Equity Alert
HUL dn; co sees GST rejig to impact Oct sales, recovery in Nov
This story was originally published at 10:52 IST on 29 September 2025
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Equity Alert: HUL dn; co sees GST rejig to impact Oct sales, recovery in Nov
MUMBAI--1031 IST--Shares of Hindustan Unilever fell nearly 3?ter the company said the impact of goods and services rationalisation is expected to have a larger-than-estimated impact on inventory. Later, the stock came off lows and at 1026 IST, it traded at INR 2,489, down 0.9%. The stock was among the worst performers in the Nifty 50 and Nifty FMCG. So far Monday, 613,958 shares of the company have changed hands on the NSE, higher than 203,447 shares traded during the same period on Friday.
The company has cut prices across its portfolio to pass on the GST rejig benefit to consumers. While the company said its sales will continue to take a hit in October, it anticipates a recovery from November once prices stabilise. JM Financial Institutional Securities believes the company has implemented high-single-digit to low-double-digit price cuts across key beneficiary categories. The company expects near flat to low-single-digit growth in consolidated sales in the September quarter.
"We believe this passing by impact will be there for all the FMCG (fast-moving consumer goods) companies depending on their inventory level in the market. The impact on food companies might be relatively lesser compared to the categories such as personal care and home care having higher shelf life," ICICI Direct Research said in a report. However, the impact is likely to be seen more on primary sales. The brokerage expects a sentimental impact of the business update on the company, but in the medium to long term, it sees volume growth gradually improving from the December quarter.
BofA Securities has maintained its 'neutral' rating on the stock with a target price of INR 2,840, which implies a nearly 12% downside to the stock's previous close. Of the 23 brokerage reports on the stock available with Informist, 18 have a 'buy' or equivalent rating on the stock, three have a 'hold' or equivalent rating, and two have a 'sell' or equivalent rating. (Simran Rede)
Equity Alert: Ganesh Consumer Products lists at INR 296.05, discount of 8%
MUMBAI--1026 IST--Shares of Ganesh Consumer Products listed at INR 296.05 on the NSE, a discount of nearly 8% to the issue price of INR 322. At 1025 IST, the stock traded at INR 301.25, down 6.5% against the issue price. Nearly 3.30 million shares of the company have changed hands so far on NSE.
The company's initial public offering was subscribed 2.7 times at the end of the final day. Investors bid for 23.80 million shares against 8.91 million shares on offer, according to data on BSE's website.
Ganesh Consumer is a Kolkata-based fast-moving consumer goods company that manufactures whole wheat and other derivatives of wheat such as maida, sooji, and dalia. For the financial year 2024-25 (Apr-Mar), the company had reported a net profit of INR 354.32 million on a revenue of INR 8.50 billion. (Gopika Balasubramanium)
Equity Alert: Atlanta Electricals lists at INR 857, 14% premium to IPO price
MUMBAI--1020 IST--Shares of Atlanta Electricals listed at INR 857, nearly 14% premium to the issue price of INR 754 on the NSE. At 1013 IST, the stock traded at INR 823.05, up over 9% from its issue price. Nearly five million shares of the company have been traded so far.
The initial public offering of the company closed Wednesday. The offer was subscribed a whopping 70.63 times, with the company receiving bids for 461.79 million shares against the 6.54 million shares on offer.
The company manufactures power, auto, and inverter duty transformers in India. It operates three fully functional manufacturing facilities -- two located at Anand in Gujarat and one at Bengaluru in Karnataka. For 2024–25 (Apr-Mar), the company reported a consolidated net profit of INR 1.19 billion on a consolidated revenue of INR 12.44 billion. (Gopika Balasubramanium)
Equity Alert: Indices open higher snapping six-day losing run; HUL down 3%
MUMBAI--0940 IST--The domestic benchmark indices opened higher on Monday, snapping a six-day losing run. The indices had fallen nearly 3% last week.
At 0939 IST, the Nifty 50 was at 24729.10 points, up 74.40 points or 0.3%. Fall in index heavyweights such as ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank, and Reliance Industries limited the gains. The BSE Sensex was at 80642.29 points, up 215.83 points or 0.3%.
Broader market indices rose more than the benchmark indices. Small-cap indices outperformed both headline and mid-cap indices. The Nifty Smallcap 50 was up 0.7% and the Nifty Midcap 50 up 0.5%.
