The domestic equity benchmarks ended with modest gains on Friday, snapping a three-day losing streak. The Nifty settled above the 17,950 level after hitting the day's low of 17,774.25 in morning trade. The Sensex regained the 60,000 level. PSU bank, metal and IT stocks were in demand. On the other hand, consumer durables, pharma and FMCG shares declined.
As per provisional closing data, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex advanced 303.15 points or 0.51% to 60,261.18. The Nifty 50 index added 98.40points or 0.55% to 17,956.60. Both the indices had declined 1.3% in three sessions.
In the broader market, the S&P BSE Mid-Cap index rose 0.09% while the S&P BSE Small-Cap index gained 0.22%.
The market breadth was positive. On the BSE, 1,995 shares rose, and 1,488 shares fell. A total of 151 shares were unchanged.
IT major, Wipro shed 0.20% ahead of Q3 results today.
Meanwhile, the NSE's India VIX, a gauge of the market's expectation of volatility over the near term, slipped 5.33% to 14.46.
Economy:
India's consumer price inflation eased further to a one-year low of 5.72% in December from 5.88% the previous month, data released by the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MOSPI) showed. This is the third month in a row that CPI inflation has fallen. The Food inflation eased sharply to 4.19% in December compared to 4.67% in previous month.
Meanwhile, India's factory output based on the Index of Industrial Production (IIP) rose 7.1% year on year in the month of November, MOSPI data showed on Thursday. For the April-November period, the index grew by 5.5%. IIP had contracted by 4% YoY in October.
Buzzing Index:
The Nifty PSU Bank index rose 1.35% to 4,279.95. The index shed 0.31% in the past trading session.
Punjab & Sind Bank (up 2.27%), Canara Bank (up 2.27%), Bank of Baroda (up 1.73%), Central Bank of India (up 1.65%), Bank of India (up 1.63%), Punjab National Bank (up 1.52%), State Bank of India (up 0.85%), Indian Overseas Bank (up 0.84%), Union Bank of India (up 0.7%) and UCO Bank (up 0.67%) advanced.
Stocks in Spotlight:
Infosys gained 1.53%. The IT major reported 9.4% rise in consolidated net profit to Rs 6,586 crore on a 4.9% increase in revenues to Rs 38,318 crore in Q3 FY23 over Q2 FY23. The company's net profit and revenues are higher by 13.4% and 20.2% as compared with Q3 FY22. In dollar terms, the company reported revenues of $4,659 million (up 2.3% QoQ and up 9.6% YoY) for the quarter ended 31 December 2022. In constant currency terms, the company's revenue has grown by 2.4% QoQ and by 13.7% YoY during the period under review.
Large deal TCV for the quarter was the strongest in the last 8 quarters at $3.3 billion. IT services attrition rate stood at 24.3% as of 31 December 2022 as compared with 27.1% as of 30 September 2022 and 25.5% as on 31 December 2021.
HCL Technologies added 0.43%. The IT firm reported 17.4% rise in consolidated net profit to Rs 4,096 crore on a 8.2% increase in revenues to Rs 26,700 crore in Q3 FY23 over Q2 FY22. Compared with Q3 last year, the company's net profit and revenue are higher 19% and 19.6%, respectively. In dollar terms, the company's revenue stood at $3,244 million, up 5.3% QoQ and up 9% YoY.
In constant currency (cc) terms, revenue growth in Q3 FY23 was 5% QoQ and 13.1% YoY. Attrition (on the last 12-month basis) was at 21.7% in Q3 FY23 as against 23.8%% in Q2 FY23 and 19.8% in Q3 FY22.
Mahindra & Mahindra rose 0.60%. The company said that the total production in the month of December 2022 was 45,009 units, up by 80% from 24,970 units produced in the same period last year.
Separately, Mahindra & Mahindra has announced the dissolution of Mahindra Tractor Assembly Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Mahindra Overseas Investment Company (Mauritius) (MOICML) which is a wholly owned subsidiary of M&M.
Larsen & Toubro (L&T) shed 0.33%. The company said that it has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Norway-based H2Carrier (H2C) to co-operate towards developing floating green ammonia projects for industrial-scale applications.
L&T Technology Services (LTTS) tumbled 5.29%. The company on Thursday (12 January 2023) announced that it will acquire the Smart World & Communication (SWC) business of its parent firm, Larsen & Toubro (L&T) for a cash consideration of Rs 800 crore.
Kolte-Patil Developers surged 15.26% after the company recorded 28% jump in sales value to Rs 716 crore in Q3 FY23 from Rs 561 crore in Q3 FY22. Sales volume increased by 31% to 1.13 million square feet in Q3 FY23 from 0.86 million square feet in Q3 FY22. The company's sales value and sales volume are higher by 95% and 102%, respectively, as compared with Q2 FY23.
Rail Vikas Nigam jumped 4.95% after the company informed that it has been awarded a letter of award (LoA) by Southern Railway for automatic block signaling in Chennai. The total cost of the project is Rs 38.97 crore and is to be executed in 15 months.
Global Markets:
Shares in Europe and Asia advanced on Friday after the U.S. consumer price index showed inflation cooled in December, raising investors' hopes that the Federal Reserve can return to slower interest rate hikes.
US stocks climbed on Thursday after a reading of consumer prices fed expectations the Federal Reserve may have the leeway to scale back the size of future interest rate hikes.
A key gauge of US inflation posted a moderate increase in December. Excluding food and energy, the consumer price index rose 0.3% last month and was up 5.7% from a year earlier, according to a US Labor Department report on Thursday. The overall CPI fell 0.1% from the prior month, with cheaper energy costs fueling the first decline in 2 1/2 years. The measure was up 6.5% from a year earlier.
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