Stock Market Live: Nifty, Sensex Fall Further As IT Stocks, ICICI Bank Drag

DAM Capital has initiated coverage on Jindal Steel & Power Ltd., JSW Steel Ltd., Tata Steel Ltd., and Steel Authority of India with a 'buy' rating, saying that steel prices have likely bottomed out and demand growth in India is expected to rise. The set target price on the four companies implies a potential upside in the range of 12-42%, based on the previous closing prices.

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IIFL Finance has approved raising up to Rs 2,500 crore via non-convertible debentures in one or more tranches, an exchange filing said.

The subsidiary of HDFC Bank, HDB Financial Services Ltd. filed its draft red herring prospectus with the Securities and Exchange Board of India to raise up to Rs 12,500 crore through an initial public offer. The offer entails both fresh issue and offer for sale.

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Promoter & MD Jaggi has acquired additional 26,500 shares through open market, an exchange filing said. Jaggi held 21.13% stake in company previously

A list of the top performing mutual fund schemes of any given year will usually contain thematic funds or a category of schemes that has outperformed in the recent past. For example, defence-focused, infrastructure, and manufacturing would make the cut. But are their fund managers the best in the business? A better way to judge a fund manager's performance, however, is to look at the degree of outperformance they achieved over the benchmark. This is further exemplified by measuring this across various fund categories and allocation guidelines.

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Dabur India Ltd.'s share price fell over 2% during the morning trade on Thursday after its second-quarter profit decline triggered target price cuts by analysts.

The stock had fallen following Biocon Ltd.'s consolidated net profit falling 84.3% in the second quarter of fiscal 2025. The net profit managed to beat analysts' estimates.

Larsen & Toubro witnessed a surge in its stock price, climbing over 6% on Thursday following the company’s steady quarterly earnings report and encouraging forecasts from various brokerages.

The stock rose after US FDA classified Goa facility as 'Voluntary Action Indicated', clearing the way for launch of Abraxane generic. Pancreatic cancer treatment drug Abraxane's approval is contingent upon Goa unit clearance, Citi had said in a report.

Nifty IT index hit its lowest level since August 19 with all its constituents falling as they tracked the fall in their global peers after big tech quarterly results.

Benchmark equity indices fell after opening with little gains as shares of IT companies dragged tracking their peers in the US after quarterly results announcements of Meta and Microsoft.

At pre-open, Nifty 50 was at 24349.85, up 0.04% or 9 points and Sensex was at 80044.95, up 0.13% or 102.77 points. "Nifty 50 has reversed its previous day gains and closed in an inside range of the previous day candle facing multiple resistance at 24,500 levels," said Reliance Securities. "The range breakout of 24,200-24,500 levels will give an either side breakout from current levels and we expect volatility in the second half with respect to the monthly expiry."

Shares of Infosys Ltd., Tata Consultancy Services Ltd., Reliance Industries Ltd., ITC Ltd., and Tech Mahindra Ltd. dragged the Nifty. While those of Larsen & Toubro Ltd., Cipla Ltd., ICICI Bank Ltd., Sun Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd., and Hero MotoCorp Ltd. cushioned the fall.

Most sectoral indices were lower at open with Nifty IT falling the most.

At pre-open, Nifty 50 was at 24349.85, up 0.04% or 9 points and Sensex was at 80044.95, up 0.13% or 102.77 points.

-The local currency opened 1 paise higher against the US dollar at 84.0800 on Thursday.

-On Wednesday, the Indian unit closed at 84.0863 a dollar.

Source: Bloomberg

-The yield on the 10-year bond opened flat at 6.84%.

-It closed at 6.83% on Wednesday.

Source: Bloomberg

Bernstein has retained its 'Outperform' rating on L&T's stock with target of Rs 3,891 implying 14% upside. It said overall execution and working capital makes up for margins and order inflow and revenue growth is better than management guidance of 15% for FY25. Management has retained FY25 guidance but sees it as tough ask. Risk involves softening crude prices unless spending in both M.East and India aid, according to Bernstein.

