Share Market Highlight- Markets end lower on post-MPC meeting! Nifty closes below 21,800, Sensex above 71,400; Banks and FMCG losses

SBI, BPCL, Power Grid, Hindalco, and Coal India were the top gainers in the Nifty 50. On the other hand, Britannia, Kotak Bank, ICICI Bank, Axis Bank, and Eicher Motors were the key losers in the Nifty 50 today during the later market hours.

Shares of Britannia fell 4.8% to Rs 4,833.15. The brokerage firm Jefferies has slashed the target price on the stock marginally.

Shares of BPCL rose 5.5% to hit a fresh 52-week high of Rs 635.35 after the company renewed its pact with Petronet LNG to purchase liquified natural gas of around 7.5 million tonnes per annum, according to an exchange filing.

Shares of One97 Communication fell 10% to hit the lower band of Rs 446.65 after rising for the past two days.

Power Grid Corp, SBI, BPCL, Coal India, and Hindalco were the top gainers in the Nifty 50. While Britannia, Nestle India, Tata Consumer Products, Eicher Motors, and Axis Bank were the major laggards in the index.

“Despite slight volatility in January, the market closed flat on a month-to-month basis. Equity schemes experienced a surge in inflows, reaching approximately ₹21,780 crores in Jan’24, compared to ₹16,997 crores in Dec’23. Sectoral/thematic and small-cap oriented funds were the primary contributors, with contributions of ₹4,804 crores and ₹3,256 crores, respectively. However, this was lower than the previous month’s flows. Multi-cap category funds also witnessed a significant increase, reaching ₹3,038 crores in Jan’24 from approximately ₹1,852 crores in Dec’23. Large caps demonstrated positive contributions this month, reversing the net outflows experienced in December 2023. This shift in trend is in line with valuation differentials among large v/s mid and small caps, suggesting that large caps/flexi caps oriented schemes may attract higher flows in the future. In the Hybrid category, MAF observed notable inflows of ₹7,079 crores, a significant increase from ₹2,420 crores in the previous month,” said Akhil Chaturvedi, Chief Business Officer, Motilal Oswal Asset Management Company.

RBI Deputy Governor in a post-monetary policy committee press conference said that the action on Paytm is to protect consumers and financial stability.

Shares of State Bank Of India rose nearly 6.5% to hit a fresh 52-week high of Rs 718.90. The stock was among the top gainers in the Nifty 50.

Indian equities saw a downward trend, with financial stocks registering a significant decline following the Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) policy announcement, which aligned with market expectations. The Nifty Future is trading at 21,854, marking a decrease of 148 points or 0.68%, while the Nifty Bank Future is trading down by 486 points or 1.06%. to 45,645.

The shares of Power Grid Crop gains more than 5% to Rs 288.05 on the intra-day trade on Thursday as company’s Q3 results beats analyst estimates. The company reported a 2.55% YoY increase in consolidated revenue to Rs 11,549.8 crore from Rs 11,261.8 crore. The company’s EBITDA also jumped by 3.22% to Rs 10,212.9 crore, compared to Rs 9,893.5 crore, accompanied by a margin improvement of 57 basis points at 88.42%, up from 87.85%. The net profit witnessed a growth of 10.5%, reaching Rs 4,028.3 crore, as opposed to Rs 3,645.3 crore in the corresponding period last year.

Courtesy: NSE

Power Grid Corp, SBI, BPCL, Hindalco, and TCS were the top gainers in the Nifty 50 today. While Britannia, Tata Consumer Products, Axis Bank, ICICI Bank, and Nestle India were trading low compared to its peers in the Nifty 50.

“The RBI has kept monetary policy unchanged, as broadly expected, with no change in interest rates or policy stance (Both with 5-1 voting.) Further, the Governor again emphasized the importance of achieving a 4% inflation target. The Bank forecasts real GDP growth at 7% in FY25, with inflation at 4.5% vs. 7% and 5.4%, respectively in FY24. (FY25 growth forecast has been revised up, keeping inflation broadly unchanged. Overall, there were no major announcements, hinting at an imminent easing. The RBI has been managing daily liquidity with overnight infusion, as and when required. We don’t see easy monetary policy anytime soon, especially with such strong growth,” said Nikhil Gupta, Chief Economist, MOFSL Group.

In their latest analysis, Jefferies, delved into the performance of midcap stocks in India for the third quarter of the fiscal year 2023-24 (Q3FY24). The report unveils a robust earnings growth trajectory, particularly evident when excluding UPL, with a notable momentum of +30% YoY across their coverage.

