PremiumIndian markets were down on Wednesday tracking global markets. Stocks fell globally, while US Treasury yields rose to multi-year highs as investors braced for the possibility of aggressive monetary tightening by the US Federal Reserve to fight inflation. Markets also focused on new sanctions by the West against Russia over its invasion of Ukraine.
India's antitrust body Competition Commission of India is investigating the trustee units of State Bank of India, Axis Bank and IDBI Bank for suspected collusion on fees, triggering a lawsuit by a group representing them, documents seen by Reuters showed.
Indian regulations mandate that companies raising debt appoint a so-called "debenture trustee" to protect the interests of investors. The trustees charge a fee from the companies issuing the debt and make independent due-diligence checks on them.
The three under investigation - SBICAP Trustee Company, Axis Trustee and IDBI Trusteeship - are among the leaders in the business in India overseeing hundreds of billions of dollars by rendering trustee services for not just debt securities, but also real estate and other investment funds.
Equities sank Wednesday on bets the Federal Reserve will act more aggressively to bring inflation under control. While the Ukraine war continues to cast a shadow across trading floors, Fed monetary policy is at the top of the agenda this week as investors fret over how quickly officials will withdraw their vast pandemic-era financial support.
Nikkei 225 closed 1.6 % lower; Hang Seng Index was down 1.3%; Shanghai - Composite ended on a flat note. London's FTSE 100 was down 0.2%.
Electronic permits for goods shipment within and across states in March have shot up to 78.1 million, the highest since November 2020 for which data is readily available, indicating that Goods and Services Tax (GST) revenue collections in April could surpass the all-time high seen in March. (Full report)
DCX Systems Limited, a leading manufacturer of electronic sub-systems and cable harnesses, has filed a draft red herring prospectus with capital markets regulator SEBI to raise ₹600 crore through an initial share sale.
Indian manufacturers are running out of capacity to absorb rising input costs, with an increasing number passing it along to consumers in an economy already grappling with Asia’s third-fastest inflation and an uneven recovery.
Companies from the Indian units of Unilever Plc and Suzuki Motor Corp. to homegrown JSW Steel Ltd. are raising prices in response to the global supply squeeze made worse by the surge in energy costs following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Higher retail fuel prices are also threatening to hurt demand just as the economy returned to its first full-year of growth after the pandemic-induced 6.6% contraction in the fiscal year ended March 2021. (Bloomberg)
Gold prices could face downside risks in the near term due to higher bond yields and the resolution of the Russia-Ukraine conflict sooner or later, according to Quantum Asset Management Company.
Given the geopolitical and macroeconomic backdrop, the fund house suggests that this could potentially be a good opportunity for investors to enter the market for the medium to long-term, to benefit from the various risks and structural disruptions which will be conducive for gold.
Japanese investment firm Mitsui & Co will invest in the round-the-clock (RTC) renewable energy project being developed by ReNew Power and pick up a 49% stake in it.
Tata Motors unveiled a special electric SUV concept in India - Tata Curvv Electric SUV. Tata Curvv will be electric first SUV and will later get petrol and diesel engine options.
Shares of Marico Ltd. were down about 4% on the National Stock Exchange in opening deals on Wednesday, following the company's business update for the March-ended quarter (Q4FY22). As per the update, demand conditions remain muted amid subdued rural sentiment and rising prices of commodities. (Read more)
“The management expects growth in SDAs to continue, and opportunities are increasing for emission control beyond transport vehicles. Tatva Chintan should grow faster from new customer wins, and likely supply to developed market for Euro-7. It has cracked products that are high in purity, and has found application in semi-conductor industry. Supercapacitor batteries are being commercially launched which should drive growth for electrolyte salt. PASC will benefit from the knowledge of continuous flow chemistry, and the company is already in the process of commercializing products. It has reiterated its sustainable EBITDA margin guidance of 22-24%, and Dahej plant commissioning by Nov/Dec’22. We have cut our EPS estimates by 15% for FY22 on lower SDA sales (on chip shortage) and by 4-6% for FY23-24E. We forecast revenue / EPS CAGR of 31% / 28% over FY22-24E. Accordingly, we cut our target price to Rs3,000 (from Rs3,110, 40x FY24E EPS). Maintain BUY. Our estimate does not completely capture the rising opportunities in semi-conductor industry and PASC."
ITC Ltd on Wednesday said it is accelerating its move to go beyond plastic neutrality, having sustainably managed more than 54,000 tonnes of plastic waste across India in 2021-22.
The company said its flagship solid waste management programme Well-Being Out of Waste' (WOW) has so far covered 1.8 crore citizens across 46.7 lakh households in India's large cities and small towns.
Persistent Systems Ltd. is bolstering its leadership team by inducting senior leaders to support the company’s growth and strategic initiatives.
Sameer Bendre, formerly chief people officer, will take on the role of chief of operations with the responsibility for overseeing Pune-based Persistent’s environmental, social, and governance (ESG) and risk management priorities as well as the company’s enterprise information systems and administration functions.
