The stock price of Bayer CropScience (BCSL) surged 4.54% to Rs 5,128 after the company posted a 375 increase in its net profit to Rs 222.9 crore for the second quarter of this fiscal on higher revenue. Its net profit stood at Rs 162.6 crore in the year-ago period. Total income rose to Rs 1,633.3 crore during the July-September period of 2023-24 fiscal year from Rs 1,465.7 crore in the corresponding period of the previous year, reported PTI.

“The domestic currency, Asia’s second best performer this year, continues to be range-bound as risk appetite remains strong on the US Federal Reserve standing pat on interest rates. The Bank of England followed the suit yesterday; however, its forecasts for next year show zero growth as against 0.50% growth estimated earlier and higher unemployment. India’s S&P services PMI data released today came in at 58.40 Vs the forecast of 60.50. Today’s US data docket includes crucial nonfarm payroll report (October) and ISM services (October). The Indian Central Bank continues to defend the domestic currency from weakening beyond Ra 83.29, the weakest closing level ever. The USDINR pair may trade between Rs 82.80 and Rs 83.50 with a slight positive bias in the near-term as the Middle East war is largely contained, US yields are subdued and risk appetite is healthy, though today’s US data will be crucial for the pair,” said Praveen Singh – Associate VP, Fundamental Currencies and Commodities, Sharekhan by BNP Paribas.

The stock price of Raymond soared nearly 5% to Rs 1903.95 after the company announced the acquisition of 59.25% stake in Maini Precision Products (MPPL) for Rs 682 crore funded by a mix of debt and internal accruals. “This acquisition is a strategic move to further strengthen Raymond’s existing engineering business with a complementing business that has presence in the sunrise sectors of Aerospace, Electric Vehicles (EV) and Defense,” the company said in a statement. The transaction, it added, will be subject to requisite regulatory approvals and is expected to be completed during the current fiscal.

(Source: NSE)

Tata Motors, Zomato, HDFC Bank, Vodafone Idea and Reliance Industries are among the most active stocks on the NSE.

Tata Motors’ stock price soared 4.64% to Rs 666 a day after the Mumbai-headquartered automotive major announced the company aims to deliver a stronger performance in H2, due to a healthy order book at JLR, strong demand for heavy trucks in CV and exciting new generation products in PV. The financial performance is expected to further improve owing to a richer mix, continued low-break-even in JLR, execution of demand-pull strategy in CV and improving profitability in PV/EV.

The stock price of Zomato climbed 4.83% to Rs 112.75 during intraday trading on Friday. The northward trend came ahead of the company’s results for the second quarter of FY24, which are to be released today.

Global investment bank and asset manager chiefs are reuniting in Hong Kong next week amid geopolitical tensions and China’s economic slowdown, seeking to redefine their position in the world’s second-largest economy and its offshore financial hub, reported Reuters. The Global Financial Leaders Investment Summit, a flagship event hosted by the Hong Kong Monetary Authority, begins on Monday with participants including Goldman Sachs (GS.N) Chief Executive David Solomon, Morgan Stanley (MS.N) boss James Gorman, Citigroup’s (C.N) Jane Fraser, as well as HSBC’s (HSBA.L) Noel Quinn and Standard Chartered’s (STAN.L) Bill Winters.

The Nifty Realty index surged by 1.84% during intra-day trade on Friday. Prestige Estates and Brigade Enterprises led the gains and added 4.54% and 4.11%, respectively, while Godrej Properties, Sobha, and DLF rallied over 2% each.

(Source: NSE)

The Nifty Media index surged by 1.38% during the intra-day on Friday. Network 18 led the gains and added nearly 7%, while TV18 Broadcast, Sun TV, and Dish TV India advanced by over 2% each.

ESAF Small Finance Bank IPO  opened for public subscription today and will close on Tuesday, November 7, 2023. The bidding for anchor investors concluded on Thursday, wherein the Bank collected Rs 135.15 crore. The price band for its public issue at Rs 57-60 per equity share of face value Rs 10 each. At the upper end of the price band, the company’s promoters and shareholders seek to raise Rs 463 crore from the IPO. Ahead of the public issue, ESAF Small Finance Bank shares’ grey market premium (GMP) rose 36.67%, over the upper end of the share price on offer.

Apollo Hospitals leads the NSE Nifty 50, surging 4.16% in early Friday trading. Top gainers also include Tata Motors, Adani Ports, Tech Mahindra, and Adani Enterprises.

