Asian shares stuttered on Wednesday as a blast at a Gaza hospital dealt a blow to hopes for containing the crisis.

The MSCI's and Nikkei index was down 0.3%; China's Shanghai fell 0.1%; Hang Seng declined 0.3%.

The Nasdaq dipped and benchmark US Treasury yields surged on Tuesday as robust economic data and strong third-quarter earnings suggested the Federal Reserve may keep policy tight for longer than expected.

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

Data Source: Equitymaster

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

At present, the BSE Sensex is trading down by 56 points. Meanwhile, the NSE Nifty is trading marginally lower.

Cipla and Hindalco are among the top gainers today.

Apollo Hospital and Bajaj Finance on the other hand are among the top losers today.

Broader markets are trading positively. The BSE Mid Cap index is trading 0.2% higher and the BSE Small Cap index is trading up by 0.4%.

Barring realty stocks, sectoral indices are trading mixed with stocks in the energy sector, metal sector, and telecom sector witnessing buying. Meanwhile, stocks in the realty sector and banking sector are witnessing selling pressure.

The rupee is trading at Rs 83.22 against the US dollar.

In commodity markets, gold prices are trading 0.2% lower at Rs 59,050 per 10 grams today.

Meanwhile, silver prices are trading 0.3% lower at Rs 70,810 per 1 kg.
 

Bajaj Finance Q2 Results

Bajaj Finance on 17 October, reported a consolidated net profit of Rs 35.5 bn for the September 2023 quarter of the current financial year, up 28% from the same quarter of the previous year.

Bajaj Finance's net profit rose on the back of improved net interest income, new loans booked, and improved asset quality.

Bajaj Finance said the number of loans booked during the quarter rose 26% to 8.5 million (m) from 6.8 m in the corresponding period of the previous year.

In the reporting quarter, the consolidated net interest income (NII) of the non-banking finance company (NBFC) rose 26% on-year to Rs 88.5 bn. In a similar period last year, NII stood at Rs 70 bn.

Whereas, on a standalone basis, NII also increased by 26% to Rs 80.6 bn in the July-September quarter, from Rs 63.9 bn a year back.

NII refers to the difference between the interest earned by the company and the interest expended.

Despite the improvement in the asset quality, Bajaj Finance's loan losses and provisions for the second quarter of the current financial year rose to Rs 10.8 bn, as against Rs 7.3 bn in a similar period last year.

IndiGo's Flight Launch

The airline said it has launched routes to destinations such as Jakarta, Nairobi, Almaty, Tashkent, Baku, and Tbilisi. It added that it has reinstated flights from Delhi to Hong Kong and will recommence Delhi-Male operations starting 1 November 2023 this year.

Apart from expanding to international destinations, the airline said it has a total of eight codeshare partnerships, which include arrangements with Turkish Airlines, British Airways, Qantas, Air France, KLM, American Airlines, Qatar Airways, and Virgin Atlantic.

A codeshare partnership is a mutually beneficial arrangement between two airlines that allows an airline to book its passengers on its partner carriers.

Indian airlines are known for their mischiefs and managing an airline business is not so easy. 
 

LIC's Tax Disputes

Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) on Tuesday said that the Income Tax Authority has filed an appeal with the Bombay High Court against the Income Tax Appellate Tribunal's decision to give the insurer relief in two tax disputes amounting to Rs 49.9 bn.

The litigation has been filed by the Principal Commissioner of Income Tax, Mumbai, for two claims: Rs 18.4 bn and Rs 31.5 bn from AY 2014.

These litigations will not have a material adverse effect on the corporation's financial position and results of operations.

The Income Tax Appellate Tribunal, Mumbai Bench had decided some issues in favour of the biggest insurer.

Recently, LIC received income tax penalty notices of Rs 2.9 bn in September and Rs 840 m in October 2023 from GST officials.

Since listing, shares of LIC have been following one trend - going down. 

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