Asian stocks are trading lower today after hawkish signals from the Federal Reserve's latest meeting minutes damped investor sentiment.

The Nikkei is trading 1.8% lower, and the Hang Seng index tumbled 3.1%. While Shanghai composite was down 0.5%

Wall Street's main indexes ended with modest declines on Wednesday as investors digested minutes from the US Federal Reserve's latest meeting and braced for significant economic data in the days to come.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average ended 0.4% lower, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite ended marginally lower.

Here's a table showing how US stocks performed on Wednesday:

Data source: Equitymaster

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

At present, the BSE Sensex is trading higher by 162 points. Meanwhile, the NSE Nifty is trading up by 50 points.

Reliance Industries and Nestle India are among the top gainers today.

IndusInd Bank and Tata Steel on the other hand are among the top losers today.

Broader markets are trading on a positive note. The BSE Mid Cap index is up by 0.4% the BSE Small Cap index is trading 0.7% higher.

Sectoral indices are trading on a positive note except for the IT sector, and the metal sector. Stocks in the energy sector, oil & gas sector, and realty sector witnessed most of the buying.

Shares of Nestle India and Maharashtra Scooters hit their 52-week high today.

The rupee is trading at Rs 82.46 against the US dollar.

In commodity markets, gold prices are trading lower by Rs 19 at Rs 58,454 per 10 grams today.

Meanwhile, silver prices are trading higher by 1.6% at Rs 70,775 per 1 kg.
 

Index rejig: JSW Steel to Replace HDFC

JSW Steel will replace Housing Development Finance Corporation (HDFC) in S&P BSE Sensex said the bourse in its release. It will be effective from July 13.

The rejig is due to the completion of the biggest corporate merger of HDFC with HDFC Bank.

Meanwhile, HDFC will be replaced with Zomato in BSE 100 index. HDFC will also be removed from S&P BSE Sensex 50 and replaced by Apollo Hospitals. On S&P BSE 500, HDFC will be replaced by JBM Auto Components.

HDFC Ltd will be removed from all the other BSE indices effective from 13 July. Besides HDFC, TVS Motor Company and Apollo Tyres have also been removed from a few indices of the exchange.

On the Nifty 50 index, LTIMindtree, a subsidiary of engineering giant Larsen & Toubro, will replace HDFC on 13 July.

The merger of HDFC Bank and HDFC came into effect on July 1. The boards have set July 13 as the record date to determine the eligible shareholders for allotment of shares under the merger deal.

Under the merger terms, eligible shareholders of HDFC will receive 42 new HDFC Bank shares for every 25 shares they held in the former.

Following the news of rejig, JSW Steel shares are trading in the green. In fact, it was rising even before this news. In the last one-year JSW Steel share price gained 42.9%

Adani Wilmar Q1 business update

Edible oil major Adani Wilmar on Wednesday reported a 25% year-on-year volume growth during the first quarter on account of robust consumer demand in edible oils & foods and a favorable base effect

However, it reported a 15% year-on-year (YoY) decline in sales due to a sharp decline in the prices of edible oil. The decline in edible oil prices has been a consistent trend since the first quarter of the financial year 2022 and continued into the current quarter.

On the other hand, the FMCG segment delivered an outstanding performance, recording a revenue growth of over 30% YoY. This segment generated revenue of more than Rs 10 billion (bn) for the quarter on a standalone basis.

Notably, this marks the eighth consecutive quarter with over 20% volume growth and 30% revenue growth for the segment.

The remarkable performance in the food and FMCG segment can be attributed to the rapid sales growth of branded products in the domestic market. The company noted that the shift in consumer preferences from unbranded to branded products is driving faster growth in branded food products.
 

Tata group company to increase stake in DCB Bank

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on 5 July 2023 gave its approval to Tata Asset Management Company (AMC) to increase its stake in DCB Bank to 7.5%.

The approval by the central bank for Tata group company to acquire an aggregate holding of 7.5% in DCB Bank is valid for a period of one year from the date of the RBI letter. Tata AMC is also advised by the RBI to ensure that its aggregate shareholding in DCB Bank shall not exceed 7.5%.

DCB Bank recently announced that a new direct tax collection system integrated with the government of India Income Tax Portal (TIN 2.0) has been successfully put into place. Taxpayers will have access to a convenient single platform through this integration for both tax payments and the electronic submission of tax returns.

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