Key contributors to this impressive growth include Dixon, Kajaria Ceramics, Pidilite, and V-gaurd. Notably, the Pipes sector exhibited the highest margin rise, averaging +220bps YoY, primarily attributed to the stabilization of PVC prices YoY, particularly in FNXP and SI.

Also Read: Jefferies Report Highlights Strong Earnings Growth and Sector Trends in India's Midcap Stocks after Q3FY24

The governance from NBFCs improving while financial system is resilient, says RBI Governor Das

The Bank Nifty index gains 183.65 points to trade above 46,000 after RBI keeps the repo rate unchanged for the sixth consecutive time.

RBI keeps Real GDP growth for FY2024-25 is projected at 7.0 percent (unchanged) and Inflation for FY2024-25 is projected at 4.7 percent (versus 5.2 percent)

RBI Governor MPC to carefully monitor any signs of generalisation of food inflation. Global growth is expected to remain steady in 2024. Financial markets are volatile as participants adjust expectations

India’s State, Central Government debt to moderate in years ahead, says RBI governor Das

Major banking stocks such as HDFC Bank, SBI, Axis Bank and IndusInd Bank have jumped in intra-day trade on Thursday as RBI keeps the repo rate unchanged to 6.5%. Within the Sensex pack, PSB major State Bank of India gained the most at 1.4%, followed by IndusInd Bank and HDFC Bank.

RBI keeps the repo rate unchanged at 6.5 % for the 6th time in a row

Mankind Pharma promoters will divest a 1.62% stake in the company to meet with minimum public shareholding requirement norms, the company said in an exchange filing. 

The company’s promoters Sheetal Arora, Arjun Juneja, and Puja Juneja will divest their stakes. Sheetal Arora will be divesting 0.45%, 0.60% by Puneet Juneja, and 0.57% by Arjun Juneja of the total paid-up capital of the company aggregating to nearly 6.5 million shares.

Also Read: Mankind Pharma promoters to divest stake to comply with MPS norms; read to know more

The shares of Lupin gains more than 3% to Rs 1,648 in the intra-day trade on Thursday as company reported its Q3 earnings.

In Q3 FY24, Lupin reported a strong financial performance with 20.24% YoY increase in consolidated revenue, reaching Rs 5,197.41 crore from Rs 4,322 crore. The company’s EBITDA surged by 94.85% to Rs 1,037.94 crore compared to Rs 532.67 crore, margin improved by 764 basis points at 19.97%, as opposed to 12.32%. Lupin’s net profit witnessed an impressive surge of 299.5%, totaling Rs 613.12 crore in contrast to Rs 153.47 crore in the corresponding period last year.

Commenting on the Technical outlook of Nifty, Rupak De, Senior Technical Analyst, LKP Securities, said Bears exerted downward pressure on the Nifty after an initially positive start. Sentiment remained somewhat weak as the market closed. Support is positioned at 21,850, and a breach below this level could potentially initiate a correction towards 21,700. On the upside, resistance is identified at 22,000. 

“The Bank Nifty index is currently witnessing an intense battle between bulls and bears, and a decisive move is anticipated soon. The lower-end support is situated in the 45600-45500 zone, and a conclusive break below this on a closing basis is expected to trigger a sharp correction. Conversely, a break above the higher-end resistance at 46200 could lead to substantial short-covering moves, propelling the index towards the 46500 level,” said Kunal Shah, Senior Technical & Derivative Analyst at LKP Securities.

The NSE Nifty 50 opens higher by 0.36% to settle at 22,009.65, while the BSE Sensex gains 0.45% to 72,473.42 in the opening trade.

Foreign institutional investors (FII) offloaded shares worth net Rs 1,691 crore, while domestic institutional investors (DII) bought shares worth net Rs 327.7 crore on February 7, 2023, according to the provisional data available on the NSE.

Shares in the Asia-Pacific region are trading Thursday’s session in mixed territory. The Asia Dow is trading up by 0.85%, where as the Japan’s Nikkei 225 is trading in green, up by 0.87%, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index is trading lower by 0.34% and the benchmark Chinese index Shanghai Composite is gained by 1.44% to end Wednesday’s trading session.

WTI crude prices are trading at $73.99 up by 0.18%, while Brent crude prices are trading at $79.31 up by 0.07%, on Thursday morning.