India's equity benchmarks muted as Reliance Industries offsets broader losses
The Nifty 50 rose 0.1% to 25,541.80 points and the BSE Sensex added 0.11% to 83,697.29.
The MSCI Asia ex-Japan index rose 0.5% after Canada dropped its digital services tax on U.S. tech firms—boosting hopes of progress in global trade negotiations.
India could finalize an interim trade deal with the U.S. as early as this week, the Financial Times reported, while Reuters said Indian officials are extending their visit to Washington to resolve outstanding issues.
'Indications of resolution of global trade uncertainties is a major positive for domestic markets and adds to the structural positives such as steady earnings, sustained institutional inflows and policy support from the central bank,' said Nimesh Chandan, chief investment officer at Bajaj Finserv Asset Management.
However, bouts of profit booking are likely in the near term as some investors lock in gains from the 15% rally in benchmarks over the past four months, potentially capping sharp upside ahead of the U.S. tariff deadline on July 9 and the June-quarter earnings season, three analysts said.
India's equity benchmarks ease as financials retreat from record highs
Seven of the 13 major sectors declined on the day. The broader small-caps and mid-caps were little changed.
Reliance Industries, which is the third highest weighted stock on Nifty, rose 1.9% after Nuvama raised its target price to a Street-high of 1,801 rupees citing improving growth prospects in its new energy segment.
Financials inched 0.2% lower, easing for the second session after hitting a record high on Friday.
Sigachi Industries lost 5.6%, extending Monday's 12% plunge, after a deadly fire at its Telangana facility killed at least 39 people.
Apollo Hospitals rose 3.5% after unveiling plans to hive off its digital health and pharmacy unit.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Business Recorder
4 hours ago
- Business Recorder
India's Infosys to buy 75% stake in Telstra unit for $153 million
Indian IT services company Infosys said on Wednesday that it would take a 75% stake in Versent Group, a wholly owned unit of Australia's Telstra Group, for A$233.3 million ($153 million). Versent Group provides cloud services to Australian organisations in sectors such as finance, energy, utilities, government and education, Infosys said in a statement. India's Infosys narrows annual forecast helped by banking and financial unit strength The deal, which Infosys says will boost its local presence, is expected to close by the second half of fiscal 2026, subject to approvals from Foreign Investment Review Board of Australia and Australian Competition and Consumer Commission. U.S.-listed shares of Infosys rose after the news and were last up 1.6% at $16.33.
Business Recorder
8 hours ago
- Business Recorder
Domino's India operator beats quarterly profit view on strong delivery demand
Domino's India operator Jubilant Foodworks beat first-quarter profit estimates by a wide margin on Wednesday as lower-priced menu items and free deliveries bolstered demand even as other fast-food franchisees struggled. The company reported profit of 917.6 million rupees ($10.49 million) for the quarter ended June 30, compared to a year ago profit of 558 million rupees. Analysts on average were expecting a profit of 645.6 million rupees, according to data compiled by LSEG. Urban Indian consumers are cutting back on non-essentials amid high living costs, denting same-store sales at budget retailers like Trent and fast food chains including Pizza Hut operators Sapphire India and Devyani International. Jubilant is an outlier in this environment, having reported double digit like-for-like sales growth for atleast three quarters. In the reported quarter ended June, like for like sales at Domino's India restaurants grew 11.6%, led by 20.1% growth in delivery. India's Muthoot Finance beats quarterly profit view on strong loan growth Sapphire's same store sales at Pizza Hut India fell 8% in the same period, while Devyani's fell 4.2%. Jubilant has not raised prices on average in more than ten quarters, opting to cut costs to drive profitability. In addition to providing value combinations and expanding store count, it has also waived delivery fees on app orders, while sharpening its focus on 20-minute deliveries in dense metros. Rival Devyani, on Wednesday, said it is taking cues from Jubilant's success with its 20-minute delivery model, and strengthening its own food-delivery business. 'Jubilant is doing a far, far better job versus what we are it is a delivery first brand,' a Devyani executive said on a post-earnings call with analysts. Jubilant's efforts drove first quarter revenue higher by 17%to 22.61 billion rupees. However, its consolidated core profit margin contracted to 19.4% from 19.8%, due to a higher mix of delivery and investments to power sales growth.
Business Recorder
8 hours ago
- Business Recorder
India's Muthoot Finance beats quarterly profit view on strong loan growth
BENGALURU: Indian gold loan financier Muthoot Finance reported a bigger-than-expected 90% surge in first-quarter profit on Wednesday, aided by higher loan demand as prices of the precious metal soared. Muthoot Finance reported a profit of 20.46 billion rupees ($233.91 million) for the April-June quarter, above analysts' estimate of 16.24 billion rupees, per data compiled by LSEG. Gold prices hit multiple record highs during the quarter. This benefits gold financiers as higher prices increase the collateral value, allowing borrowers to secure larger loans for the same amount of gold. Additionally, tighter lending in the unsecured segment prompted people to shift to gold loans as an alternative source of funds, analysts said. Muthoot Finance's standalone loan assets under management rose 42% year-on-year to 1.2 trillion rupees at the end of the quarter, and interest income jumped about 53% to 55.92 billion rupees. 'We are well-positioned to sustain strong growth through fiscal 2026 and beyond,' Managing Director George Alexander Muthoot said in a statement. The company also approved equity infusion of 5 billion rupees and 2 billion rupees in its units, Muthoot Money and Muthoot Homefin, respectively.