BoJ has keeps overnight call rate at 0.25%. It said that it will raise interest rate and adjust the degree of easing if outlook is realised. Price risks are on upside for FY25

Source: Bloomberg

Acme Solar India has set IPO price band at Rs 275-289/share and it will open for subscription on November 6, close on November 8, according to Bloomberg.

Nuvama has maintained 'buy' on Dabur India with lower price target implying 19% upside at Rs 650 from earlier Rs 760. It said muted Q2 results due to inventory rationalisation in general trade denting domestic sales. Weak showing, subdued urban demand, and rising risk from ‘Campa’.

Biocon Q2 FY25 (Consolidated, YoY)

• Revenue up 3.69% at Rs 3590 crore versus Rs 3462 crore (Bloomberg estimate Rs 3,623 crore)

• Ebitda down 7.54% at Rs 686 crore versus Rs 742 crore (Bloomberg estimate Rs 741 crore)

• Ebitda margin down 232 bps at 19.1% versus 21.43% (Bloomberg estimate 20.5%)

• Net profit down 84.3% at Rs 27 crore versus Rs 172 crore (Bloomberg estimate Rs 24 crore)

Larsen & Toubro Q2 FY25 (Consolidated, YoY)

• Revenue up 20.63% at Rs 61554 crore versus Rs 51024 crore (Bloomberg estimate Rs 57,622 crore)

• Ebitda up 12.94% at Rs 6362 crore versus Rs 5633 crore (Bloomberg estimate Rs 6142 crore)

• Ebitda margin down 70 bps at 10.33% versus 11.03% (Bloomberg estimate 10.7%)

• Net profit up 6.69% at Rs 4113 crore versus Rs 3855 crore (Bloomberg estimate Rs 3,205 crore)

Tata Power Q2 FY25 (Consolidated, YoY)

• Revenue down 0.26% at Rs 15698 crore versus Rs 15738 crore (Bloomberg estimate Rs 16,957 crore)

• Ebitda up 21.19% at Rs 3746 crore versus Rs 3091 crore (Bloomberg estimate Rs 3,117 crore)

• Ebitda margin up 422 bps at 23.86% versus 19.64% (Bloomberg estimate 18.4%)

• Net profit up 7.47% at Rs 1093 crore versus Rs 1017 crore (Bloomberg estimate Rs 1052 crore)

 IRB Infrastructure Developers Q2 FY25 (Consolidated, YoY)

• Revenue down 9.12% at Rs 1586 crore versus Rs 1745 crore

• Ebitda margin down 3.4% at Rs 767 crore versus Rs 794 crore

• Ebitda margin up 285 bps at 48.36% versus 45.5%

• Net profit up 5.26% at Rs 100 crore versus Rs 95 crore

TCI Express Q2 FY25 (Consolidated, YoY)

• Revenue down 2.5% at Rs 312 crore versus Rs 320 crore (Bloomberg estimate Rs 328 crore)

• Ebitda margin down 25.84% at Rs 37.3 crore versus Rs 50.3 crore (Bloomberg estimate Rs 43 crore)

• Ebitda margin down 376 bps at 11.95% versus 15.71% (Bloomberg estimate 13.1%)

• Net profit down 30.55% at Rs 25 crore versus Rs 36 crore (Bloomberg estimate Rs 31 crore)

DCM Shriram Q2 FY25 (Consolidated, YoY)

• Revenue up 9.09% at Rs 2940 crore versus Rs 2695 crore

• Ebitda up 62.37% at Rs 164 crore versus Rs 101 crore

• Ebitda margin up 183 bps at 5.57% versus 3.74%

• Net profit up 96.87% at Rs 63 crore versus Rs 32 crore

• Approved Rs 310 crore capex proposal for 100 TPD aluminium chloride facility and 225 TPD calcium chloride facility.

