After opening the day lower, benchmark indices remained muted as the session progressed and ended the day lower.

Indian stock markets witnessed another volatile session on Wednesday as investors assessed and reacted to the Budget 2024 proposals.

At the closing bell, the BSE Sensex stood lower by 280 points (down 0.4%).

Meanwhile, the NSE Nifty closed lower by 66 points (down 0.3%).

Nestle, ICICI Bank, and Titan are among the top gainers today.

Tech Mahindra, NTPC, and BPCL on the other hand were among the top losers today.

The GIFT Nifty was trading at 24,423, down by 48 points, at the time of writing.

The BSE MidCap index ended 0.7% higher and the BSE SmallCap index ended 1.9% higher.

Sectoral indices are trading mixed, with stocks in the power sector, telecom, and energy sectors witnessing the most buying. Meanwhile, stocks in the banking sector and finance sector witnessed selling pressure.

Shares of Torrent Pharma, Pfizer, and Natco Pharma hit their respective 52-week highs today.

The rupee is trading at 83.71 against the US$.

Gold prices for the latest contract on MCX are trading 0.4% higher at Rs 68,806 per 10 grams.

Meanwhile, silver prices were trading 0.3% higher at Rs 85,210 per 1 kg.
 

Why United Spirit Share Price is Rising

In news from the liquor sector, United Spirits shares soared 6.5% to hit a record high of Rs 1,417.30 on 24 July, a day after the liquor company reported positive earnings for the April-June period.

The company's net profit grew around 2% on year to Rs 4.9 bn in Q1 on FY25, up from Rs 4.8 bn. Revenue also rose 3.5% to Rs 27.6 bn against Rs 26.7 bn in the corresponding quarter of the preceding fiscal.

Even though the topline as well as bottom line growth seems modest, it was still above what most brokerages anticipated.

Growth for the company was anticipated to be weak on year due to inflationary impact on price-sensitive consumers.

The better-than-expected performance on those fronts was driven by a 10% growth in the company's 'prestige & above' segment which delivered a little over 10% rise in sales. Volume growth for the segment also came at 3.5%.

Meanwhile, analysts also commended the 170 basis point-on-year expansion in the company's EBITDA margin, which came at 19.5% in the June quarter, thanks to cost optimization measures.
 

Titagarh Rail's Italy Export

Moving on to news from the railway sector, shares of Titagarh Rail Systems gained over 3% on 24 July after the firm said it had started the export of traction converters. The first batch of 8 converters was shipped to Titagarh Firema SpA (Titagarh Firema), Italy earlier this month on the 19.

This export is part of a 7.18 m euros (Rs 65 crore) order received by Titagarh Rail from Titagarh Firema.

Titagarh Firema received an order from Regione Lazio, Italy, for the design, manufacture, and supply of 38 trainsets for a total value of approximately EUR 276 million, with a design speed of 100 kmph.

Titagarh received the order from Firema, Italy to supply traction converters for the first batch of 11 trains to the Regione Lazio Viterbo line, operating at 3 KV, and the Regione Lazio Lido line, operating at 1.5 KV.

The company plans to ship two train sets, or eight converters, each month to complete the order.

Meanwhile, Titagarh Rail informed exchanges that a meeting of the Board of Directors of the company is scheduled to be held on 30 July, to consider inter alia and approve financial results, both standalone and consolidated, for the fiscal first quarter.

Titagarh Rail Systems is engaged in the manufacturing and selling of freight wagons, passenger coaches, metro trains, train electricals, steel castings, specialized equipment and bridges, and ships.

Kataria Industries Lists at 90% Premium

Moving on, shares of Kataria Industries made a strong start on its stock exchange debut on 24 July after listing at Rs 182, a massive premium of 90% over the issue price of Rs 96 on the NSE SME platform.

The listing gains, however, miss grey market estimates as shares were trading at a premium of 110%. The grey market is an unofficial ecosystem where shares start trading much before the offer opens for subscription and continue to trade till the listing day.

The Rs 545.8 m public offer, a fresh issue of 568.5 m shares, received robust investor interest as the issue was subscribed 393.7 times. Non-institutional investors were on a roll, buying over 970 times their allotted quota. Retail investors followed and QIBs bought 171 of their portion.

Founded in 2004, it specializes in manufacturing and supplying Low Relaxation Pre-stressed Concrete (LRPC) strands and steel wires, post-tensioning (PT) anchorage systems (including anchor cones, anchor heads, and wedges), HDPE single-wall corrugated (SWC) sheathing ducts, couplers, and aluminium conductors.

More By This Author: