Nifty hovers above 22,050; European shares advance

The domestic equity benchmarks continued to trade in narrow range with strong gains in afternoon trade. The Nifty hovered above the 22,050 mark. IT, oil & gas and pharma shares advanced while media and metal stocks declined.

At 13:27 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was up 446.93 points or 0.83% to 73,245.31. The Nifty 50 index gained 163.80 points or 0.75% to 22,058.35.

The benchmarks, Nifty50 and Sensex hit a fresh all-time high of 22,081.95 and 73,288.78 respectively.

In the broader market, the S&P BSE Mid-Cap index gained 0.65% and the S&P BSE Small-Cap index added 0.22%.

The market breadth was positive. On the BSE, 2,055 shares rose and 1,824 shares fell. A total of 140 shares were unchanged.

Economy:

The annual rate of inflation based on all India Wholesale Price Index (WPI) number is 0.73% (provisional) for the month of December, 2023 (over December, 2022). Positive rate of inflation in December, 2023 is primarily due to increase in prices of food articles, machinery & equipment, other manufacturing, other transport equipment computers, electronics & optical products etc.

Meanwhile, India`s retail inflation edged marginally in December on higher food prices. Inflation, measured by the annual change in the consumer price index (CPI), rose to a four-month high of 5.69% in December from 5.55% in November and it was 5.72% in December 2022.

Separately, India`s Index for Industrial Production (IIP) growth declined to 2.4% in November from 11.7% in October.

After rising for four consecutive weeks, India�s foreign exchange (forex) reserves declined sharply by $5.89 billion to $617.3 billion during the week ended January 5, according to the latest RBI data.

So far this fiscal, the reserves have increased $55.72 billion. In the previous reporting week ended December 29, the reserves rose $2.759 billion to $623.2 billion, the highest so far this fiscal. In the week before that, the reserves increased $4.471 billion to $620.441.

Gold reserves also declined $839 million to $47.48 billion during the reporting week, while the special drawing rights (SDRs) were down $67 million to $18.29 billion, the RBI said. The country�s reserve position with the IMF also declined $26 million to $48.66 billion in the reporting week.

Gainers & Losers:

Wipro (up 6.88%), Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (up 4.81%), HCL Technologies (up 2.74%), Tech Mahindra (up 2.14%) and Infosys (up 2.24%) were major Nifty gainers.

HDFC Life Insurance Company (down 3.62%), Bajaj Finance (down 1.91%), Tata Consumer Products (down 1.46 Hindalco Industries (down 1.22%) and Eicher Motors (down 1.05%) were major Nifty losers.

Wipro jumped 6.88% after the IT major`s consolidated net profit rose 1.81% to Rs 2,694.2 crore despite of 1.38% decline in revenue from operations to Rs 22,205.1 crore in Q3 FY24 over Q2 FY24. On year on year basis, the IT firm�s net profit tumbled 11.75% and revenue fell 4.41% in Q3 FY24.

For the quarter ending 31 December 2023, Wipro expects revenue from its IT Services business segment to be in the range of $2,615 million to $2,669 million. This translates to sequential guidance of -1.5% to +0.5% in constant currency terms.

HCL Technologies rallied 2.74% after the company reported 13.52% jump in consolidated net profit to Rs 4,350 crore on 6.65% increase in revenue from operations to Rs 28,446 crore in Q3 FY24 over Q2 FY24. Compared with Q3 FY23, the company`s net profit and revenue were higher by 6.20% and 6.54%, respectively.

In terms of FY24 guidance, the company�s CC Revenue growth (including ASAP acquisition) expected to be between 5% and 5.5% YoY. EBIT margin expected to be between 18% and 19%.

Stocks in Spotlight:

Alkem Laboratories shed 0.46%. The company informed there has been a cyber security incident that compromised the business email IDs of certain employees at one of the company�s subsidiaries.

Just Dial rallied 3.33% after the company recorded 22.3% increase in net profit to Rs 92 crore on a 19.7% rise in operating revenues to Rs 265 crore in Q3 FY24 over Q3 FY23.

Anand Rathi Wealth slipped 3.56%. The company has reported a consolidated net profit of Rs 58 crore for Q3 FY24, an increase of 34% compared to the PAT figure of Rs 43.2 crore recorded in Q3 FY23. Total revenue for the period under review rose by 34% YoY to Rs 187 crore.

Global Markets:

Shares in Europe advanced and most of the Asian stocks traded higher on Monday.

The People�s Bank unexpectedly kept lending rates on hold. Investors will be closely watching China�s fourth-quarter gross domestic numbers due on Wednesday, while Japan will release inflation figures for December on Friday.

U.S. stock and bond markets will be closed on Monday for Martin Luther King Day. On Friday in the U.S., all three major indexes ended mixed as the fourth-quarter earnings season got under way, with four Big Banks posting downbeat results.

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