PremiumWith China GDP taking a hit this quarter, most indices struggled on Tuesday. Tokyo ended in the green, while Hong Kong and Shanghai lost ground in today's session. European shares were trading lower in the morning session.
Indian indices bounced back strongly on Tuesday and registered an impressive 0.9% gain in the session. FIIs have continued to move out of India for the 17th day in a row till Monday and data will reveal later if the trend continued on Tuesday.
Sensex added 560 points to close at 60,655, while Nifty regained the 18,000 mark to close at 18,053, a jump of 158 points.
L&T shined in today's trading as it added 3%. Hindustan Unilever was the other standout performer with a jump of more than 2.5%. SBI shed 1.5% and Bajaj Finserv shed 0.8% in today's session.
FMCG and Realty led today's rally as the indices gained more than a per cent. Auto and IT were other sectors that made sizable gains. PSU Bank index shed around 2% and Media around a per cent.
Tokyo stocks ended higher on Tuesday with investors taking heart from a lull in the yen's appreciation against the dollar and overnight rallies by European shares. The benchmark Nikkei 225 index climbed 1.23%, while the broader Topix index gained 0.88%.
China and Hong Kong stocks edged lower as Beijing released weak GDP growth and economic activity data for the fourth quarter, and investors sold on gains ahead of the Lunar New Year holidays.
China's blue-chip CSI 300 Index dipped 0.02%, while the Shanghai Composite Index declined 0.1%, retreating from a four-month high. The Hang Seng Index fell 0.78%, snapping a four-day rally, while the Hang Seng China Enterprises Index slid 0.49%.
China's economy grew 2.9% in October-December from a year earlier, slower than the third quarter's 3.9% pace, as the fourth quarter was hit hard by stringent COVID curbs and a property market slump.
European shares wavered as gains in industrials were eclipsed by investors' fears of an economic slowdown after China posted its weakest annual economic growth in nearly half a century. The pan-European STOXX 600 was flat in the morning session after hitting its highest level in nine months in the previous session.
Indian importers last week took advantage of the rupee's recovery against the dollar to hedge their future foreign currency obligations, data showed. Average dollar purchases by importers, beyond the spot date, rose to $1.64 billion last week from $1.14 billion the week before, latest data collated by The Clearing Corporation of India Ltd (CCIL) revealed.
The CCIL publishes daily forward trades by clients with a two day lag on its website.
The rupee had jumped 1.7% against the dollar in the week ended Jan. 13, its best performance in two months, thanks to benign U.S. inflation print. The data reinforced expectations that the U.S. Federal Reserve will opt for a smaller interest rate increase on Feb. 1 and that it was near to halting its rate-hiking cycle. (Read More)
India's capital market regulator has proposed discontinuing the current practice of an advance transfer of funds to stockbrokers before secondary market trades are executed.
Such a move will prevent misuse of client funds, brokers' defaults and the consequent risk to investors' capital, the regulator said in a discussion paper to seek views before it finalises the rule.
The Securities and Exchange Board of India's (SEBI) move follows one by the Reserve Bank of India to allow a one-time blocking of funds in bank accounts and multiple debits through the unified payments interface (UPI) real-time payments system.
The RBI service "can be integrated with the secondary markets to provide a block mechanism (similar to pledge-like mechanism in securities)," Sebi said in the discussion paper.
Once implemented, it continued, investors can block funds in their bank accounts rather than transferring them upfront to brokers, "thereby providing enhanced protection of cash collateral." (Reuters)
Blue Jet Healthcare has received market regulator Sebi's approval to raise funds from an initial public offering (IPO). Blue Jet's issue is entirely offer for sale (OFS), hence, the company will not receive any proceeds. The company filed for an IPO in September last year. Blue Jet offers niche products targeted toward innovator pharmaceutical companies and multinational generic pharmaceutical firms.
Blue Jet received its final observation letter on January 9 from Sebi. Kotak Mahindra Capital Company is the co-ordinating lead manager for the issue. (Read More)
Nomura Holdings Inc has cut 18 Asian banking jobs, most of them China-focused investment roles, after a sharp slowdown in dealmaking activity, according to two sources with direct knowledge of the matter.
