Closing Bell: Nifty at 23,150, Sensex gains 600 pts; IT stocks shine

Indian equity indices ended on positive note with Nifty above 23,150 on January 22. At close, the Sensex was up 566.63 points or 0.75 percent at 76,404.99, and the Nifty was up 130.70 points or 0.57 percent at 23,155.35.

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Today, the benchmark indices witnessed a recovery from lower levels, with the Nifty ends 131 points higher while the Sensex was up by 567 points. Among sectors, the IT index gained over 2 percent, whereas the Realty index corrected sharply shed over 4.5 percent. Technically, after the intraday correction, the market found support near 23000/75850 and bounced back sharply. However, the short-term trend of the market remains weak.

For day traders, 23000/75850 would act as a crucial support zone. If the index stays above this level, the pullback formation is likely to continue. On the higher side, the market could bounce back to the range of 23250-23325/76700-76900. Conversely, if it falls below 23000/75850 the sentiment could change below the same it could decline to 22900-22880/75600-75500.

Nifty witnessed a sharp recovery from intraday lows and closed in the green up ~131 points. On the daily charts we can observe that the Nifty witnessed recovery from the psychological support level of 23000. The recovery was led by HDFC Bank, which recovered sharply from intraday lows. Going ahead we expect the recovery process to continue towards 23400.

Daily and hourly momentum indicators have a positive crossover which is a buy signal. Thus, both price and momentum indicators point towards continuation of the positive momentum which has started today. A breach below the support zone 23050 – 23000 shall lead to a decline towards 22670. Overall, our bias tilts towards a pullback over the next few trading sessions.

After witnessing a sharp weakness on Tuesday, Nifty showed high volatility with positive bias on Wednesday and closed the day higher by 130 points. After opening with a positive note, the market made an attempt to move up further in the early part of the session. Intraday weakness got triggered from the days high in the mid part and the market witnessed a decent intraday upside bounce from the lows towards the end and closed at the highs.

A small positive candle was formed on the daily chart with lower shadow. Technically, this market action indicates an upside bounce from the lows. Though, Nifty closed higher on Wednesday, the overall market breadth was deteriorated and the broad market indices have closed sharply lower. The negative chart pattern like lower tops and bottoms is still intact.

The underlying trend of Nifty remains weak and the market seems to have shifted into a broader range of 23000-23400 levels. A decisive move above the hurdle of 23400 could open renewed buying participation in the market. However, a slide below 22975 could open more weakness down to 22800 ahead.

The benchmark indices rebounded amidst heightened volatility following better-than-expected results from a major private bank. The IT sector led gains, recovering from recent losses, while mid and small-cap stocks continued to underperform due to valuation concerns.

Apart from Banking and IT, most sectors posted losses, with the realty sector being the hardest hit for consecutive days.

The news that the US is considering lower tariffs on China may provide temporary relief, but underlying concerns persist. A moderation in the dollar index could potentially halt rupee depreciation.

On Wednesday, Nifty took support near its previous session low of 22,980 and formed a hammer tweezer bottom candlestick on the daily chart, signaling potential recovery toward 23,350 levels after Tuesday's decline. However, sustained bullish momentum will only emerge if Nifty closes above 23,500, where the 21-day EMA is positioned. Until then, a cautious approach is advised.

Short-term traders can focus on the 23,000–23,350 range, with 23,000 providing strong support and the 23,350–23,400 zone acting as a key resistance for the index.

The market faced persistent selling pressure, particularly in Mid and Smallcaps, which dragged the Index lower to retest the previous day's lows. However, after HDFC Bank's Q3 earnings report, there was a minor recovery, aided by gains in IT stocks, which pushed the Index higher. A broad-based uptick was observed, helping the Index finish the session at 23,155.35 with gains of 130.70 points. While IT stocks and the Pharma sector outperformed, Realty stocks fell sharply by over 4.5%. The broader market also saw a recovery, but the Mid and Smallcaps continued to underperform.

The daily chart indicates a Hammer candlestick pattern, with a potential positive divergence in the RSI. A sustained move above 23,400 could confirm this divergence while a close below 23,000 could lead to a drop toward 22,800. The 23,000 level will serve as immediate support, while resistance appears to be capped at 23,280.

Indian rupee ended 25 paise higher at 86.33 per dollar on Wednesday versus Tuesday's close of 86.58.