“Nifty weekly contract has highest open interest at 19,150 for Calls and 19,100 for Puts while monthly contracts have highest open interest at 20,000 for Calls and 19,000 for Puts. Highest new OI addition was seen at 19,150 for Calls and 19,100 for Puts in weekly and at 19,800 for Calls and 19,100 for Puts in monthly contracts. FIIs increased their future index long position holdings by 17.48%, increased future index shorts by 9.95% .Decreased in index options by 22.86% in Call longs, 19.83% decrease in Call short, 13.47% decrease in Put longs and 18.83% decrease in Put shorts,” said Anand James, Chief Market Strategist at Geojit Financial Services.

The benchmark equity indices opened in the positive territory on Friday. The NSE Nifty 50 opened at 19,241 up 0.56%, while the BSE Sensex opened at 64,444.90 up 364 points.

Zomato, Indigo Paints, Titan Company, Aditya Birla Capital, Bharat Dynamics, Escorts Kubota, UCO Bank, MRF, InterGlobe Aviation, Godfrey Phillips India and JSW Infrastructure are scheduled to report their earnings for the second quarter of FY24 today.

Adani Enterprises, Tata Motors, Adani Power, Vedanta, Lupin, IRFC and Container Corporation of India are among the top stocks to watch during Friday’s trading session.

“Market history tells us that sharp up moves in the market happen at unexpected times. It appears that this truism is turning out to be true. The Fed decision to hold rates and refrain from making hawkish indications has emboldened the bulls to make a strong comeback in the mother market US with S&P rising 1.9% yesterday. Good earnings numbers and expectations that the interest rate will remain stable for now and will decline in H2 of CY2024 have facilitated market recovery. The positive global sentiments can embolden the bulls in India to stage a comeback. Since FIIs are short in the market, short covering is a possibility. Investors should remember that the buy on dips strategy has worked in this market. It is likely to work again. High quality large-caps in financials, automobiles and capital goods are on strong wicket. Mid-cap IT is doing well,” said V K Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist at Geojit Financial Services.

“The USDINR 28 November futures contract traded in a tight range. As per the daily technical chart, we observed that the pair is trading above its moving average trend-line support level of 83.18 and RSI is fetching above 50 levels. Looking at the technical set-up, MACD is showing positive divergence but the pair is facing steep resistance above 83.30 levels. As per the daily technical chart the pair is having support at 83.18-83.05 while resistance is placed at 83.45-83.66. If the pair sustains above 83.30 levels it could show further strength towards 83.50-83.66 while support is placed at 83.18-83.05. We expect the pair to trade in the range of 83.05-83.55 in today’s session,” said Rahul Kalantri, VP Commodities, Mehta Equities.

“Bank Nifty’s daily chart reveals an indecisive doji candle formation, signaling uncertainty in the Index. The index failed to close above its critical 200-day Simple Moving Average (SMA) at 43,200, implying strong resistance at this level. To consider a long position in Bank Nifty, it’s advisable to wait for a sustained breakthrough above the 200-day SMA, which could indicate a potential upward trend,” said Kunal Shah, Senior Technical & Derivative analyst at LKP Securities.

“Strong global equity market cues are likely to see key local benchmark indices start on a firm note, but Gift Nifty index giving away all its early gains could fuel volatility. The trading theme revolves around the Fed Chairman Jerome Powell’s dovish comments on which the street is now betting that the Fed, which has raised rates 11 times over the past two years to the highest levels in more than two decades, is unlikely to agree on another increase. Also, falling crude oil prices and the US treasury yields plunging for a third consecutive day would boost the sentiment,” said Prashanth Tapse, Senior VP (Research), Mehta Equities.

Foreign institutional investors (FII) offloaded shares worth net Rs 1,261.19 crore, while domestic institutional investors (DII) added shares worth net Rs 1,380.15 crore on November 2, 2023, according to the provisional data available on the NSE.

WTI crude prices are trading at $82.48 up 0.02%, while Brent crude prices are trading at $86.79 down 0.06%, on Friday morning.

Wall Street’s three main stock indices rallied nearly 2% on Thursday on hopes that the US Federal Reserve has reached the end of its interest rate hiking campaign and a batch of upbeat quarterly financial updates added to the bullish mood, reported Reuters.

The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite soared 232.72 points or 1.78% at 13,294.19. The S&P 500 climbed 79.92 points or 1.89% at 4,317.78, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average surged 564.5 points or 1.7% to 33,839.08.