"Banking sector gets very vulnerable if any news comes of even a possibility of some default which may or may not happen. This is one sector which is coming out of the NPA cycle and we do not want another wave to come and hit them. It is a highly vulnerable sector that has moved a lot in the last few quarters and had driven the markets to these levels. And now that sector is taking a knock."

The consolidated results include the earnings of its wholly owned subsidiaries -- Bajaj Housing Finance, Bajaj Financial Securities, and its associate company Snapwork Technologies.The asset quality of the non-banking finance company improved with gross non-performing assets falling to 1.14% at the end of December against 1.73% a year back. Net NPA was at 0.41% against 0.78%.

The non-banking finance company’s standalone profit after tax (PAT) rose 36 percent on-year to Rs 2,624 crore in the December quarter.

This is the highest-ever quarterly profit reported by the non-bank finance major.

Shares of Bajaj Finance have corrected more than 11 percent so far this month, due to the disappointing AUM growth announced in an early update on its quarterly performance.

Dr Reddy's Laboratories beat Street estimates by reporting a 77% on-year rise in December quarter net profit to Rs 1,247 crore. Revenue jumped 27% YoY higher to Rs 6,770 crore. During the quarter, the company's gross margin increased to 59.2% up from 53.8% in the year-ago period.

Nifty futures on the Singapore Exchange traded 82.50 points or 0.46% higher at 18,036, signalling a positive start for Dalal Street.

The NBFC's NII is seen growing 23.3% YoY to Rs 5,831 crore

Experts feel the 17,800-18,200 range is expected to break on either side after the announcement of the Budget, hence, if the Nifty breaks 18,200, then 18,500 is the level to watch out for

​​If the Nifty crosses and sustains above 18,200 level, it would take the index towards 18,500 levels, analysts said. HDFC Bank, TCS, L&T, UltraTech Cement, Sterlite Technologies, Persistent, ONGC, Coal India, and Vedanta are some of the stocks that look bullish on charts, according to analysts.

With earnings of index heavyweight Reliance out of the way, some major companies, including Axis Bank, Maruti Suzuki, Tata Motors, Bajaj Auto, Cipla, Bajaj Finance, Vedanta, and NTPC, among others, are slated to announce their third-quarter results this week. The markets on Monday will also react to RIL's earnings, which disappointed the Street, as well as other index majors ICICI Bank and Kotak Bank.

HUL, Asian Paints, Bajaj Finance, JSW Steel and Nestle India were among the top losers on NSE in today's trade.

Baid Leasing, Arihant Academy Ltd., Hisar Metal Ind, Sterling Tools and Shreeoswal Seeds, hit their fresh 52-week highs during the day.

The NSE Nifty index closed 80.2 points down at 18027.65

Net Interest Income (NII) is expected to increase by 23.4 percent Y-o-Y (up 5.3 percent Q-o-Q) to Rs. 5,833 crore, according to Sharekhan.

The NSE Nifty index closed 80.2 points down at 18027.65

The BSE Sensex index ended 237 points or 0.39% lower at 60,662, while Nifty50 fell 80 points or 0.44% to settle at 18,027

“Indias current underperformance is likely to be temporary since India has the best growth and earnings prospects among large economies. However, concerns of a global slowdown this year and the possibility of FIIs again turning sellers at higher levels will cap the upside to the market in the near-term,” V K Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist at Geojit Financial Services said.

The NSE Nifty index was trading 91.9 points up at 17986.75

Homesfy Realty Ltd., Maan Aluminium, Speciality Rest, Indiabulls Enterprises Ltd. and Jash Engineering, hit their fresh 52-week highs at 11:06AM.

I don't see a long-drawn patch. I think it is more tactical right now because large markets are moving very fast and India was a consensus overweight. In fact, it wasn't a consensus overweight till about third quarter of last year because we were seeing continuous FII outflows.

The NSE Nifty index was trading 133.85 points up at 18028.7

Bajaj Finance, Sun Pharma, Hero MotoCorp, Tata Steel and IndusInd Bank were among the top losers on NSE.

“The dominant trend impacting the near-term texture of the market is the sustained selling by FIIs for the eleventh time this month. The simple logic behind sustained FII selling is that India is the only large market where FIIs are still sitting on good profits after the disastrous 2022 performance in most global markets,” V K Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist at Geojit Financial Services said.

“The Reliance stock will be in a range until there is no clarity on how things move going forward. But this is an incredibly interesting business for us. It is one of the most innovative companies in the Nifty50 in terms of technology. I like the business but it is going to take time until the demerger. The sum of the parts is greater than the whole.”

Net Interest Income (NII) is expected to increase by 24.6 percent Y-o-Y (up 6.4 percent Q-o-Q) to Rs. 5,891.3 crore, according to Prabhudas Lilladher.

“I do not think the commodity increase should be viewed as a market signalling there is going to be great demand. I would just hasten to caution that one should not be looking at increasing equity exposure despite all the positive noise we may see. This is a market which will remain extremely volatile during the course of the year.”

The NSE Nifty index was trading 18.15 points up at 17974.75

The NSE Nifty index was trading 21.45 points up at 17978.05

“Niftys technical landscape is suggesting major support at the 17,761 mark and below the same, the index will form a lower top/low pattern on the daily charts. Immediate upside hurdles are at the 18,265 mark, while confirmation of strength is now only above the 18,473 mark,” Prashanth Tapse - Senior VP (Research) at Mehta Equities said.

Bajaj Finance, incorporated in the year 1987, is a Large Cap company (having a market cap of Rs 366402.74 Crore) operating in NBFC sector.

On the options front, the weekly maximum Call OI is placed at 18000 and then towards 18200 strikes while the maximum Put OI is placed at 17900 and then towards 17800 strikes. Call writing is seen at 18200 then 18000 strikes while Put writing was seen at 17800 and then towards 17900 strikes.

The BSE Sensex ended 303 points or 0.51% higher at 60,261, while Nifty50 rose 98 points or 0.55% to settle at 17,957

“The visibility of the next five to seven years in some of the contracts gives me a lot of confidence about Infosys maintaining a 15% plus kind of steady rate of growth, continuing for the next five years or so in a very sustainable manner. Any correction in the price or softening of the stock price is a good opportunity to buy into Infosys and TCS.”

Morgan Stanley maintained its overweight stance on Maruti Suzuki with a target of Rs 10,483. The global investment bank believes that the share price will rise relative to the country index over the next 30 days.

“While the last two trading sessions may have been a bit challenging, this year looks to be good and I hope to build on the foundation created in the last financial year, rather the last year when we had massive outperformance in terms of our markets being stable as compared to sharp declines in some of the other global market,”

The financial services index has disappointed only in 2013 and 2015 in the last ten years. The calendar year 2014 turned out to be the best one so far when the index zoomed over 57%. In the last seven years, the index has given double-digit returns in 2017, 2018, 2019 and 2021.

The Sensex closed at 60,115.48, down 631.83 or 1.04%, after breaching 60,000 earlier in the session. The Nifty fell 187.05 points, or 1.03%, to end at 17,914.15. The Nifty has a crucial support at 17,650-17,700 levels, about 1.5% away from Tuesday's closing, analysts said.

"ICICI Bank has reached a very high level and from here onwards, what next? So why not look for something which has not moved as of now? It is just the kind of rotation which is happening. There is specifically nothing negative I have heard about ICICI Bank. They are continuously doing what they were doing very well with the change of management."