📌 Benchmark indices Sensex and Nifty declined sharply on January 8 due to investor caution ahead of the December quarter earnings season, persistent foreign fund outflows, and weak global market trends, with the📌 Sensex down 550.98 points or 0.70 percent at 77,648.13, and the📌 Nifty down 158.50 points or 0.67 percent at 23,549.40.

📌Ola Electric Mobility's stock fell 1.34% to Rs 75.16 after📌 SEBI issued an administrative warning for disclosure regulation infractions, citing non-compliance with regulations 4 and 30. Ola Electric had announced a fourfold expansion of its company-owned stores by December 20, 2024, but Chairman Bhavish Aggarwal had made the announcement earlier than the official notification.

Kotak Institutional Equities initiates coverage on Waaree Energies and Premier Energies with a "sell" recommendation, citing potential downsides of 8% and 41% respectively, despite India's solar sector being primed for 18% CAGR growth until 2030. Kotak favors integrated Indian manufacturers and US-based companies for superior profitability.

Larsen and Toubro on Wednesday, January 8, said its heavy engineering arm won 'significant' orders in the third quarter of FY25 in the overseas and domestic markets. L&T classifies orders in the ₹1,000 crore to ₹2,500 crore range as 'significant'. The company's heavy engineering arm bagged an order for LNG equipment for a project in the US.

📌 The initial public offering (IPO) of infrastructure and construction company BR Goyal opened for subscription on Tuesday, January 7, and will remain so until Thursday, January 9. The📌 ₹85 crore SME IPO is entirely a fresh issue of over 63 lakh shares. The IPO has been fully subscribed and current grey market trends indicate the stock could be listed at a premium of over 30 per cent.

Jefferies and Bernstein reiterate their bullish stance on Reliance Industries, citing attractive valuations after a 22% correction, with Jefferies expecting mid-teens growth in retail and Bernstein forecasting a 12% rise in Reliance Jio's average revenue per user, with target prices of Rs 1,690 and Rs 1,520, respectively.

The Indian economy is projected to grow by 6.4% in 2024-25, down from 8.2% in FY24, according to the NSO's first advance estimates. This forecast marks the lowest growth rate since the pandemic and falls short of the RBI's recent projection for FY25. Analysts at Nomura foresee a further downward revision of FY25 GDP growth to 6% year-on-year, citing a slowdown during the October-November period.

📌 Nifty has ended in the green nine times in the last 10 years, with energy and financial services being the only sectors that have matched its performance, delivering superior 10-year CAGR returns of 16% and 13%, respectively.📌 Nifty has given its best performances when both these sectors have performed well simultaneously.

The Indian rupee is likely to open weaker on Wednesday after upbeat U.S. economic data lifted U.S. bond yields, prompting the dollar to resume its uptrend. The one-month non-deliverable forward indicated that the rupee will open at 85.80-85.81 to the U.S. dollar, compared with 85.7125 in the previous session. The dollar index dipped during Asia trade to 108.5 after rising 0.3% on Tuesday.

Mahindra and Mahindra (M&M) shares will remain in focus on Wednesday, January 8, following the automaker's announcement of prices for the highly anticipated Mahindra XEV 9e and BE 6 top-end models. Both electric SUVs will be offered in three variants, including Pack One, Pack Two, and Pack Three. The company had earlier announced the price of the basic models.

Geojit Financial Services's report on Daily Agri Picks: India's exports of spices rose 10% on year to 940,997.50 tonnes in Apr-Oct, according to data from the Spices Board of India. The country exported 146,557.83 tonnes of jeera during the period, up 73% on year, the data showed. In dollar terms, the total exports of spices were up 7% on year at $2.54 billion during Apr-Oct.

Complete Circle Capital's wealth management arm has raised $3 million in its maiden fund raise from investors led by Rajeev and Arjun Juneja from Mankind Pharma Promoter Family Office, along with Narinder Bajaj, the Director and Chairman of Mitutoyo South Asia Pvt. Ltd. It also plans to roll out AI-based technology to help investors and clients.

In Budget 2024, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman introduced changes to the income tax slabs to make the new tax regime more appealing to taxpayers. However, no such perks were announced in the July 2024 Budget for those who opted for the old tax regime. The standard deduction for salaried individuals has been increased to ₹75,000 in the new regime.

Mumbai-based dental products company Laxmi Dental will open its Rs 698-crore initial share sale for public subscription on January 13, with a price band of Rs 407-428 per share. The issue will close on January 15. The anchor book of the public issue will be launched for a day on January 10, a day prior to the offer opening for public. The IPO share allotment will be finalised by 16.

India’s new central bank head faces a tough decision on managing rupee’s exchange rate- focus on squeezing volatility like his predecessor did, or respond to calls for more flexibility as dollar continues to surge. A gauge of the rupee’s inflation-adjusted trade competitiveness, or real effective exchange rate, rose to a historic high of 108.14 in November, suggesting an overvaluation of about 8%.