Today’s Latest Business News, Finance and Share Market News at 5:30 pm on 4 April 2024

Let's begin. India’s services activity recorded a strong growth in March, with the final HSBC India Services Purchasing Managers’ Index, compiled by S&P Global, rising to 61.2 as against 60.6 in February. This pointed to one of the strongest growth rates seen in over 13-and-a-half years. The upturn was largely attributed to healthy demand conditions, efficiency gains and positive sales developments, a release by S&P Global said on Thursday. Ines Lam, Economist at HSBC, said, quote, “India’s services PMI rose in March, following a small dip in February, on the back of strong demand that spurred sales and business activity. Service providers increased hiring at the fastest pace since August 2023 to expand production capacity," unquote.

Meanwhile, Shares of KEC International jumped 15% to hit a 52-week high of Rs 838.85 after the company secured fresh orders of Rs 816 crore across its various businesses. KEC International, under the Civil segment secured orders for infrastructure projects across India. The company secured orders in the metals and mining sector for setting up a steel plant in the northern part of India. It got an order to build a cement plant in Central India, for the cement sector. It got many other orders in different business sectors. The MD & CEO of the company, Vimal Kejriwal said with these orders KEC International’s total order intake stands at Rs 18,102 crore in FY24.

In some more market news, Jefferies India forecasts a doubling of domestic defence spending by FY30, driving optimism in stocks such as Hindustan Aeronautics, Data Patterns, and Bharat Electronics. Jefferies India, a leading brokerage house, has initiated coverage on HAL and Data Patterns with a “buy” rating, maintaining a positive outlook on BEL’s prospects. HAL, labeled a potential multibagger stock, has a 12-month price target of Rs 3,900, implying nearly 13% upside from current levels. Similarly, Data Patterns’s price target of Rs 3,545 suggests over 31% potential upside from the current price. India ranks among the top three global defence spenders, yet its spending in 2022 amounted to only 10% of US spending and 27% of China’s.

Over to healthcare. French drugmaker Sanofi on Wednesday announced that it has agreed to settle 4,000 U.S. lawsuits linking the discontinued heartburn drug Zantac to cancer. Sanofi did not disclose the financial terms of the deal, a report by news agency Reuters revealed. Reportedly, the agreement, which still needs to be finalized, will resolve most of the lawsuits against the French pharmaceutical company in United States state courts, except Delaware where the majority of the cases are pending. Sanofi did not admit any liability in the settlement, and said it is settling to avoid the expense and ongoing distraction of the litigation, Reuters reported.

Moving on. The overall securitisation volumes originated mainly by financial institutions, stood at ~Rs 1.88 lakh crore in FY2024, in line with ICRA’s projections for the year. The securitisation volumes in Q4 FY2024, ICRA said, witnessed a growth of 26 per cent over the preceding quarter, rising to ~Rs 48,000 crore. Nonetheless, the volumes were much lower in comparison to Q4 FY2023, when securitisation had touched ~Rs 63,000 crore; 10 per cent of the latter in volume terms was attributed to wholesale loan securitisation, which has not been repeated subsequently. The overall annual volumes for FY2024, however, was up ~4 per cent YoY despite the exit of previous year’s largest originator, viz HDFC Limited, following the entity’s merger with a bank.

Next up, auto sector. Japanese motorcycle maker Kawasaki has launched the 2024 Versys 650 in India, priced at Rs 7.77 lakh, ex-showroom. The new Versys 650 retains most of its mechanicals and hardware from the 2023 model but gets a few updates. Also, the price of the motorcycle remains unchanged. The biggest and only change the 2024 Kawasaki Versys 650 gets is new colour schemes. The Japanese mid-size tourer gets Metallic Flat Spark Black and Metallic Matte Dark Gray colour schemes, while both get a dual-tone finish. The updated Versys 650 retains the sharp styling as well. In terms of hardware, the Versys 650 gets adjustable USD forks up front, a monoshock at the rear, and 17-inch wheels.

Lastly, let's see hoe the share market performed today. Indian benchmark indices ended higher in the volatile session on April 4 with Nifty above 22,500. At close, the Sensex was up 350.81 points or 0.47 percent at 74,227.63, and the Nifty was up 80.00 points or 0.36 percent at 22,514.70. About 2342 shares advanced, 1361 shares declined, and 101 shares unchanged. Top gainers on the Nifty were HDFC Bank, Eicher Motors, Asian Paints, Tech Mahindra and Titan Company, while losers were ONGC, Shriram Finance, Adani Ports, BPCL and Bharti Airtel. Among sectors, bank, power, information technology up 0.5-1 percent, while PSU Bank, oil & gas index down 0.7-1.6 percent. BSE midcap index ended flat, while smallcap index added 0.5 percent

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