Asian share markets rose today after comments from Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell boosted risk appetite and investors hoped that the central bank may soon ease monetary policy.

The Nikkei is trading lower by 0.4% while the Hang Seng is trading higher by 0.3%. The Shanghai Composite is trading flat.

US stocks rallied to a convincingly higher close on Tuesday, but trade was choppy as investors digested comments from Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell about how long the central bank may need to tame inflation.

The Dow Jones ended 0.8% higher while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite ended higher by 1.9%.

Here's a table showing how US stocks performed yesterday:

Data source: Equitymaster

Back home, Indian share markets are trading on a strong note tracking firm global cues and the performance of Adani group stocks.

The RBI today hiked the key repo rate by 25 basis points to 6.5%.

RBI governor Shaktikanta Das said the committee decided to hike the repo rate with a split stance of 4:2 with the retained stance of withdrawal of accommodation.

The governor affirmed that core inflation remains sticky and FY24 inflation is likely to remain above the 4% target.

At present, the BSE Sensex is trading higher by 453 points. Meanwhile, the NSE Nifty is trading higher by 137 points.

Bajaj Finance, UltraTech Cement, and Infosys are among the top gainers today.

Tata Steel, Power Grid, and Bharti Airtel are among the top losers today.

Broader markets are trading on a positive note. Both the BSE Mid Cap index and the BSE Small Cap index are up by 0.1%.

Sectoral indices are trading on a mixed note. Stocks in the IT sector, and banking sector witness buying.

Meanwhile stocks in the telecom sector, oil and gas sector, and realty sector witness selling.

Shares of Mahindra CIE Auto and Zydus Lifesciences hit their 52-week high today.

The rupee is trading at Rs 82.63 against the US dollar.

In the commodity markets, gold prices trade lower by Rs 56 at Rs 57,201 per 10 grams.

Meanwhile, silver prices are trading flat at Rs 67,522 per 1 kg.

Speaking of stock markets, for equity investors who were hopeful that in 2023, the Sensex would resume its bull run, unfortunately, the new year has not got off to a good start.

The war in Ukraine has got only worse, recession fears have emerged stronger, layoffs are happening at an alarming pace and now the Adani group fiasco has wiped off trillions of rupees in market capitalization for investors.

In such a scenario, particularly after the recent sell-off in Adani group stocks, it's best to avoid high PE stocks and instead look at stocks using the price/earnings to growth ratio (PEG).
 

Adani Ports to prepay debt

To improve its net debt ratio, Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone is planning to repay Rs 500 billion (bn) (about Rs 5,000 crore) in debt by the next financial year 2023-24.

The Indian port operator, on Tuesday, reported a 12.9% fall in its consolidated net profit to Rs 13.4 bn in the December quarter. The company reported a profit of Rs 15.4 bn in the same quarter in the previous financial year. Its revenue grew by 17% YoY to Rs 47.9 bn in the third quarter of the current financial year.

Amid the ongoing chaos due to the release of the Hindenburg report that questioned the operation of Adani group, its decision to prepay its debt and loans will help the company in releasing its shares of different operations.

Adani group stocks were on a free fall after the release of the Hindenburg report and when valuation guru Aswath Damodaran, said that the fundamental value of Adani Enterprises is Rs 947.

Hero MotoCorp Q3 results

One of the best automobile stocks in India, Hero MotoCorp on Tuesday posted a net profit of Rs 7.1 bn for the October-December quarter, compared to Rs 6.9 bn during the same quarter last year. This is about a 3.6% increase in net profit on a YoY basis.

Hero MotoCorp's revenue from operations for the quarter came in at Rs 80.3 bn as against Rs 78.8 bn during the corresponding period of the last year, recording an increase in revenue of 1.8%.

Accordingly, the Board has fixed 17 February 2023 as the record date for determining the entitlement of members for the purpose of payment of interim dividends. The payment of interim dividend/ dispatch of dividend warrants will be completed by 9 March 2023.

Total expenses stood at Rs 72.7 bn in the quarter under review, which is a jump of % over Rs 70.9 bn registered in the same quarter last year.

The earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA) for the quarter stood at Rs 9.2 bn.
 

Aditya Birla Fashion and Retail quarterly business update

Aditya Birla Fashion and Retail on Wednesday reported a 94.3% decline in its consolidated net profit at Rs 112 m for the third quarter ended 31 December 2022 on account of an increase in marketing and strategic investments in new ventures.

The company had posted a net profit of Rs 1,968 m during the corresponding period of the previous financial year.

The A V Birla group stock's revenue from operations was up 20.1% to Rs 35.9 bn during the quarter under review as against Rs 29.9 bn in the year-ago period.

The company said its net profits for the quarter were impacted by a 2.3 times increase in marketing and strategic investments in new ventures.
 

Good news for Aurobindo Pharma investors

Aurobindo Pharma announced that its step-down subsidiary company, Aurolife Pharma, has received final approval from the US Food & Drug Administration (USFDA) to manufacture and market Diclofenac Sodium Topical Solution USP, 2% w/w.

This drug is bioequivalent and therapeutically equivalent to the reference listed drug (RLD), Pennsaid Topical Solution, 2% w/w of Horizon Therapeutics Ireland DAC (Horizon).

The product is expected to be launched in the first quarter of financial year 203-24. The approved product has an estimated market size of around US $ 487 million (about Rs 40,267 m) for the twelve months ending December 2022.

This is the first ANDA to be approved out of the Aurolife Unit-II, North Carolina, USA, used for manufacturing topical products. Aurobindo now has a total of 430 ANDA approvals (404 Final approvals and 26 tentative approvals) from the USFDA.

This might be a relief for investors because as of late Aurobindo Pharma's share price was falling.

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