Stock Market Live: Nifty, Sensex Near Day's Lows As HDFC Bank, RIL Drag

Hong Kong's Hang Seng led the gains in Asian Indices other than India's ahead of the release of US payrolls data due later in the day. It closed 2.82% higher at 22,736.87 points. Intraday, the index hit a high of 22,742.36 points, its highest level since March 1, 2022.

Japan's Nikkei closed 0.2% higher at 38,635.62 points and South Korea's Kospi closed 0.3% higher at 2569.71 points. Taiwan's Taiex was the only index that closed lower by 0.6% at 22255.55 points.

HSBC in a report said that it has has initiated coverage on Bajaj Housing Finance with a 'Reduce' rating and a target price of Rs 110, implying a downside of 27%. It said that the market is valuing company for strong growth, which will likely moderate and several pressures on RoA are expected to materialise. The brokerage expects margins to likely compress, and credit costs to normalise. It expects EPS growth of 17% over FY24-27 compared to 41% over FY21-24.

The December futures contract of the brent crude rose more Friday to hit $78.27 a barrel, its highest level since August 30 as investors assessed the situation in Middle East and the potential disruption in crude flows against an global market. At 1:12 p.m., the contract was up 0.7% to $78.20 a barrel.

Wonderla Holidays' board has approved raising up to Rs 800 crore via issuance of equity shares. Board has also approved increase of authorized capital & amendment of memorandum of association and article of association, according to an exchange filing.

Dublin has replaced Mauritius and is looking to replace Luxembourg as the gateway for foreign investors looking to invest in India. Ireland is now the fourth largest country with Asset Under Custody just tailing its European peer Luxembourg for investments into India.

Read more here.

Garden Reach Shipbuilders shares rose after it received order worth Rs 226 crore from West Bengal government to design, build, operate and maintain hybrid electric ferries, according to exchange filing.

Shares of Diffusion Engineers Ltd hit its 5% upper circuit limit after a debut of 15% premium over its issue price on the NSE and 11.9% premium over its issue price on BSE.

Crude oil prices have risen 8% since Monday to around $77 per barrel due to escalating tensions between Iran and Israel. The increase followed Iran's missile attack on Israel, following which, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed "significant retaliation within days".

Despite previous reassurances from traders, such an attack could have serious implications for global oil supply.

Click here to find out why.

The NSE Nifty 50 and BSE Sensex erased loss to trade higher through midday as Infosys Ltd. and Axis Bank Ltd.'s share prices rose. As of 11:37 a.m., the Nifty 50 was 70.95 points, or 0.28% higher at 25,321.05, and S&P BSE Sensex was up 290.55 points, or 0.35% at 82,787.66.

If the benchmarks hold their midday gains, the Nifty 50 and Sensex are likely to snap the four-day decline at close. Earlier in the day, the Nifty 50 declined 0.65% to 25,094.55, and Sensex fell 0.54% to 82,051.86.

The weak sentiment will continue as long as the market trades below 25,500/83,200, said Shrikant Chouhan, head of equity, Kotak Securities Ltd. On the downside, it could slip to 25,150-25,025/82,200-82,000 or even the 50-day simple moving average. On the other hand, resistance levels have shifted to 25,500 and 25,600 levels from 25,800 levels, he said.

Shares of Infosys Ltd., Axis Bank Ltd., Tata Consultancy Services Ltd., Oil and Natural Gas Corp., and State Bank of India positively contributed to changes in the Nifty.

While those of Bajaj Finance Ltd., Bharti Airtel Ltd., Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd., ICICI Bank Ltd., and Nestle India Ltd. limited gains.

On NSE, seven sectors out of 12 advanced, four declined, and one remained flat. The NSE IT was the top gainer, while the NSE Nifty Realty was the worst performer.

Broader markets underperformed benchmark indices. The BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices were 0.07% and 0.24% higher, respectively.

On BSE, 14 out of 20 sectors advanced, and six declined. The BSE IT rose the most, while the BSE Realty declined the most.

Market breadth was skewed in the favour of buyers. Around 2,094 stocks rose, 1,637 stocks declined, and 161 stocks remained unchanged on BSE.

The Nifty Realty index fell for a fifth consecutive session today, logging a fall of around 8% this week. On Friday as of 11:38 a.m., all its constituents, except Brigade Enterprises, traded lower. Share price of Godrej Properties fell the most by 3.7%.

JioCinema has appointed former YouTube India MD Ishan Chatterjee as Chief Business Officer, a company statement said adding that Chatterjee has taken charge of overall monetization for JioCinema.

India's services PMI fell to a 10-month low in September amid lower export orders. The seasonally adjusted HSBC India Services Business Activity Index fell from 60.9 in August to 57.7 in September, signaling a softer albeit still historically-robust rate of expansion. A figure above 50 denotes expansion.

In September, Capital Small Finance Bank's gross advances were at Rs 6,718 crore vs Rs 5,866 crore previous year and gross NPA were at at 2.6% compared to 2.7% a quarter ago. Total Deposits in September rose to Rs 7,780 crore from Rs 7,000 crore.

