BackOpening Bell 8 Jan | Risk assets pull back ahead of earnings
Asian markets were trading lower after US markets lost ground ahead of the earnings season
Premium(Abhijit Bhatlekar/Mint)
Mumbai: Risk assets slipped from multi-month highs after the rally last week as investors turned their attention to the start of the earnings season in the US. European indices ended mostly in the red. On Wall Street, the Dow Jones Industrial Average declined 0.4%, the S&P 500 index fell 0.3% while the Nasdaq Composite ended flat, reports Financial Times.
Asian markets were trading lower on Monday morning after US markets lost ground ahead of the earnings season. Japan’s Nikkei Stock Average slipped 1%, China’s Shanghai Composite was up 0.3%, and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng fell 0.3%, reports MarketWatch.
Telecom shares will be in focus this morning after the empowered groups of ministers recommended a cut in the reserve price for spectrum in the 800MHz band by either 30% or 50%. This could dent the government’s earnings, but is unlikely even then to elicit desired response from bidders.
United Spirits may be under pressure as the deal with Diageo has been delayed because the companies are yet to receive a clearance from the markets regulator, reports Mint. In November, Diageo Plc announced that it would buy 53.4% stake in United Spirits Ltd for ₹ 11,166.5 crore.
Marico shares will be in focus after company said that it has started the restructuring exercise. This will lead to demerger of its loss-making, skin division Kaya into a separate listed player called Marico Kaya Enterprises. Marico shareholders will get one share in the new company for every 50 shares held.
Bajaj Auto Ltd will see some action after it launched a 100cc model to strengthen its position in India’s entry-level bike market and gain market share from Hero MotoCorp Ltd .
The Reserve Bank of India relaxed external commercial borrowing norms for infrastructure finance companies by allowing them to borrow up to 75% of their net worth without its approval, against 50% earlier.
GMR Infra may be under pressure after it terminated a contract worth ₹ 7,200 crore with National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) for the Kishangarh-Udaipur-Ahmedabad highway project, reports Economic Times. NHAI would lose revenues of ₹ 636 crore annually.
Money supply in the Indian banking system is expanding at the slowest pace in 10 years on back of sluggish economic growth, reports Mint. Money supply grew at 12.5% in the fortnight ended 30 November, the lowest since 12.03% recorded in November 2003.
Lastly, icy Siberian winds have chilled northern India and will intensify in the days to come making the winter even more severe, reports Economic Times. It may also lead to uncanny rise in extreme weather conditions such as droughts, hot summers and heavy downpours.
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