Indian equity markets faced a third consecutive day of decline on Friday, driven by concerns over persistent high-interest rates. This comes after US Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell confirmed the central bank's 2% inflation target, despite signs of slowing inflation.
Various firms, including Hindustan Unilever (LON:ULVR) (HUL), ITC, Power Grid, Bajaj Finserv, and Bajaj Finance, opened with losses. On the other hand, Tata Motors (NYSE:TTM), Nestle, and IndusInd Bank reported opening gains. Food delivery platform Zomato saw its shares rise by 2.4% following a Rs 1,040.50 crore block deal for a 1.1% stake in the company.
In contrast, Tata Communications' shares fell by 3% in response to a significant year-on-year decrease in Q2 net profit by 58%.
In corporate developments, the Adani Group is set to refinance $3.5 billion of loans related to its acquisition of ACC Ltd and Ambuja Cement. Meanwhile, Google (NASDAQ:GOOGL) is reportedly close to striking an agreement with Dixon Technologies and Bharat FIH to begin production for its Pixel 8 smartphone in India.
In the education sector, Byju Raveendran, CEO of Byju's, is reportedly in early-stage discussions with private equity firms Bain Capital and KKR to sell a controlling stake in Aakash Educational Services Ltd. The details of these potential deals remain undisclosed.
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