Japan's top brokerage and investment bank last week laid off bankers in Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia and Taiwan, said the sources, declining to be identified as they were not authorised to speak to media. (Read More)
India has told the International Monetary Fund (IMF) it will support Sri Lanka's debt restructuring plan, a source with direct knowledge of the matter said, as the island nation races to secure a $2.9 billion bailout from the global lender.
The country of 22 million people is facing its worst economic crisis since independence from Britain in 1948, and policymakers have been grappling with multiple challenges over the past year including a shortage of dollars, runaway inflation and a steep recession.
"India has written to the IMF," the source told Reuters, asking not to be named because they are not authorised to speak to the media.
A spokesperson for India's finance ministry declined to comment. Sri Lanka's finance ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
New Delhi's backing comes at a critical time for Sri Lanka as it has to put its massively indebted public finances in order to unlock the IMF loan that was agreed in September. (Reuters)
India's Network18 Media & Investments reported a third-quarter loss on Tuesday, as the billionaire Mukesh Ambani-backed conglomerate splurged to push up its share of television viewership, while advertisers pulled back on spending.
Network18 posted a consolidated loss of 76.8 million rupees ($938,875.31) in the quarter ended Dec. 31, compared to a profit of 971 million rupees a year earlier.
However, losses narrowed from the previous quarter's 364.9 million rupees.
The company's shares slipped 3% in afternoon trading. They had shed a quarter of their value last year, compared to a 4% rise in the blue chip Nifty 50 index.
Expenses climbed 45% to 19.39 billion rupees as Viacom18, a joint venture in which Network18 is a 51% owner, ramped up its spending on new shows, movies and sports programming.
Viacom18, home to FIFA World Cup 2022 streaming in India, also launched sports channels ahead of the lucrative Indian Premier League cricket tournament, for which it owns digital streaming rights. (Reuters)
Aristo Bio - Tech And Lifescience Limited's initial public offering (IPO) opened for public subscription on Monday, January 16, 2023, and will conclude on Thursday, January 19, 2023, and will subsequently be listed on the NSE Emerge platform. As of 11:40 am on day 2, the issue has been subscribed 3.75 times.
As per market observers, Aristo BioTech shares are commanding a premium of ₹16 in the grey market today. The company's shares are expected to list on the NSE Emerge platform next week on Friday, January 27, 2023. NIFTY SME EMERGE Index is designed to reflect the performance of a portfolio of eligible small and medium enterprises that are listed on NSE EMERGE platform. (Read More)
India is considering lowering rates under its voluntary income tax framework and could introduce revised slabs in the upcoming Union Budget 2023 due on February 1, news agency Reuters reported today. However, a final decision would be taken by the Prime Minister's Office. The finance ministry did not respond to a Reuters email seeking comment.
Under the option without deductions introduced in FY21, there are six slabs; 5%, 10%, 15%, 20%, 25%, and 30%, as against three under the one with benefits at 5%, 20%, and 30%. (Read More)
Rising home prices and rentals in large Indian cities could pose a new challenge to the country's central bank in its fight against inflation, even though headline consumer price rises have likely peaked, analysts warn.
Housing rentals and ancillary costs have a 10.07% weightage in India's consumer price inflation basket and are near three-year highs, posing a fresh worry for the central bank that had to contend with rising food prices for most of last year.
Housing has turned sticky and is being watched closely for indications of second-order effects, a senior official aware of the Reserve Bank of India's (RBI) thinking said. (Read More)
Shares of Speciality Restaurants Ltd rallied more than 11% to hit a new high of ₹282 apiece on the BSE in Tuesday's trading session ahead of its Extraordinary General Meeting (EGM) which is scheduled to be held this week on Wednesday, January 18, 2023. The stock has been in an upward movement over the past few days and has surged over 22% in the last one month.
In November last year, the board of directors of the company had approved the issue of 6 million (60,00,000) warrants, each convertible into, or exchangeable for, one equity share of the company at a price of ₹212.05 each, aggregating up to ₹127.23 crore to allottees other than promoters on a preferential basis, which is subject to necessary approval of the shareholders of the Company at the ensuing Extraordinary General Meeting and other regulatory authorities, as may be applicable. (Read More)
Fintech major Paytm may hit adjusted Ebitda profitability by March 2023, six months ahead of company’s guidance of September 2023, Goldman Sachs said. The research firm also raised its target price for Paytm’s parent One 97 Communications to ₹1,120 from ₹1,100 previously.
