debt came with covenants, which require borrowers to meet certain conditions such as a mandated debt to EBITDA ratio. A failure to meet the conditions may result in an increase in interest rates. The company reported EBITDA (operating profit) of $69 million in the quarter ended December 31, down from $151 million in the corresponding period of the previous year.
The chief minister of Odisha had reiterated this position assigning topmost priority to the allocation of Talabira-II in favour of Hindalco.
The Development Commissioners have recommended to the Board of Approval to cancel these SEZ projects.
Although both parties were tightlipped on the details of the lawsuit, which was served on the company's US subsidiary this week, sources in the know said its financial implications would be huge if the court verdict goes against Novelis.
Operating margins have been the primary driver of corporate earnings in India in recent quarters, despite revenue growth suffering from weak consumer demand. Companies across sectors have reported a sharp improvement in earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, and amortisation (Ebitda) margins over the past two years, benefiting from lower commodity and energy prices. Higher margins more than compensated for slower revenue growth, resulting in double-digit growth in net profit for five consecutive quarters.
Overseas operations already account for nearly 30 per cent of the group's revenue now and the Novelis acquisition would go a long way in fulfilling group chairman Kumar Mangalam Birla's ambition
Corporate India is starting to step up its capital expenditure plans amid government incentives and signs of rising demand, company executives and analysts have indicated. This coincides with the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) recently citing a double-digit growth in private capital expenditure. Healthy balance sheets of banks and corporates, along with increasing capacity utilisation and improving business sentiment, are contributing to a favourable environment for sustained growth in private sector investments, the RBI said in its policy last week.
The A V Birla group on Tuesday announced the acquisition of its second copper mine in Australia.
Hindalco Industries Ltd has posted a net profit of Rs 1011 million for the quarter ended December 31, 2002 as compared to Rs 1655 million in the quarter ended December 31, 2001.
This is under the accounting norms of the Securities and Exchange Commission of the United States. The company has said it would use its share premium account of Rs 8,600 crore (Rs 86 billion) for this write-off.
'Interim Budget has ignited the entrepreneurial spirit.'
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.
The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) plans to roll out a new regulatory framework for registrar and transfer agents (RTAs) - the market intermediaries responsible for the record-keeping of bondholders and shareholders after a company offers securities to the public. The markets regulator, sources said, is considering a multifold increase in net-worth requirement, a move that may dissuade companies from having in-house RTAs for record-keeping. At present, the minimum net worth required for RTAs is Rs 50 lakh and Rs 25 lakh in categories I and II, respectively.
Domestic quarterly earnings, global trends and foreign fund trading activity would dictate the movement in equity markets, which may face volatility amid the scheduled monthly derivatives expiry this week, analysts said. Equity markets took a breather last week. The BSE Sensex declined 298.22 points or 0.48 per cent and the Nifty dipped 111.4 points or 0.60 per cent.
India's corporate sector is likely to report a slowdown in revenue growth and earnings for the July-September 2023 period (Q2FY24), according to earnings estimates by brokerages, after the country's top listed companies posted higher than expected profits for the first quarter. The combined net profit of Nifty50 companies, based on brokerage estimates, is expected to have grown by 19.6 per cent year-on-year (Y-o-Y) to Rs 1.75 trillion in Q2FY24 - a sharp deceleration from 37.6 per cent Y-o-Y growth in the combined earnings of index companies in the April-June 2023 period. According to estimates, the combined earnings in the second quarter would be down 8.8 per cent on a quarter-on-quarter (Q-o-Q) basis and the lowest in the past three quarters.
Metal and mining companies, such as Tata Steel, JSW Steel, Hindalco, and Coal India, have been among the top-performing sectors on the bourses in recent months. The S&P BSE Metal Index is up 13 per cent in the past three months, rallying 29 per cent in the past year, outperforming the broader market. For comparison, the benchmark S&P BSE Sensex has only seen a 1.7 per cent increase in the past three months, with a 15 per cent gain since the end of September last year.
Billionaire Mukesh Ambani's Reliance Industries Ltd climbed eight spots to the 45th rank, the highest for an Indian company on Forbes' latest Global 2000 list of public companies worldwide.
The re-opening of the Chinese economy, as it moves away from its zero-Covid policy, could help stabilise commodity prices, according to some of the country's top metal companies. They view this as a positive for demand, at a time when markets such as the US and Europe have been largely weighed down by slowdown concern now. "Most of us in the metals business are hoping the Chinese economy picks up because half of any metal demand, including demand for aluminium, comes from China.
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