PremiumAsian markets opened lower on Friday, tracking their US peers as Wall Street shed gains based on reports that US president Joe Biden may double corporate tax rates.
The Sensex was at 47,898.90, down 181.77 points, or 0.38%, while the Nifty was at 14,406.15, up 109.75 points, or 0.77% at 9:07 am on Friday. The SGX Nifty was in red at 14,316.80, down 88.55 points, or 0.61%.
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has said that in order to stay resilient during covid crisis, commercial banks could pay up to 50% of dividend from the profits for the financial year ended 31 March 2021 (Read here)
Oil prices rose on Friday on hopes of a fuel demand recovery in the United States and Europe as economic growth picks up and lockdowns ease, but worries about India's raging second wave of covid-19 cases kept a lid on gains.
Brent crude futures rose 21 cents, or 0.3%, to $65.61 a barrel at 0137 GMT, after climbing 8 cents on Thursday. US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures jumped 29 cents, or 0.5%, to $61.72 a barrel, also after an 8 cent gain on Thursday. (Reuters)
Gold gained on Friday and was poised for a third straight weekly rise as a softer US dollar, falling Treasury yields and a dip in equities after US President Joe Biden's proposal to hike capital gains tax encouraged investors to flock towards bullion. Spot gold was up 0.2% at $1,787.11 per ounce by 0135 GMT, after hitting its highest since 25 February at $1,797.67 on Thursday. The metal has gained about 0.6% so far this week. US gold futures rose 0.4% to $1,788.10 per ounce. (Reuters)
Markets are likely to struggle on Friday while trends in SGX Nifty suggest a weak opening of Indian benchmark indices. On Thursday, the BSE Sensex ended at 47,705.80, down 243.62 points or 0.51%. The Nifty was at 14,296.40, down 63.05 points or 0.44%.
DishTV, Rallis India, Tata Motors, IT, insurance stocks, among others could be in the news today. (Read here)
Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced on Thursday that India and the US are launching an "agenda 2030" partnership on green collaborations as he pitched for concrete action at a "high speed" and on a "large scale" globally to combat climate change.
Addressing a virtual summit on climate change convened by US President Joe Biden, Modi said a guiding philosophy of "back to basics" must be an important pillar of the economic strategy for the post-covid era and asserted that India has taken "many bold steps" on clean energy, energy efficiency and bio-diversity, despite its development challenges. (PTI)
Bitcoin declined for the seventh time in eight days, extending losses after President Joe Biden was said to propose almost doubling the capital-gains tax for the wealthy.
The slide pushed Bitcoin down as much as 3.6% to about $49,760, sending it below the low of $51,707 reached Sunday before it bounced back. The coin had tumbled as much as 15% over the weekend in the wake of a false report from an anonymous Twitter account that the US Treasury was cracking down on crypto money laundering. (Bloomberg)
Indian Oil Corp Ltd's (IOC) refineries are operating at about 95% of their capacity, down from 100% at the same time last month, two sources familiar with the matter told Reuters.
Coronavirus cases have surged in India, leading to curbs on movement across the country, a move analysts say could hit fuel demand in the world's third largest oil importer and consumer.
An official at IOC, India's biggest oil refiner, said the cuts in runs at its refineries were "marginal" but analysts and industry officials say there could deeper reductions in output from the country's refineries in coming days. (Reuters)
Stocks weakened in early Asia trade Friday following broad-based declines in US benchmarks as investors mulled a proposal for higher taxes on the wealthy to help pay for President Joe Biden’s social plan. Indexes opened lower in Japan, South Korea and Australia. US contracts edged up after the steepest decline in five weeks for the S&P 500 Index.
The SGX Nifty was at 14,337.00, up Bench59.75 points, or 0.42% at 7:23 am.
S&P 500 futures climbed 0.1% as of 9:25 a.m. in Tokyo. The index fell 0.9%.
Japan’s Topix Index was down 0.6%.
South Korea’s Kospi Index dipped 0.6%.
Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 Index was steady.
Hang Seng futures slipped 0.1% earlier.
US stocks dived on reports that President Joe Biden planned to almost double the capital gains tax, but analysts said the news was an excuse to take profits in a listless market ahead of big tech's earnings next week.
The three main indexes on Wall Street were trending slightly lower when Bloomberg reported Biden also planned to raise income taxes for the wealthy, a proposal some said would be hard to pass in Congress. Biden will propose raising the marginal income tax rate to 39.6% from 37% and nearly double taxes on capital gains to 39.6% for people earning more than $1 million, according to people familiar with the matter. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.89%, the S&P 500 lost 0.78% and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 0.74%. The S&P 500 posted 83 new 52-week highs and no new lows; the Nasdaq Composite recorded 83 new highs and 16 new lows.
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