PremiumShare Market LIVE Updates: Indian stock market is expected to start on a cautious note as SGX Nifty is trading in the flat-to-red territory. Wall Street ended higher on Thursday but bank stocks continued to be under pressure. Asian markets were mostly trading lower in the morning session.
Interest rate hikes by central banks around the world have stressed the banking sector. However, comments from central banks around the globe helped fuel hopes of light at the end of the central bank tightening tunnel. Investor sentiments were also boosted after Yellen reiterated on Thursday that she was prepared to take further action to ensure that Americans' bank deposits stay safe amid the turmoil.
The Indian rupee was likely to open little changed against the greenback on Friday as the dollar index recovered some ground to weigh on Asian currencies.
The non-deliverable forwards indicate that the rupee will open at around 82.25-82.30 to the U.S. dollar, compared with 82.2625 in the previous session.
The rupee notched its best trading session in three weeks on Thursday as Asian currencies broadly rose on hopes that the Federal Reserve was nearing the end of its rate hiking cycle.
Some of those moves seemed to be reversing on Friday, as the Chinese yuan dipped to 6.84 per dollar while the South Korean won fell 0.3% as the dollar index eked out marginal gains after declining for six straight sessions.
Central banks in Switzerland, Norway and Britain all raised interest rates overnight, while more U.S. data indicated the labour market remained tight, showing no impact yet of the failure of two regional banks that had roiled financial markets. (Reuters)
As a series of U.S. lenders were besieged by customers yanking out their money this month, banking behemoths JPMorgan Chase & Co, Citigroup Inc and Bank of America Corp., warned employees: Do not make it worse.
JPMorgan, the nation's largest bank, told all employees they "should never give the appearance of exploiting a situation of stress or uncertainty," in a March 13 memo, extracts of which were seen by Reuters. "We do not make disparaging comments regarding competitors."
On the same day, the leaders of its consumer and business banking unit told branch employees: "We should refrain from soliciting client business from an institution in stress," according to extracts seen by Reuters. Citigroup has also given similar guidance to its business heads, a source familiar with the matter said. The guidance includes not speculating about other banks or market rumors. (Read More)
Biocon, Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd, and Indiabulls Housing Finance Ltd are the stocks that will be part of the F&O ban list for Friday trading. (Read More)
Oil prices fell on Friday, extending the previous day's losses, on worries about potential oversupply after U.S. Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm said refilling the country's Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) may take several years.
Brent crude futures slid 48 cents, or 0.6%, to $75.43 a barrel by 0039 GMT, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude futures dropped 52 cents, or 0.7%, to $69.44 a barrel.
Both benchmarks were still on track for a weekly gain of about 3%-4%, recovering from their biggest weekly declines in months last week due to the banking sector crisis and worries about a possible recession.
"There is a sell-off from the view that the United States will not refill oil reserve even if the WTI prices are at $67-$72 a barrel," said Hiroyuki Kikukawa, general manager of research at Nissan Securities. (Reuters)
Patel Engineering Ltd has emerged as the successful bidder for Dibang Multipurpose Project worth ₹3,637.12 crore in Arunachal Pradesh, which will be undertaken in a joint venture.
The company's share in this order is ₹1,818.56 crore, according to a regulatory filing.
"Patel Engineering Ltd (PEL) has emerged as L1 bidder in financial bid opening through an e-reverse auction for the tender invited by NHPC Ltd, for the construction of civil works for LOT-4: comprising head race tunnels ...for Dibang Multipurpose Project 2880 MW (12 X 240 MW), located in Arunachal Pradesh, India," the company said in a statement.
The project is to be executed in 86 months. It will be undertaken in a joint venture, of which PEL's share is 50 per cent. (PTI)
India's current account deficit is likely to have improved in the final quarter of 2022 from a nine-year high in July-September as the goods trade gap moderated and net services exports rose, a Reuters poll found.
The median forecast of 22 economists polled March 16-23 showed a current account deficit of $23.0 billion in October-December 2022, or 2.7% of gross domestic product (GDP). Forecasts ranged from $15.0-$28.0 billion, or 2.0%-3.2% of GDP.
In July-September, the gap was $36.4 billion. As a percentage of GDP, at 4.4% it was the highest since mid-2013. (Read More)
Vaishali Parekh has recommended three day trading stocks for today, here we list out full details in regard to those intraday stocks:
1] Mahindra CIE Automotive: Buy at ₹361, target ₹379, stop loss ₹345;
2] Maruti Suzuki India Ltd or MSIL: Buy at ₹8353, target ₹8600, stop loss ₹8240; and
3] Balrampur Chini: Buy at ₹374, target ₹390, stop loss ₹368. (Read More)
Low-fare airline SpiceJet is open to selling more shares to reduce its liabilities, chairman and managing director Ajay Singh said.
“We are flexible. We will talk to our partners and see what it is they prefer to do. But, irrespective, we need to deleverage our balance sheet to have the space to grow, and that’s what we are trying to do," Singh said in response to a query at the CAPA India Aviation Summit.
At the end of the December quarter, when it posted a four-fold jump in net profit to ₹106.8 crore thanks to robust demand and higher fares, the Gurugram-based airline had liabilities of around ₹14,000 crore. (Read More)
Accenture Plc plans to fire at least 7,000 of its about 350,000 employees in India as the world’s largest technology services company prepares to let go of 19,000 people or 2.5% of its global workforce in the next 18 months.
The move marks the first major layoff announcement by a large IT services company this year. With this, Accenture joins the ranks of Big Tech companies, including Alphabet, Amazon, Meta and Microsoft, all of which have announced about 70,000 job cuts since January amid fears a global recession will affect growth. (Read More)
Wall Street closed higher on Thursday as market participants were reassured by U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen's reassurances that measures will be taken to keep Americans' deposits safe.
All three major U.S. stock indexes reversed an earlier rally, turning red before clawing their way back to positive territory in the final hour as Yellen resumed her congressional testimony.
Dropping Treasury yields, particularly an 18 basis point drop in two-year note yields, helped growth shares boost the Nasdaq to the head of the pack.
"You watch this market and you watch it change direction in a short period of time and it’s based on some market participants’ interpretation over what someone said and how it affects how their trading," said Thomas Martin, senior portfolio manager at GLOBALT Investments in Atlanta.
"The market as a whole is telling you is there are a lot of different ways to interpret all the things people are saying."
The session followed Wednesday's boom-and-bust moves after the Fed's rate hike, Fed Chair Jerome Powell's subsequent Q&A session and Yellen's testimony before Congress in which she ruled out blanket protection for all deposits.
Interest rate hikes by central banks around the world have stressed the banking sector, which became manifest with the recent failures of SVB Financial Group and Signature Bank.
The S&P 500 banks index dipped 1.2% to its lowest level since November 2020, and it has now fallen over 40% from its record high in February 2022.
Comments from the Bank of England that inflation will probably quickly fade also helped fuel hopes of light at the end of the central bank tightening tunnel. (Reuters)
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