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Zerodha Co-Founder Nikhil Kamath has alerted investors about not being part of any WhatsApp group that gives stock recommendations.The Indian entrepreneur shared a picture on his official X handle saying that it was not him and called it a "Scam".Kamath's tweet came after a social media post did a round in his name claiming stocks that would do well in April and are handpicked by him. The post asked to join a WhatsApp group. "Scam alert, this is obviously not from me, I have never had or have any WhatsApp groups, nor do I give tips etc. Please report these... also to all the brands who reach out, I don't do paid promotions/collaborations/ads/paid speaking engagements of any kind. Please stop spamming, and everyone use a little common sense please," the tweet said. "Join our WhatsApp group EPick 1-3 reliable stocks every day. First 1,000 members get it for FREE," the ad post said.Nikhil Kamath is the brother of Nithin Kamath and co-founder the discount broking platform Zerodha in 2010. The online brokerage platform claims to have over one crore clients who place millions of orders every day contributing over 15% of all Indian retail trading volumes. Nikhil Kamath is an experienced investor and he heads financial planning at Zerodha. On Friday, Indian equity markets were trading in deep red amid selling pressure in most sectors. Around 12:50 pm, Nifty was trading at 22,580.45, down by 173.35 points or 0.76% while the S&P BSE Sensex was trading at 74,431.48, down by 601.95 points or 0.80%. The worst-performing sectors were banks & financial services, IT pharma and FMCG. Banking gauge Nifty Bank traded at 48,593.05, lower by 393.55 points or 0.8%. The Nifty Pharma and Nifty Healthcare index were down by over 1% around this time. Also Read: Sensex declines 650 points on fading US rate cut hopes; Nifty below 22,600(Disclaimer: Recommendations, suggestions, views and opinions given by the experts are their own. These do not represent the views of Economic Times)

In the race of returns, gold appears to have left the S&P BSE Sensex behind by miles in 2024. The yellow metal has approximately given 13% returns on a year-to-date (YTD) basis as against a 4% gain delivered by India's heartbeat index. In the 30-stock index, 10 have given returns superior to gold in 2024. Tata Motors tops the chart with 29% returns as on April 9, 2024. It is followed by Sun Pharmaceuticals and Maruti Suzuki India (MSIL) that have yielded 27.21% and 25.16%, respectively in the same period. <iframe title="Sensex Stocks Outperforming Gold " aria-label="Table" id="datawrapper-chart-RBbpI" src="https://et-infographics.indiatimes.com/graphs/RBbpI/1/" scrolling="no" frameborder="0" style="width: 0; min-width: 100% !important; border: none;" height="396" data-external="1"></iframe><script type="text/javascript">!function(){"use strict";window.addEventListener("message",(function(a){if(void 0!==a.data["datawrapper-height"]){var e=document.querySelectorAll("iframe");for(var t in a.data["datawrapper-height"])for(var r=0;r<e.length;r++)if(e[r].contentWindow===a.source){var i=a.data["datawrapper-height"][t]+"px";e[r].style.height=i}}}))}();</script>Others with higher returns are Mahindra & Mahindra (M&M, 21.13%), State Bank of India (SBI, 19%), Tata Steel (19%), Power Grid Corporation (18.44%), NTPC (17%), Bharti Airtel (16%) and Reliance Industries (RIL, 13.24%).Private lender ICICI Bank has given over 11% returns. Six stocks viz. Larsen & Toubro (L&T), HCL Technologies, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), Bajaj Finserv, Wipro and Titan Company have given positive returns between 7.30% and 0.10%.Meanwhile, 13 stocks have given negative returns between 0.65% and 16.01%. The worst performers are Asian Paints, Hindustan Unilever (HUL), HDFC Bank and ITC. <iframe title="2024 Laggards" aria-label="Table" id="datawrapper-chart-jmApO" src="https://et-infographics.indiatimes.com/graphs/jmApO/1/" scrolling="no" frameborder="0" style="width: 0; min-width: 100% !important; border: none;" height="610" data-external="1"></iframe><script type="text/javascript">!function(){"use strict";window.addEventListener("message",(function(a){if(void 0!==a.data["datawrapper-height"]){var e=document.querySelectorAll("iframe");for(var t in a.data["datawrapper-height"])for(var r=0;r<e.length;r++)if(e[r].contentWindow===a.source){var i=a.data["datawrapper-height"][t]+"px";e[r].style.height=i}}}))}();</script>MCX gold has risen by over Rs 8,100 per 10 grams on a YTD basis, hitting the Rs 70,000 mark for the first time. Sensex has scaled a fresh lifetime peak of 75,124.28, gaining 2,884 points in the same period. Gold, considered a haven among different asset classes, has been a beneficiary of geo-political tensions -- first the Russia-Ukraine war and now the ongoing Israel-Palestine crisis -- and hopes of early rate cuts by US Federal Reserves.Rahul Ghose, CEO of Hedged.in remains upbeat on the prospects of gold for FY2025 even as he sounds not so optimistic on the outlook of domestic equities. He rules out significant movement in the equity markets barring a few sectors like auto, capital goods and select PSU notwithstanding a stellar run in PSU stocks in the financial year ended March 31, 2024.Ghose expects a small correction in the next 45 days before the election results kick in arguing that historically 5-week series are volatile in nature, and May is a 5-week series amid election voting. Anuj Gupta, Head Commodity & Currency, HDFC Securities also remains bullish on gold and expects it to test levels of Rs 73,500.(Inputs from Ritesh Presswala)(Disclaimer: Recommendations, suggestions, views and opinions given by the experts are their own. These do not represent the views of Economic Times)

Tobacco manufacturer Godfrey Phillips India Ltd on Friday announced that the company has decided to exit from carrying out the business operations of its retail business division, which is operated under the name 24Seven, after it noted a negative net worth as on March 31, 2023 post registering losses."Following a detailed review of the Company’s retail business division being operated under the name “24Seven” (“Retail Business Division”), and after due consideration of the stakeholders’ feedback, long-term performance of the division since inception, prevailing market conditions of retail sector and long-term business strategy of the Company, the Board of Directors of the Company at its meeting held today has decided to exit from carrying out the business operations of its Retail Business Division," Godfrey Phillips informed the exchanges. The exit will be subject to completion of the necessary formalities, it added. Moreover, according to the company's filing, the revenue for FY23 from operations for the retail business stood at Rs 396 crore, accounting to about 9.3 per cent of the total revenue from operations for the Company and the retail division. The retail chain, 24Seven, owned by the KK Modi Group firm, was operating 150 stores as on December 2023.Groceries for everyday needs, prepared meals, drinks, cosmetics and personal hygiene items, music and film, and magazines are all available at 24Seven stores. Additionally, it offers a number of services like bill payment, mobile phone recharges, movie tickets, instant photo development, and domestic and international courier services. Godfrey Phillips India is the principal business of Modi Enterprises. It produces well-known cigarette brands, including Tipper, Cavanders, Red & White, Four Square, and North Pole. The company also produces and markets the Marlboro brand under licence from Philip Morris.