Stocks in Asia started the week steady as investors keep watch on how price pressures impact the pace of economic recovery. Treasury yields pared a slide.
Equities edged up in Japan, fluctuated in Australia and fell in South Korea. U.S. futures dipped after all major U.S. equity benchmarks climbed to records Friday, with the S&P 500 posting its fifth consecutive weekly rally.
The Singapore-traded SGX Nifty, an early indicator of India's Nifty 50 Index’s performance, rose 0.19% to 17,974, as of 6:45 a.m.
The Sensex closed at 60,067.62 , up 0.5%, in the special 60-minute Muhurat trading session held to mark the beginning of the traditional new year on Thursday. The Nifty gained by a similar level to close at 17,916.80.
Traders are shifting to a view that central banks won’t accelerate interest rate increases in the face of persistent inflation. Markets will closely watch a read on U.S. consumer prices this week. The dollar inched higher.
Elsewhere, oil advanced, paring a weekly loss. Bitcoin traded below $63,000.
Earnings Post Market Hours
Divi's Laboratories (Consolidated, QoQ)
Revenue up 1% at Rs 1,987.5 crore (Bloomberg estimate: Rs 2,083 crore)
Net profit up 9% to Rs 606.5 crore (Bloomberg estimate: Rs 630.5 crore)
Ebitda down 4% at Rs 818.1 crore (Bloomberg estimate: Rs 887.6 crore)
Margin at 41.2% vs 43.5% (Bloomberg estimate: 42.6%)
EPS at Rs 22.84 per share vs Rs 20.99 (Bloomberg estimate: Rs 23.04)
Sun TV Network (Consolidated, QoQ)
Revenue up 3.6% at Rs 848.6 crore
Ebitda down 3.2% at Rs 528.3 crore
Profit after tax up 8.3% at Rs 395.5 crore
Dividend of Rs 2.5 per equity share
Muthoot Finance (Consolidated, QoQ)
Interest income up 2.9% at Rs 3,003.3 crore
Profit after tax up 2.5% at Rs 1,002.9 crore
Gross loans under management up 5% at Rs 55,146.8 crore
Earnings per share at Rs 24.98 versus Rs 24.37
Stocks To Watch
Amara Raja Batteries: Board of directors to consider payment of interim dividend.
Dish TV, Yes Bank: Office of Crime Branch, Gautam Buddh Nagar has issued a notice to Yes Bank, restricting it from dealing in or exercising any rights over its 44.5 crore equity shares in Dish TV till completion of the investigation or till further orders.
Vedanta: Company has exclusive rights over the brand name ‘Cairn’. Cairn Energy PLC, the Scottish oil and gas exploration company that is also commonly referred to as Cairn Energy, will discontinue the use of the term by December 2021.
Dr Reddy's Laboratories: In an earnings call, CEO Erez Israeli said the company will focus on spending on its generic portfolio in each one of the markets, mainly in United States, China, Europe, emerging markets, biosimilars and recently, also on the Covid products as well as vaccines, specifically for India, Russia.
IndusInd Bank: Lender denied allegations that its unit was providing new loans to customers to keep their existing debt from souring, a practice known as “evergreening.” The bad loan recognition process is fully automated in accordance with regulatory norms, the bank said in an exchange filing on Saturday.
Sun Pharmaceuticals: Its U.S. subsidiaries have signed settlement agreements with the Direct Purchaser Plaintiffs in the Generic Pharmaceuticals Pricing Antitrust Litigation. The subsidiaries will make a payment of $85 million in exchange for a full release of all claims.
Grasim Industries: Company has successfully commissioned chloromethane project at Vilayat, Gujarat having capacity of 50,000 ton per annum. This will result into an additional annualised revenue of Rs 400 crore.
NMDC: Company has fixed prices for lump iron ore (65.53, 6-40mm) at Rs 5,950 per ton and iron fines (64% - 10mm) at Rs 4,760 per ton.
GAIL: National Company Law Tribunal has granted approval for acquisition of IL&FS Group's 26% equity stake in ONGC Tripura Power Company.
Heidelberg Cement: India Ratings has upgraded the company's long-term issuer rating to 'IND AAA’ from ‘IND AA+’. The outlook is stable.
Earnings: 3i Infotech, Aurobindo Pharma, Balrampur Chini Mills, Britannia Industries, HG Infra Engineering, KRBL, Shyam Metalics and Energy, Sobha, Ujjivan Small Finance Bank, Wockhardt, Vijaya Diagnostic Centre.
Offerings
One97 Communications Ltd., which operates Paytm, to open its IPO to raise a total of Rs 8,235 crore today.
Analyst Actions
Bharti Airtel raised to 'buy' at Dolat Capital; price target: Rs 820
Castrol India cut to 'hold' at Reliance Securities; price target: Rs 146
Cholamandalam cut to 'accumulate' at KR Choksey; price target: Rs 692
Eicher Motors raised to 'neutral' at JPMorgan; price target: Rs 2,450
Gland Pharma rated new 'buy' at Investec; price target: Rs 4,250
Jindal Steel raised to 'buy' at Batlivala & Karani; price target: Rs 559
JK Paper raised to 'buy' at IDBI Capital Market; price target: Rs 307
Nilkamal raised to 'hold' at IDBI Capital Market; price target: Rs 2,369
PNB Housing raised to 'hold' at ICICI Securities; price target: Rs 485
State Bank of India cut to 'hold' at Jefferies; price target: Rs 600
Tata Motors raised to 'outperform' at Macquarie; price target: Rs 567
Trading Tweaks
Price Band Revised From 5% To 10%: 3i Infotech
Price Band Revised From 10% To 5%: Khadim India
Record Date Interim Dividend: IIFL Wealth Management, Aditya Birla Sun Life AMC, Coforge
Move Into ASM Framework: HLE Glascoat, Puravankara
Money Market Update
The rupee ended at 74.45 against the U.S. Dollar on Thursday as compared to Wednesday's closing of 74.68.
F&O Cues
Nifty November futures ended at 39,573.7; a discount of 47.3 points.
Nifty November futures added 0.19% and 386 shares in Open Interest
Nifty Bank November futures ended at 39,573.70; a premium of 192 points
Nifty Bank November futures added 1.35% and 1,136 shares in Open Interest
Securities in the ban list: Escorts, Punjab National Bank
Top Research Reports
Graphite India Q2 Review - Performance Set To Improve Going Forward: ICICI Direct
SBI Q2 Review - Non-Recurring Events Impact Asset Quality, Credit Cost: Systematix
Alkyl Amines Q2 Review — Margins Continue To Tumble, Volumes Impacted: Motilal Oswal
Bata India Q2 Review — Walking On The Right Track: Dolat Capital
Eicher Motors Q2 Review — Pickup In Export Momentum: IDBI Capital