The benchmark stock indices have opened the day negative with losses of well over 1%

The Centre's second economic rescue package, which has been keenly awaited, is expected to be finalised today and announced in the next few days.

Join us as we follow the top business news through the day.

Gold attracting first-time buyers, of late

At a time when Indian investors are shying away from assets like equities and real estate, gold is emerging as a preferred choice of investment. A large number of retail investors, who have never bought gold in the past, are now looking at the yellow metal as an investment avenue.

A recent retail survey from the World Gold Council (WGC) revealed that 29% of retail investors surveyed had never bought gold in the past, but are open to the idea of buying gold in the future.

Further, 52% of investors already owned some form of gold, with 48% having invested in the 12 months preceding the survey.

Chinese investors flummoxed by India's new foreign investment rules

With India's tighter FDI rules to prevent "opportunistic" takeovers, Chinese investors are now worried about increased delays and fewer investments.

Reuters reports: "India's plan to screen foreign direct investments from neighbouring countries has Chinese firms concerned that such scrutiny will affect their projects and delay deals in one of Asia's most lucrative investment markets.

The tougher rules were not a surprise, as other countries are also on guard against fire sales of corporate assets during the coronavirus outbreak, but that they apply to investments from countries that share a land border with India raised eyebrows.

Unlike neighbouring Pakistan, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Nepal and Bhutan, China has major investments in India.

Chinese firms existing and planned investments in India stand at more than $26 billion, research group Brookings said in March, with the world's second-most populous nation emerging as a key market for everything from automobiles to digital tech.

The new rules are to curb “opportunistic” takeovers during the coronavirus outbreak that has hit Indian businesses, but government sources have said they will also apply to greenfield investments. China has called the rules ”discriminatory”.

Some Chinese investors have already “put things on hold” as they await further clarity on the rules, said Vaibhav Kakkar of Indian law firm L&L Partners.

“Every Chinese investor is worried, any government approval could take months,” said Kakkar, who advises several foreign companies and investors.

This will affect India's digital businesses who are in dire need of funds to tide over the coronavirus crisis, he said."

Nestle posts better than expected Q1 sales as customers stockpile food

The economic uncertainty caused by the coronavirus pandemic is turning out to be good news for Nestle.

Whether increased stockpiling in Q1 adversely affects sales in future quarters, however, remains to be seen.

Reuters reports: "Nestle reported a 4.3% rise in organic sales growth for the first quarter, the food giant said on Friday, as consumers filled cupboards with Purina pet food and Poland Spring water to prepare for lockdowns caused by the coronavirus pandemic.

Nestle also said it is launching a 500 million Swiss franc ($511.77 million) program to help its food service suppliers during the coronavirus crisis, by extending payment terms and suspending rental fees for coffee machines. The company also said it was keeping its outlook for the year.

Analysts on average were expecting a 3.0% increase in first-quarter underlying sales growth, according to company-supplied estimates."

Rupee falls 25 paise to 76.31 against US dollar in early trade

The weakness witnessed in the domestic equities market has weighed on the rupee this morning.

PTI reports: "The rupee depreciated by 25 paise to 76.31 against the US dollar in opening trade on Friday, tracking weak domestic equities and strengthening of the US dollar overseas.

Forex traders said the rupee opened on a weak note taking negative cues from Asian equities.

The rupee opened at 76.30 at the interbank forex market and then fell further to 76.31, down 25 paise over its last close.

The rupee had settled at 76.06 against the US dollar on Thursday.

“Asian equities and US stock futures fell on Friday morning, amid doubts about progress in the development of drugs to treat COVID-19 and weak data from the United States,” Reliance Securities said in a research note.

It further added that “the US dollar rose against the Euro and a basket of currencies this Friday morning and could weigh on the domestic unit intraday“."

Repo auction gets poor response

The first auction of the second tranche of Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) targeted long term repo operations (TLTRO 2.0), which were meant for liquidity support to non-banking financial companies, (NBFCs), received poor response as total value of bids received from banks was almost 50% less than the notified amount.

The RBI received 14 bids worth ₹12,850 crore in the auction that was conducted on Thursday, against a notified amount of ₹25,000 crore, of three-year tenor.

