India’s GDP likely to grow at 18.5% in April-June quarter this fiscal: SBI report
The country’s gross domestic product (GDP) is expected to grow at around 18.5% with an upward bias in the first quarter of the current financial year, according to SBI research report Ecowrap.
This estimate is lower than the Reserve Bank of India’s GDP growth projection of 21.4% for the April-June quarter, PTI reported. The report expects gross value added (GVA) to be at 15% in Q1FY22.
Samsung to invest $206 billion over next three years
Samsung Group will invest 240 trillion won ($205.64 billion) in the next three years to expand footprint in biopharmaceutical, artificial intelligence, semiconductor and robotics industries in the post-pandemic era, a Reuters report noted.
South Korea’s top conglomerate said on Tuesday the investments through 2023 are expected to help Samsung strengthen its global standing in key industries such as the chip sector, while seeking more growth opportunities in new fields such as next-generation telecommunications and robotics.
SEC gives Chinese companies new requirements for U.S. IPO disclosures
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has started to issue new disclosure requirements to Chinese companies seeking to list in New York as part of a push to boost investor awareness of the risks involved, Reuters reported.
Some Chinese companies have now started to receive detailed instructions from the SEC about greater disclosure of their use of offshore vehicles known as variable interest entities (VIEs) for IPOs; implications for investors and the risk that Chinese authorities will interfere with company operations, the report noted.
India refiners’ July crude processing catches up with demand rebound
Indian refiners’ crude throughput in July bounced to its highest in three months, as the easing of coronavirus restrictions boosted economic activity and fed demand for fuel, Reuters reported.
Provisional government data on Monday showed refiners processed 4.58 million barrels per day (19.38 million tonnes) of crude oil last month, about 1.9% higher than 4.50 million bpd processed in June.
On a year-on-year basis, refiners’ crude oil throughput in July jumped about 9.6%, while crude oil production fell about 3% to 602,000 bpd (2.55 million tonnes), the data showed.
Oil rises as full U.S. clearance for COVID-19 vaccine stokes fuel demand hopes
Oil prices rose on Tuesday after the U.S. drug regulator granted full approval to the Pfizer Inc/BioNTech SE COVID-19 vaccine, stoking investor hopes that higher fuel demand would follow a potential step up in U.S. coronavirus vaccination rates, Reuters reported.
Brent crude oil futures rose 0.3%, to $68.96, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude futures increased 0.2%, to $65.78 a barrel.
Both benchmarks jumped more than 5% on Monday, helped by a weaker U.S. dollar, after marking their biggest week of losses in more than nine months last week, the report noted.
Rupee rises 9 paise against US dollar in early trade
The rupee appreciated 9 paise to 74.13 against the US dollar in opening trade on Tuesday, following a positive trend in domestic equities.
However, flight of foreign capital, a strong dollar overseas and higher crude prices restrained the rupee to gain momentum, forex dealers said.
At the interbank foreign exchange, the rupee opened strong at 74.12 against the dollar, then it weakened slightly to quote 74.13, a rise of 9 paise over its previous close, a PTI report noted.
Pfizer to buy Trillium Therapeutics in $2.26 billion deal
Pfizer Inc said on Monday it would buy remaining shares of Trillium Therapeutics Inc it does not already own in a deal that values the cancer drug developer at $2.26 billion.
Pfizer, which acquired a $25 million stake in Trillium last year, will buy the remaining outstanding shares for $18.50 a piece, representing a 203.8% premium to the stock's last closing price, a Reuters report noted.
Canada-based Trillium is developing drugs that boost patients’ innate immune system to detect and destroy cancer cells.
Users can now book vaccination appointments on WhatsApp
WhatsApp on Tuesday said the MyGov Corona Helpdesk on its platform will now allow users to locate their nearest vaccination centre and book their vaccine appointments.
On August 5, MyGov and WhatsApp had introduced the ability for users to download vaccine certificates from the chatbot; and so far, over 32 lakh certificates have been downloaded by users across the country, PTI reported.
IMF’s $650 billion reserves distribution is ‘shot in arm’ for global economy: Georgieva
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) will distribute about $650 billion in new Special Drawing Rights to its members on Monday, providing a “significant shot in the arm” for global efforts to combat the COVID-19 pandemic, Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva said.
