PremiumAsian shares were on a backfoot on Wednesday, tracking overnight losses on Wall Street after evidence of a cooling economy exacerbated worries that the Federal Reserve's campaign to rein in decades-high inflation may cause a deep downturn
While the central government’s decision to withdraw windfall taxes on local crude oil could be positive for upstream oil producers such as Oil and Natural Gas Corp. Ltd (ONGC) and Oil India Ltd (OIL), analysts are wary.
The government on Tuesday slashed windfall taxes on domestic crude oil to zero from ₹3,500 a tonne ($5.8 a barrel earlier).
The special additional excise duty (SAED) on diesel has also been cut to ₹0.5 a litre, including cess, compared to ₹1 a litre earlier, while those on ATF and petrol remained unchanged.
The revision typically takes place every fortnight. (Read here)
Oil prices rose in early Asian trade on Wednesday on anticipated U.S. crude inventory declines and OPEC+'s latest output cut targets.
Brent crude futures gained 38 cents to $85.32 a barrel at 0021 GMT. West Texas Intermediate U.S. crude was up 33 cents to $81.04 a barrel.
Helping boost oil prices was an industry report showing that U.S. crude stocks fell by about 4.3 million barrels in the week ended March 31, according to market sources citing American Petroleum Institute figures on Tuesday.
In Asia, Japan's service sector grew in March at the fastest rate in more than nine years.
Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) has secured an additional credit line of $2 billion from 18 banks after obtaining a $3 billion from 55 banks last week, three people directly aware of the development said.
The conglomerate has thus got a total loan of $5 billion, making it the largest fundraising through the syndicated loan route in India’s corporate history.
Reliance Jio Infocomm Ltd, a unit of RIL, secured the $2 billion add-on facility on Tuesday with the same terms as its recent $3 billion syndicated loan.
The funds will mainly be allocated towards RIL’s capital expenditures and Jio’s nationwide 5G expansion. (Read full story here)
RIL, Grasim, IndusInd Bank, Maruti Suzuki, LIC, Airtel are among key stocks likely to be in focus in today's trade.
Nifty futures on the Singapore Exchange were down 48.50 points at 17,526.50, pointing to a weak start for Indian indices on Wednesday.
On Monday, Nifty ended at 17,398.05, up 38.30 points, while the BSE Sensex rose 114.92 points to end the day at 59,106.44.
Equity markets in Asia fell after US stocks halted a four-day winning streak amid a selloff in banks.
Shares dropped more than 0.7% in Japan while Australian stocks were little changed. Contracts for US benchmarks steadied Wednesday after the S&P 500 Index dropped 0.6% a day earlier. Markets in Hong Kong and mainland China are closed for a holiday.
The dollar weakened against most Group-of-10 currencies, with the yen and the Aussie leading the gains.
Wall Street stocks fell Tuesday as financial and industrial shares retreated amid worries over slowing growth, in a session overshadowed by the historic courtroom appearance of former president Donald Trump.
Analysts cited data showing a drop in US job openings as the latest indication of cooling in the world's biggest economy -- following weak manufacturing numbers on Monday.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average finished 0.6% lower at 33,402.38.
The broad-based S&P 500 also shed 0.6% to 4,100.60, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index declined 0.5% to 12,126.33.
Market watchers said the media focus on Trump's pleading in a state criminal proceeding probably crimped trading volumes but did not affect the market's trajectory.
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