Shares of natural resources major ended more than 4% lower at Rs 267.95 on the NSE. The shares, which had been pledged by its parent entity for funds, were released by its lenders only last week, enabling the sale of these shares.

A Commerce Department report showed U.S. retail sales dropped 0.8% in January, weighed by declines in receipts at auto dealerships and gasoline service stations. Bets for an at least 25-basis-point rate cut in May edged up to 40.6%, while odds for June stood at 82%, according to the CME Group's FedWatch Tool.

Indian shares advanced on Thursday, led by banking, auto, and IT stocks. The S&P BSE Sensex closed 0.32% higher at 72,050, while the NSE Nifty50 index settled above the 21,900 level."Nifty is currently placed at the edge of moving above the minor downtrend line resistance around 21,900-21,950 levels. A decisive break above this hurdle could open the doors for new all-time highs around 22,150 levels. Immediate support is at 21,800," said Nagaraj Shetti, senior technical research analyst at HDFC Securities.Here are 6 stock recommendations for Friday:

The company’s operating profit grew by 15% even though the tractor volume dropped by 3.5% for the December quarter. It suggests that the automotive segment has gained enough heft to deliver growth and bring counter-cyclicality to the company’s earnings. A few years ago, the automotive division contributed two-thirds to the revenue, but only one-third to the operating profit. The gap is narrowing gradually.

A buyback is when a company buys its shares to reduce their count in the open market. Over the years, share buybacks have become a more popular mode for companies to return value to shareholders, compared to dividends. Here are some stocks that showed EPS outperformance post-buyback as compared to their net profit. (Souce: Trendlyne)

CA Basque Investments, the Mauritius-based special purpose vehicle owned by Carlyle Group, sold 39,00,00,000 shares of the lender at Rs 27.10 a share, bulk deals data on the BSE showed. Morgan Stanley Asia Singapore Pte bought 30,63,05,668 shares or 1.1% in the lender through a separate bulk deal for Rs 830 crore.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 26.33 points, or 0.07%, at the open to 38,397.94.

The shares of Alpex Solar nearly tripled investors' wealth on the first day of debut. The stock listed on the NSE SME platform with a premium of 186%, after which it rallied further to close the day at Rs 345 as against an issue price of Rs 115.

The promoter entity sold 6,55,18,600 shares of the mining major at Rs 265.14 a share, bulk deals data showed. On Thursday, shares of Vedanta ended 4% down on the BSE at Rs 268. The sale happened at a discount of more than 5% to the previous close.

Zerodha Fund House is a joint venture between Zerodha and fintech platform smallcase and is India’s only passive-only fund house providing direct plans to do away with transaction charges.

The S&P BSE Sensex rose more than 200 points to reclaim 72K while the Nifty50 closed above the 21,900 level.

The scheme is a close-ended category-3 alternative investment fund (AIF) and investments mainly factor in changes due to overarching macro shifts such as favourable demographics, regulatory framework changes, and increasing digitalisation.

Short covering refers to the buying of shares in order to close an existing short position or a position that has been sold. Short covering signals a shift in view on a security from extreme bearishness to bullishness. In Thursday's trading session, five stocks saw top short covering. Here's the list:

Nifty is currently placed at the edge of moving above the minor down- trend line resistance around 21,900-21,950 levels. A decisive break above this hurdle could open the doors for new all-time highs around 22,150 levels. Immediate support is at 21,800, said Nagaraj Shetti of HDFC Securities.

Long unwinding refers to selling of positions or stocks owned for a longer period either to book profit or to exit it in anticipation of impending bearishness. In Thursday's trading session, five stocks witnessed a top long unwinding. Here's the list:

Here's a look at companies from the BSE500 pack who moved from profits to losses on a quarter-on-quarter (QoQ) basis in the recently concluded quarter. Take a look: (Data | Trendlyne)

Paytm shares on Thursday fell another 5% to hit a fresh record low of Rs 325.30 on the BSE after the Directorate of Enforcement (ED) quizzed Paytm Payments Bank officials in connection with its probe into alleged violations of the Foreign Exchange Management Act (Fema) by entities using the bank.

