On Friday, Indian share markets witnessed heavy selling pressure throughout the session. Benchmark indices declined over a percent tracking heavy selling in banking and finance stocks.

The heavy selling was triggered by weak Asian markets and overnight losses in the US market.

At the closing bell, the BSE Sensex stood lower by 671 points (down 1.1%).

Meanwhile, the NSE Nifty closed lower by 177 points (down 1%).

Tata Motors and Maruti were among the top gainers today.

HDFC Bank and SBI, on the other hand, were among the top losers today.

The SGX Nifty was trading at 17,440, down by 165 points, at the time of writing.

The BSE MidCap index fell 0.6% while the BSE SmallCap index declined 0.7%.

Sectoral indices ended on a mixed note with stocks in the banking sector, finance sector, and capital goods sector witnessing most of the selling.

While power stocks and FMCG stocks witnessed buying.

Shares of Siemens, Blue Star, and Jindal Saw hit their respective 52-week highs today.

Now track the biggest movers of the stock market using the stocks to watch today section. This should help you keep updated with the latest developments...

Asian stock markets ended on a negative note. The Hang Seng and the Nikkei ended down by 3% and 1.7%, respectively. The Shanghai Composite declined 1.4%.

US stock futures are trading on a negative note today with Dow Futures trading down by 569 points.

The rupee is trading at 82.01 against the US$.

Gold prices for the latest contract on MCX are trading up by 0.2% at Rs 55,388 per 10 grams.

Speaking of stock markets, there's a sugar rush on Dalal Street.

Sugar stocks are in demand. There are many fundamental reasons why sugar stocks are rising.
 

Equitas SFB Shares Slump

Shares of Equitas Small Finance Bank (SFB) slipped over 10% today following the listing of its new 789.53 million shares pursuant to the amalgamation of Equitas Holdings with the bank.

The downtrend was seen yesterday too.

In the most recent quarterly results, Equitas SFB reported a profit after tax (PAT) of Rs 1.7 bn, mainly on account of lower provisions, partly offset by flattish margins and higher staff expenses as the bank adds headcount to bolster business growth.
 

Why Banking Stocks Fell Today

In news from the banking sector, the Nifty Bank index fell sharply today, tracking the rout on Wall Street.

In the US market, Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) shares fell 60%, wiping out US$80 billion (bn) in value from the bank's shares.

SVB, the largest US bank in Silicon Valley, launched a US$1.75 bn share sale on Wednesday to shore up its balance sheet. In an investor prospectus, the company said that it needed the proceeds to plug a US$1.8 bn hole caused by the sale of a US$21 bn loss-making bond portfolio consisting mostly of US Treasuries.

According to reports, SVB shareholders fretted over whether the capital raise would be sufficient given the deteriorating fortunes of many technology startups that the bank serves.

Back in Indian markets, Axis Bank, ICICI Bank, and HDFC Bank fell over 2%.
 

Why OMCs Could Report Better Q4 Results

As per a leading financial daily, oil marketing companies (OMCs) such as IOC, BPCL, and HPCL, have turned positive after a gap of over a year amid improving refining margins. This may result in higher profitability in the March 2023 quarter compared with the depressed operating profit in the first nine months of FY23.

The marketing margin on diesel rose to a nearly 14-month high of Rs 2.5 per liter. It had turned negative in the fourth quarter of the last fiscal year as retail prices were unchanged despite rising crude oil prices.

Note that OMC stocks have underperformed benchmark indices in the past year, falling up to 20% in the past year.

It remains to be seen if the scenario will change going forward.
 

Tata Technologies IPO

The long wait is finally over as the Tata group has filed papers with the market regulator to launch the initial public offering (IPO) of Tata Technologies.

The IPO is purely an offer for sale by the promoter Tata Motors and two other existing shareholders and doesn't involve any fresh issue of shares.

The IPO is an offer for sale (OFS) of up to 95,708,984 equity shares, representing approximately 23.60% of its paid-up share capital.

Tata Motors currently holds 74.42% of Tata Technologies, Alpha TC Holdings Pte Ltd, a Singapore-based investment firm managed by Tata Capital Advisors, owns 8.96%, while Tata Capital Growth Fund owns another 4.48%.

The IPO comprises OFS of up to 81,133,706 equity shares by Tata Motors, 9,716,853 equity shares by Alpha TC Holdings, and up to 4,858,425 shares by Tata Capital Growth Fund I, each representing up to 20%, 2.40%, and 1.20%, respectively of Tata Technologies paid-up share capital.

In December 2022, Tata Motors' board approved a partial divestment of its stake in Tata Tech through an IPO.

For the nine-month period ending December 2022, the company reported a revenue of Rs 30.1 bn, recording a growth of 15.5% on a year-on-year basis. The company's profit for the nine-month period came in at Rs 4.1 bn.

The company's revenue and profits are on a growth trajectory for the past few quarters.

Tata Technologies is the second company whose IPO is filed by the Tata group since the listing of TCS in 2004. In December 2022, Tata Play filed a 'pre-filed' DRHP or confidential IPO paper with the regulator.

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