Goldman Sachs expects the fintech major to report a strong third quarter, which will put it on track to achieve Ebitda profitability (before accounting for employee stock ownership plans costs) by the fourth quarter. Ebitda is earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization. (Read More)
India is likely to produce 34.3 million tonnes of sugar in 2022/23, down 4% from the previous forecast, as sugar cane yields in key producing states fell due to adverse weather, a senior industry official told Reuters.
"Excessive rainfall and cloudy weather in September and October curtailed sugar cane's vegetative growth. Cane yields are lower than the last year," Prakash Naiknavare, managing director of the National Federation of Cooperative Sugar Factories Ltd, told Reuters.
India, the world's biggest sugar producer and the second biggest exporter, had produced a record 35.9 million tonnes of sugar in the previous season ended on Sept. 30, 2022. (Reuters)
Ashwin Patil, Senior Research Analyst at LKP Securities: Defence sector, as every year before the budget has a wishlist out of which the important one is outlay for emphasis on indigenisation, which means emphasis on local production. The GOI definitely does a lot for the sector every year, also on the R&D side where they plan to spend a substantial amount. Therefore even this year we expect them to announce a significant budget for the space and research, electronic equipments and advancement on further localization.
On PLI schemes we would say that the GOI is fostering healthy competition in the defence space through launching various PLI schemes. This would surely improve the quality of defence products and services and further enhance the defence sector. Also the country needs to improve on their space research, due to which we believe that further PLI schemes will be more focused on Space research.
FSN E-Commerce Ventures aka Nykaa share price touched a fresh record low on Tuesday as investors carried heavy selloffs. The stock has nosedived by at least 5.5% on BSE in 1 day. However, Nykaa shares have been on the downside slope for the fourth consecutive day now. However, UK-based financial services company, HSBC has upgraded its target price on Nykaa while maintaining a 'Buy' recommendation.
At the time of writing, Nykaa stock dipped by 4.35% to trade at ₹134.15 apiece on BSE. The stock has touched a new 52-week low of ₹132.55 apiece in the early trade, resulting in an overall drop of 5.5% so far on Tuesday. Its market cap is over ₹38,252 crore. (Read More)
In the most pessimistic outlook in more than a decade, a global survey of CEOs showed 73 per cent of them expecting the global economic growth to decline over the next 12 months.
Releasing the annual survey on the first day of the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting here on Monday, PwC said this is a significant departure from the optimistic outlook of 2021 and 2022 when more than two-thirds thought economic growth would improve.
This is the most pessimistic CEOs have been regarding global economic growth since PwC began asking this question 12 years ago.
The survey further showed that nearly 40 per cent of CEOs do not believe their organisations would be economically viable in 10 years if they do not transform.
Inflation, macroeconomic volatility and geopolitical conflict ranked as the top global threats while cyber and health risks fell from a year ago. (PTI)
Hit hard by the zero-Covid policy and slump in the real estate market, China’s economy shrank to three per cent in 2022, registering its second lowest growth rate in 50 years in the world’s second-largest economy, according to official data released here on Tuesday.
The annual GDP of China totalled 121.02 trillion yuan (USD 17.94 trillion) in 2022, falling below the 5.5 per cent official target, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said.
The slow pace was blamed mainly on the strictly implemented zero-Covid policy leading to periodic lockdowns and the ruling Communist Party’s crackdown on big industrial firms besides the lingering real estate crisis.
This is the slowest growth of the Chinese economy since the 2.3 per cent registered in GDP in 1974.
Significantly this year, China’s GDP in terms of dollars declined from USD 18 trillion in 2021 to USD 17.94 trillion last year mainly due to a sharp rise of the dollar against RMB (the Chinese currency) in 2022. (PTI)
Prabhudas Lilladher Pvt Ltd stock recommendations on:
Federal Bank (FB IN): Rating: BUY | CMP: Rs140 | TP: Rs175
Quick Pointers:
§ Core earnings beat of 16% led by better NIM driven by lower funding cost.
§ Fees in 9MFY23 grew strongly by 43% YoY; current run-rate should sustain.
