Markets Wrap – Fri, 24 Feb ‘23: Nifty, Sensex dip, rupee flat; Asia, US markets, Gold, Crude updates Indian benchmark equity indices ended Friday’s muted session in the red territory. The Nifty settled below the crucial 17500 level and Sensex closed below 59500. The Bank Nifty also breached the important level and closed below 39950. The top gainers on the Nifty 50 were ONGC (up 2.62%), Adani Ports (up 1.44%), Asian Paint (up 1.31%), Divis Lab (up 1.28%) and Apollo Hospital (up 0.99%) while Adani Enterprises (down 5.11%), Hindalco (down 4.72%), Mahindra & Mahindra (down 2.55%), JSW Steel (down 2.41%) and Tata Steel (down 1.96%) were the losers.US Markets The US markets ended the overnight session broadly higher with Dow Jones Industrial Average rising 108.82 pts or 0.33% to 33,153.91, S&P 500 climbing 21.27 pts or 0.53% to 4,012.32 and the tech-heavy Nasdaq surging 83.33 pts or 0.72%. Asian markets closed mostly in the red territory on Friday. China’s Shanghai Composite Index fell 0.62%, South Korea’s KOSPI dipped 0.63%, Japan’s Nikkei 225 surged 1.29% and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng tumbled 1.68%. The Indian rupee remained flat, dipping 0.01% to 82.75 against the US dollar at 3:50 PM (IST). Gold futures on the multi-commodity exchange for April delivery were trading at Rs 55,645.00, up 58 points or 0.10% while Silver futures for March delivery fell 221 points or 0.34% to Rs 64,130. WTI Crude futures for March delivery were up 1.26% at $76.34 while Brent Crude futures for March delivery were trading 1.25% higher at $83.24 at 3:52 PM (IST).
The move had also prompted the country’s largest organised retailer Reliance Retail to step into the value retail segment with Yousta, which was announced on Thursday. Like Intune, Yousta began its operations in Hyderabad, with plans to expand across the country. Intune has three stores – two in Hyderabad and one in Dombivli, near Mumbai, with plans to add another three more outlets in the coming months.
Nair had admitted on a recent earnings call that the apparel segment in general was witnessing moderation and that the value retail foray by Shoppers Stop could help the company tap into the growing trend for affordable fashion and lifestyle products, aiding sales growth.
That was an important statement for Shoppers Stop, which reported a nearly 37% year-on-year drop in net profit to Rs 14.5 crore in the June quarter of FY24, even as revenue grew only 4.8% versus the previous year to nearly Rs 994 crore.
On a yearly basis, the company had last reported a net profit of nearly Rs 114 crore in FY23 after three consecutive years of loss between FY20 and FY22 due to the Covid-19 pandemic. FY23 topline also jumped nearly 60% year-on-year to Rs 4,022 crore, the highest in six years, its results showed.