Asian share markets are mixed today as investors anxiously awaited a pivotal Bank of Japan (BOJ) meeting that could see the world's third-largest economy shift away from decades of ultra-low interest rates.

The Nikkei is trading up by 2.4% while the Hang Seng is down 0.1%. The Shanghai Composite is trading on a flat note.

In the US stock markets, Wall Street's main indices fell yesterday. The Dow Jones fell more than 1% as weak earnings from Goldman Sachs dragged the index lower, but a jump in Tesla shares helped the Nasdaq stay in the positive zone.

The Dow Jones fell 1.1% while the tech-heavy Nasdaq ended higher by 0.1%.

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

Source: Equitymaster

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

Benchmark indices opened on a positive note and extended gains as the session progressed.

At present, the BSE Sensex is trading higher by 243 points. Meanwhile, the NSE Nifty is trading higher by 65 points.

Tata Steel, HDFC Bank, and Wipro are among the top gainers today.

Tata Motors, M&M, and UltraTech Cement are among the top losers today.

Broader markets are trading on a positive note. The BSE Mid Cap index is trading higher by 0.2% and the BSE Small Cap index is trading up by 0.3%.

Sectoral indices are trading on a mixed note with stocks in the metal sector, finance sector, and banking sector witnessing buying.

While auto and power stocks are trading on a negative note.

Shares of L&T, and Edelweiss Financial hit their 52-week high today.

The rupee is trading at Rs 81.8 against the US dollar.

In the commodity markets, gold prices trade lower by Rs 105 at Rs 56,247 per 10 grams.

Meanwhile, silver prices are trading higher by 0.1% at Rs 69,252 per 1 kg.
 

ITC to acquire Yoga Bar

In news from the FMCG sector, cigarette-to-hotel conglomerate ITC on Tuesday announced plans to acquire direct-to-consumer (D2C) health food brand Yoga Bar, a healthy snack company based in Bengaluru.

The FMCG major will acquire 100% of Sproutlife Foods (SFPL) over a period of three to four years.

The company will initially buy a 39.4% stake for Rs 1.7 billion (bn). Further infusion of Rs 800 million (m) for a total 47.5% stake will be done by 31 March 2025.

The remaining stake will be acquired on a pre-defined valuation criteria basis, subject to other conditions agreed to in the binding documents.

Sproutlife is a start-up engaged in the business of manufacturing and selling food products under the trademark 'Yoga Bar'. Positioned as a digital-first brand, Yoga Bar currently has high salience of online sales (D2C, e-commerce platforms, etc.) with a growing presence in offline stores.

Yoga Bar's turnover was Rs 680 m for the financial year 2021-22. It has a market size of Rs 450 bn.

Speaking of FMCG stocks, according to data available on NSDL, after pharma stocks, FMCG stocks saw the biggest inflows of Rs 165.7 billion in the first three-quarters of the current fiscal.

It seems 2023 has brought new hope for FMCG companies...

Even on technical charts, the index has broken out of the bullish pattern.

(Click on image to enlarge)

On a 4hours or 240mins chart of the Nifty FMCG Index, the bullish dragon harmonic pattern is visible with the breakout at 44,450.
 

Sundaram Fasteners bags a new order

Sundaram Fasteners, one of the largest suppliers to original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) and automakers globally, has won the biggest contract in its 60-year history.

The Chennai-based company has been awarded a US$ 250 m (about Rs 2,043.3 crore) contract by a leading global automobile manufacturer for the supply of sub-assemblies for its electric vehicle (EV) platform.

The deal is one of the largest won by a supplier in India for this range of products for an EV platform, the company claimed.

The company plans to invest Rs 2 bn to support the new orders under the six-year-long purchase package involving the supply of input and stator shaft sub-assemblies and drive gear sub-assemblies.

Sundaram Fasteners will ship the parts from its powertrain divisions located at Mahindra World City in Chengalpattu, Tamil Nadu, and Sri City in Tirupati district, Andhra Pradesh. The parts will be serviced from its warehouse in North America.

The launch of the new vehicles is planned for the North America platform in 2024.

Note that the electric vehicle (EV) megatrend is a once-in-a-century revolution happening right in front of us.

The revolution has taken the auto sector by storm. All segments of the sector are ripe for disruption, and India's top EV stocks are set to benefit from this shift.
 

Jio rolls out 5G services in 16 more cities

Expanding its connectivity further, Reliance Jio launched its 5G services in 16 more cities across seven states on 17 January.

With this, Reliance Jio has become the first and the only operator to launch 5G services in the majority of these cities.

Jio users in these cities will be invited to the Jio Welcome Offer, to experience unlimited data at up to 1 Gb per second+ speeds, at no additional cost, starting today.

Among gradual 5G service launches across the country, Jio recently announced its connectivity services in Chhattisgarh, Bihar, and Jharkhand on the occasion of Makar Sankranti.

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