Building on initial gains, the headline indices ended higher on the first trading day of 2023. Financial shares pushed the benchmark indices higher on Monday, while consumer durables and healthcare shares were laggards. Meanwhile, auto stocks remained under focus due to December sales numbers.
The BSE Sensex started the week at 60871.24 and the NSE Nifty 50 started at 18131.70 points, logging marginal gains of about 0.50% over their closing in 2022. On Friday, the indices ended the first week of 2023 with losses of over one per cent each. The BSE Sensex closed at 59900.37 points and the NSE Nifty 50 ended at 17859.45 points.
Gainer and Losers
Some of the top gainers this week were NCC Ltd. (up 14.19%), Power Finance Corporation Ltd. (up 13.55%), PNC Infratech Ltd. (up 13.01%), Rajesh Exports Ltd. (up 12%), and The New India Assurance Company Ltd. (up 10.84%).
On the other hand some of the top losers this week were Vijaya Diagnostic Centre Ltd. (down 10.73%), Indiabulls Housing Finance Ltd. (down 10.04%), Zomato Ltd. (down 9%), Bajaj Finance Ltd. (down 8.15%), and Lemon Tree Hotels Ltd. (down 8.05%)
The Recap
Windfall tax on crude, diesel and ATF exports hiked
In line with escalating oil prices, the central government raised the windfall tax on crude oil to ₹ 2100 per tonne from ₹ 1700 per tonne. The levy on aviation turbine fuel (ATF) has been hiked to ₹ 4.5 per litre from ₹ 1.5 per litre, and high-speed diesel to ₹ 7.5 per litre from ₹ 5 per litre. However, the special additional duty (windfall tax) on petrol continues to remain unchanged at ‘Nil’.
India’s Manufacturing Activity Reached A 13-Month High
According to a monthly survey, India’s manufacturing sector activity rose to a 13-month high in December, supported by healthy inflows of new business and strong demand conditions. The S&P Global India Manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) stood at 57.8 in December, up from 55.7 in November, as business conditions improved to the greatest extent in over two years. In PMI parlance, a print above 50 means expansion while a score below 50 indicates contraction.
HDFC Bank partners with Microsoft for the digital transformation journey
HDFC Bank said that it is partnering with Microsoft in the next phase of its digital transformation. HDFC Bank will leverage Microsoft Azure to consolidate and modernise its enterprise data landscape through a Federated Data Lake to scale its information management capabilities across enterprise reporting and advanced analytics, using artificial intelligence. It is developing in-house IPs as well as partnering with several companies, including FinTechs, to co-create technology IPs, the lender said in a statement.
FMCG sales in Q3: Rural market continues to drag; the urban sector maintains the pace of growth
The Indian FMCG sector witnessed improvement in margins and slow growth in the December 2022 quarter but the rural markets continued to drag as retail inflation stayed at elevated levels, according to industry players. The sector witnessed slow growth driven by poor rural consumption and a slowdown post the festive season. General inflation and rainfall deficit in populous states remain the key challenges, which have affected rural disposable income according to experts.
What is Mukesh Ambani doing after handing over the reins of his business to his children?
Akash Ambani has been named the chairman of Reliance Jio, Isha Ambani is overseeing Reliance’s retail business and Anant Ambani is looking after the energy unit. Meanwhile, Mukesh Ambani is focusing his attention on Reliance’s pivot to green energy. He will oversee strategy, the building of gigafactories and blue hydrogen facilities, assess acquisition targets and talk to potential investors.
Written by Simran Bafna
