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Informist, Thursday, Jan. 23, 2025

By Akash Mandal

MUMBAI – Benchmark equity indices may fall on Friday after rising for two straight sessions, as analysts expect some profit-booking. However, the direction taken by the indices would majorly depend on the earnings reported by large-cap stocks.

The overall trend in the market is still bearish, and the past two sessions of gains were probably just a breather from the broader trend, Ajit Mishra, senior vice president at Religare Broking, said. The Nifty 50 is expected to find support at 22950 points, and might fall to as low as 22500 points if it breaches that level, Mishra said. However, if the indices rise, the Nifty 50 might face selling pressure at the 23320 level. A pre-Budget rally seems unlikely next week, as the downtrend is an opportunity for foreign investors to increase their short positions, Mishra said.

Dr Reddy's Laboratories and Hindustan Petroleum Corp. will be the major stocks in focus after they reported their December quarter earnings post market hours on Thursday. Dr Reddy's reported a consolidated net profit of INR 14.14 billion, falling short of the estimate of INR 14.73 billion, on revenue of INR 241.16 billion. Investors will digest Dr Reddy's management commentary in a post-earnings conference call. HPCL posted a net profit of INR 30.23 billion, compared to analysts' expectation of INR 32.22 billion. Adani Green Energy, United Spirits, Indus Towers, Mphasis, and Mankind Pharma will also report their earnings for the December quarter later in the day.  

Nifty 50 constituents JSW Steel and Shriram Finance will announce their earnings on Friday. DLF Ltd., Godrej Consumer Products, InterGlobe Aviation, Torrent Pharmaceuticals, Bank of India, and AU Small Finance Bank will also report their earnings for the quarter. 

Investors will keep an eye on the overnight performance of equity indices in the US. Markets in the US have had a good run, gaining for three consecutive sessions. Indian information technology stocks have got a boost from the recent gains in US technology stocks. The tech-heavy NASDAQ Composite and the Nifty IT have both ended higher in the past two sessions. 

The market will also await US jobless claims data for the week ended Friday, which will be released later in the day. An underwhelming print might dampen sentiment, analysts said. Japan's inflation data for December and flash manufacturing purchasing managers' index data for January will come out Friday. Meanwhile, the US flash manufacturing purchasing managers' index data for January is set to be released after market hours on Friday.  End

Edited by Avishek Dutta

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