ET NEWS

Maruti Suzuki India disclosed its quarter four results for FY 2023-24, indicating a notable rise in net profit by 47.8 per cent to Rs 3,877.8 crore compared to Rs 2,623.6 crore in the same period last fiscal year.The annual sales volume of the Maruti Suzuki has also surpassed the 2 million units. The company has retained its position as the top exporter of passenger vehicles in India for the third consecutive year.The company informed the exchange in its filing that the total revenue of the company from sales in Q4 FY24 reached to Rs 36,697.5 crore, up from Rs 30,821.8 crore in the corresponding period of the previous year.The automaker's Board has also proposed a dividend of Rs 125 per share which is the highest-ever dividend by the company and an increase from the dividend of Rs 90 per share in FY23."The Board has recommended a dividend as mentioned in the notes to the financial results enclosed as Annexure- "A". The date of payment of dividend is 3rd September, 2024 subject to the approval of the shareholders in the ensuing annual general meeting. The annual general meeting of the Company is scheduled to be held on 27th August, 2024" said a release by the company.During the last FY 2023-24, the company had also achieved its highest-ever annual sales volume, exports, net sales, and net profit. Throughout the fiscal year, the Company sold a total of 2,135,323 vehicles, representing an 8.6% growth over FY2022-23. Domestic sales volume reached 1,852,256 units, while exports stood at 283,067 units.The company commenced exports in 1987 and now contributes nearly 40 per cent of the total vehicle exports from India. Recently Maruti Suzuki has also reached the cumulative milestone of producing over 3 crore car units in India.During the last year the company share has given a return of around 50 per cent on the National Stock Exchange and on Friday's trading session, it closed at Rs 12,760 per share.

"IT is weak. Banking, you are seeing a bit muted, not so much because of growth or asset quality, but because margins are under some level of pressure," says Ashi Anand, Founder & CEO, IME Capital.The kind of earnings that we have seen here, globally also there is so much of focus on earnings right now, but then what should one expect? There was one view, one part of the argument was that a heavy earnings or the earnings which could put up a decimal picture like Reliance or maybe IT, those earnings have already gone by now. Look what it looks like now. Can we say the numbers which are yet to report now, the companies which are yet to report numbers now, the growth could moderate here, understanding that the major benefit of the commodity prices environment is largely captured?I think we are probably a little early in the earnings season to really judge too much in terms of how the earnings season is going. But broadly, if you just look at it, I do not think you can look at it as an overall broad brush. There are very clear divergent trends across sectors. So, if you are looking at sectors such as real estate, capital goods, these are very-very buoyant and they are likely to continue to do very well. IT is weak. Banking, you are seeing a bit muted, not so much because of growth or asset quality, but because margins are under some level of pressure. Pharma is something that we are expecting to do reasonably well. Consumption is another segment and it is a very important part of the market, but consumption growth is clearly kind of subdued. So, it is not really a market where earnings are seen across the board. You are seeing very clear sectoral divergences. There are certain parts, certain sectors that have been doing well. They have been doing well for the past couple of quarters, that should continue. But there are also certain pockets that are clearly suffering.Please help us understand how the macro environment can possibly pan out for the coming week, understanding there is a FOMC meeting next week, and can there be some jitters from that front because the way GDP growth, it was a downbeat growth in US GDP. PCE data came in higher. The hopes for a rate cut have been pushed to November now. Can there be some kind of disappointment or maybe Indian markets can react next week, FOMC meet considering?If you are just looking at the global context, it has clearly worsened a bit, not very significantly but it has worsened from where we were a couple of months back. We started the kind of year expecting three rate cuts and the markets were confident of actually seeing that and really the whole call was how quickly are those rate cuts going to come in. What you have, however, seen is an increased kind of flare-ups in the Middle East, pushing oil prices up. Inflation is clearly becoming more sticky than what is expected and you are now moving to an environment where clearly rate cut expectations are being pushed backward. Like you indicated now, you probably may not see a rate cut until November. So, you are kind of I think from a global context, there are not a lot of tailwinds coming in from there and this is kind of reflected in relatively weak FII flows. However, it is important to understand that for the last some amount of time, the Indian markets have pretty much been on its own course. We have not really been impacted too much by what is happening globally. This can be seen by the strength in the market over the past few months and FII flows have not really been very supportive over this period either. So, I think from a global context, do not really expect anything too positive in the coming week. Possibly some level of disappointments, but I do not necessarily see that having a negative fall through for the Indian markets.We will talk about the stock of the week, Vodafone Idea. What an overwhelming response from both foreign and Indian investors. This post listing Vodafone Idea with a premium of a good 9%, we did see other telecom stocks also move up and the telecom sector was on a tear this week. Do you think this is going to be the long-term trend?I amnot really sure about that because if you just look at the implications of what the Vodafone FPO really means for the sector, until Vodafone had not raised its capital, there were general concerns around the longer-term sustainability or survival of Vodafone itself, which could technically have taken what is currently a three-player market and made it a two-player market, which is kind of positive longer term for business economics of the surviving players. With Vodafone having actually now raised this capital, Vodafone's survival is that much more intact and therefore, the kind of chances that it is going to remain a three-player market over the longer term. More competition is not very great from a pricing perspective. So, I am not really sure whether the Vodafone FPO is necessarily positive for other telecom stocks and honestly a bit surprised to see them move up because of this move.

