Indian equity indices on Thursday closed the day on a negative note for the third consecutive session, owing to a gloomy global mood and heightened worries about interest rate hikes by the US Federal Reserve.

The Nifty50 has formed a long bear candle on the daily chart with a lower shadow — a third of its kind back-to-back, signalling chances of buying emerging from support at 17,650, according to Nagaraj Shetti, Technical Research Analyst at HDFC Securities.

The index is now placed at the support zone of 17,650-17,700, he said.

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Indian Indices

Sensex fell 634.20 points or 1.06% to 59,464.62 and Nifty was down by 181.40 points or 1.01% to 17,757.00 in the previous session. Sensex touched high and low of 60,045.48 and 59,068.31, respectively and there were 7 stocks advancing against 23 stocks declining on the index while Nifty traded in a range of 17,943.70 and 17,648.45 and there were 15 stocks advancing against 35 stocks declining on the index.

Broader Indices

The broader indices ended mixed with the BSE Midcap index fell 0.07%, while the Small cap index was up by 0.05%. The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Power up by 1.30%, Utilities up by 1.16%, Metal up by 0.41%, Basic Materials up by 0.33% and Realty up by 0.26%, while IT down by 1.69%, TECK down by 1.45%, Energy down by 1.34%, Healthcare down by 1.11% and FMCG down by 1.00% were the top losing indices on BSE.

Support and Resistance levels

Key support levels for the Nifty are placed at 17,622.37, followed by 17,487.73. If the index moves up, the key resistance levels to watch out for are 17,917.67 and 18,078.33, according to pivot charts.

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SGX Nifty

The trends on SGX Nifty indicate a negative opening for the index in India with a 160-points loss. The Nifty futures were trading at 17,656.20 on the Singaporean Exchange around 06:40 hours IST.

Asian Markets

Asian markets finished mixed. The Hang Seng gained 3.27% and the Nikkei 225 rose 1.11%. The Shanghai Composite lost 0.09%.

US Markets

The S&P 500 fell 50.03 points, or 1.1%, to 4,482.73.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 313.26 points, or 0.9%, to 34,715.39.

The Nasdaq fell 186.23 points, or 1.3%, to 14,154.02.

The Russell 2000 index of smaller companies fell 38.75 points, or 1.9%, to 2,024.04.

European Markets

European markets finished mixed. The DAX gained 0.55% and the CAC 40 rose 0.25%. The FTSE 100 lost 0.16%.

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Asian Paints’ third-quarter profit fell 18% year on year to Rs 1,016 crore

Among the major highlights of Asian Paints Ltd’s performance in the third quarter of the fiscal year, 2021-22 were a 70% quarter-on-quarter increase in net profit and a 26% year-on-year increase in revenue. Profit after tax (PAT) increased to Rs 1,016 crore, which, while higher than the Rs 596 crore recorded in Q2 FY22, was 18% lower than the Rs 1,238 crore reported in Q3 FY21. Consolidated revenue grew to Rs 8,527 crore for the quarter ended December 2021, up from Rs 7,096 crore in the September quarter and Rs 7,096 crore in Q3 FY21. The margin of profit before deduction of income tax (PBDIT) was recorded at 19.6% in Q3. This marked a sequential growth as PBDIT in Q2 and Q1 of this fiscal came in at 14.2 and 18.4%, respectively.

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Vedanta will establish a $10 billion fund to bid for a stake in BPCL and other assets

Vedanta Resources Ltd’s chairman told Reuters on Thursday that the company intends to establish a $10 billion fund to bid on assets such as the Indian government’s investment in Bharat Petroleum Corp Ltd (BPCL). The Indian government is attempting to privatize state-run refiner BPCL by selling a near 53% share in the company to private groups for just over $6 billion. “We are in the process of creating a fund of $10 billion,” Anil Agarwal said in an interview in Dubai. “It will not only look at (BPCL) but there are other companies being privatised. It will look at the potential of those companies also.” The fund will be made up of its own resources and outside investment, Agarwal said, adding that it may also finance the BPCL acquisition through debt. London-headquartered Vedanta Resources, founded by Agarwal in 2003, has grown its annual revenues from $1 million to over $15 billion in the past decade.

