The dollar weakened against its Group-of-10 counterparts and Japanese stocks climbed today amid subdued trading, with many major centers in Asia closed for Lunar New Year celebrations.

The Nikkei is trading up by 1.3% while the Hang Seng is trading higher by 1.8%. The Shanghai Composite is up 0.8%.

Wall Street indices surged on Friday, posting their biggest single-day gains since 1 January. This was led by technology stocks such as Netflix after the over-the-top (OTT) content provider reported strong subscriber additions.

The Dow Jones ended higher by 1% while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite ended lower by 2.7%

Here's a table showing the performance of US stocks on Friday:

Source: Equitymaster

Back home, Indian share markets are trading on a strong note, following the trend on SGX Nifty and tracking strong global cues

At present, the BSE Sensex is trading higher by 455 points. Meanwhile, the NSE Nifty is trading higher by 126 points.

Power Grid, M&M, and Tata Motors are among the top gainers today.

UltraTech Cement, NTPC, and Asian Paints are among the top losers today.

Broader markets are trading on a mixed note. The BSE Mid Cap index is trading higher by 0.2% and the BSE Small Cap index is trading lower by 0.1%.

Sectoral indices are trading on a positive note with the exception of the realty sector. Stocks in the financial sector, energy sector, and banking sector witness selling.

Shares of Adani Total Gas and Swan Energy hit their 52-week high today.

The rupee is trading at Rs 81.07 against the US dollar.

In the commodity markets, gold prices trade higher by Rs 42 at Rs 56,710 per 10 grams.

Meanwhile, silver prices are trading lower by 0.6% at Rs 68,931 per 1 kg.
 

Union Bank Q3 results

Government-owned Union Bank of India recorded strong Q3 earnings with profitability more than doubling year-on-year.

The bank garnered a robust growth of 106.8% in net profit to Rs 22.5 billion (bn) (about Rs 2,245 crore) in Q3 of the current financial year compared to a profit of Rs 10.9 bn. The profit after tax climbed by 21.5% from Rs 18.5 bn in June 2022 quarter.

Union Bank's deposits and advances gained momentum in Q3 with double-digit growth YoY. Also, asset quality improved significantly in the quarter.

In the said quarter Union Bank's gross nonperforming assets NPA dropped sharply by 369 basis points (bps) YoY and 52 bps QoQ to 7.9%.

The bank, at present, is looking forward to raising Rs 35 bn through a qualified institutional placement (QIP).

For the upcoming quarter, it is looking forward to expanding its customer base and picking up speed in the corporate credit cycle.

For more details about the company, see the Union Bank fact sheet and quarterly results.

Union Bank is one of the 5 Midcaps that Rallied in 2022.
 

LTI Mindtree quarterly business updates

One of the best IT stocks, LTI Mindtree reported a decline of 4.7% rise in net profit to Rs 10 bn for the December 2022 quarter. This is against a net profit of Rs 10.5 in the year-ago period.

The consolidated revenue of IT grew by 25.3% to Rs 86.2 bn in the quarter under review against Rs 68.8 bn in the corresponding quarter of the last financial year.

The company's board recommended an interim dividend of Rs 20 per equity share. The record date has been fixed as 31 January 2023.

Larsen & Toubro Infotech (LTI) and Mindtree officially merged to establish LTIMindtree on 14 November 2022. This merged entity was relisted on Indian exchanges and commenced trading on 5 December 2022.

Post-merger, the company has become the fifth-largest IT services company in India in terms of market capitalization.

Declining profits may be a sign of worry for investors, as LTI Mindtree's share price was falling even before the quarterly results were out.
 

Vijay Kedia turns bearish on this stock

Ace investor Vijay Kedia has booked profit in Cera Sanitaryware shares during October to December 2022 quarter.

As per the latest shareholding pattern of Cera Sanitryware Vijay Kedia's name is missing from the list of individual shareholders of the company.

In the shareholding data of the company for September 2022 quarter, Vijay Kedia was holding around a 1% stake in the company. This means Vijay Kedia offloaded his stake in the company during the third quarter of the current financial year.

Cera Sanitaryware was a part of the Vijay Kedia portfolio for a long time now. Vijay Kedia started investing in Cera Sanitaryware in 2004 and remained invested till the quarter ended on 30 September 2022.

In these nearly two decades of shareholding, the ace investor had around 2% of the total paid-up capital of the stock at one point in time and he started booking partial profit in the stock in a calibrated manner and now he has offloaded his stake in the company to such an extent that his name has gone missing from the list of individual shareholders of the company.

Apart from the above, Vijay Kedia also sold stakes in 3 companies including a Tata group company.

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