First, it was unsecured loans, then it was housing finance companies and in the last two days, it has been micro finance companies. RBI has been taking stock of each segment of the financial service and tightening the norms so that accidents like 2018 can be avoided. Whenever there is tightening of norms, stocks from that sector tend to correct. The question is whether that correction is something which is an opportunity or not. One part of the answer lies in looking at overall market size and the growth. In the case of the housing finance segment, there is hardly any doubt about growth potential. So, if the growth potential then corrections are opportunities. But that is for companies which are able to adapt to the changing regulatory provisions, they will stand to gain in the long term.

In the December quarter, Zomato's food delivery margin rose despite an increase in the active restaurant base and a weak demand environment while quick commerce saw a better contribution margin, despite an accelerated increase in dark stores.

Unlike last quarter of 2023, when nifty and sensex used to witness correction and mid-cap index was able move higher. Since the start of 2024, the mid-cap index is also participating in the correction, clearly indicating that some profit booking is taking place in this segment of the market. Having said that, if one looks at the flow of money to the mutual funds, a good amount of it is still coming in funds which are focussed on mid or small cap. There is no way one can fight with liquidity, if it is going to mid caps and they are moving up irrespective of valuations or quality of stocks one cannot argue. But the only thing which as an investor one can do is to be careful when taking exposure to this segment of the market. Stay away from stocks where there is a narrative that this sector will do well because of ABCD reasons or the company will get such and such orders worth this much. There is enough evidence in history to show that more than anything else, checks and balances are most important at this point of time, while making investment decisions.

Indian equity indices struggled for direction on Thursday, as financials fell after a two-session rally, offsetting a rebound in information technology and a post-results jump in Mahindra & Mahindra. However, in today's trade, six Nifty50 stocks hit a new 52-week high. Here's a list:

In the intra-day trade, the scrip of state-run oil marketing company hit a 52-week high of Rs 651.80 and Rs 651.65 apiece on the BSE and NSE, respectively.

Shareholders of RIL, which was worth just Rs 1 lakh crore in August 2005, have made a notional profit of Rs 19 lakh crore in a span of less than 19 years.

A short buildup is when there is a rise in open interest and volumes along with a decrease in the price of the underlying stock in the Futures and Options segment. Short buildup means more people are expecting the prices to go down and creating short positions. In Thursday’s trading session, five stocks witnessed a build of fresh short positions. Here's the list:

From institutional giants to individual investors, the adoption of algorithmic trading has surged, propelled by the advancements in electronic trading platforms.

Bharti Airtel’s daily trend is bullish to sideways. The RSI for daily is showing sideways momentum, however, the RSI for monthly and weekly are showing bullish momentum. Based on option chain analysis, the range is between 1000 and 1200. Let’s plan a trade around this.

The past two days have brought bullishness in many counters and here are two stocks that can give good returns in the near term.

Shares of One 97 Communications fell 5% after ED questioned Paytm Payments Bank officials over alleged FEMA violations. Paytm has lost 57% in value since RBI banned the payments bank. Macquarie sees stock slumping to Rs 275, says Suresh Ganapathy.

A non-performing asset (NPA) is a loan or advance for which the principal or interest payment remained overdue for a period of 90 days. As per the data available on Trendlyne, SBI, Bank of Baroda, and PNB are among 6 PSU banks that reported the highest NPA in PSU bank stocks. Here's a list:

Nifty opened low but started fighting soon, which helped it move up and end with a gain.

A long buildup is when there is a rise in open interest and volumes along with an increase in the price of the underlying stock in the Futures and Options segment. The long buildup is the occurrence of a long (buying) trend in the share market. In Thursday's trading session, five stocks witnessed a build of fresh long positions. Here's the list:

Barring two companies – Balrampur Chini Mills and Shree Cement – rest of the stocks have given atleast double-digit returns so far in the current financial year.

