MARKET COMMENT With a broader view, we would reiterate that worse is not over yet for our markets. What we saw on Monday was just a relief rally and hence, one needs to keep booking timely profits and ideally should stay light on positions (Source: Angel Broking) Allegations against ICICI Bank pose reputational risks: Fitch An investigation into allegations that India's ICICI Bank (BBB-/Stable/bbb-) extended a loan with a potential conflict of interest raises questions over the bank's governance and creates reputational risks, says Fitch Ratings. Other regulatory sanctions are also possible, depending on the outcome of the investigation. The allegation relates to a $500 million loan to Videocon Group, whose controlling shareholder co-founded a separate company with the spouse of ICICI's CEO. A significant portion of the loan has since become non-performing. ICICI's board has denied any wrongdoing, highlighting that the loan was underwritten in accordance with the bank's credit standards and was extended as part of a consortium involving over 20 banks. The bank has stressed that it has not given any credit to the borrower group outside of the consortium. Nevertheless, the presence of the bank's CEO on this credit committee - and the bank's reluctance to support an independent probe - have, in our opinion, created doubts over the strength of its corporate governance practices. (Source: Fitch release) Top gainers in Nifty Bank index: COMPANY LATEST PREV CLOSE GAIN() GAIN(%) AXIS BANK 517.40 500.20 17.20 3.44 PUNJAB NATL.BANK 105.10 102.15 2.95 2.89 FEDERAL BANK 99.50 97.25 2.25 2.31 INDUSIND BANK 1860.10 1824.15 35.95 1.97 BANK OF BARODA 153.25 150.40 2.85 1.89 Top gainers in the Nifty FMCG index: COMPANY LATEST PREV CLOSE GAIN() GAIN(%) MARICO 327.35 320.65 6.70 2.09 ITC 265.50 260.85 4.65 1.78 TATA GLOBAL 277.25 272.70 4.55 1.67 HIND. UNILEVER 1391.00 1374.80 16.20 1.18 JUBILANT FOOD. 2449.35 2430.35 19.00 0.78 Sectoral Trend BSE Sensex: top gainers and losers of the day
The domestic markets ended higher on Monday taking cues from their Asian counterparts. The S&P BSE Sensex ended at 33,788, up 162 points while the broader Nifty50 index settled at 10,379, up 48 points.
Among sectoral indices, the Nifty FMCG index ended 1.13% up led by a rise in the shares of Marico and ITC.
Asian shares edged higher on Monday as a bounce in US stock futures soothed sentiment even as US President Donald Trump kept up his twitter war with China over trade just a couple of days before Chinese President Xi Jinping gives a keynote speech.
MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan inched up 0.1 per cent. Japan's Nikkei wavered either side of flat, and South Korea edged ahead by 0.2 per cent.
Back home, upcoming quarterly results season, along with the release of macroeconomic data points on industrial production (IIP) and inflation, are expected to determine the trajectory of key equity indices this week.
According to market observers, global cues such as concerns over trade protectionist measures between the US and China, combined with the direction of foreign fund flows and crude oil prices, will also impact investors' risk-taking appetite.
(with Reuters inputs)
AUTO REFRESH ON 