The Nikkei fell 0.3% before recovering, while the Hang Seng rose 2.6%.
In US stock markets, Wall Street indexes snapped a four-session winning streak on Thursday, with all three benchmarks lower after fearful forecasts from Facebook-owned meta platforms, its stocks tumbled and others on big tech-buoyed earnings. Bunny stopped a newborn recovery. ,
Meta share sank 26.4%, wiping nearly US$200 billion off its market value, according to Reuters calculations, as it blamed changes to Apple’s privacy and increased competition from rivals such as TikTok for its dismal outlook. ordained.
The fall in market cap was the biggest ever recorded by a US company in a single session, when Apple Inc posted a fall of US$180 billion on 3 September 2020.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 518 points, or 1.5%, while the S&P 500 fell 112 points, or 2.4%. The Nasdaq Composite dropped 539 points, or 3.7%.
Back home, Indian stock markets are trading on a flat note. Benchmark indices opened on a sluggish start in line with weak global cues.
Market participants are tracking the stocks of Tata Steel, Shree Cements, Siemens, Paytm and Devyani International as these companies announce their December quarter results today.
BSE Sensex is trading with a fall of 129 points. Meanwhile, NSE Nifty is trading with a fall of 21 points.
Tata Steel and UltraTech Cement are among the top gainers today. On the other hand, ITC is the biggest loser today.
BSE Mid Cap Index is up 0.2% while BSE Small Cap Index is trading up 0.5%.
Sectoral indices are seeing selling pressure in mixed trade with realty sector and FMCG sector stocks.
On the other hand metal stocks and banking stocks are trading in the green.
Shares of Deepak Fertilizers and TV18 Broadcast hit a 52-week high today.
Rupee is trading at 74.70 against US Dollar.
Gold prices are trading up by 0.1% 47,937 per 10 grams.
Meanwhile, silver prices are trading higher by 0.4%. 60,984 per kg.
Gold is stable today and is set for weekly gains as a weaker dollar, concerns over stubborn inflation and tensions around Ukraine lifted demand for safe-haven bullion.
Crude oil prices climbed, following sharp gains in the previous session, turning cold in large areas of the US, threatening to disrupt oil supplies.
ITC is one of the top buzzing stocks in the news of FMCG sector today.
FMCG major ITC reports standalone net profit on Thursday 41.6 billion for the December 2021 quarter, up 12.7% against profit 36.9 billion in the same quarter last year.
The profit figures came in above estimates.
Revenue from the sale of products 166.3 billion, up 31.3% 126.7 billion in the same quarter last year.
Strong demand for ITC was seen in the cigarette business, Quantity for which the pre-covid level is reached. It saw strong FMCG sales and growth in the hotel business as mobility and occupancy increased.
The company’s cigarettes came in revenue 62.4 billion for the quarter, an increase of 13.6% compared to the year-ago period.
Meanwhile, revenue from other FMCG businesses remained low 40.9 billion, up 9.3%. Its hotel business has also grown significantly.
ITC said that it is spending a substantial amount on brand building for the non-cigarette FMCG vertical. For the quarter, it spent 22.7 billion towards this spending, up 26.4% from the same quarter last year.
The impact of high raw material inflation was partially negated by implementing strategic cost efficiency initiatives, price increases, favorable business mix and financial incentives to employees.
The company also declared interim dividend 5.25 per share. The company has set February 15 as the record date and the dividend will be credited by March 4.
The share price of ITC is currently trading with a decline of 0.8%. It opened the day 2% higher.
Note that ITC shares have woken up to underperformance due to no change in the tax burden on cigarettes and have risen nearly 7% since the budget announcement.
Take a look at the chart below which shows the performance of the company over the past one year.
see full image
Moving on from the much-awaited news from the insurance sector Initial Public Offering (IPO)State-owned insurance giant Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) has tied up with insurance aggregator PolicyBazaar.com for distribution of its products.
This is LIC’s first association with an insurance aggregator, and otherwise relies on a large agency force of 1.33 million agents to distribute its products.
Policybazaar said in a statement that they have joined hands with LIC to offer a wide range of term and investment products to the consumers.
PolicyBazaar, PB Fintech’s flagship platform, is the country’s largest online insurance marketplace that distributes products from 51 insurance companies, which include life, general and standalone health insurance companies.
LIC’s individual agents accounted for about 97% of their new business premium (NBP) on a standalone basis from its products in the first six months of FY 2022.
Further, in FY 2021, these individual agents of LIC had derived 94% of their NBP from individual products. In FY20 this number was 95%.
In other news, the embedded price of LIC has been finalized at more than Rs. According to sources 5 tonnes.
Reports also said that LIC is likely to sell its entire stake to IDBI Bank in 2022-23.
Note that market participants are eagerly waiting for the government to pinpoint the embedded value of LIC – a measure of future cash flows in life insurance companies and the key financial gauge for insurers – when it releases the IPO draft prospectus next week.
While there has been speculation about the number – from as low as $53 billion to $150 billion, this is the first time the government, which owns 100% of LIC, is commenting on it.
We will keep you informed about the latest developments in this field. stay tuned.
(This article is syndicated from) Equitymaster.com,
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