Indian equity indices ended on positive note with Nifty above 23,150 on January 22.

At close, the Sensex was up 566.63 points or 0.75 percent at 76,404.99, and the Nifty was up 130.70 points or 0.57 percent at 23,155.35. About 1110 shares advanced, 2677 shares declined, and 107 shares unchanged.

Wipro, Infosys, TCS, Tech Mahindra, Sun Pharma are among the top gainers on the Nifty, while losers are Bharat Electronics, Tata Motors, Trent, Axis Bank and Power Grid.

Nifty Midcap and Smallcap indices down 1.5 percent each.

On the sectoral front, Nifty IT index rose 2 percent, while pharma and private bank indices up 0.5 percent each. On the other hand, realty index shed 4.5 percent, while media, metal, energy, consumer durables, oil & gas, PSU bank down 0.5-1.5 percent.

#1 Q3 was another weak quarter

#2 Net revenue came below estimates

#3 Volumes were much weaker than expected but this negative was partially offset by better realisations

#4 Sense is that company prioritized sales in north/central regions where pricing was good

Indian Rupee strengthened on positive domestic equities and a soft US Dollar index. Weak crude oil prices too supported the Rupee. US Dollar fell on various incoming statements from the Trump administration regarding tariffs and soft US treasury yields.

We expect Rupee to remain largely weak on underlying strength in the US Dollar and overall weakness in the domestic markets. Importer demand for Dollars may also pressurise the Rupee. However, any extended sell off in crude oil may support the Rupee at lower levels. Markets may see some volatility on incoming statements and announcements by the Trump administration. USDINR spot price is expected to trade in a range of Rs 86.20 to Rs 86.65.

#1 Q3 earnings were missed estimates

#2 EBITDA came lower on weak volume growth & higher than expected costs

#1 EBITDA miss in Q3 results as volumes disappoint

#2 Cement volumes came in below estimates

#3 EBITDA/t came in just 2 percent above estimate, largely on account of better than expected realisations

#1 Unexpected decline in paying subscriber base comes due to weak addition in last 5 quarters

#2 Low gross addition with sticky high customer churn to weigh on collections growth

#3 Believe collections could remain weak in near to medium term until churn reduces

#4 Gross addition increases & subsequently, net subscriber addition improves

#1 Q3FY25 results saw in-line topline, missed on margin & bottom line

#2 Key highlights for quarter include sub segment EHV cables which declined by 55 percent

#3 Post a 15 percent decline in exports for H1FY25, exports grew by 5 percent in Q3FY25

#4 HT cables saw strong growth as weak offtake in EHV cable drove capacities towards HT cables

#5 EPC revenue declined by 80 percent as company continued to defocus itself from the EPC segment

NII rises 8% YoY to Rs NII rises 8% YoY in Q3FY25 to Rs 30,653 crore vs Rs 28,471 crore in Q3FY24

Net NPA ratio grows to 0.46% in Q3FY25 vs 0.41% in Q2FY25

Gross NPA ratio rises to 1.42% in Q3FY25 vs 1.36% in Q2FY25

#1 Company posted a strong set of results in Q3 on the back of sharp ramp-up of the mobile business

#2 There are plans of massive investment in display fab

#3 Company sees attractive profitability, return ratios & a short payback period

#4 Expect strong earnings growth and upgrades to continue

#1 Slower growth in food delivery, growth acceleration in Blinkit pushing out profitability

#2 The lack of a clear breakeven timeline could weigh on multiples in the near-term

#3 Scenario analysis suggests support for stock in the range of Rs 195-215

The board of directors of the company at their meeting held today has approved raising of funds by issuance of upto 13,68,000 equity shares of face value of Rs 10 at an issue price of Rs 365 per share amounting to Rs 49,93,20,000to the investor on preferential issue basis.

#1 Monthly transactional users bottomed out in Dec’24 with decent MoM recovery was key positive

#2 Will watch for impact on relative market share in UPI consumer payments ahead

#3 Paytm’s default loss guarantee merchant loans are scaling well

#4 Company has pivoted fully to ‘growth’ focus & cost structure allows significantly more nimbleness

#1 Miss on Q3 earnings; new product launches key to re-rating

#2 Volumes were healthy with an overall jump of 102 percent YoY

#3 Management guided for momentum to sustain, driven by new product launches, increasing participation

#4 Cut EPS estimates by 4 percent/14 percent/11 percent for FY25/26/27 due to a lack of visibility on product launches

The company board approved the proposed fund raising by way of issuance of equity shares of face value of Rs 2 each of the company by way of qualified institutions placement for amount up to Rs 160 crore.

