The stock price of Hindalco Industries dropped 0.65% to Rs 481.30 after the company posted second-quarter profit for FY24 at Rs 2,196 crore, down 0.4% in comparison to Rs 2,205 crore during the corresponding quarter of FY23. It posted revenue from operations at Rs 54,169 crore, down 3.6% as against Rs 56,176 crore during the second quarter of FY23.

The Nifty Media index fell 1.80% during intra-day trade on Friday. Zee Entertainment led the losses and tanked 5.73%, while Sun TV and Saregama India each fell over 1%.

The Industrial and Commercial Bank of China’s (ICBC) US arm was hit by a ransomware attack that disrupted trades in the US Treasury market on Thursday, the latest in a string of victims ransom-demanding hackers have claimed this year, reported Reuters. ICBC Financial Services, the US unit of China’s largest commercial lender by assets, said it was investigating the attack that disrupted some of its systems, and making progress toward recovering from it.

“Indian equities are expected to outperform most other global markets in the face of continued geopolitical uncertainties and relatively higher domestic economic growth. The major themes will be domestic consumption and premiumisation, enabling companies to post strong earnings growth aided by margin accretion. Infra and construction plays are expected to do well as the government’s thrust on infrastructure development is seen to continue, while higher budgetary allocation in rural-focus schemes can help drive a recovery in rural consumption, especially with the upcoming budget being the last one before the general elections. In spite of rich valuations in the small- and mid-cap segments, companies with fundamentally strong businesses and good earnings growth continue to justify their valuation. If US bond yields start coming down by the second half of CY2024, FPIs will come back to the party. Upcoming state and general elections can make the market move sideways. Inflation, interest rate trajectory, and geopolitical tensions will remain the key risks,” said Sunil shah, director at Kambatta Securities.

The stock price of Healthcare Global Enterprises rose 3.30% to Rs 385.40 after the company posted second quarter earnings for the FY24 with profit at Rs 13.57 crore, up 78.3% in comparison to Rs 7.61 crore during the same period last year.

The Indian rupee dropped to a record low against the US dollar on Friday on the back of weakness in Asian peers, prompted by the rise in US yields, reported Reuters. The rupee dropped to a lifetime low of 83.3050 to the dollar, down from 83.2800 in the previous session. The previous lifetime low was 83.2950.

TCS has been selected by The Multi Commodity Exchange India (MCX), India’s largest commodity exchange, as the technology solution provider for its growth and transformation journey. As part of Project Udaan, TCS will help MCX build a new technology core, transforming its trading as well as post-trade functions, to support its future growth and further strengthen its leadership position in the commodity derivatives market in India, said the company in a press release.

“Increasing trading volumes, longer trading hours, new asset classes, and higher retail participation are driving forward thinking exchanges and market infrastructure institutions to accelerate their transformation. A large growing economy like India has immense future potential in Commodity markets. We are delighted to partner with MCX in building a future-proof platform to enable this growth. Our strong presence across the Indian markets, unique market know-how, intellectual property, and ability to put together a world class solution will help us play a pivotal role in helping MCX drive its transformation,” said R Vivekanand, Co-Head, TCS Financial Solutions.

ONGC, NTPC, Adani Ports, JSW Steel and HDFC Life Insurance are the top gainers on Nifty 50 during the intra-day trade on Friday.

“The Indian stock market began Friday on a downward trajectory, impacted by negative global signals. Both the Sensex and Nifty saw losses, with a decline of 100 and 30 points, respectively. Almost all sectors opened broadly in red. At present, the Nifty is trading well below the critical 19,500 level, which acts as a strong resistance point. The highest Open Interest (OI) is concentrated at this level, while support is noticeable at 19,300 and 19,250. Talking about Bank Nifty, it’s currently moving in the range of 43,550-43,900, signaling a possible sideways trend. Despite the market fluctuations, the Indian economy remains robust, suggesting a probable timely correction. Let’s wait and see how global issues play out,” said Shrey Jain, Founder and CEO SAS Online.

(Source: NSE)

The share price of Suven Pharma soared 2.65% to Rs 571.35 after the company reported Q2FY24 profit at Rs 79.56 crore, up 10.4% in comparison to Rs 72.06 crore during the same period last year. It posted revenue from operations at Rs 231.05 crore, down 17% as against Rs 278.40 crore during the second quarter of FY23.

