Asian shares plumbed a fresh 11-month low on Friday as fears of a regional conflict in the Middle East intensified and as a relentless rise in long-term US yields pressured valuations, while supply concerns lifted oil prices further.

The MSCI's fell 0.8%, the Nikkei index was down 1% and China's Shanghai fell 0.4%.

US stocks ended sharply lower on Thursday as it faces the prospect of a 5% yield on the 10-year Treasury for the first time since 2007.

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

Source: Equitymaster

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

At present, the BSE Sensex is trading down by 208 points. Meanwhile, the NSE Nifty is trading 70 points lower.

Nestle and Tata Motors are among the top gainers today.

ITC and HUL on the other hand are among the top losers today.

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

Barring realty stocks, sectoral indices are trading mixed with stocks in the oil and gas sector and metal sector witnessing buying.

The rupee is trading at Rs 83.19 against the US dollar.

In commodity markets, gold prices are trading 0.5% higher at Rs 60,600 per 10 grams today.

Meanwhile, silver prices are trading 0.3% higher at Rs 71,861 per 1 kg.
 

Tata Motors to acquire a stake in Freight Tiger

Tata Motors and Freight Commerce Solutions Private Limited (Freight Tiger) on Thursday signed a securities subscription agreement (SSA) and a shareholder's agreement (SHA) for the acquisition of a 26.8% stake in 'Freight Tiger' for a consideration of Rs 1.5 bn.

The SSA also includes a provision enabling Tata Motors to further invest Rs 1 bn over the next two years at the then prevailing market value.

Freight Tiger is a digital platform that provides end-to-end logistics value chain solutions for cargo movement in the country.

The platform connects shippers, carriers, logistics service providers, and fleet owners to a single digital marketplace, making it easy to find, book, and manage freight whilst offering a variety of software as a service (SaaS) solutions to digitize and streamline logistics interactions.

The platform also facilitates more than 10 million trips annually and has been successfully integrating and ironing out inefficiencies in cargo movements over the last seven years.

Further, as the largest electric vehicle (EV) player in the country, Tata Motors has established an early lead in the PV segment by focusing on SUVs and incorporating attractive product styling.

Tata Motors stock price hits record high recently. 

In September 2023, Tata Motors was among the most bought stocks of mutual funds.
 

ITC Q2 Results

Hotels-to-FMCG major ITC on October 19 reported a standalone net profit of Rs 49.3 bn for the September 2023 quarter of the current financial year, a growth of 10.3% from the year-ago period.

Revenue from operations came in at Rs 177.1 bn, up 3.2%from Rs 171.6 bn in the year-ago quarter.

During the quarter, FMCG excluding cigarettes segment revenue was up 8.3% year-on-year (YoY). Segment EBITDA margin expanded 1.5% YoY to 11%.

The cigarettes segment revenue was up 8.5% YoY. The company said it saw sustained volume clawback from illicit trade on the back of deterrent actions by enforcement agencies and relative stability in taxes.

Agribusiness segment revenue was up 26.4% YoY.

ITC is one of the best dividend-paying stocks. We did an editorial back in January 2022 listing the best dividend stocks you can count on.

Apart from that, we also covered an editorial a couple of months ago explaining why the prospects for ITC look good. 
 

Why Zomato Share Price is Rising

Shares of Zomato rose marginally in Friday's trade as a total of 93.5 m shares changed hands worth Rs 10.4 bn on the counter via a block deal.

A media report had earlier suggested that the Japan-based multinational investment holding firm SoftBank, through its affiliate SVF Growth Singapore Pte, intended to sell a 1.1% stake in the online food delivery platform today.

The offer price was seen in the range of Rs 1 bn to Rs 1.1 bn per share, suggesting a discount of up to 2% to Thursday's closing price.

The offer size could be about Rs 10.2 bn, the report had suggested earlier.

SVF Growth (Singapore) Pte Ltd owned 18,71,38,736 shares, or 2.2% take, in Zomato as of 30 September 2023.

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