India's decision to deregulate bond prices a good move, say investors Global fund managers are applauding a move by India to deregulate the prices of bonds sold by the country’s states, which could spur overseas interest in the $350 billion market even if there are short-term losses. Securities sold by the nation’s 29 states will be valued at market prices, the Reserve Bank of India said at its policy meeting last week, discarding a long-standing rule that mandated adding a 25-basis point mark up over a sovereign bond with the same tenor. READ MORE Gold discounts widest in 9-month as higher prices tempered retail purchases Gold discounts in India were at their widest in nine months this week as higher domestic prices tempered retail purchases, while buying in other Asian centres remained subdued amid a lack of significant momentum in global prices. Dealers in India were offering a discount of up to $7.50 an ounce over official domestic prices this week, the highest since September 9. This compared with discounts of $5 last week. The domestic price includes a 10 percent import tax. READ MORE Sebi mulls capping tenure of stock exchange CEOs to maximum two 5-yr terms Regulator Sebi is considering capping tenure of stock exchange CEOs to maximum two terms of five years each, as part of an overhaul of regulations for ownership and governance norms for market infrastructure institutions. READ MORE Market at Noon S&P BSE Sensex 35,617.27 0.05% Nifty 50 10,815.90 0.07% S&P BSE 200 4,688.63 0.06% Nifty 500 9,362.50 0.06% S&P BSE Mid-Cap 16,082.57 0.11% S&P BSE Small-Cap 17,069.11 0.17% Reliance Industries, Bajaj Finance, Jubilant FoodWorks hit new highs Shares of Reliance Industries, Bajaj Finance, United Breweries, Page Industries, Jubilant FoodWorks and Sundram Fasteners from the S&P BSE500 index hit their respective new highs in intra-day trade in otherwise subdued market. Thus far in the current calendar year 2018 (CY18), all these stocks have outperformed the market by gaining by upto 54%, as compared to 4.6% rise in the S&P BSE Sensex. READ MORE Reliance Mutual Fund plans to hit the market with a new fund offering Reliance Mutual Fund plans to hit the market with a new fund offering, Reliance Nivesh Lakshya Fund, to predominantly invest in long-dated government securities. The fund will have a maturity of 25-30 years to begin with and most of the securities would be bought and held till maturity. Incremental investments will be made in similar securities. READ MORE
Among sectoral indices, the Nifty Pharma index is nearly 2% up led by rise in the shares of Dr. Reddy's Laboratories, Cipla and Sun Pharmaceutical Industries.