FB again surpassed its previous quarter best, with core earnings at Rs7.75bn, beating PLe by ~16% led by NIM beat which came in at 3.89% (PLe 3.66%) as funding cost was lower at 4.9% (PLe 5.1%). Bank further raised steady state NIM guidance from 3.30% to 3.35-3.40%. We too increase NIM for FY23E by 12bps and FY24/25E by ~6bps each as 1) high yielding book, which touched Rs62bn, could double in 2+ years and 2) upward deposit repricing could be slower to peers (~60% of deposits as at FY22 have a maturity >3 years). Fee income in 9MFY23 has risen by 43% to Rs12.9bn and bank expects current run-rate to continue. Hence, we increase FY23 PAT by 6% and FY24/25E PAT by ~2% each. With consistent beat in core profitability, re-rating should continue for FB. Rolling forward to FY25E ABV, we raise TP to Rs175 from Rs165, maintaining multiple at 1.5x. Reiterate BUY.
Siemens (SIEM IN): Rating: ACCUMULATE | CMP: Rs2,944 | TP: Rs3,290
Event Update - Awarded Rs260bn locomotive order
§ Siemens to deliver 1,200 electric locomotives (9000hp) over 11-year period and provide 35 years of full service maintenance.
§ It is single biggest order in the history of Siemens Ltd in India.
§ Siemens will design, manufacture, commission and test the locomotives.
§ The state-of-the-art locomotives will be used for freight transport throughout the Indian Railways network and are specified to haul loads of 4,500 tons at a maximum speed of 120 km per hour.
§ Locomotive will be equipped with advanced propulsion systems that are produced locally in Siemens factories in India.
§ The locomotives will be assembled in the Indian Railways factory in Dahod, Gujarat. Maintenance will be performed in four Indian Railways depots located in Vishakhapatnam, Raipur, Kharagpur and Pune.
PL View:
We believe, this order win will boost Siemens Motion business revenue growth going forward. We remain positive on SIEM from a long-term perspective given its 1) strong and diversified presence across industries, 2) focus on digitization and automation products, 3) product localization and 4) healthy balance sheet. The stock is currently trading at PE of 61.4x/52.1x/45x SY23E/24E/25E earnings. We have Accumulate rating on stock with TP of Rs3,290, valuing it at PE of 54x Mar’25
Private sector lender Federal Bank posted a 54% rise in its profit at ₹804 crore in the third quarter ended December 2022 (Q3FY23), on higher net interest income and improved asset quality. The bank had posted a net profit of ₹522 crore in the same quarter a year ago.
The brokerage house has reiterated ‘Buy’, rating Federal Bank shares a top mid-cap pick as it believes Federal is set to deliver a higher RoA of 1.4% through FY25E versus average RoA of 0.9% over the last five years. With a de-risked book, fintech partnerships gaining traction and market share acquisition in loans, Edelweiss expects the bank to deliver strong EPS CAGR of 28% over FY22–25E. The brokerage's target price on the bank stock stands revised to ₹180 per share (from ₹160). (Read More)
Adani Enterprises' share price is in focus on Tuesday amidst news reports of a likely ₹20,000-crore follow-on public offer (FPO). The stock opened lower for second consecutive day despite the FPO buzz in the market. At the time of writing, this Adani stock traded at ₹3,597.60 apiece down by ₹21.40 or 0.59% on BSE. Its market cap has dipped to around ₹4.10 lakh crore.
The stock has touched the day's low of ₹3,560.05 apiece --- resulting in an overall drop of over 1.6% from the previous session. This would also be the second consecutive day of fall of Adani Enterprises stock in the current week.
The Adani group company has filed papers with stock exchanges for the proposed issue, said an Economic Times report. (Read More)
Key Apple Inc. manufacturing partner Foxconn Technology Group has appointed a new boss for its iPhone assembly business after a tumultuous year in China, highlighting the company’s efforts to ready a new generation of leaders to help it navigate a post-Covid world.
Michael Chiang was first identified in his new role at Taiwan-based Foxconn’s annual year-end party on Sunday, succeeding longtime leader Wang Charng-yang as head of the division responsible for iPhone assembly. Chiang was recently promoted to chief of the A business group as Wang steps back to focus on a role on the board, according to people familiar with the matter.
