Listen In: Will Q3 numbers of telcos cheer investors?

Hi there, Good Morning. Welcome to ETMarkets Morning, the show about money, business and markets. I am Nikhil Agarwal. Let’s start with the headlines first.

– Firms cut output, increase number of shifts to avoid Covid disruption
– Reliance Retail picks up 25.8% stake in Dunzo
– Rating agencies put FY22 growth at 8.5-9.3%

Now lemme give you a quick glance on the state of the markets.

Asian stocks opened higher on Friday, rebounding from sharp falls in the previous session on speculation about US monetary policy shift. MSCI’s index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was up by 0.52 per cent.

Elsewhere, the yield on 10-year Treasuries was steady at 1.72%. The dollar is set to notch up a fifth consecutive weekly gain on the Japanese yen and looks poised to extend the rally if US labour data due later on Friday reinforces the case for early Federal Reserve interest rate hikes.

That said, here’s what is making news.

The weight of technology stocks in the portfolio of foreign investors (FPIs) was at a multi-year high of 15.4 per cent at the end of December 2021, the data from NSDL show. It rose by 160 basis points in the past six months, the highest among all sectors, followed by energy (112 bps) and Utilities (78 bps). On the other hand, the weight of banking and finance stocks reduced to 30 per cent from 35 per cent at the beginning of the year.

Bharti Airtel, Reliance Jio and Vodafone Idea (Vi) are set to benefit from the November prepaid tarriff hikes, which will push up average revenue per user (ARPU) as well as India mobile revenue sequentially in the fiscal third quarter, analysts said. BofA Securities estimates “Airtel’s India mobile revenue to grow at nearly 5% sequentially in the December quarter led by ARPU uplift,” post the recent prepaid tariff hike. Analysts, though, expect the full impact of the last prepaid tariff hike on telco ARPUs to be visible only in the fiscal fourth quarter.

The third Covid-19 wave poses a risk to the asset quality of banks, as many restructured loans would be out of their moratorium period from the fourth quarter of the ongoing fiscal year, according to rating firm Icra. The increased spread of the Omicron variant is likely to result in a surge in infections.

———

NOW Before I go, here is a look at some of the stocks buzzing this morning…

Vedanta’s holding company Twin Star Technologies, the winning bidder of the Videocon Industries and its 12 units, are preparing to appeal against the appellate tribunal’s order to restart the resolution process of consumer durable companies while financial creditors are apprehensive that prolonged litigation could fetch them lower offers.

Shapoorji Pallonji and Company on Thursday said it has sold 1.84 crore shares of Sterling And Wilson Renewable Energy (SWREL) to Reliance New Energy Solar after which its stake in SWREL has come down to 33.06 per cent.

HDFC Life on Thursday announced the closure of the acquisition Exide Life deal, which will pave the way for increasing its presence in the south India market.

IRB Infrastructure Developers on Thursday said its wholly-owned arm has executed a concession pact with Uttar Pradesh Expressways Industrial Development Authority (UPEIDA) for the Rs 6,555 crore ‘Ganga Expressway’ project in the state.

——-

Do also check out over two dozen stock recommendations for today’s trade from top analysts on ETMarkets.com.

That’s it for now. Stay with us for all the market news through the day. Happy investing!