Rupee gains 43 paise to close at 74.03 against US dollar
The rupee gained 43 paise to close at 74.03 against the US dollar on Monday as positive domestic equities and a dovish outlook of US Federal Reserve supported the local unit. On Thursday, the rupee had settled at 74.46 against the US dollar. The forex market was closed on Friday for 'Diwali Balipratipada'.
Sensex rallies 478 pts; Nifty ends above 18,000
Sensex rallied 478 points on Monday after gains in index majors HDFC, Infosys and Kotak Bank despite a negative trend in the global markets.
The 30-share index ended 477.99 points or 0.80% higher at 60,545.61. Nifty surged 151.75 points or 0.85% to end at 18,068.55.
Titan was the top gainer in the Sensex pack, followed by UltraTech Cement, Bajaj Finserv, Tech Mahindra, Kotak Bank and HDFC. On the other hand, IndusInd Bank was the top loser in the Sensex pack. M&M, SBI, Maruti, Asian Paints and TCS were also among the laggards.
Gold marginally lower; silver gains ₹216
Gold price in the national capital on Monday declined by ₹8 to ₹47,004 per 10 grams in-line with muted global trends as well as rupee appreciation, according to HDFC Securities. The metal had settled at ₹47,012 per 10 grams, in the previous trade.
Silver gained ₹216 to ₹63,262 per kilogram from ₹63,046 per kilogram in the previous trade.
In the international market, gold traded marginally lower at $1,816 per ounce and silver was flat at $24.19 per ounce.
Exchanges decide to implement T+1 settlement cycle in phased manner
Stock exchanges and other market infrastructure institutions introduced a roadmap for the implementation of T+1 (trade plus one day) settlement cycle in a phased manner from February 25.
T+1 means that market trade-related settlements will need to be cleared within one day of the actual transactions taking place. At present, the settlements follow a (T+2) mechanism.
The settlement cycle will apply only to the bottom 100 companies starting February 25, and from March 2022 onwards, the next bottom 500 stocks will be available for introduction to T+1 settlement.
Tesla shares fall after Musk's Twitter poll
Tesla shares fall after Musk's Twitter poll Tesla Inc shares plunged 7.5% in premarket trading as investors readied themselves for Elon Musk's proposed sale of about a tenth of his holdings in the electric-car maker after his Twitter poll.
Tesla's chief executive officer and the world's richest person Elon Musk had tweeted on that he would offload 10% of his stock if users of the social media network approved the proposal.
The poll garnered 3.5 million votes, of which 57.9% people voted "Yes".
Japan cuts economic view
Japan cut its view on economic conditions for the first time in more than two years.
The coincident indicator that shows economic conditions slipped a preliminary 3.8 points, extending its decline in September and falling to the lowest in a year.
The government lowered its assessment of the index to "weakening" from "improving" in its first downgrade since August 2019.
Stagnant shipments of cars and its components and slowing exports and factory output dragged down the index.
OPEC+ able to increase oil supply in case of market demand: UAE Minister
United Arab Emirates Energy Minister Suhail al-Mazrouei told Dubai-based channel that OPEC+ are able to increase oil supply if there is market demand.
The UAE has the capacity to supply additional volumes of crude to the market if needed and if agreed by the OPEC+ group, he added.
Mazrouei noted that insufficient investment in the oil and natural gas industry could lead to a hike in energy prices.
At a meeting last week, the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies, OPEC+ stuck to a plan to raise oil output by 400,000 barrels per day on a monthly basis.
Business leaders optimistic about COP26 vision
Executives and financial analysts are optimistic that the talks at UNI climate conference in Glasgow will result in changes businesses need to make to play a bigger role in mitigating climate change.
The business observers believe that several steps including a pledge by financial firms to focus on climate change, the creation of a global standards body to scrutinize corporate climate claims, and pledges to cut methane emissions and to save forests could help minimize the impact of climate change.