The appointment is part of efforts by Chairman Young Liu of Foxconn’s flagship unit Hon Hai Precision Industry Co. to elevate younger executives to maintain the company’s supply chain leadership in the face of growing competition from Chinese contenders. Foxconn may also face new rivals in India as Apple seeks to further diversify its production footprint following pandemic-related supply snarls and draconian restrictions that wrought havoc on device output in China. (Bloomberg)
Gold dipped in India futures market today after hitting an all-time high on Monday. On MCX, gold slipped to ₹56,456 per gram, off about ₹100 from its all-time high of ₹56,562. Silver futures dipped 0.2% to ₹69,655 per kg. In global markets, gold prices inched lower, weighed by an uptick in the dollar. Spot gold was down 0.4% at $1,910.48 per ounce but the losses were capped by hopes of slower interest rate hikes by the Federal Reserve. The dollar gained 0.2%. A stronger dollar turns gold less attractive to buyers with other currencies.
"On the global side, China’s GDP was in focus. It jumped by 3% year-on-year in 2022, indicating that the Chinese economy has made new headway despite multiple issues. Other economic data from the same region remains better than expected and thus could support a Yuan. Now, all eyes will be on the UK job report and EU ZEW Economic Sentiment, said Amit Pabari, MD of CR Forex Advisors. (Read More)
The rupee depreciated 31 paise to 81.89 against the US dollar in early trade on Tuesday weighed down by a rebound in American currency and firm crude oil prices.
Sustained foreign fund outflows further dented investor sentiments, forex traders said.
At the interbank foreign exchange, the domestic unit opened weak at 81.79 against the dollar, then fell to 81.89, registering a decline of 31 paise over its last close.
In the previous session on Monday, the rupee settled at 81.58 against the US dollar.
Meanwhile, the dollar index, which gauges the greenback's strength against a basket of six currencies, rose 0.18 per cent to 102.38.
Brent crude futures, the global oil benchmark, advanced 0.19 per cent to USD 84.62 per barrel.
In the domestic equity market, the 30-share BSE Sensex was trading 280.06 points or 0.47 per cent higher at 60,373.03. The broader NSE Nifty advanced 44.90 points or 0.25 per cent to 17,939.75. (PTI)
The Indian central bank's discussion paper suggesting banks make provisions on bad loans using an expected credit loss (ECL) method could raise capital requirements for lenders, analysts said.
On Monday evening, the Reserve Bank of India released the paper proposing a shift away from the current method - where loan loss provisions are made after a default - to one where banks will need to assess the probability of default upfront and provision accordingly.
The potential impact of a shift to the ECL mechanism on bank capital could be significant, said the RBI, which is yet to give a timeline for implementing the new rules.
If implemented, banks will be given at least a year to transition, it said.
The new mechanism will recognise problems ahead of time and make the banking system more resilient in the long run but could raise capital requirements significantly particularly for government owned banks, analysts at Macquarie Research said. (Reuters)
Amid an aging society and plunging birthrate, China has announced its first overall population decline. The National Bureau of Statistics reported the country had 850,000 fewer people at the end of 2022 than over the previous year, according to The Associated Press.
Addressing a briefing on Tuesday, the bureau said that left a total 1.411.75 billion, with 9.56 million births against 10.41 million deaths. It counts only the population of mainland China while excluding Hong Kong, Macao and self-governing Taiwan as well as foreign residents. (Read More)
Amid mis-selling concerns, edtech giant Byju’s has replaced its existing direct sales with a new internal sales strategy to avoid mis-selling and expand the reach of customers through a virtual process over zoom.
The edtech decacorn, which claims to have over 150 million registered learners, rolled out a four-tier tech-driven internal sales, which begins with educating an incoming lead about Byju’s product portfolio and its new refund policy over a live Zoom session that is recorded for future audit, the company said on Monday. The refund for a product is also done over a Zoom call, the company further said. The new inside sales strategy, launched in October, is announced amid increased criticism against the edtech firm for aggressively pitching its courses through its on-field sales push. (Read More)
Bitcoin price today gained to trade above $21,000 even as the world's largest and most popular digital token was trading with cuts of nearly a per cent at $21,102. It crossed the level on Saturday, first since November 8, 2022. The price of Bitcoin was stuck in a narrow range around $16,000 to $17,000 for weeks before the latest breakout. The global cryptocurrency market cap today was up almost flat in the last 24 hours to $1.02 trillion, as per the data by CoinGecko.
