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Equity Alert: Online gaming cos plunge as Cabinet likely OKs new gaming Bill

MUMBAI--0958 IST--Traders offloaded shares of online gaming companies such as Nazara Technologies, Delta Corp., and OnMobile Global on Wednesday following media reports that the government will likely propose restrictions on online games that involve monetary gains under the draft Promotion and Regulation of Online Gaming Bill, 2025. Reports said the Cabinet on Tuesday approved this draft Bill, which comes under new Online Gaming Bill 2025, and it is likely to be tabled in the Lok Sabha later in the day.

The proposed bill will prohibit real money online games and impose stringent penalties for violations, and offering online money gains could attract fines up to INR 100 million and a maximum of three years in jail, reports said. The bill, once it comes into effect, will also restrict advertisements related to such games and financial transactions connected to them. Banks and financial institutions will likely be restricted from processing payments to online money games, reports said.

At 0952 IST, shares of Nazara Technologies were down 6.3% at INR 1,311. The stock hit a seven-week low of INR 1,305 earlier in the day. Delta Corp.'s shares fell 6.6% at market open but later came off lows to trade 0.2% lower at INR 92.72. OnMobile Global was down 3%. (Gopika Balasubramanium)

Equity Alert: Mkt down on fall in fincl cos, profit booking in select stocks

MUMBAI--0936 IST--Benchmark indices were slightly down in early trade Wednesday after they rose in the previous four sessions, gaining 2%. The Nifty 50, as expected by analysts, faced selling pressure around 25000 points.

Selling in non-banking financial companies, along with large banks, was the key reason for the slight fall in the Nifty 50. Shares of several consumer-facing companies also saw profit booking after bumper gains earlier this week. At 0924 IST, the Nifty 50 was down 0.2% to 24943.80 points and Sensex was down 0.1% at 81540.10 points.

Shares of Bajaj Finance, Shriram Finance, and Jio Financial Services were down over 1?ch. Index-hevyweights HDFC Bank and ICICI Bank were down 0.4-0.6%. Among gainers, Bharti Airtel was up nearly 2%, rising for the fifth straight session.

Automobile and fast-moving consumer goods companies were mixed. Nestle India, Hero MotoCorp, and Hindustan Unilever extended gains from the past few sessions, while Tata Motors and Eicher Motors saw a minor fall. Shares of Maruti Suzuki have gained over 10% so far this week on possibility of lower goods and services tax on cars and China lifting restrictions on supply of rare earth magnets. Ola Electric Mobility was the top gainer among Nifty 200 companies and it rose over 6%.

Shares of information technology companies were mixed as investors await the US Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell's speech on Friday for cues on the trajectory of interest rates. High interest rates in the US and threat of tariffs has already hit demand for IT services in the US, leading to a fall shares of IT stocks this year. Nifty IT was up 0.5% Wednesday, but it has fallen over 19% so far this year. (Anshul Choudhary)

Equity Alert: Indices likely to rise more on short covering

MUMBAI--0812 IST--Benchmark indices are likely to remain in positive territory Wednesday as investors might continue covering their short positions after being heavily oversold in the market. Thought the market may start on a muted note, analysts expect the Nifty 50 to test the 25000 mark during the session. However, a climb above the psychologically crucial level is expected to be a tough one. The 50-stock index is expected to move in a range of 24800-25200.

While tailwinds such as the proposed GST reforms, India's positive macroeconomic outlook, a good monsoon, and a potential revival of earnings growth in the second half of the financial year are likely to drive the market higher, some analysts believe that the GST rationalisation may fall short of the high expectations investors have to revive demand and drive consumption in the economy.

The derivatives contract of the GIFT Nifty indicates a muted start for the market. At 0800 IST, the August contract of the GIFT Nifty was at 24967 points, 43.50 points lower from its previous close. On Tuesday, the Nifty 50 ended up 103.70 points or 0.4% higher at 24980.65. The BSE Sensex closed at 81644.39 points, up 370.64 points or 0.5%.

Overnight, indices in the US ended lower, with Nvidia and other heavyweight artificial intelligence stocks weighing on the market. While the Nasdaq Composite and S&P 500 ended lower, the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed flat after briefly rising to an all-time high intraday. Most Asian bourses were in the red in early trade Wednesday, with Australia's S&P/ASX 200 and Singapore's Straits Times being the exceptions. (Akash Mandal)

Equity Alert: Asian indices mixed; Japan market down on decline in exports

MUMBAI--0807 IST--Stock indices in Asia were mixed Wednesday with markets in Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan seeing a steep fall, while those in Australia, China, and Singapore rose slightly. Profit-booking was seen in some markets after recent gains, while sentiment in Japan took a hit after the country's exports fell more than expected.

Japan's exports fell 2.6% on year in July, with exports to the US falling over 10%, CNBC reported. The 2.6% drop in exports was more than the 2.1% expected in a Reuters poll. The Nikkei 225 Day was down 1.6% and the TOPIX fell 0.6%.

Taiwan's TAIEX fell for the second session after it hit a lifetime high intraday on Tuesday. The index fell over 2% Tuesday and has lost 2.6% from its lifetime high so far. South Korea's KOSPI was down 2%, down for the third straight session, losing over 4% during this period.

Market participants now await US Federal Reserve Jerome Powell's speech at Jackson Hole, Wyoming, on Friday. He is expected to provide some cues on the possiblity of a rate cut at the US central bank's next meeting. The CME FedWatch Tool showed the probability of a 25 basis point rate cut in September has increased to 87% from 83?ay ago.

Following were the levels of key Asian indices at 0803 IST:

(Anshul Choudhary)

Equity Alert: Nasdaq Composite falls 1.5% on profit booking in tech stocks

MUMBAI--0736 IST--The Nasdaq Composite index fell 1.5% Tuesday due to a sell-off in several technology companies as investors shifted to real estate, utilities, and consumer staples stocks. Investors were likely taking out profits from technology companies ahead of US Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell's speech at the Jackson Hole Symposium on Friday, Reuters reported. The S&P 500 fell 0.6% while Dow Jones Industrial Average was largely unchanged.

Tech-major Nvidia dropped 3% and Palantir Technologies fell over 9%. Media reports said Nvidia is working on new chips for China that will be more powerful than the current H20 chips. However, sentiment around the stock was likely weak after US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Nvidia would need to agree to a revenue sharing model with the government to get export licence to sell chips in China. Among others, Intel rose 7% on a $2-billion investment from SoftBank Group.

Home Depot missed expectations on earnings and it said customers were delaying large home-improvement projects. It also said small price increases were possible due to tarrifs, The Wall Street Journal reported. The stock ended 3% higher as it retained the annual guidance for fiscal 2025. Among other major consumer-facing companies, Target will reported its earnings Wednesday and Walmart will announce its results on Thursday.

Following are the closing levels of US indices Tuesday:

(Anshul Choudhary)

US$1 = INR 87.08

End

Edited by Tanima Banerjee

All prices from National Stock Exchange, unless otherwise specified.

All percentage changes for share prices are rounded off to the nearest whole number; percentage changes for index values are rounded off to one decimal place.

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