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JM Financial PE leads Rs 100 crore in BigHaat Agro

BigHaat Agro has secured Rs 100 crore in a fundraising round headed by JM Financial Private Equity. In addition to JM Financial Private Equity, Beyond Next Ventures, one of BigHaat’s early investors, participated in the funding round. The investment proceeds will be used to supplement the current technical infrastructure and expedite the growth of the BigHaat’s activities, according to a statement issued by JM Financial Private Equity on Thursday. JM Financial India Fund II has completed its ninth investment. Sateesh Nukala, Sachin Nandwana, and Kiran Vunnam are first-generation entrepreneurs who launched BigHaat. “We are extremely bullish on the fundamental shift that we are witnessing in the Indian agriculture sector driven by the increased internet and smartphone usage in rural India,” Darius Pandole, Managing Director & CEO of PE & Equity AIFs at JM Financial, said.

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HUL Q3 results | Net profit up 16.8% year on year to Rs 2,243 crore

Hindustan Unilever, India’s largest fast-moving consumer goods company, on January 20 reported a 16.8% year-on-year rise in net profit to Rs 2,243 crore for the quarter ended December, which was in line with analysts’ expectations of Rs 2,242.7 crore. The soap-to-shampoo maker saw its revenue from operations grow 10.4% on-year to Rs 13,092 crore for the reported quarter, which was slightly above Street’s estimate of Rs 12,995 crore. The company’s underlying volume growth in the quarter stood at 2% as against analysts’ estimate of 2.3%. “Growth in the quarter was competitive and profitable with Domestic Consumer Growth of 11%,” HUL said in a filing to the bourses. The sequential slowdown in volume growth of the company was on account of slack in the rural market, which is witnessing weakness in demand over the past few months.

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RBI relaxes factoring regulation rules to allow more enterprises to engage in the business

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on January 20 said all existing non-deposit-taking NBFC-Investment and Credit Companies (NBFC-ICCs) with asset size of Rs 1,000 crore and above will be permitted to undertake factoring business subject to satisfaction of certain conditions. Factoring is a transaction in which an entity can sell its receivables to another entity to fulfil immediate working capital or cash flow requirements. The new rules, which is effectively an easing of the existing regulations, will increase the number of NBFCs eligible to undertake factoring business significantly from 7 to 182, the RBI said. Also, other NBFC-ICCs can also undertake factoring business by registering as NBFC-Factor, the RBI said. Eligible companies can apply to the Reserve Bank for seeking registration under the Act.

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Bulk Deal data

Rakesh Jhunjhunwala has bought 35,00,000 equity shares in Indiabulls Housing Finance company during Thursday’s session through the open market transaction from RARE Enterprises at Rs 219 per share on the NSE, the bulk deals data showed.

BNP Enterprises has sold 2,40,021 equity shares in Lasa Supergenerics Ltd at Rs 74.92 per share.

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Ramesh Bhandappa Munnoli bought 60,000 equity shares in Debock Industries Limited at Rs 121.14 per share on the NSE.

Emerging India Growth Fund has sold 80,000 equity shares in MITCON Con & Eng Ser Ltd at Rs 75.4 per share on the NSE.

DII and FII data

Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) sold shares worth a net Rs 4,679.84 crore, while domestic institutional investors (DIIs) bought shares worth a net Rs 769.26 crore in the Indian equity market on January 20, as per provisional data available on the NSE.

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NSE F&O Ban

BHEL, Escorts, Granules India, Indiabulls Housing Finance, and Vodafone Idea are under the F&O ban for January 21. Securities in the ban period under the F&O segment include companies in which the security has crossed 95% of the market-wide position limit.

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