“BTC is currently trading around the $21,000 mark, remaining relatively stable over the last 24 hours. It experienced a significant increase of 25% already this year, with most of the gains happening since last Tuesday when it was hovering around $17,400. This surge is likely driven by renewed investor confidence in the U.S. central bank's ability to control inflation without harming the economy. Ether, following a similar pattern to Bitcoin, has also seen an increase in value, reaching a two-month high before falling slightly. On the other hand, MANA, the native token of the 3D virtual reality platform Decentraland, has increased by more than 16%," said CEO and Co-founder, Edul Patel, Mudrex. (Read More)
Dr V K Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist at Geojit Financial Services: The dominant trend impacting the near-term texture of the market is the sustained selling by FIIs for the eleventh time this month. There is selling even in bluechip names like HDFC Bank, that too, after impressive Q3 results. The simple logic behind sustained FII selling is that India is the only large market where FIIs are still sitting on good profits after the disastrous 2022 performance in most global markets. FIIs are playing it safe by moving money to cheaper markets where there is valuation comfort. The sustained FII selling has turned the near-term structure of the market weak. The best investment strategy in the present weak market would be to systematically buy high-quality large-caps in performing sectors like banking, capital goods, telecom and construction-related segments. Soon, India’s strong fundamentals will bring cheer to the market.
STOCK IN FOCUS
ABB (CMP 2,872): In view of strong capex uptick, high earnings growth and backing by ABB global, we have our BUY rating with a Target Price of Rs3,500.
Intraday Picks
POWERGRID (PREVIOUS CLOSE: 216) BUY
For today’s trade, long position can be initiated in the range of Rs212-214 for the target of Rs220 with a strict stop loss of Rs210.
LT(PREVIOUS CLOSE: 2137) SELL
For today’s trade, short position can be initiated in the range of Rs2150- 2160 for the target of Rs2105 with a strict stop loss of Rs2180.
BANKBARODA (PREVIOUS CLOSE: 186) SELL
For today’s trade, short position can be initiated in the range of Rs187- 189 for the target of Rs181 with a strict stop loss of Rs191.
Oil dropped as investors waited for data on China’s economy and a market outlook from the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries that may yield clues about supply and demand in 2023.
Global benchmark Brent fell toward $84 a barrel after shedding 1% on Monday. Beijing is due to release fourth-quarter economic growth data. The figures are expected to show a marked slowdown even as most traders look ahead to a likely rebound in energy demand following the dismantling of virus curbs.
In addition to the backward-looking data from China, OPEC is scheduled to release its monthly analysis of the global oil market. The wider 23-nation OPEC+ group agreed to collectively reduce supplies by 2 million barrels a day from November, and then hold steady for the rest of this year.
Crude has had a rocky start to 2023, sinking in the opening week on concerns over a global slowdown before rebounding. Aside from China, oil has found support from growing expectations that the Federal Reserve is nearing an end to its aggressive series of interest-rate hikes and a weakening dollar. (Bloomberg)
Indian government bond yields may remain largely unchanged in early session on Tuesday as traders await supply through sale of debt from states.
The benchmark 10-year yield could move in a range of 7.31%-7.35%, a trader with a private bank said. The yield ended higher at 7.3283% on Monday, the second consecutive session of rise.
Bond yields have corrected again after last week's fall, and with a very small quantum of the state debt, it should not make any material difference to the overall supply-demand dynamics, the trader said.
Four Indian states aim to raise 67 billion rupees ($820.27 million) through the sale of bonds against the scheduled 220 billion rupees.
Indian states may not borrow as much as the record 3.41 trillion rupees in the January-March quarter, which will help keep the spread between state and central government bond yields in check, analysts had said after the release of state debt calendar for this quarter. (Reuters)
ICICI Prudential, ICICI Lombard, Bank of India, Delta Corp, Tata Investment Corp, and Metro Brands will be among the stocks in focus as they declare their December quarter earnings today. (Read More)
Gold prices are expected to rise towards record highs above $2,000 an ounce this year, albeit with a little turbulence, as the United States slows the pace of rate hikes and eventually stops increasing them, according to industry analysts. Spot prices of the precious metal have shot above $1,900 an ounce, surging by about 18% since early November as inflationary pressures recede and markets anticipate less aggressive monetary policy from the U.S. Federal Reserve.
Fast-rising interest rates hammered gold prices last year, kicking them as low as $1,613.60 in September from a high of $2,069.89 in March - just shy of a record peak in 2020. (Read More)
Private sector lender Federal Bank posted a 54% rise in its profit at ₹804 crore in the third quarter ended December 2022 (Q3FY23), on higher net interest income and improved asset quality. The bank had posted a net profit of ₹522 crore in the same quarter a year ago.
