Asian markets traded lower on Wednesday tracking overnight losses on Wall Street. Japan's Nikkei 225 fell 0.5%, while the Topix dropped 0.3%. South Korea's Kospi declined 1.1%, and the Kosdaq Index fell 1.4%.

US stock market indices ended lower on Tuesday amid profit booking, while investors awaited US inflation data.

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

Source: Equitymaster

At present, the BSE Sensex is trading 100 points lower and NSE Nifty is trading 60 points lower.

Tata Motors, NTPC, and Bharti Airtel are among the top gainers today.

M&M, Hindalco and Tata Steel other hand are among the top losers today.

Broader markets are trading on a negative note. The BSE Midcap index is trading 0.5% lower and the BSE Smallcap index is trading 0.8% lower.

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

The rupee is trading at Rs 84.40 against the US dollar.

In commodity markets, gold prices are trading 0.4% higher at Rs 75,170 per 10 grams today.
 

Nykaa Q2 Results

FSN E-Commerce Ventures, the parent company of beauty and fashion brand Nykaa, on Tuesday, reported a 67% rise in its net profit to Rs 130 m for the second quarter of the financial year 2025 (Q2FY25), compared to Rs 78 m in the year-ago period.

Growth was bolstered by robust revenues across its beauty and fashion businesses. However, sequentially, profit fell four per cent from Rs 136 m a quarter ago, according to regulatory filings.

The company's consolidated revenue from operations grew 24% YoY to Rs 18.8 bn, up from Rs 15.1 bn a year ago and Rs 1,746 crore in Q1 FY25.

Nykaa's earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortisation (EBITDA) grew 29% YoY to Rs 1,037 million in Q2 FY25.

The firm's total expenses for the quarter came in at Rs 18.6 bn, up from Rs 15 bn in the year-ago period, and Rs 17.3 bn a quarter ago. The firm's beauty vertical recorded a 29% YoY GMV growth, reaching Rs 27.8 bn in Q2FY25, fuelled by new customer acquisition growth of 31% YoY.

This brought Nykaa's cumulative beauty customer base to 30 m and its cumulative base to 37 m.

The superstore serves over 235,000 transacting retailers across over 1,060 cities and towns.
 

BSE Shares in Focus

Leading exchange BSE shares will be in focus on Wednesday after the firm reported 193% year-on-year (YoY) growth in its consolidated net profit at Rs 3.5 bn for the second quarter, compared with Rs 1.2 bn in the last year quarter.

Revenue from operations rose 138% YoY to Rs 7.5 bn in the reporting period from Rs 3.1 bn in the year-ago period.

The profit before tax (PBT) for the September quarter during the reporting period also more than doubled to Rs 4 bn as against Rs 1.6 bn in the last year quarter.

Operating expenses in the July-September 2024 period rose to Rs 3.9 bn, compared with Rs 2 bn in the corresponding period of last year.

Investment income during the quarter increased to Rs 670 m, compared with Rs 475 m in the last year quarter.

Meanwhile, the other income rose marginally to Rs 56.8 m as against Rs 49.9 m in the corresponding period of last year's quarter.

TCEL to Invest in UK Facility

Tata Chemicals on Tuesday said its wholly-owned subsidiary Tata Chemicals Europe (TCEL) is planning an investment of 60 million Euro (Rs 6.6 bn) to build a 1,80,000 tonnes per annum pharmaceutical grade sodium bicarbonate plant in Northwich in the UK.

This new plant will triple TCEL's production capacity of pharmaceutical-grade sodium bicarbonate in the UK, and Tata Chemicals will aid in a regulatory filing.

The construction of the plant is expected to commence in 2025, with the first production likely to begin in 2027.

The new plant, using a patented process, will use carbon dioxide captured from energy generation emissions as a key raw material and will meet growing demand for high grade sodium bicarbonate from pharmaceutical manufacturers for use in medicines and hemodialysis.

Further, Tata Chemicals said that as part of the restructuring operations to facilitate this investment, the Board of TCEL has approved the proposal to cease chemical production at its loss-making Lostock plant by the end of January 2025, subject to completion of employee consultation as required under local law.

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