Shares of private sector lender Bandhan Bank Ltd were in focus on Wednesday, after the lender released the business update for the March-ended quarter of financial year 2022. Decent growth in business momentum and improvement in collection efficiency were among the key highlights. (Read here)
India's services sector expanded at its fastest pace so far this year in March as an easing of Covid-19 restrictions boosted demand, but elevated inflationary pressures clouded business confidence, a private survey showed.
The S&P Global India Services Purchasing Managers' Index rose to 53.6 in March from 51.8 in February.
Oil marketing companies raised prices of petrol and diesel by 80 paise a litre each on Wednesday. Petrol is now priced at ₹105.41 a litre in the national capital, while diesel is sold for ₹96.67 a litre.
Kansas Department of Labour has selected TCS to build a modern, secure, web-based system for the state's unemployment insurance program. This will help transform a legacy mainframe platform from the 1970s into a cloud-based system that dramatically improves the delivery of services to Kansas residents.
Monday’s spectacular move was followed by a quiet start yesterday morning marginally in the green. However, in the initial trade, small gains just disappeared and then the index slipped into a consolidation mode thereafter. The profit booking extended a bit in the first half and in the process, the Nifty went on to test the 17950 mark. Fortunately, as we stepped into the latter half, the buying resumed recouping all losses. However, towards the fag end, the market became nervous all of a sudden, which resulted in a sharp downtick to slide below morning’s low as well. Eventually, the Nifty ended the session convincingly below 18000 by shedding over half a percent.
The way the market closed in the previous session around the day’s high, we should have ideally opened higher and in fact, was expected to extend the rally. Unfortunately, this didn’t happen; because the major drivers of Monday’s move (banking) saw some decent profit booking. Hence, we could not even surpass Monday’s high of 18114.65. With yesterday’s tail end sharp profit booking, one shouldn’t get carried away as such small profit taking is a part and parcel of the market activity. Going ahead, Monday’s gap area of 17800 – 17700 is likely to provide some cushion for the index and till the time we do not see it closing convincingly below it, there is no reason to worry for.
In fact, if we see any decline towards intraday support of 17900 – 17800, one can think of going long. On the flipside, 18100 has become an immediate hurdle above which we are good to go towards 18350. Despite some nervousness in key indices, the broader market did extremely well. Hence, traders should keep focusing on such potential movers, especially stocks from the cash segment which are providing some excellent trading opportunities.
Gold eased on Wednesday as hawkish comments from U.S. Federal Reserve officials boosted the dollar and Treasury yields to multi-year highs, denting the safe-haven metal's appeal. Spot gold was down 0.2% at $1,920.87 per ounce, while U.S. gold futures fell 0.3% to $1,920.90.
The ministerial panel led by Karnataka chief minister Basavaraj Bommai working on the restructuring of goods and services tax (GST) rates will examine whether companies passed on rate cuts in the past, before recommending changes to tax slabs. (Full report)
The city gas utility Mahanagar Gas Ltd has announced a steep hike in the retail price of CNG by ₹7 per kg and domestic PNG by ₹5 per scm to ₹41per scm, effective Wednesdy.
Asian Development Bank on Wednesday projected a 7% collective growth for South Asian economies in 2022 with the subregion's largest economy India growing by 7.5% in the current fiscal year before picking up to 8% the next year.
Oil futures slid on Wednesday, extending losses from the previous day, as a stronger U.S. dollar prompted fresh selling while data showing a build in U.S. crude stocks and Shanghai's extended lockdown fuelled fears of slower demand.
Brent crude futures fell 97 cents, or 0.9%, to $105.67 a barrel, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate futures were down 98 cents, or 1.0%, to $100.98 a barrel at 0029 GMT. Brent fell 0.8% on Tuesday and WTI lost 1.3%.
Here is the list of the top 10 stocks that are likely to be in focus on Wednesday
The government is considering increasing the stake it plans to sell through an initial public offering of state-run Life Insurance Corp. of India (LIC) from 5%, even as the timing of the share sale is being finalized.
While the government can sell as much as 7.5% of LIC, it may decide to sell only between 5.5% and 6.5%, depending on the investor interest, an official aware of the discussions said. The official said that the government will have to file revised share sale documents if it wants to sell more than 7.5%.
Asian share markets slipped on Wednesday as investors weighed the possibility of aggressive monetary tightening by the U.S. Federal Reserve to fight inflation, while focus was also on new Western sanctions against Russia over its invasion of Ukraine. In early trade in Asia, Japan's Nikkei shed 1.5%, while South Korean shares fell 0.8% and Australian shares lost 1.2%.
US stocks closed lower and bond yields jumped Tuesday as remarks by a Federal Reserve governor fueled expectations that the central bank is prepared to more aggressively raise interest rates and take other steps to tame surging inflation. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 280.7 points, or 0.8%, to 34,641.18, the S&P 500 lost 57.52 points, or 1.26%, to 4,525.12 and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 328.39 points, or 2.26%, to 14,204.17.
Download the App to get 14 days of unlimited access to Mint Premium absolutely free!