Cyient DLM Ltd.'s share price erased loss on Friday, after it informed the exchanges about acquiring US-based Altek Electronics Inc. to widen its reach in the North American markets, and diversify its client base. Altek Electronics is a prominent electronic manufacturing services company with its reach in medical, industrial, and healthcare sectors, Cyient DLM said in an exchange filing.

Rail Land Development Authority has cancelled LoA for commercial development on railway land In Rajasthan. The letter was for commercial development measuring 8034.10 Sqm for period of 60 years, an exchange filing said.

Shares of Bajaj Finance Ltd. fell over 3% on Friday as brokerages expect lower margins and moderate AUM growth in the second quarter of fiscal 2025. The stock had closed 3% lower in the previous trading session.

Probal Sen, vice president of ICICI Securities said that Reliance Industries' new energy business is moving behind in FY24 as against expectations. The goals in this business are complex, so it was always going to be challenging, he said adding that he doesn't think delays in new energy will impact stock's prospects at this point of time.

He also noted that capex is ramping up in new energy while momentum in retail businesshas been slowing down. Margin volatility in oil business is raising caution, according to Sen.

According to Deven Choksey, MD of DRChoksey FinServ Pvt. Ltd, one should look at RIL's business in two parts- industrial products and consumer centric segments. He believes that the company's retail businesses are cash accretive it is not seeing degrowth.

Oil and gas businesses are commodity based, he said and despite volatility, RIL's commodity business' profit margins have been stable

The stock is falling because of market technicals, according to Choksey.

Diffusion Engineers Ltd.'s shares listed on the National Stock Exchange on Thursday at Rs 193.50 apiece, a premium of 15.18% over the issue price of Rs 168 apiece. The stock listed at Rs 188 per share on the BSE, marking a premium of 11.9%.

Vedanta Ltd.'s share price declined as its steel production fell 7% year-on-year to 652,000 tonnes in the first half of financial year 2024–25. Maintenance in an Oxygen plant, and debottlenecking of steel melting shop in the second quarter impacted the steel production, the company said in the exchange filing.

Avenue Supermarts Ltd. is navigating the challenges of quick commerce competition while contending with a slowdown in growth and store additions. In its second quarter update on Thursday, the operator of DMart reported a sharp slowdown in same-store sales growth, falling short of pre-second-quarter targets.

HDFC Bank's gross advances for the quarter ended September witnessed a rise of 1.3% on quarter to Rs 25.2 lakh crore, according to provisional numbers disclosed to exchanges. On a year-on-year basis, India's largest private sector's gross advances grew 7%.

India's fear gauge index rose as the markets continued their downtrend and amid rising tensions in the middle east.

Benchmark equity indices erased losses after a lower open as shares of Infosys and TCS led gains. However, they slipped again as shares of Reliance and ICICI Bank weighed on them.

At pre-open, both Nifty and Senses were down 0.3% at 25181.90 and 82244.97 points respectively.

In a report SBI Securities said that currently, 25080-25060 will act as an important support and till 25060 holds, "we can see index move towards 25380-25400," he said. "A surge above 25400, index can move towards 25535-25555 zone. On breakdown & sustenance below 25060, further correction up to 24820-24800 will be on the cards."

Shares of Reliance Industries Ltd., ICICI Bank Ltd., Bajaj Finance Ltd., HDFC Bank Ltd., and Nestle India Ltd. dragged the Nifty.

While those of Tata Consultancy Services Ltd., Oil & Natural Gas Corp. Ltd., HCL Tech Ltd., ITC Ltd., and Bharti Airtel Ltd. capped the fall.

Nifty IT outperformed the sectoral indices and rose 0.4%.

At pre-open, both Nifty and Senses were down 0.3% at 25181.90 and 82244.97 points respectively. According to Vikas Jain, Reliance Securities head of research NIFTY-50 has witnessed a vertical fall from its inside range, and we could expect some bounce from the support of 25,050 levels which is the 50-day average and round number support. "The first bout of resistance would be at the previous support range of 25,550 followed by 25,800 being the gap levels on the higher side."

The yield on the 10-year bond opened flat at 6.79% after it closed at 6.78% on Thursday.

Source: Bloomberg

The rupee strengthened by 2 paise to open 83.95 against the US dollar after it closed at 83.97 on Thursday.

Source: Bloomberg

Swiggy's shareholders on Thursday gave their nod to increase the fresh issue component of its initial public offering to Rs 5,000 crore from the current Rs 3,750 crore, according to people in the know.

The clearance would mean that Swiggy can now raise an additional Rs 1,250 crore if it wishes to. The offer-for-sale component will continue to be worth Rs 6,664 crore, for which investors are selling 18.5 crore shares.

Read more.

In its business update for the month of September, the company said its average client funding book grew by 6% month on month to Rs 4,089 crore and client base grew 3.2% month-on-month to Rs 2.7 crore. Its gross client acquisition in September was up 5.8% MoM at 9.5 lakh.

