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RBI increased its benchmark repo rate for third time within four months on Friday as it reiterated its commitment to bring inflation down below its outer limit of 6%.The large investment losses overshadowed an otherwise solid performance with a loan growth of 15% driven by a 19% growth in retail loans and a 11% increase in corporate loans.

The big losses were on account of erosion in marketing margins on motor fuel and LPG, the company said in a BSE filing. The average gross refining margin for the quarter stood at $16.69 a barrel level against $3.31 per barrel an year ago.

On the other hand, on the lower time frame charts, the Nifty has created a potential top at 17500 levels. This level is likely to act as resistance unless it is taken out comprehensively. Until this happens, one can expect profit-taking bouts from higher levels. In the same breath, one also needs to keep in mind that while the markets continue to remain prone to consolidation, they may stay range-bound with limited downsides.

A stronger dollar and rising global rates have hit tech-heavy markets like South Korea and Taiwan, while China has yet to find a bottom as its Covid Zero strategy, a property crisis and unpredictable regulations weigh on share prices.

Trading volumes, meanwhile, have also been extremely low for a majority of the past week’s moves. Despite seeing swings of at least 40% in either direction on all but one day this week, the stock has yet to crack 500,000 shares traded on a single day. On Friday, just over 50,000 shares changed hands, its sixth straight session of declining volume.

IRB Infrastructure Developers, in a statement, said its board has approved sale of Vadodara Kim hybrid annuity model(HAM) project in Gujarat for Rs 342 crore.

Airline operator SpiceJet was the best performing index stock, as it rallied 29.11 per cent for the week to Rs 49.45 a piece and now commands a market value close to Rs 3,000 crore. The stock surge amid news the airline is in talks with a Middle Eastern carrier for a 24 per cent stake sale.

Well, most of the earnings data, especially for mid and smallcap companies is yet to be announced. For the ones that have announced, while things look decent on the topline front, the margin pressure is visible for different sectors barring banks. But this is on expected lines, and we would not be surprised to see the pressure in the next quarter as well.

The profit figure missed ET NOW poll projection of Rs 8,300 crore by a wide margin. Net interest income (NII) for the quarter rose 12.87 per cent YoY to Rs 27,638 crore compared with Rs 31,196 crore in the corresponding quarter last year. ET NOW poll estimated NII figure at Rs 32,500 crore.

While Price multiples are good to use, it can sometimes be misleading as earnings per share isn’t always reliable and it is difficult to compare companies in two different sectors. For instance, an investor cannot assign the same value for Metal and FMCG stocks. Metal as we all know is highly cyclical and more vulnerable to economic conditions. On the other hand, FMCG business is much less vulnerable to economic cycles. Hence, it would be justified to assign a higher multiple to FMCG stocks as compared to Metals.