“Many festivals in India are considered auspicious to buy Gold, and Dhanteras is among the favourites. In India, people invest in Gold for long-term gains. That is why Indian households have the highest reserves of Gold, roughly 21000 tonnes. Gold is very close to Indian’s hearts and is a more sentimental investment than a speculative one. Since Dhanteras last year, Gold has given a mind-boggling return of almost 20 per cent, easily beating the returns of the Nifty 50. Gold was lingering due to the strong dollar index and the hawkish stance of the Fed at the end of September. It trapped all the bears as war broke out between Israel and Hamas. This geopolitical tension in the Middle East boosted Gold prices as it gained almost 10 per cent from the recent swing lows and made a multi-month high of 61500 level as investors flocked towards Gold due to its safe-haven appeal. With the US election around the corner in 2024 and the geopolitical situation worldwide, the sky-high interest will not sustain for a long period. The Fed will eventually start cutting the rates, supporting Gold prices. Any dips around 57000-58000 can be used as a buying opportunity for investors during this Diwali season,” said Deveya Gaglani, Research Analyst – Commodities, Axis Securities.

Reliance Industries, CDSL, PFC, HAL and Zomato are the most active stocks on the NSE during the early trade on Friday.

Adani Ports, Adani Enterprises, ONGC, HDFC Life Insurance and Apollo Hospitals are the top gainers on the NSE Nifty 50 during the early trade on Friday.

“Nifty weekly contract has highest open interest at 19,400 for Calls and 19,400 for Puts while monthly contracts have highest open interest at 19,500 for Calls and 19,000 for Puts. Highest new OI addition was seen at 19,400 for Calls and 19,400 for Puts in weekly and at 19,500 for Calls and 19,400 for Puts in monthly contracts. FIIs decreased their future index long position holdings by 0.76%, increased future index shorts by 0.03% and decreased in index options by 16.30% in Call longs, 7.47% in Call short, 22.10% in Put longs and 17.21% in Put shorts,” said Anand James, Chief Market Strategist at Geojit Financial Services.

The NSE Nifty 50 opened at 19,351.85 down 0.22%, while the BSE Sensex opened at 64,756.11 down 76.09 points.

“The gold and silver market is maintaining modest gains as Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell continues to express a tightening bias. Powell states that while inflation has decreased, the central bank remains uncertain about having it fully under control. The Indian festival season has begun today, with buyers stepping in to take advantage of the price dip following recent technical selling pressure. The key external market factors have generally been supportive for gold and silver today. US Treasury bond yields, which had dropped last week, have now halted their decline and are rising, but this has not significantly impacted gold prices. We anticipate that gold and silver prices will remain volatile in today’s session. Gold has a support level at $1945-1932, with resistance at $1972-1985. For silver, the support is at $22.45-22.20, and resistance is at $22.90-23.15. In terms of Indian Rupees (INR), gold finds support at Rs 60,040-59,870, with resistance at Rs 60,550 and Rs 60,730. Silver, in INR, has support at Rs 70,420-69,750, while resistance can be found at Rs 71,950 and Rs 72,630,” said Rahul Kalantri, VP Commodities, Mehta Equities.

“The 8-day winning streak in S&P 500 was halted by a slightly hawkish statement from the Fed chief Jerome Powell that “the Fed will not hesitate to tighten policy if needed.” The lingering concern that ‘the rates may remain higher for longer’ will continue as a headwind for stock markets for some time, but is unlikely to drag it down meaningfully. The Indian market texture indicates that the ‘buy on dips’ strategy will continue to work. In Samvat 2080, Financials are likely to do well supported by attractive valuations and impressive growth. Sustained FII selling in financials, which is impacting the sector, will be only temporary. For investors with a 2-year time horizon, the leading private banks and 3 or 4 PSU banks are good buys with good return potential. The mid and small-cap rally is partly driven by retail exuberance and since the valuations in this broader market is high, investors have to exercise some caution,” said V K Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist at Geojit Financial Services.

Foreign institutional investors (FII) offloaded shares worth net Rs 1,712.33 crore, while domestic institutional investors (DII) added shares worth net Rs 1,512.14 crore on November 9, 2023, according to the provisional data available on the NSE.

WTI crude prices are trading at $75.70 down 0.09%, while Brent crude prices are trading at $80.04 up 0.04%, on Friday morning. 

The US Dollar Index (DXY), which measures the value of the dollar against a basket of six foreign currencies, traded down 0.05% at 105.86.

US stocks closed lower on Thursday, snapping the longest winning streaks for the Nasdaq and S&P 500 in two years, as Treasury yields climbed after a disappointing auction of 30-year bonds and comments from Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, reported Reuters. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite fell 128.97 points or 0.94 % to 13,521.45. The S&P 500 tumbled 35.43 points or 0.81 % to 4,347.35, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 220.33 points or 0.65% to 33,891.94.