Nifty 50 closed at 21,238.80 (-333, -1.5%), BSE Sensex closed at 70,370.55 (-1,053.1, -1.5%) while the broader Nifty 500 closed at 19,206.45 (-395.5, -2.0%), of the 2,059 stocks traded today, 317 were in the positive territory and 1,728 were negative.

Indian indices extended the losses from the afternoon session and closed in the red, with the Nifty 50 closing at 21,239. Banking stocks led Nifty’s fall as Nifty Bank dropped 2.3% at close. The volatility index, Nifty VIX, rose by 7.6% and closed at 14.8 points. Zee Entertainment Enterprises shares closed 32.6% lower as Culver Max (Sony) terminated its merger agreement with Zee due to alleged breaches in the merger terms.

Nifty Midcap 100 and Nifty Smallcap 100 closed in the red following the benchmark index. Nifty Pharma and Nifty Healthcare closed higher than Saturday’s closing level. All other sectoral indices closed lower. According to Trendlyne’s sector dashboard, telecom services emerged as the top-performing sector of the day, with a rise of over 1.4%.

Most European indices trade in the red. US indices futures trade flat indicating a cautious start. Hamas killed 24 Israeli soldiers in Gaza, as tensions intensified in the Middle East. According to Reuters, Eurozone banks are expected to see an uptick in mortgages and corporate loans for the first time in two years.

• Money flow index (MFI) indicates that stocks like Rail Vikas Nigam, Indian Railway Finance Corp, Sobha and PCBL are in the overbought zone.

• Apollo Hospitals Enterprise rises 0.5% in trade and reaches a new 52-week high of Rs 6,428.7. The company ranks medium on Trendlyne’s Checklist, scoring 47.8%. It also features in a screener of companies with low debt.

• Spandana Sphoorty Financial falls after missing net profit estimates by 8.4% in Q3FY24, despite a 70.7% YoY rise in net profit to Rs 118.3 crore and a 64.6% YoY increase in revenue. The company appears in a screener of stocks with declining RoE.

• PSP Projects is rising after emerging as the lowest bidder for a Rs 444.6 crore dairy plant development project by the National Dairy Development Board in Gujrat.

• HDFC Securities maintains its 'Buy' rating on Ultratech Cement with an upgraded target price of Rs 10,840 per share, indicating a potential upside of 9.8%. The brokerage highlights a positive demand outlook and expects a decline in unit operating expenses in Q4FY24, driven by lower energy costs. It expects the company's revenue to grow at a CAGR of 11.8% over FY23-26.

• ONGC receives approval from the Ministry of Petroleum & Natural Gas to set up a wholly owned subsidiary, ONGC Green. The firm’s board also approves the formation of a Joint Venture with NTPC Green Energy, subject to regulatory approval.

• Mahindra Logistics announces a multi-client warehousing facility in Maharashtra in a 6.5 lakh square feet area. The project will be developed in two phases and is expected to become operational by the end of 2024.

• Jewellery stocks like Kalyan Jewellers, Senco Gold, PC Jeweller, and Motisons Jewellers are falling as the Ministry of Finance increases the import duty on gold and silver findings and coins of precious metals to 15% from the earlier 11%.

  #NewsAlert | #Government has announced an increase in import duties for #gold and #silver findings, as well as coins made of precious metals. ????
  
  Read new rates, other details here ?https://t.co/IEwiAQAaRX#Commodities #PreciousMetals

  — Moneycontrol (@moneycontrolcom) January 23, 2024

• Vikas Lifecare rises to a new 52-week high of Rs 8 as it acquires a majority stake in Dubai's SKY 2.0 club for $79 million (approx Rs 656.6 crore). With this acquisition, the company plans to enter into the restaurant hospitality business in the Gulf nation.

• Ashoka Buildcon rises as it receives a letter of acceptance for an order worth Rs 662.6 crore from CIDCO. The order involves the construction of a connecting stilt bridge for Navi Mumbai International Airport.

• Cigniti Technologies falls over 5% as its board appoints Srikanth Chakkilam as the new director and CEO, who is currently serving as a non-executive director of the company.

• Udaya Kumar Hebbar, the Managing Director of CreditAccess Grameen, says the company targets a credit cost of 1.6-1.8%, and loan growth of around 24-25% in FY24. He adds that the NIMs (net interest margins) will be around 12.7-13% for the year.

  CREDITACCESS GRAMEEN
  
  Management Says:
  - Target 1.6-1.8% Credit Cost
  
  - Will see 24-25% Loan growth for the year
  
  - Retail Finance will be 12-15% of book in next 3-5 years vs be 3-4% this year
  
  - NIMs seen b/w 12.7-12.8%, GNPAs <1%#StockMarket
  
  pic.twitter.com/jPEOQAWajt

  — Mangalam Maloo (@blitzkreigm) January 23, 2024

• Karur Vysya Bank rises sharply to an all-time high of Rs 187.8 as its Q3FY24 net profit grows by 42.3% YoY to Rs 411.6 crore. Its net interest income increases by 12.6% YoY and its asset quality improves as gross and net NPAs fall by 112 bps YoY and 48 bps YoY, respectively.

• Cipla rises to a new 52-week high of Rs 1,420 as its Q3FY24 net profit increases by 32% YoY to Rs 1,068.4 crore, meeting Bloomberg estimates. Its revenue also improves by 13.6% YoY to Rs 6,603.8 crore on the back of growth in its pharmaceutical segment.

