BackOpening Bell 21 Dec | US fiscal talks reach critical stage
Asian markets trading mostly higher following marginal gains on Wall Street
Premium(Hemant Mishra/Mint)
Mumbai: Narendra Modi, chief minister of Gujarat, led the Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP) to a landslide victory in Gujarat, winning 115 seats against 61 for the Congress. However, the BJP conceded defeat in Himachal Pradesh where the Congress won 36 seats and the BJP 26. Modi’s victory, his third in a row, catapults him to the national stage.
Overnight, US markets ended higher following news that the US economy grew at a faster clip of 3.1% in the third quarter, leaving it in a stronger position to withstand any shock from the looming fiscal cliff, reports the Financial Times. The S&P 500 Index gained 0.6%, the Nasdaq Composite was up 0.2%, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average advanced 0.5%.
Asian markets were trading mostly higher on Friday morning following marginal gains on Wall Street, despite stalled budget talks in the US. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng was down 0.9% while China’s Shanghai Composite was flat. Japan’s Nikkei Stock Average was up 0.2% following additional easing moves from the Bank of Japan.
In India, Sun TV Network Ltd, the latest entrant in the Indian Premier League, is likely to sign up sponsors for its new Hyderabad team by the end of January, reports Mint. The Hyderabad team—Sunrisers—will finalize its budget for new players before the IPL auction.
Kingfisher Airlines Ltd may see some action following reports that it has requested the aviation regulator to renew its permit without submitting a revival plan. However, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation has said it will not renew the airline’s licence without a turnaround plan.
Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd has given Navistar, its loss-making truck subsidiary three years to turn around the business, reports Economic Times. This is after its US joint venture partner Navistar decided to sell off its stake in the company for ₹ 175 crore following continuous losses.
Borrowings by banks under the Reserve Bank of India’s daily liquidity adjustment touched a record high of ₹ 1.7 trillion on Thursday due to advance tax outflow, reports Business Standard. The tight liquidity has also resulted in money market rates inching higher.
Tata Consultancy Services Ltd may see some action after the company said that it would invest about ₹ 1,350 crore to build a software development facility in West Bengal, reports Wall Street Journal India. The campus at Rajarhat on the outskirts of Kolkata will be operational by March 2015.
Lastly, fears of the world ending on 21 December as per the Mayan calendar, seem to have gripped the world. Russians have been buying matches, fuel and sugar to prepare for the post-apocalypse, while China has rounded up hundreds for spreading D-day rumours.
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