Asian shares opened lower on Monday amid clashes in the Middle East with Hamas.

The MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was up 0.2%. Japan's Nikkei fell 0.1% and Hang Seng surged 1.6%.

A blowout US jobs report on Friday sparked a delayed rally on Wall Street as the data revealed a strong economy with moderating inflation that helped set aside fears of higher interest rates that caused bond yields to soar.

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

Source: Equitymaster

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

At present, the BSE Sensex is trading lower by 284 points. Meanwhile, the NSE Nifty is trading lower by 90 points.

TCS and ONGC are among the top gainers today.

Titan and Asian Paints on the other hand are among the top losers today.

Broader markets are trading negatively. The BSE Mid Cap index is trading 0.8% lower and the BSE Small Cap index is trading lower by 0.9%.

Sectoral indices are trading mixed today with stocks in the IT sector and healthcare sector witnessing buying. Meanwhile, stocks in metal and power sector are witnessing selling pressure.

The rupee is trading at Rs 83.21 against the US dollar.

In commodity markets, gold prices are trading 1.2% higher at Rs 57,560 per 10 grams today.

Meanwhile, silver prices are trading 1.4% higher at Rs 69,147 per 1 kg.
 

Titan Q2 Update

Leading jewelry and watchmaker Titan reported a 20% growth in standalone revenue for the second quarter. During the period, it added 81 stores across verticals, taking the group's retail presence to 2,859 outlets.

Its jewelry division reported a revenue growth of 19%. Building on the positive first-quarter momentum, domestic consumer sales (secondary) exhibited strong year-on-year growth led by a double-digit increase in buyers and ticket sizes.

Moreover, as part of its global expansion, its jewelry brand Tanishq expanded its Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) presence by entering Qatar and adding two new boutiques in Doha. The Jewellery Division added 39 stores, taking the total count to 598.

The Watches & Wearables (W&W) Division's domestic business grew 32%. This comprises 22% growth in Analog watches and over two-fold growth in Wearables. The Wearables category's nearly 2.5X year-on-year (YoY)growth propelled the segment's share to the mid-teens in the W&W portfolio.

The segment added 20 new stores in the quarter consisting of 10 in Titan World, five in Helios, and five in Fastrack, respectively.

Over the 'EyeCare' segment, Titan witnessed sales growth of 12% YoY. International brands grew faster as compared to House brands. The Division added four new Titan Eye+ and one new Fastrack store in the domestic market during the quarter.

Its Fragrances & Fashion Accessories (F&FA) grew 4% YoY. This was driven by 14% growth in fragrances and 12% growth in fashion accessories.

Its Indian Dress Wear business Taneira sales grew 64% YoY, and the brand opened four new stores during the quarter.

Speaking of Titan, here's some interesting data, even a tiny investment of Rs 1,000 per month in the stock of Titan, since 2002, would have led to mouthwatering returns.

Take a look at how the power of compounding has gone wild here...

Believe it or not, Titan was a Tata group penny stock two decades ago.

With the consistent expansion in the luxury segment, Titan stands among the top 5 jewelry stocks in India.
 

Reliance Retail to raise funds

Reliance Retail Ventures said on Friday it would raise Rs 49.7 bn (US$ 598 m) from the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, in the latest bet on India's largest retailer ahead of a potential stock market listing.

The investment by ADIA at a valuation of US$ 100.8 bn will translate into a stake of 0.6% in the company.

Reliance Retail, with more than 18,000 stores and which competes with Amazon and Walmart's Flipkart, has attracted investments from private equity firm KKR & Co and Qatar Investment Authority (QIA) in recent months.

The investment comes as Reliance set an internal target to raise US$ 3.5 bn.

Reliance Retail was in talks with existing investors including the sovereign wealth funds of Singapore, Abu Dhabi, and Saudi Arabia for combined new investments of around US$ 1.5 bn.

ADIA and Singapore's GIC had invested US$ 664 m each into the retail unit in 2020 as Reliance sold a 10.09% stake at a valuation of Rs 4.7 tn.

Reliance Retail is a subsidiary of Reliance Industries.

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