Asian share markets are in a cautious mood today after US Federal Reserve officials fired more warning shots on interest rates.

Meanwhile, rising coronavirus cases in China and liquidity strains in its bond market added to uncertainty.

The Nikkei is up 0.1% while the Shanghai Composite is down 0.1%. The Hang Seng is trading higher by 0.6%.

Wall Street's main indexes ended modestly lower on Thursday in a choppy session as hawkish comments from a US Federal Reserve official and data showing the labor market remained tight led some investors to worry about more aggressive interest rate hikes.

The Dow Jones traded flat while the tech-heavy Nasdaq gained 0.4%.

Here's a table showing how the top US tech stocks ended yesterday.

How US Stocks Performed Overnight

Source: Equitymaster

Back home, Indian share markets are trading on a negative note, following the trend on SGX Nifty.

Benchmark indices opened on a positive note but erased gains as the session progressed.

At present, the BSE Sensex is trading down by 171 points. Meanwhile, the NSE Nifty is trading down by 59 points.

Kotak Mahindra Bank and SBI are among the top gainers today. Bharti Airtel and Titan, on the other hand, are among the top losers today.

Broader markets are trading on a negative note. The BSE Mid Cap index is down 0.3% and the BSE Small Cap is trading lower by 0.1%.

Sectoral indices are trading on a negative note with the exception of the banking sector and capital goods sector. Stocks in the consumer durables sector, and auto sector witnessed most of the selling.

Shares of SKF India and Timken India hit their 52-week highs today.

The rupee is trading at 81.6 against the US$.

Gold prices are trading up by Rs 85 at Rs 52,928 per 10 grams. Meanwhile, silver prices are trading down by 0.5% at Rs 61,300 per kg.

Speaking of stock markets, as the Indian stock market is trading close to its all-time high, one sector has done very well, which is FMCG!

The best FMCG stocks have been trending bullish for a long time.

But is the situation changing?
 

Paytm Share Price Bites the Dust

About a year ago, India saw its biggest IPO by a company that has one of the most complex business models.

The hype was real when Paytm came out with its IPO. Despite multiple reports of stats and the true value of Paytm which pointed out how the IPO will become a huge point of loss for retail investors, they got carried away.

One year has passed since its listing and the stock continues to reel under pressure. Paytm is down 70% from its peak and 65% since listing.

UltraTech Cement Sets Up a New Manufacturing Plant

UltraTech Cement has commenced operation at its third Birla White wall ware putty plant in Rajasthan with a capacity of 4 lakh metric tonnes (LMT) per annum, at a total cost of Rs 1.9 bn (about Rs 187 crore).

The company's existing two plants are situated at Kharia in Rajasthan and Katni in Madhya Pradesh.

The company now has a wall care putty capacity of 13 LMT per annum, further strengthening its position in the markets.

Along with its existing white cement manufacturing capacity in India and its investment in Ras Al Khaimah Company for white cement and construction material, in UAE, the company is strategically positioned to cater to the white cement and wall care putty market in the country.

UltraTech Cement is the third largest cement producer in the world, outside of China, with a consolidated Grey Cement capacity of 121.3 metric tonnes per annum.

The cement major's consolidated net profit tumbled 42.5% to Rs 7.6 bn on a 15.8% increase in net sales to Rs 135.9 bn in Q2 September 2022 over Q2 September 2021.

UltraTech is also one of the stocks which have aggressive capex plans.
 

Bharat Electronics Signs MoU

Bharat Electronics has signed an MoU with Armoured Vehicles Nigam (AVNL/AVANI), a Defence PSU, to jointly address the requirements of Indian Defence and Export markets.

The MoU aims at leveraging the complementary strengths and capabilities of BEL and AVNL (AVANI) to address domestic and export opportunities in the areas of Combat Vehicles, main battle tanks (MBTs), infantry fighting vehicles (IFVs), armored fighting vehicles (AFVs) and related systems.
 

Blackstone Invests in R Systems

Private Equity player Blackstone continues to bet on the tech industry as it announced a plan to acquire a majority stake in product engineering firm R Systems for a total amount of Rs 29.1 bn.

Blackstone announced that it is acquiring a 52% stake in promoters including the founder Satinder Sigh Rekhi's stake.

Blackstone is buying the promoter's stake for Rs 245 per share, a discount of 10.6% to the current closing share price of Rs 271. The company's share price during the pre-market hour was Rs 235.8 per share.

The promoters will get around Rs 1,496.95 crore for their 52% stake at Rs 245 price per share. Dr. Rekhi will continue to guide the company in his role as a non-executive advisor, said Blackstone in a statement.

Blackstone has also launched a conditional delisting offer, at a price of Rs 246 per share. The offer is at a discount of 9.2% to the closing price of the company's stock.

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