"If we go with the rollover data, yes, there was subdued rollover action for Nifty as well as for the Bank Nifty if we compare with the last three-month average as well as with the six-month average," says Rajesh Palviya, Axis Securities.This week, look at the rally in the banking space. The PSU banks were the top sectoral gainer, up 6.8%. Nifty Bank is up 1-1.5%, the biggest weekly gainer in 12 weeks and the moves that have come in from Axis and SBI. Will banks really ride the rally going ahead? Yes, definitely, overall, market structure is looking bullish and the way the broader market is behaving, we are optimistic on the up move of this market and we expect that this rally can extend further in the coming week also and possibly we can see a new all-time high also for the Nifty.If we go with the rollover data, yes, there was subdued rollover action for Nifty as well as for the Bank Nifty if we compare with the last three-month average as well as with the six-month average.The rollover action was low, that is why we are seeing Nifty and Bank Nifty in consolidation.But overall stock-specific action is clearly there in the market. The sectors which have already shown the breakout in the recent past are continuously showing the buying interest.So, we believe that after some consolidation Nifty may attempt to give breakout above 22,500 and once this breakout happens on the closing basis, then yes, possible rally can extend towards 22,750 to 22,800 on the Nifty.So, buy-on-dips is the strategy for Nifty, your stop loss should be placed at around 22,300. Even for the Bank Nifty, for the current week, Bank Nifty has formed a doji kind of candlestick pattern.But overall, on the weekly chart, if we analyse the structure, Bank Nifty is moving in an up-sloping channel, which clearly shows that there is a sustained buying interest in the Bank Nifty.And once Bank Nifty manages to cross above 48,500-48,600 zone, then possible rally can extend to 49,500 also for Bank Nifty. So, again, in the Bank Nifty also, buy-on-dip should be your strategy, keep your stop loss at 47,800 to hold your long position.Yes, PSU Bank is looking very attractive. The way most of the PSU banks have performed in the current week, that clearly shows the stocks like SBI, Canara Bank, Bank of Baroda, Bank of India, these all stocks are looking very promising. These all stocks have managed to break out of the near-term structure and so, we can see a good amount of rally in PSU Bank in the coming week also.The first session of the May series, we ended the day in the red. What does the rollover for April look like? How do you expect the May series to pan out going ahead?Nifty and Bank Nifty rollover was below to the three-month, six-month averages. But if we look at the broader market rollover, that is in line with the previous month and that is showing that stock-specific rollover action was in line with the previous expiry. The rollover data is now suggesting that most of the sectors like oil and gas, infrastructure, real estate, power, metal, these all sectors have attracted the higher rollover compared to the previous month.So, I think these sectors may exhibit a good amount of rally in the coming series. For May series, yes, we are projecting a range for the Nifty towards 22,100 to 23,000, that is the range we are expecting for May series on the Nifty and for Bank Nifty we are projecting a range towards 47,200 on the downside and on the higher side 49,600 for Bank Nifty with the positive bias. Like most of the stocks, most of the sectors have shown good traction in terms of rollover activity and the sectors which have already shown a breakout in the last couple of weeks are clearly in the bullish trajectory only and the broader market is also in the bullish direction. So, we expect May series may also continue in the upward direction and possibly we could see a new all-time high also in the May series itself.The kind of move we saw from broader markets, midcap and smallcap both outperformed the benchmarks. What do you make out, which can be the stocks which can perform very well in the coming week also, the stocks that have made it to your radar?I think metal is a space where one can focus at this juncture. Vedanta is looking very promising. This is the fourth consecutive week where stock is making higher high-low