Automotive Axles Q2 FY25 (Consolidated, YoY)

• Revenue down 15.24% at Rs 495 crore versus Rs 584 crore (Bloomberg estimate Rs 497 crore)

• Ebitda down 20.91% at Rs 51.8 crore versus Rs 65.5 crore (Bloomberg estimate Rs 49 crore)

• Ebitda margin down 75 bps at 10.46% versus 11.21% (Bloomberg estimate 9.8%)

• Net profit down 20% at Rs 36 crore versus Rs 45 crore (Bloomberg estimate Rs 34 crore)

Protean eGov Technologies (Consolidated, QoQ)

• Revenue up 11.8% at Rs 220 crore versus Rs 197 crore (Bloomberg estimate Rs 231 crore)

• EBIT at Rs 24.5 crore versus Rs 8.3 crore

• EBIT margin at 11.1% versus 4.2%

• Net profit down 33% at Rs 28 crore versus Rs 21.09 crore (Bloomberg estimate Rs 29 crore)

Prudent Corporate Advisory Services Q2 FY25 (Standalone, YoY)

• Total income up 53.9% at Rs 258 crore versus Rs 167 crore.

• Net profit up 72.9% at Rs 42.8 crore versus Rs 24.8 crore.

The New India Assurance Co (Consolidated, YoY)

• Net premium earned up 3.9% at Rs 8,567 crore versus Rs 8,245 crore

• Net profit at Rs 73.6 crore versus loss of Rs 195 crore

Electrosteel Castings Q2 FY25 (Consolidated, YoY)

• Revenue down 4.75% at Rs 1828 crore versus Rs 1919 crore (Bloomberg estimate Rs 1,882 crore)

• Ebitda margin down 10.36% at Rs 268 crore versus Rs 299 crore (Bloomberg estimate 387 crore)

• Ebitda margin down 92 bps at 14.66% versus 15.58% (Bloomberg estimate 20.6%)

• Net profit down 11.42% at Rs 155 crore versus Rs 175 crore (Bloomberg estimate Rs 254 crore)

As of 7:32 a.m., December futures of both WTI Crude and Brent Crude were trading 0.3% higher at $68.83 a barrel and $72.79 a a barrel respectively. On Wednesday, they had risen 2% following an unexpected fall in U.S. crude and gasoline inventories last week and reports of OPEC+ delaying planned oil output increase.

Most Asian indices were lower in the early trade ahead of Bank of Japan’s rate decision and as they assessed China's official purchasing managers’ index for October came in at 50.1 and expanded for first time since April.

As of 7:15 a.m., Nikkei was down 0.4%, Australia's ASX 200 fell 0.2%, and China's CSI 300 was 0.5% lower. Hong Kong's Hang Seng was the only index which gained and traded 0.6% higher.

The Wall Street ended Wednesday's session on negative note amid a decline in tech stocks after quarterly results of tech companies failed to impress the market. The Dow Jones Industrial Average and S&P 500 ended 0.22% and 0.33% down, respectively. The Nasdaq Composite ended 0.56% lower. Lower than expected US third quarter GDP also weighed on the sentiment.

GIFT Nifty was trading  flat at 24,305 points as of 6:45 a.m. Share prices of L&T, Biocon, and Tata Power are among stocks that will react to their quarterly earnings and RVNL is likely to rise on news of order win.

On Wednesday, the NSE Nifty 50 and BSE Sensex resumed decline after a two–day rally, amid a jump in the market volatility as Infosys Ltd. and ICICI Bank Ltd. share prices declined. The NSE India Volatility index ended at the highest level since Aug. 13.

The Nifty 50 ended 126 points, or 0.51% lower at 24,340.85, and the Sensex ended 426.85 points or 0.53% down at 79,942.18.

Overseas investors remained net sellers of Indian equities for the 23rd consecutive session on Wednesday and offloaded stocks worth a total of Rs 1.19 lakh crore during the period, while domestic institutional investors stayed net buyers for the 27th straight session.

Foreign portfolio investors offloaded stocks with an approximate value of Rs 4,613.6 crore while the DIIs bought stocks worth Rs 4,518.3 crore.

The Indian currency closed flat against the US dollar at 84.0800 on Wednesday.