Shares of Mahindra & Mahindra (M&M) jumped over 4% on BSE after brokerages raised their target prices. The Q3 results showed better than expected average selling prices (ASP) and volume growth of 11% YoY. The standalone profit rose 61% YoY to Rs 2,454 crore.

Mankind also has the most well-rounded therapeutic mix among peers, with strong brands across therapies. Its top-25 brands are still priced at a 21% discount to key competitors.

Alpex is a solar photovoltaic (PV) module manufacturer, predominantly in the Northern region of India. Its PV modules are manufactured using both monocrystalline and polycrystalline cell technologies.

As of December end, promoter and group entities cumulatively held a 63.71% stake in Vedanta Ltd. After rallying 5% yesterday, the stock was trading flat on BSE this morning. Details of the block deal would be known only in the evening when exchanges report data.

From the Sensex stocks, M&M, Wipro, NTPC, HCL Tech, Infosys, and Tech Mahindra opened with gains, while Nestle, HUL, Axis Bank, UltraTech Cement, and Kotak Bank opened with cuts.

Morgan Stanley maintained an Equal Weight rating on CG Consumer with a target price of Rs 281. The Q3 margin led to the overall miss, however, the top line was in line with estimates, it said.

Asian stocks rose on Thursday, with the Nikkei breaching a new 34-year peak, while the dollar took a breather near a three-month high as markets assess when the Federal Reserve is likely to start its easing cycle after a run of strong economic data.

In a regulatory filing describing its U.S.-listed stock holdings at the end of 2023, Berkshire said it sold 10 million Apple shares in the fourth quarter, but still owned more than 905 million shares worth about $174 billion.

Market-heavyweight Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company spiked as much as 9.8 percent in the morning session -- the biggest intraday rise since summer 2020, according to Bloomberg News.

Nvidia controls about 80% of the high-end AI chip market, a position that has boosted its stock price 47% this year after it more than tripled in 2023. Customers face shortages of Nvidia's top-of-the-line components while AI developers face months-long waiting lists to use its processors through cloud-computing providers.

Stocks that were in focus include names like RIL, which rose 1.14%, Adani Green, which jumped 2.11%, and TCS, whose shares declined 1.05% on Wednesday.

Nvidia overtook Alphabet's market capitalization ahead of the dominant AI chipmaker's quarterly results next week, now with a with a stock market value of $1.825 trillion after its shares rose 2.5%.

“While the broader markets have seen some correction in the last few days, the IT stocks have been bucking the trend and are outperforming. Traders can buy for a target of Rs 4250-4360,” Ruchit Jain, Lead Research, 5paisa.com, said.

​Some of their top picks in January included IndusInd Bank, Bank of India, Divi’s Laboratories, GlaxoSmithKline Pharmaceuticals, Aditya Birla Capital, Unichem Laboratories and Ipca Laboratories.

A slower-than-expected inflation decline in the US and sobering Federal Reserve commentary on when its much-awaited policy easing may start has also prompted Indian traders to reduce their bets on how much rates the RBI will cut this year.

Jefferies said the rerating in shares of public sector undertakings (PSUs) - the top performers in the past three months - has more legs citing cheaper valuations compared to the Nifty and the government's focus on 'value maximisation' for these companies. SBI, Coal India, and NTPC are its top picks among state-owned companies.

A resolution has been passed by the Board of holding company Utkarsh CoreInvest, wherein it was proposed to initiate steps in furtherance of a proposed reverse merger (‘Proposed Merger’) of UCL with the Bank

The shares were sold by Dunearn Investments Mauritius, which held a 16.02% stake as of December 31, 2023. Jaipuria is the promoter of Devyani International, which operates brands such as KFC, Pizza Hut, and Costa, among others