Adani stocks continued to bleed on Monday despite a lengthy rebuttal released by the group. Globally, investors remain cautious ahead of Fed’s interest-rate decision and earnings from big-tech companies including Apple and Alphabet.
L&T Q3 net profit rises 24% to ₹2,553 cr, revenue grows 17%
Larsen and Toubro Ltd’s consolidated net profit was up 24% from a year ago to ₹2,553 crore in the third quarter of 2022-23. Even after adjusting for one-offs, recurring net profit stood at ₹2,456 crore, growing 20% compared to a net profit of ₹2,055 crore in a year ago.
One-offs included an exceptional gain of ₹97 crore following the divestment of the mutual fund business which was however offset by onetime charges due to the remeasurement of the wholesale loan assets of the financial services segment.
With the conclusion of the sale of the mutual fund arm and a phased rundown of the wholesale loan book, its financial services business will continue to grow in line with the strategy of “retailization of the loan book”, said S. N. Subrahmanyan, chief executive officer and managing director, L&T Ltd. We reported strong all-round results for the quarter, he added. (Read More)
Adani conglomerate plans independent audit of group companies
The Adani Group plans to hire one of the “big six” global accounting firms to evaluate its corporate governance and audit practices following allegations of fraud by US short seller Hindenburg, two people with direct knowledge of the matter said.
The independent audit will be commissioned after the completion of the group’s flagship Adani Enterprises Ltd’s ₹20,000 crore follow-on public offering, and based on that, the legal options will be decided, the people said, requesting anonymity. (Read More)
Stocks fall on Monday and US yields climb as central bank hikes awaited
A gauge of global stocks retreated on Monday after six sessions of gains while U.S. Treasury yields rose ahead of central bank policy announcements and data that may shed light on whether progress has been made in bringing down inflation.
Investors widely expect the Federal Reserve will raise rates by 25 basis points (bps) on Wednesday, with announcements on Thursday from the Bank of England and European Central Bank (ECB), both of which are largely expected to hike by 50 bps.
“The market has had a big run and the trading is a bit more cautious heading into a week which likely will be an inflection point for the overall market,” said Keith Lerner, co-chief investment officer at Truist Advisory Services in Atlanta, Georgia.
On Wall Street, U.S. stocks slumped, with 10 of the 11 S&P sectors closing lower, while Johnson & Johnson lost 3.70% after a U.S. court rejected the company’s plan to offload into bankruptcy tens of thousands of lawsuits over its talc products.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 260.99 points, or 0.77%, to 33,717.09, the S&P 500 lost 52.79 points, or 1.30%, to 4,017.77 and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 227.90 points, or 1.96%, to 11,393.81.
The rate increase expected at the Federal Open Market Committee’s Jan. 31-Feb. 1 meeting would bring the policy rate to the 4.5%-4.75% range. That’s two quarter-point rate hikes short of the level most Fed policymakers in December thought would be “sufficiently restrictive” to bring inflation under control. But futures currently expect rates to peak at about 4.9% in June before retreating to 4.5% by year-end. (Reuters)
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