She further added that the IMF’s largest-ever distribution of monetary reserves will provide additional liquidity for the global economy, supplementing member countries’ foreign exchange reserves and reducing their reliance on more expensive domestic or external debt, a Reuters report noted.
Musk says Tesla’s self-driving software update ‘not great’
Tesla Inc’s Chief Executive Elon Musk said on Monday said that the electric-car maker was working on improving the much-awaited update to its self-driving software “as fast as possible.”
The billionaire entrepreneur tweeted that the Full Self-Driving Beta version 9.2 is “actually not great imo (in my opinion), but Autopilot/AI team is rallying to improve as fast as possible.”
“We’re trying to have a single stack for both highway & city streets, but it requires massive NN (neural network) retraining.”
Pandemic threatens Asia-Pacific’s progress on global development goals, says ADB
The coronavirus pandemic may have pushed as many as 80 million people in developing Asia into extreme poverty last year, threatening to derail progress on global goals to tackle poverty and hunger by 2030, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) said on Tuesday.
Developing Asia’s extreme poverty rate – or the proportion of its people living on less than $1.90 a day – would have fallen to 2.6% in 2020 from 5.2% in 2017 without COVID-19, but the crisis likely pushed last year’s projected rate higher by about 2 percentage points, a Reuters report noted.
Infosys gets till September 15 to fix glitches in I-T portal
Union Minister for Finance and Corporate Affairs Nirmala Sitharaman has set a September 15 deadline for its IT vendor Infosys to fix all the glitches plaguing ‘the current functionalities’ of the new Income Tax filing portal, after conveying the government’s ‘deep disappointment’ with the firm’s services to its CEO Salil Parekh.
The Minister had summoned Mr. Parekh on Monday to explain why the IT portal had still not stabilised and its flaws fixed, more than two and a half months since its launch. The ‘summon’ came as the portal had become inaccessible over the past weekend, within days of Ms. Sitharaman stating that she expected it to be fully functional within two-three days.
Piyush Goyal hints at tit-for-tat trade curbs
Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal on Monday asked industry bodies to identify obstacles being imposed by countries to restrict India’s exports and assured that the government would respond ‘appropriately’ to such impediments.
The Minister’s remarks, suggesting that the Centre is not averse to taking retaliatory trade policy measures to counter export barriers beyond the realm of tariffs and duties, came at an interaction with industry bodies across sectors on achieving the $400 billion merchandise exports target for the year, ramping up to $2 trillion by 2030.
Hindalco plans capex of up to $3 billion over 5 years
Hindalco Industries Ltd. has earmarked about $2.5-$3 billion of capital expenditure to bolster growth over the next five years, chairman Kumar Mangalam Birla said while addressing shareholders online at the company’s AGM on Monday.
He said the capex in Novelis would be invested mainly in the auto-finishing line expansions in the U.S. and China and in rolling and recycling capacity expansions in Brazil.
Indian benchmark indices open higher
Indian indices opened higher on Tuesday. BSE Sensex opened at 55,647.11, up 91.32 points, while Nifty opened at 16,561.40, up 64.95 points.
On Monday, the 30-share BSE index rose 226.47 points or 0.41% to close at 55,555.79, while the broader NSE Nifty declined advanced 45.95 points or 0.28% to 16,496.45.
Asian stocks rally on extended Wall St bounce, easing Fed taper worries
Asian stocks rose on Tuesday on an extended bounce on Wall Street, and on easing worries of an imminent tapering of stimulus by the Federal Reserve, a Reuters report noted.
MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan rose 1.2%, with Japan and South Korean indexes jumping more than 1%. Australia shares were up 0.2% and Taiwan stocks rose 0.7%. Chinese markets also edged up 0.2%.
Wall St gains, Nasdaq notches record closing high on full vaccine approval
Wall Street rallied on Monday, and the Nasdaq reached an all-time closing high as sentiment was boosted by full FDA approval of a COVID-19 vaccine and market participants looked ahead to the Jackson Hole Symposium expected to convene later this week, Reuters reported.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 215.63 points, or 0.61%, to 35,335.71, the S&P 500 gained 37.86 points, or 0.85%, to 4,479.53 and the Nasdaq Composite added 227.99 points, or 1.55%, to 14,942.65.