The company board approved raising of funds through issuance of instruments or security including equity shares or any other eligible securities by way of one or more public and/or private offerings including on a preferential allotment basis and/or a qualified institutions placement and/or rights issue and/or further public offering for an amount not exceeding Rs 16,000 million.

HDFC Bank, Hindustan Unilever, Bharat Petroleum Corporation, Coforge, Go Digit General Insurance, Gravita India, Heritage Foods, HUDCO, Laxmi Organic Industries, Nuvoco Vistas Corporation, Persistent Systems, Pidilite Industries, Polycab India, Tata Communications, Ujaas Energy, and Zensar Technologies will release quarterly earnings scorecard on January 22.

#1 Profit tanks 40.4 percent to Rs 10.99 crore Vs Rs 18.44 crore, YoY

#2 Revenue grows 38.4 percent to Rs 444.2 crore Vs Rs 321 crore, YoY

#3 EBITDA declines 4.4 percent to Rs 28.1 crore Vs Rs 29.4 crore, YoY

#4 Margin drops to 6.3 percent Vs 9.1 percent, YoY

The company announced the completion of a fundraise through a qualified institutional placement (QIP) of equity shares amounting to Rs 1,860 crore.

The Board has approved the allotment of 6.85 crore equity shares to eligible qualified institutional buyers (including Amansa Holdings, SBI Life Insurance, Quant Mutual Fund, HDFC Life Insurance, BofA Securities Europe SA, Maybank Securities, and Aditya Birla Sun Life Trustee) at a price of Rs 271.3 per share.

#1 Profit declines 17.8 percent to Rs 110.7 crore Vs Rs 134.6 crore, YoY

#2 Net interest income grows 8 percent to Rs 592.6 crore Vs Rs 548.5 crore, YoY

#3 Gross NPA drops to 2.80 percent Vs 2.97 percent, QoQ

#4 Net NPA falls to 0.94 percent Vs 0.99 percent, QoQ

HDFC Bank, Hindustan Unilever, Bharat Petroleum Corporation, Coforge, Elecon Engineering, Go Digit General Insurance, Gravita India, Heritage Foods, HUDCO, Laxmi Organic Industries, Nuvoco Vistas Corporation, Persistent Systems, Pidilite Industries, Polycab India, Tata Communications, Ujaas Energy, and Zensar Technologies will release quarterly earnings scorecard on January 22.

The Sensex was up 147.32 points or 0.19 percent at 75,985.68, and the Nifty was up 8.55 points or 0.04 percent at 23,033.20. About 747 shares advanced, 2632 shares declined, and 106 shares unchanged.

ITI has won a large contract from the Rural Development Department, Govt. of Maharashtra to set up, operationalize, rollout and monitor the implementation of Aaple Sarkar Seva Kendra (ASSK) in Gram Panchayats (ASSK-GP ) of Chatrapathi Sambhaji Nagar Region, Nagpur Region, and Amaravati Region of Maharashtra.

The contract also covers maintenance of systems for a period of one year.

The project cost is approximately around Rs 167 crore which includes the cost of deployment of technical manpower at the ASSK-GP, and the entailing Project Management expenses.

#1 Key drivers progressed as expected in Q3

#2 Higher recoveries drove beat

#3 Amid rising system asset quality concerns, company’s story is improving

#4 Loan growth is driving RoA expansion

#1 VNB missed forecasts in Q3 results

#2 Stronger APE growth than peers has been driven by a weak base

#3 Trim VNB forecasts by 2 percent for FY25-27 following miss on margin

#4 Stock trades at 15x FY26 P/VNB & 1.7x P/EV for 14 percent RoEV

#5 Volatile history, weaker margin delivery & lower RoEV than peers drive equal-weight

Shares of Jana Small Finance Bank surged 20 percent on January 22 after the company announced its Q3 FY25 results, with the management stating that "the worst is behind us."

At 11:20 AM, the stock was trading 17 percent higher at Rs 428. Year-to-date, it has gained 6 percent, outperforming the Nifty 50, which has risen by 3 percent during the same period. The stock had delivered negative monthly returns consistently from July 2024 to December 2024.