Asian share markets slipped today amid concerns that the rapid spread of Covid cases in China would further hurt economic growth and hinder global supply chains.

The Nikkei is trading flat while the Hang Seng was up by 1.3%. The Shanghai Composite is trading higher by 0.6%.

US stock markets were closed on Monday.

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

Benchmark indices reversed losses and are trading with marginal gains today supported by banking and finance stocks.

At present, the BSE Sensex is trading higher by 103 points. Meanwhile, the NSE Nifty is trading higher by 32 points.

Bajaj Finance, Axis Bank, and IndusInd Bank are among today's top gainers. Tata Steel, Maruti Suzuki, and Bharti Airtel are among the top losers today.

Broader markets are trading on a positive note. The BSE Mid Cap index is trading higher by 0.4% and the BSE Small Cap index is trading higher by 0.5%.

Sectoral indices are trading on a positive note with the exception of the metal sector. Stocks in the consumer durable sector, banking sector, and realty sector witness buying.

Shares of Solar Industries and RHI Magnesita hit their 52-week high today.

The rupee is trading at 82.7 against the US dollar.

In the commodity markets, gold prices trade higher by Rs 439 at Rs 55,617 per 10 grams.

Meanwhile, silver prices are trading higher by 1.6% at Rs 70,705 per 1 kg.

Speaking of stock markets, the Tata group is gearing up to bring another TCS to the market - Tata Electronics.

The recent development that has put Tata Electronics in the spotlight is Tata Sons Chairman Natarajan Chandrasekaran confirming the company's plans to venture into the semiconductor business, which is pegged to reach US$ 1 trillion in revenue by 2030 globally.

Tata Electronics could get listed anytime in 2023.
 

The next ITC of the banking sector

One of the most encouraging highlights of 2022 was Bank Nifty hitting a new lifetime high multiple times.

The performance of the banking sector on the bourses has made all bank stocks attractive. But what if we told you that we had found an ITC for the banking sector?

We all are aware that ITC had become the meme stock because its share price was stuck! It didn't move for the long term.

But when the share price picked up speed it moved like there was no tomorrow.

For ITC, the turning point was the replacement of a big chunk of tobacco revenues with food and FMCG revenues. For this bank, the turning point can be the replacement of a big chunk of high-risk microfinance lending with low-risk retail lending.
 

Zomato co-founder resigns

Food aggregator Zomato on Monday announced that co-founder and chief technology officer Gunjan Patidar has quit the company after more than ten years in the company.

He has tendered his resignation yesterday. In its regulatory filing, Zomato said that Patidar was not key managerial personnel.

This is another big exit from the company after Zomato co-founder Mohit Gupta quit the company after four and half year stint in November last year.

In November 2022, Zomato's new initiatives head and former food delivery chief Rahul Ganjoo resigned, while Siddharth Jhawar, the head of its intercity legends service also announced his exit from the company a week back.

Recently, the food aggregator laid off under 3% of its staff across the organization. The company said that the laying offs are based on regular performance.
 

HFCL bags new order

HFCL announced that it has received purchase orders aggregating to Rs 953.8 million (m) from Reliance Projects & Property Management Services for the supply of optical fiber cables.

The purchase orders were issued by Reliance Projects & Property Management Services for the supply of optical fiber cables to one of the leading private telecom operators in the country.

The order curtails supplying various types of optical fiber cables per customer specifications. The domestic order has to be executed by February 2023.

HFCL is engaged in a diverse telecom infrastructure enabler with active interest spanning telecom infrastructure development, system integration, and manufacture and supply of high-end telecom equipment, Optic Fibre, and Optic Fibre Cable (OFC).
 

Bajaj Auto sales decline

Bajaj Auto reported a 22% fall in total auto sales to 2,81,486 units in December 2022 as compared with 3,62,470 units sold in December 2021.

While domestic sales rose by 2% YoY to 1.5 lakh units, exports declined by 39% YoY to 1.3 lakh units during the period under review.

The company sold 2.5 two-wheeler units (down 23% YoY) and 34,462 commercial vehicle units (down 21% YoY) in December 2022.

Bajaj Auto is engaged in developing, manufacturing, and distributing automobiles such as motorcycles, commercial vehicles, electric two-wheelers, etc., and parts thereof.

The two-wheeler maker's consolidated net profit dropped 15.71% quarter that ended 30 June 2022 as against Rs 20.4 bn recorded in the corresponding quarter of the previous year. Revenue from operations jumped 16.4% to Rs 102 bn in the quarter that ended 30 September 2022 from Rs 87.6 bn posted in the same period a year ago.

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