Nifty FMCG index was the worst hit due to a near 3?ll in shares of Hindustan Unilever. The stock fell after the company said it expects the consolidated growth of its business for Jul-Sept to be near flat to low single digit due to the transitory impact of the goods and services tax rejig. Godrej Consumer Products and Nestle India fell 0.5-0.8%.
Investors bought shares of state-owned banks. The Nifty PSU Bank index rose over 1%, with Canara Bank, Bank of India, and Union Bank of India gaining 1-2%. Oil and gas stocks were in the green. Aegis Logistics, Bharat Petroleum Corp., and Oil India rose 2-3%. Oil India shares were up after the company said it has discovered natural gas in the Andaman Shallow Offshore Block.
Sunteck Realty rose over 3?ter the company announced the launch of luxury residential brand, Emaance, under which projects with a gross development value of INR 200 billion will be launched over the next one year. (Gopika Balasubramanium)
Equity Alert: Morgan Stanley ups IndusInd Bk to equal-weight, target INR 785
MUMBAI--0915 IST--Morgan Stanley has upgraded IndusInd Bank to "equal-weight" from "under-weight" and hiked the stock's target price by nearly 5% to INR 785, NDTV Profit said in a post on social media platform X. The brokerage said the stock currently trades at 0.8 times the 2026-27 (Apr-Mar) book value which is fair on account of good common equity tier – 1 and strong liquidity coverage ratio.
There is clarity in the management after the appointment of the new chief executive officer, the broking firm said. The bank has appointed Rajiv Anand as the managing director and the CEO effective Aug. 25. The broking firm sees a cut in earnings per share owing to coverage build-up in FY26.
At 0922 IST, shares of the lender were 0.5% higher at INR 715.70. Morgan Stanley's target price of INR 785 implies an upside of over 10% from Friday's close. To note, the stock has fallen nearly 17% in the last 90 days. (Gopika Balasubramanium)
Equity Alert: HUL inventory correction impact larger than expected: ICICI Sec
MUMBAI--0908 IST--Hindustan Unilever's quarterly update Friday suggests the impact of lower goods and service tax on inventory will be larger than the initial estimate, ICICI Securities said in a note. This is expected to be negative for the stock price in the near term, the brokerage said.
"We thought the impact of inventory correction would be for 20-30 days. However, HUL expects the impact would be witnessed in the month of October as well, which will not augur well with the Street," the brokerage said. HUL saw some impact on sales in September due to distributors delaying purchase of products as they are yet to clear old inventory with higher GST prices. The company expects the impact to continue in October.
ICICI Securities said other fast-moving consumer goods companies may face a similar impact on sales depending on inventory in the market. "The impact with food companies might be relatively lesser compared to the categories such as personal care and home care having higher shelf life. Having said that the impact would be more on primary sales," the brokerage said.
ICICI Securities expects inventory correction to impact sales only in the near term and expects volume growth to improve in the medium to long term. HUL will gradually improve volume growth from the December quarter, the brokerage firm said.
(Anshul Choudhary)
Equity Alert: Most Asian indices up; focus on Australian central bank's policy
MUMBAI--0828 IST--Most Asian indices were up Monday even as traders braced for a possible shutdown of the US government. Indices in Japan were down while those in South Korea rose more than 1%. Australia's S&P/ASX 200 index rose ahead of Reserve Bank of Australia's two-day policy meeting in which the central bank is expected to keep its cash rate steady.
"If the shutdown (of US government) lasts beyond the Fed meeting, the Fed will rely on private data for its policy decisions...on the margin, we think this may lower the likelihood of an October cut, but only marginally," Reuters quoted analysts at Bank of America as saying. The shutdown could delay release of US payrolls data for September.
The Reserve Bank of Australia starts its two-day monetary policy deliberation Monday. The central bank is expected to keep its cash rate steady at 3.6%, according to a poll by Reuters. "The RBA has little incentive to rush. Unemployment has crept up... but the labour market remains relatively tight compared with pre-COVID norms," Sunny Kim Nguyen, head of Australian economics at Moody's Analytics, was quoted as saying by Reuters. The S&P/ ASX index was up 0.6% in early trade.
South Korea's Kospi was up 1%, recovering from a fall Friday after US-South Korea trade talks grew uncertain as media reports suggested that the country was unable to pay $350 billion to the US in upfront investment for a tariff deal.
