Asian share markets gained today but some gains were erased. A rally on Wall Street in hopes the Federal Reserve could be nearing the end of aggressive rate increases was offset by weakness in Chinese shares and the Yuan.

The Nikkei rose by 1.3% while the Hang Seng rose by 0.9%. The Shanghai Composite is trading higher by 0.7%.

US stocks advanced on Monday, extending last week's gains as signs of economic softness suggested the effects of the Fed's aggressive policy aimed at cooling the economy, thereby curbing decades-high inflation, are beginning to take root.

The Dow Jones was up 1.3% and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite ended higher by 0.9%.

Back home, Indian share markets are trading on a volatile note.

Benchmark indices opened on a positive note today following the trend on SGX Nifty. But as the session progressed gains were erased.

At present, the BSE Sensex is trading lower by 35 points. Meanwhile, the NSE Nifty is trading down by 9 points.

SBI and ICICI Bank are among the top gainers today.

HUL and Kotak Mahindra Bank are among the top losers today.

Broader markets are trading on a mixed note. The BSE Mid Cap index is up by 0.3% and the BSE Small Cap index is trading lower by 0.1%.

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

While stocks in the metal sector, and auto sector witness buying.

Shares of Sun Pharma and ICICI Bank hit their 52-week high today.

In the commodity markets, gold prices trade higher by Rs 46 at Rs 50,626 per 10 grams.

Meanwhile, silver prices are trading higher at Rs 57,940 per 1 kg.

The rupee is trading at 82.7 against the US dollar. Recently, the rupee touched its record low.

India celebrated pre-Diwali on Saturday when the Indian cricket team won the match against arch-rivals Pakistan! It was a treat to watch that match. The last over had people biting their nails, crossing their fingers, and praying for the win.

Well, we know the results of India vs Pakistan match, but there is one match that has been going on for a long in India's corporate industry. This match is equally interesting. I am talking about the match between the two biggest business houses in India - Adani vs Ambani.
 

ICICI Bank declared its Q2 results

In news from the banking sector, one of the best banking stocks - ICICI Bank declared its Q2 results.

ICICI Bank, the country's second-largest private sector lender, registered a massive 37% year-on-year growth in standalone profit and a 26.5% rise in net interest income, with a significant fall in bad loan provisions.

The standalone profit jumped to Rs 75.6 bn for the quarter, rising from Rs 55.1 bn in the same period last year.

Its net interest income during the quarter increased to Rs 147.9 bn, compared to Rs 116.9 bn in the corresponding period of the last financial year, with net interest margin expanding around 30 bps on a sequential as well as year-on-year (YoY) basis.

Overall loan portfolio grew by 23% YoY, with domestic loan portfolio growth at 24%, adding total period-end deposits grew by 12% YoY to Rs 10.9 tn in this quarter, with an average current account and savings account (CASA) ratio of 45% in the same period.

ICICI Bank has reported an improvement in asset quality for the quarter with gross non-performing assets as a percentage of gross advances falling 22 bps QoQ to 3.2%, and net NPA dropped 9 bps sequentially to 0.6%.

The bank said it has written off gross NPAs of Rs 11 bn during the quarter.

Its consolidated profit increased by 31% YoY to Rs 80.1 bn in this quarter and assets grew by 14% to Rs 18.3 tn in the same period.
 

Blood Bath for Berger Paints

Moving on to news from the paint sector, the performance of paint stocks in 2022 has remained subdued. Most paint companies have seen a fall in their share price in 2022 due to various reasons.

For the past 2-3 quarters now, paint companies are battling with cost inflation pressures. They have taken an aggressive approach by going on a price hiking spree to protect margins.

Among the biggies, Berger Paints' share price has seen a substantial fall in 2022. Berger is India's second-largest paint manufacturer by market share.

In 2022 so far, shares of the company are down 25%. In the past one month, the stock has seen a correction of around 9%.

Piramal Pharma Eyes Expansion, Acquisitions

Moving on to news from the pharma sector, Piramal Pharma has said it would focus on the scale-up of its operations and margin growth, through a combination of organic expansion and acquisitions in the areas of contract development & manufacturing services (CDMO) and complex generics.

Piramal Pharma is a company demerged from Piramal Enterprises. Its shares were listed on stock exchanges recently on 19 October.

In an interview, the company's chairperson Nandini Piramal said the company would make Rs 12 bn of capital expenditure in the next 12-18 months in antibody-drug conjugate capacities at Grangemouth, the UK.

It is also seeking to raise active pharma ingredient capacities at Riverview in the US, besides boosting the capacities of its API facilities in India.

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