The steps they said could boost sustainable business and investing efforts to mobilize the funds required to wean the world off fossil fuels.
Crypto rally lifts Ether, Bitcoin
Bitcoin rose to its all-time high and Ether, which underpins on ethereum network, climbed to a fresh record on, flows and inflation fears.
Bitcoin rallied more than 4% to $66,170, while ether touched a record of $4,768.07.
As real yields fall on inflation fears, assets such as gold and cryptocurrencies become attractive. Despite the current situation, the mood in the sector has also been favorable.
SoftBank posts quarterly loss
SoftBank Group Corp reported a 397 billion yen ($3.5 billion) net loss for the July-September quarter, primarily due to a $10 billion investment loss at its Vision Fund unit as tech valuations fell. It had registered a profit of 628 billion yen in the same period a year earlier.
Softbank's China portfolio has taken a hit due to regulatory crackdown and its stake in ride-hailer Didi fell to $7.5 billion from its purchase price of $12 billion.
The group's largest asset, Chinese e-commerce firm Alibaba , fell by around a third in the second quarter.
IndusInd Bank tumbles over 12%
Shares of IndusInd Bank plunged over 12% after the lender said it disbursed 84,000 loans without customer consent in May due to a "technical glitch" and termed whistleblower allegations on loan evergreening as "grossly inaccurate and baseless".
After the statement, the stock tanked 12.33% to Rs 1,042.10 on the BSE and tumbled 12.40% to Rs 1,041.60 at the NSE.
Lending without consent was reported by the field staff in two days, and the glitch was also rectified expeditiously, the private sector lender said in a clarification.
Evergrande contagion | Bond interest payment delay
Some investors have not received interest payments for offshore bonds issued by an Evergrande unit, Scenery Journey Ltd. It was due to make semi-annual coupon payments on Saturday worth a combined $82.49 million on its U.S. dollar bonds.
Non-payment of interest triggers a 30-day grace period for payment. Evergrande’s one such period expires on November 10, for more than $148 million in coupon payments. The debt laden property developer is also due to make coupon payments totalling more than $255 million on December 28.
Rupee surges against U.S. dollar
The Indian rupee continues to appreciate against the U.S. dollar. The domestic unit opened strong at 74.25 against the dollar and gained further ground to 74.19 in early deals, a rise of 27 paise over its previous close. The Indian currency was supported by dovish central banks.
Meanwhile, the dollar index, which gauges the greenback’s strength against a basket of six currencies, fell 0.01% to 94.31.
Oil prices rise
Oil prices rose after Saudi Aramco said it raised the official selling price for its crude to all buyers across the globe. Brent crude was up 1.1% to $83.64 a barrel, and U.S. oil gained 1.1% to $82.14. Last week, Brent dropped nearly 2%, while U.S. WTI declined almost 3%.
On Friday, Saudi Arabia’s state-owned oil producer raised its December official selling price to Asia for its Arab light crude to $2.70 a barrel versus Oman/Dubai crude, up $1.40 from this month.
Last week, OPEC+ producers agreed to stick to their plan to raise oil output by 4,00,000 barrels per day from December, ignoring calls from U.S. President for extra output to cool rising prices.
Markets update
Indian indices were trading lower in the morning session. Sensex was down 0.30% at 59,885.81, while Nifty fell 0.26% to 17,869.60.
Major Asian stock indices were mixed in the morning trade. MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific stocks outside Japan dropped 0.23%. In Japan, Nikkei lost early gains to dip 0.23%, short of a recent five-week peak, while Topix slipped 0.25%. South Korea’s Kospi fell 1.02%. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng traded 0.30% lower.
In U.S., Nasdaq futures were off 0.4%, after 10 straight sessions of gains which left the index looking overextended. S&P 500 futures dipped 0.2%.
---- Edited by John Xavier
(With inputs from Reuters, PTI and other news agencies.)