Share market meltdown as US stocks finished Tuesday lower due to pressure from banks over mixed results from Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs, as well as sell-offs in Apple and Boeing that affected the S&P 500.
The Nifty 50 saw its largest one-day decline since February 24, 2022, as investor mood was also impacted by Middle East tensions and waning expectations of a Fed rate decrease. With the exception of Nifty IT, all sectoral indices finished lower; Nifty Bank and Nifty Financial Services saw decreases of more than 4%.
The Nifty was down 453.90 points, or 2.06%, at 21,578.40 at closure, while the Sensex was down 1,613.64 points, or 2.20%, at 71,500.76. The SmallCap index dropped 0.9% while the BSE MidCap index dropped 1%.
Share Market Tumble
The Hang Seng index in Hong Kong closed at 15,282.32, the lowest level since November 2022, after plunging shares to 3.68%.
Following China’s fourth-quarter gross domestic product growth missing predictions, the mainland Chinese CSI 300 dropped to a level not seen in nearly five years. The largest firms listed in Shenzhen and Shanghai are measured by the index, which closed at 3,229.08 after declining by 2.18%.
US markets saw a weaker close on Tuesday as the S&P 500 was impacted by sell-offs in Apple and Boeing and conflicting results from Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs.
Oil fell as worries about the growing tensions in the Middle East, notably the ongoing attacks on ships in the Red Sea by the Houthi rebels backed by Iran, were countered by the negative impact of a stronger US currency and a general tone of risk aversion.
President Christine Lagarde of the European Central Bank stated on Wednesday that interest rate reductions may begin this summer, although she emphasized that any such action would depend on the most recent economic data, according to AFP.
Share’s To Watch Out
In Q3 of this year, the IT company declared a net profit of Rs 336.8 crore, up from Rs 298.2 crore the previous year. During the reviewed quarter, revenue was Rs 2,420 crore as opposed to Rs 2,230.5 crore YoY.
In comparison to the same quarter last year, when it was Rs 12,259.49 crore, HDFC Bank reported a 33.54 percent YoY increase in standalone net profit, coming in at Rs 16,372.54 crore for the December quarter.
The firm and Jakson Green Private Limited have established a joint venture to investigate prospects for solar power projects both domestically and internationally.
The business and Indian Overseas Bank signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for co-lending funding for green energy projects.
The board of the firm has approved additional investments in Jubilant Foodworks Netherlands B.V., a subsidiary of the company, up to a maximum of Rs 25 crore.
In Q3, Hathway Cable and Datacom posted a net profit of Rs 22.35 crore, up from Rs 28.77 crore in the same period last year. Revenue was Rs 504.58 crore as compared to Rs 478.45 crore in the previous year (YoY).
According to the Adani group firm, the transmission and smart metering business added 302 ckms to the operational network during the quarter, bringing the overall network length to 20,422 ckms.
The business also maintained system availability of 99.67 percent in Q3 FY24. Over the course of the quarter, the segment was awarded contracts worth a total of Rs 2,300 crore for 2 million smart meters.
China’s economy expanded 5.2% in the fourth quarter compared to the same period last year, according to official figures released on Wednesday. This figure slightly missed analysts’ projections but nevertheless ensured Beijing met its annual growth target of shares despite a rocky start to the year.
According to figures from the National Bureau of Statistics, the economy expanded 5.2% for the entire year 2023, mostly due to the low-base effect of the previous year, which was characterized by COVID lockdowns. Analyst growth projections were 5.2%.
Profits Today
When they release their December quarter earnings on January 17, investors will be watching shares of Asian Paints, LTIMindtree, ICICI Prudential Life Insurance Company, Happiest Minds Technologies, Alok Industries, Oracle Financial Services Software, Hindustan Media Ventures, IIFL Finance, Speciality Restaurants, Som Distilleries & Breweries, Steel Strips Wheels, Star Housing Finance, Ganesh Housing Corporation, and Moschip Technologies.
In Q3, the firm announced a 66.6 percent year-over-year increase in standalone profit of Rs 465 crore, driven by both strong topline and operating performance with share market. Compared to the same period last year, revenue from operations increased by 50.5 percent in shares to Rs 1,322.4 crore.
After Q3 earnings, ICICI Lombard’s stock increased by more than 5%. For the December quarter, the company’s net profit climbed by 22.4% year over year to ₹431 crore, while its gross direct premium income increased by 13.4% to ₹6,230 crore.
At ₹1,448.75, the share price is currently up 5.42%.
With LIC’s shares up nearly 2% and SBI’s down 0.7% today, LIC and SBI now have different market caps of ₹5.75 lakh crore and ₹5.65 lakh crore, respectively.