Japan's Nikkei 225 was down 0.7% and the broader Topix declined 1.6%. Both indices had hit record intraday highs Friday. Shares of Sony Financial Group rose 36% compared to its reference price in its market debut, according to a CNBC report. The company's parent, Sony Group had decided to spin-off its financial division earlier.
Following were the levels of key Asian indices at 0823 IST:
|
Index |
Level |
Change in % |
|
CSI 300 Index |
4577.56 |
0.57 |
|
Hang Seng Index |
26496.58 |
1.41 |
|
Nikkei 225 Day |
44892.52 |
(-)1.02 |
|
TOPIX FIRST SECTION |
3130.39 |
(-)1.78 |
|
KOSPI |
3425.99 |
1.18 |
|
FTSE Singapore Strait Times |
4276.60 |
0.25 |
|
S&P/ASX 200 Index |
8849.20 |
0.86 |
(Eshitva Prakash)
Informist, Monday, Sept. 29, 2025 Tel +91 (22) 6985-4000
Equity Alert: Indices may open tad higher Mon after near-3% slump last week
MUMBAI--0806 IST--Benchmark indices may see slight gains Monday after a sharp slump last week, when the Nifty 50 lost 2.7%. However, high stock valuations amid concerns of decline in exports to the US are likely to keep gains muted this week or push markets down.
Last week, pharmaceutical stocks were hit after US President Donald Trump said he will impose 100% tariff on branded and patented pharmaceutical products from Wednesday. While a direct impact of this is expected to be minor on Indian companies, sentiment is likely to stay muted over concerns of tariffs on any key products. Analysts now await details about products which would attract tariffs.
Sentiment in the information technology sector is expected to be weak after the US hiked fees for H-1B visa applications, which may hurt Indian IT companies' margins from 2026-27 (Apr-Mar). Further, recent developments have raised concerns if Trump would target the sector next with tariffs.
Last week, the Nifty 50 ended at 24654.70, falling for the sixth straight session. It fell below its key support of 25000 points last week, which pushed several technical analysts to turn bearish on the market. Going forward, the Nifty 50 is likely to find support at 24600-24400 points and face resistance at 24800-24900 points.
GIFT Nifty futures indicated the market is expected to open slightly higher. At 0803 IST, its September contracts traded at 24797, up 0.1% from its previous close and 0.6% from Nifty 50's close last week. Cues from global markets were mixed with US indices ending slightly higher Friday but most of them still ended slghtly down over the week. Asian indices were mixed with markets in China, Japan, Taiwan down, while those in Hong Kong, and South Korea were up.
Bond yields in the US have gained over the last two weeks, affecting flows into the Indian market. Yield on the 10-year bond rose to 4.2% last week from near-4% over two weeks ago. September is turning out be the third straight month when foreign investors have pulled out money from Indian equities. So far this month, foreign investors have net sold equities worth over INR 175 billion. (Anshul Choudhary)
Equity Alert: US mkt ends higher Fri as Aug inflation in line with estimates
MUMBAI--0815 IST--US benchmark indices closed higher Friday after inflation for August boosted bets of further interest rate cuts by the US Federal Reserve. US consumer spending data for August was also better than expected.
The personal consumption index, which is the Fed's preferred inflation gauge, showed core inflation at 2.9% in August, in line with market estimates, CNBC reported. US consumer spending rose 0.6% last month after an unrevised 0.5?vance in July, the Commerce Department's Bureau of Economic Analysis said. Economists polled by Reuters had forecast consumer spending to increase 0.5%.
Shares of truck-maker Paccar rose more than 5% and those of pharmaceutical company Eli Lilly rose 1.4?ter US President Donald Trump, in a post on social media, said his administration was going to slap 100% tariffs on branded and patented pharma imports. He also said import tariffs on heavy trucks will be 25%. On the other hand, shares of artificial intelligence giant Oracle fell nearly 3%.
Market participants now see an 89% probability of a rate cut by the US Fed in October and a 66% chance of another in December, according to the CME FedWatch Tool.
Following are the closing levels of US indices Friday:
|
Index |
Level |
Change in % |
|
S&P 500 |
6643.70 |
0.59 |
|
NASDAQ Composite |
22484.07 |
0.44 |
|
Dow Jones Industrial Average |
46247.29 |
0.65 |
(Eshitva Prakash)
End
US$1 = INR 88.74
IST, or Indian Standard Time, is five-and-a-half hours ahead of GMT
Edited by Deepshikha Bhardwaj
All prices from National Stock Exchange, unless otherwise specified.
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