formation. The way stock has formed a long build-up on the derivative data, rollover action was around 95-96%.So, we believe that Vedanta can continue further upside and we are positive on the stock. Positionally, our target is higher around 480 to 490, but from a trading perspective one can buy Vedanta for an upside target of 425 to 430, keep stop loss of around 390.The second stock that we like is GMR Infra. Stock managed to break out of the last three-week consolidation range. Long build-up was there in data. Rollover action was around 96%. The kind of breakout which we are witnessing on the daily chart as well as on the weekly chart, we expect that GMR Infra can continue furthermore upside towards 96 to 98. One can buy GMR Airport with stop loss of 88.And the third stock is from the cash segment, that is HUDCO. A very strong breakout of the last 12-week consolidation range. The way stock has broken out, we believe that now HUDCO may exhibit a good amount of rally in the coming week towards 245 to 250. HUDCO can be a buy with a stop loss of 220.

Japanese auto giant Suzuki is working on smaller hybrid cars that will offer much better mileage than the current cars, revealed Maruti Suzuki Chairman RC Bhargava.While speaking to reporters post the announcement of Maruti's Q4 earnings on Friday, Bhargava said that the costs of today's technology which goes into the Toyota hybrids is still quite high. And that is why the cost of the car becomes high.While sharing the company's intent to bring a cost-effective hybrid car, Bhargava said that the Suzuki Japan is working on a smaller hybrid car technology. He added that if the GST is lowered on hybrid cars, then the country can look forward to more affordable hybrid cars with much better mileage.“A lot of work is going on in Suzuki Japan to evolve better technology which will enable smaller cars to take advantage of the principles of hybridization to improve fuel economies at a much more affordable cost. If this is aligned with lower GST, I think you can look forward to small cars with much better mileage than we have today,” Bhargava said.Electric vehicles (EV) in India are taxed at only 5%, whereas hybrids are taxed as high as 43%, just below the 48% tax imposed on petrol cars. Recently, Union Minister Nitin Gadkari mentioned that the proposal to decrease GST on hybrid vehicles to 5% and to 12% for flex engines has been forwarded to the Finance Ministry for consideration."The market for hybrids, to an extent, is determined by their price. It is uncertain what the final decision of the GST Council will be. We will have clarity after the elections, so let's be patient for a few months. I think that will then determine how far and quickly the expansion of hybrids and EVs will take place," the Maruti Suzuki Chairman added.Hisashi Takeuchi, Managing Director & CEO, Maruti Suzuki however said the company has no 'immediate' plans to bring plug-in hybrids (PHEVs) to India. Notably, as per a report of ET Auto, JSW MG Motor plans to introduce its first plug-in hybrid electric vehicle in India next year, ET .Maruti Suzuki is planning to begin manufacturing its initial electric vehicle for the Indian market within the ongoing fiscal year. Nevertheless, due to a pledge to export the initial batch to Europe, the vehicle is anticipated to be available in the domestic market by FY 2025-26.By the fiscal year 2030-31, the car manufacturer anticipates that internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles such as CNG, biogas, flex fuel vehicles, ethanol, and blended fuel will constitute 60% of its sales. Following this, 25% of the sales will be hybrid electric vehicles, while 15% will be battery electric vehicles (BEVs).The target for the ongoing financial year is to achieve 600,000 units for CNG cars. In the financial year 2023-24, the company sold 450,000 units of CNG models. Additionally, the company is exploring the use of CNG to produce electricity for powering its manufacturing plants.On Friday, the car manufacturer announced a 47% increase in its total net earnings of INR 3,952 crore during the January-March 2024 quarter. In the same period last year, the company had disclosed a net profit of INR 2,688 crore. The total revenue from operations in the fourth quarter was INR 38,471 crore, which was compared to INR 32,213.5 crore in Q4 FY23.