Diffusion Engineers share price will debut on the stock exchanges on Friday. The company is engaged in welding equipment manufacturers and suppliers. The Rs 158 crore IPO has been subscribed 114.49 times on the final day. The bids were led by non-institutional investors (207.6 times), qualified institutional investors (95.74 times), retail investors (85.61 times), and a portion reserved for employees (95.03 times).

Shares of Bajaj Housing Finance, Bajaj Finance, M&M Finance, Avenue Supermarts and Bank Of Baroda will react to their business updates released after market hours on Thursday.

Those of BSE are likely to fall as it will discontinue its weekly index derivatives contracts on Sensex 50 effective from Nov. 14 and Bankex effective Nov. 18.

Mahindra and Mahindra will also remain in focus after its arm launched Mahindra ‘ZEO’ 4W SCV starting from Rs 7.52 lakh.

Ola Electric Mobility has introduced the "BOSS—Biggest Ola Season Sale," featuring the S1 portfolio starting at Rs 49,999, along with festive offers of up to Rs 40,000.

JTL Industries share price are expected to rise as its board approved share split and Sundaram-Clayton share price will move after it opened QIP, setting floor price at Rs 2,320.78 per share.

Morgan Stanley maintained an 'overweight' rating on the stock with a target price Rs. 9,000, which implied a 21% upside. It said healthy loan growth is above estimates. The brokerage expects the company to grow at 27.3% in financial year 2024–25 and new customer acquisition is better than target set by it. The brokerage expects Q2FY25 to be weak due to higher credit costs and lower margins and credit costs to be at 210 basis points and 185 bps for H2FY25. It expects management to raise credit cost guidance from the current 175-185bp.

Citi Research has also maintained a 'buy' with target price of Rs 8,257, implying 11% upside. It said AUM growth moderated on expected lines and new loans booked fell QoQ on an elevated base. It expects margins to come off by 14bps QoQ and credit costs expected to be elevated at 2%. The brokerage expects credit cost guidance to be increased.

According to Citi, Chinese equities have caught up with India, both are up 19% current year to date. It said that India’s outperformance is significant and the country's valuation premium is significant to emerging markets/China. Around rate cuts, India benefited from a strong FII inflows environment and higher share of China in incremental EM inflows can happen if the rally sustains. Overall, it sees conducive environment for EM inflows reduce likelihood of significant FII outflows from India and said strong macro/growth outlook along with resilient domestic inflows have been a major driver of Indian equities.

The brokerage remains constructive and recommends buying any dips. It is overweight on domestic-focused sectors including banks, telecom, healthcare.

Gold prices were steady in Asian trade hours Friday as the demand for the safe-haven increased due to geopolitical tension in the West Asia. The spot gold was trading 0.11% higher at $2,658.93 as of 07:25 a.m.

The commodity rose despite a rise in the dollar index and US Treasury yields as potential of a war between Israel and Iran poured water on traders' risk appetite.

The price of the precious metal rose 0.16% higher at $2,663.00 on Thursday.

US stocks closed lower on Thursday after data showed weekly jobless claims increased more than projected and tensions remained high in the Middle East. The S&P 500 Index and Nasdaq Composite ended 0.17% and 0.04% lower, respectively on Thursday. The Down Jones Industrial Average ended 0.44% lower. Investors now await September payroll report to be released later Friday.

Indices in Asia were mixed tracking the US markets ahead of US non-farm payroll data, due later today. At 7:04 a.m., Japan's Nikkei traded flat, erasing early gains at 38,550.80, South Korea's Kospi was at 2,576.70, up 0.59%, and Australia's S&P ASX fell more than 1% to 8112.60.

WTI Crude oil November futures traded flat at $73.72 a barrel as of 6:58 a.m. after surging over 5% on Thursday amid geopolitical tensions in the middle east and December futures contract of Brent crude was trading flat at $77.64 a barrel. The markets feared that Israel could strike Iran’s oil industry in retaliation for Tehran’s ballistic missile attack this week.

The GIFT Nifty was trading 5.50 points lower at 25,428.00 as of 06:36 a.m. Among the shares prices that will be in focus on Friday are Bajaj Finance, M&M, Ola Electric, and Avenue Supermarts.

On Thursday, the Nifty 50 ended 546.80 points or 2.12% lower at 25,250.10, and the Sensex ended 1,769.19 points or 2.10% down at 82,497.10.

Overseas investors saw their highest single-day selling in 2024, while domestic institutional investors recorded peak buying as NSE Nifty 50 and BSE Sensex plunged, following the Securities and Exchange Board of India's curbs on futures trading and geopolitical tensions in the Middle East.

Foreign portfolio investors remained net sellers for the fourth session and offloaded stocks worth Rs 15,243.27 crore and domestic institutional investors remained net buyers for the eighth consecutive session and bought equities worth Rs 12,913.96 crore, the NSE data showed.

The Indian rupee weakened by 15 paise to close at 83.97 against the US dollar.