“The total bids that were received amounted to ₹12,850 crore, implying a bid to cover ratio (i.e., the amount of bids received relative to the notified amount) of 0.5,” the RBI said.

“Will review the auction results and take a view in the matter,” the RBI added.

Sensex tumbles over 500 points in early trade; Nifty slips below 9,200

Indian stocks have made a negative start to the day, in line with the fall seen in US stocks over the latter half of last night's trading session.

PTI reports: "Equity benchmark Sensex tumbled over 500 points in early trade on Friday dragged by losses in banking and IT stocks amid weak cues from global markets.

After hitting a low of 31,278.27, the 30-share index was trading 534.23 points or 1.68 per cent down at 31,328.85.

Similarly, the NSE Nifty declined 129.35 points, or 1.39 per cent, to 9,184.55.

Bajaj Finance was the top laggard in the Sensex pack, shedding up to 5 per cent, followed by ICICI Bank, IndusInd Bank, Axis Bank, HDFC twins, SBI, Infosys and TCS.

On the other hand, Hero MotoCorp, Sun Pharma, L&T, ONGC and HCL Tech were among the gainers.

In the previous session, the BSE barometer surged 483.53 points or 1.54 per cent to close at 31,863.08, and the broader Nifty advanced 126.60 points, or 1.38 per cent, to settle at 9,313.90.

Foreign portfolio investors were net sellers in the capital market on Thursday, as they offloaded equity shares worth Rs 114.58 crore, according to provisional exchange data."

Virus pushes US unemployment toward highest since Depression

Countries are having to pay a massive economic price as they impose stringent lockdowns to fight the coronavirus pandemic.

PTI reports: "Unemployment in the US is swelling to levels last seen during the Great Depression of the 1930s, with 1 in 6 American workers thrown out of a job by the coronavirus, according to new data released Thursday. In response to the deepening economic crisis, the House passed a nearly USD 500 billion spending package to help buckled businesses and hospitals.

More than 4.4 million laid-off Americans applied for unemployment benefits last week, the government reported. In all, roughly 26 million people — the population of the 10 biggest US cities combined — have now filed for jobless aid in five weeks, an epic collapse that has raised the stakes in the debate over how and when to ease the shutdowns of factories and other businesses."

Franklin Templeton MF winds up six credit funds due to covid-19

Franklin Templeton Mutual Fund has decided to wind up six credit funds on account of the liquidity crisis following the coronavirus pandemic.

"In light of the severe market dislocation and illiquidity caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, this decision has been taken in order to protect value for investors via a managed sale of the portfolio," said a statement from Franklin Templeton Mutual Fund.

"This action is limited to the... funds, which have material direct exposure to the higher yielding, lower rated credit securities in India that have been most impacted by the ongoing liquidity crisis in the market," it added.

The schemes that have been shut are Franklin India Low Duration Fund, Franklin India Dynamic Accrual Fund, Franklin India Credit Risk Fund, Franklin India Short Term Income Plan, Franklin India Ultra Short Bond Fund and Franklin India Income Opportunities Fund.

OPEC's share in Indian imports lowest in nearly 2 decades

India's dependence on OPEC oil continues to drop amid increased competition among suppliers.

Reuters reports: "OPEC's share of India's oil imports fell to 78.3% in 2019/20, its lowest in at least 19 years, data obtained from industry and trade sources show, as refiners in Asia's third biggest economy increased imports of U.S. and Mediterranean grades.

India, which usually imports about 80% of its needs from members of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), has been diversifying its suppliers as local refiners have upgraded plants to process cheaper crude grades.

The world's third-biggest oil importer shipped in 4.5 million barrels per day (bpd) of oil in the last fiscal year to March 2020, about 0.9% less compared with a year ago, data showed.

Of that, about 3.53 million bpd came from OPEC members.

The share of OPEC oil in India's 2019-20 crude imports might be the lowest ever as crude imports by country before 2001-02 are not available.

In 2019/20 India's overall imports declined as most refiners had shut units for upgrades ahead of stricter fuel standards effective from April 1."