2 weeks Ago By Ananya Grover
Nomura maintains a Buy rating on ITC, raising its target price to Rs. 575. The brokerage views the demerger of ITC Hotels as a significant catalyst to unlock value, with expectations that the listing of ITC Hotels shares will likely fall within the Rs 200-300 per share range, higher than previous estimates.
However, Nomura has lowered its FY25-FY27 earnings per share (EPS) forecasts by 3%, factoring in margin compression. A key risk identified by Nomura is the potential for high tax increases on cigarettes, which could lead to a sharp decline in cigarette volumes and EBIT, posing a downside risk to the company's performance. Jefferies' 2025 outlook for India’s industrials sector highlights a focus on capex growth, with a particular emphasis on the FY26 budget.
The brokerage suggests that a 10-12% capex growth in the budget is crucial to maintain confidence in the government's continued commitment to capital expenditure. In the FY25 budget, the government retained a 16% YoY capex growth from the interim budget. However, actual spending has been disappointing, with a 15% YoY decline in central government capex during the first seven months of FY25.
To achieve a 5% overall growth for FY25, a 32% YoY growth in capex from November to March 2025 is needed. Despite these concerns, Jefferies remains constructive on the industrials sector, particularly in power and defence, where capex growth is strong. Power sector capex is expected to show the highest compound annual growth rate (CAGR) among sub-segments, with companies like Siemens, Thermax, and KEI highlighted as key players.
The brokerage’s top picks in the sector include Siemens, HAL, Thermax, and L&T, with Buy ratings maintained on all. Price targets are set at Rs 9,555 for Siemens (a +21% upside), Rs 5,500 for HAL (+30%), Rs 4,600 for L&T (+27%), and Rs 6,100 for Thermax (+28%). While Australia's ASX 200 and South Korea's Kospi started the year on a positive note and were trading 0.
4% and 0.02% higher respectively as of 7:33 a.m.
, Hong Kong's Hang Seng fell nearly 2%. Markets in Japan will remain closed through January 6. GIFT Nifty was at 23,840.
00 down by 37 points or 0.15% at 07:09 a.m.
Among others, share prices of NMDC Ltd., Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders Ltd., Tata Motors Ltd.
, Maruti Suzuki India Ltd. will remain in focus. On Wednesday, the Indian benchmark equity indices came out of a two-day decline and closed higher on the first trading day of 2025.
The NSE Nifty 50 closed 98.10 points or 0.41% higher at 23,742.
90, and the BSE Sensex ended 368.40 points or 0.47% higher at 78,507.
41. Foreign portfolio investors have been net sellers for the 12th straight session, while the domestic institutional investors have been buyers for the 11th consecutive session. The FPIs offloaded stocks worth Rs 1,782.
7 crore, while the DIIs bought stocks worth approximately Rs 1,690.4 crore. The Indian rupee weakened by four paise to close at 85.
65 against the US dollar..