• Media stocks like Zee Entertainment Enterprises, Dish TV India, Hathway Cable & Datacom and Network18 Media & Investment plunge more than 3% in trade. The broader Nifty Media index also trades almost 9% down.

• Hindalco Industries falls over 2% as 11 lakh shares (around 0.1% equity), amounting to Rs 60.9 crore, reportedly change hands in a large trade.

  #Hindalco has 11 lakh shares change hands in a large trade. #NDTVProfitStocks
  
  Read latest #stockmarket updates: https://t.co/NR3RrcY41J pic.twitter.com/F5r13fxsYR

  — NDTV Profit (@NDTVProfitIndia) January 23, 2024

• Keystone Realtors bags a project to redevelop two housing societies in Mumbai with a gross development value (GDV) of Rs 1,200 crore.

• ICICI Bank rises to an all-time high of Rs 1,059.4 as its Q3FY24 net profit grows by 23.6% YoY to Rs 10,271.5 crore. Its net interest income increases by 13.4% YoY and asset quality improves as gross and net NPAs fall by 77 bps YoY and 11 bps YoY, respectively.

• Medi Assist Healthcare Services' shares debut on the bourses at a 10.1% premium to the issue price of Rs 418. The Rs 1,171.6 crore IPO has received bids for 16.3 times the total shares on offer.

• Manish Tandon, CEO & MD of Zensar Technologies, acknowledges pressure in the company's hi-tech vertical. He highlights that the company maintains its EBITDA margin guidance of mid-teens. Its Q3FY24 net profit falls by 7% QoQ to Rs 161.7 crore, while its revenue drops by 2.9% QoQ.

  #OnCNBCTV18 | We have seen pressure only on hi-tech vertical. EBITDA margin decline QoQ is due to a one-off 160 bps benefit in Q2, says Manish Tandon of Zensar Technologies pic.twitter.com/jVMf4NKsgy

  — CNBC-TV18 (@CNBCTV18Live) January 23, 2024

• Persistent Systems rises sharply to an all-time high of Rs 8,713.7 as its Q3FY24 net profit grows by 8.7% QoQ to Rs 286.1 crore. Its revenue increases by 3.6% QoQ due to growth in banking, healthcare, and hi-tech & emerging segments. The company appears in a screener of stocks with growing net profit and margins QoQ.

• Zee Entertainment Enterprises plunges as Culver Max (Sony) terminates its merger agreement with Zee due to alleged breaches in the merger terms. The global media company has initiated arbitration against Zee and demands a termination fee of Rs 90 crore.

• IDFC First Bank falls as it misses its net profit estimates by 7.5% in Q3FY24, despite an 18.4% YoY increase to Rs 715.7 crore. Its net interest income also grows. The bank's asset quality improves as its gross and net NPA margins drop by 92 bps YoY and 35 bps YoY, respectively.

• Coforge is rising as its net profit grows by 31.5% QoQ to Rs 238 crore in Q3FY24. Revenue improves by 2.1% QoQ, driven by the EMEA and Indian markets. Its EBITDA margin also expands by 220 bps QoQ on the back of reduced employee benefit expenses. The company appears in a screener of stocks with increasing revenue for the past eight quarters.

Riding High:

Largecap and midcap gainers today include Cipla Ltd. (1,409.00, 7.05%), Petronet LNG Ltd. (259.90, 5.31%) and Persistent Systems Ltd. (8,254.40, 4.20%).

Downers:

Largecap and midcap losers today include Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd. (155.95, -32.61%), General Insurance Corporation of India (334.15, -9.53%) and Oberoi Realty Ltd. (1,369.75, -8.94%).

Volume Shockers

32 stocks in BSE 500 are trading on high volumes today.

Top high volume gainers on BSE included Borosil Renewables Ltd. (566.55, 11.59%), Cipla Ltd. (1,409.00, 7.05%) and Petronet LNG Ltd. (259.90, 5.31%).

Top high volume losers on BSE were Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd. (155.95, -32.61%), Oberoi Realty Ltd. (1,369.75, -8.94%) and Tejas Networks Ltd. (743.50, -8.53%).

Asahi India Glass Ltd. (557.80, 2.66%) was trading at 52.9 times of weekly average. Elgi Equipments Ltd. (554.10, 2.54%) and Garware Technical Fibres Ltd. (3,565.00, 4.57%) were trading with volumes 10.9 and 7.4 times weekly average respectively on BSE at the time of posting this article.

BSE 500: highs, lows and moving averages

64 stocks made 52 week highs, while 7 stocks were underachievers and hit their 52 week lows.

Stocks touching their year highs included - Alembic Pharmaceuticals Ltd. (943.00, -0.20%), Apollo Hospitals Enterprise Ltd. (6,153.75, 0.51%) and Aurobindo Pharma Ltd. (1,133.60, -0.91%).

Stocks making new 52 weeks lows included - HDFC Bank Ltd. (1,427.35, -3.48%) and Vinati Organics Ltd. (1,685.75, -1.27%).

6 stocks climbed above their 200 day SMA including Privi Speciality Chemicals Ltd. (1,175.20, 1.73%) and CCL Products India Ltd. (632.90, 0.77%). 24 stocks slipped below their 200 SMA including Tejas Networks Ltd. (743.50, -8.53%) and IDFC First Bank Ltd. (81.80, -6.73%).