The bank's net Interest Income (NII), the difference between interest earned and expended, for the quarter grew by over 27% to ₹1,957 crore from 1,539 crore in the year ago quarter. Federal Bank reported a strong quarter – third in a row. Given Federal’s notable RoA expansion in 9MFY23E, analysts at Edelweiss are confident the bank can deliver strong earnings and RoA ahead. (Read More)
JSW Ispat Special Products Limited (JISPL) on Monday said its consolidated net loss widened to ₹97.98 crore in the December quarter.
The company had posted a ₹27.12 crore net loss in the year-ago period, according to a statement.
Its total income fell to ₹1,110.33 crore from ₹1,476.46 crore during the October-December period of the previous year.
Debt-laden Monnet Ispat & Energy Limited (MIEL) was acquired jointly by a consortium of Aion Investments Private Limited (AION) and JSW Steel Limited and later renamed as JSW Ispat Special Products Limited. (PTI)
US and European airlines will benefit from pent-up demand for travel to China after its recent border reopening, but route approvals, fresh COVID-19 testing rules and not enough large aircraft remain barriers to rising sales, analysts and industry officials say.
Travel is returning to China, the world's largest outbound tourism market worth $255 billion in 2019, after the country ended mandatory quarantines on Jan. 8. Airfares from China are now 160% higher than before the pandemic, data from travel firm ForwardKeys shows, due to limited supply. (Read More)
With geopolitical tensions continuing to shape the global economy and anticipate further monetary tightening in the United States and Europe, a majority of the World Economic Forum’s Community of Chief Economists have expected a global recession in 2023. The findings were found in the The January 2023 Chief Economists Outlook' by the World Economic Forum's Centre for the New Economy and Society.
As per the survey, almost two-thirds of chief economists believe a global recession is likely in 2023; of which 18% consider it extremely likely – more than twice as many as in the previous survey conducted in September 2022. A third of respondents consider a global recession to be unlikely this year. (Read More)
The state-owned Bank of Maharashtra (BoM), which reported solid Q3 results, announced on Monday that it aims to raise up to ₹1,000 crore via qualified institutions placement (QIP) in the January-March quarter pr Q4FY23 in order to comply with Sebi's minimum public shareholding (MPS) standards. A S Rajeev, managing director of BoM, stated that the bank has commenced the procedure to comply with Sebi's (the Securities and Exchange Board of India) regulations.
"It will be done in a piecemeal manner and we are looking at QIP between ₹500 and ₹1,000 crore in the current quarter," MD said by adding that going forward other means would be explored for dilution of the government's stake. (Read More)
HDFC Bank’s plan to ramp up its deposit mobilization to ₹1 trillion per quarter may hit a wall, as the pricing war over deposits heats up, analysts said. The private sector lender, which is in a merger process with its parent HDFC Ltd, had set the target during a roadshow in September. The management sought to mop up ₹4 trillion, or roughly 25% of its current deposit base, per year.
However, the third quarter earnings reveal that it fell short of its expectations. At the end of December, the bank posted an incremental deposit growth of ₹59,796 crore, compared to ₹68,648 crore in the previous quarter. Its total deposit book stood at ₹17.3 trillion as of 31 December. (Read More)
India's power utilities will likely boost coal imports this year to cope with surges in demand, made worse over the past year by extreme temperatures, and with freight bottlenecks that are disrupting domestic coal supplies, analysts and officials said. A steady rise in industrial electricity use in recent years has left utilities in India, one of the world's fastest growing major economies and the second-largest coal consumer and importer, with limited leeway to confront extraordinary demand or hiccups in supply. (Read More)
The union government has lowered the windfall tax on the sale of locally-produced crude oil to ₹1,900 per tonne from ₹2,100 per tonne after a gap of two weeks. Centre has also reduced additional excise duty on the export of aviation turbine fuel (ATF) to ₹3.5 per litre from earlier ₹4.5 per litre and has reduced export duty on diesel to ₹5 per litre, including cess, from the previous levy of ₹6.5 per litre, said a finance ministry notification.
Global oil prices have largely been subdued of late. At the time of writing the story, the March contract of Brent on the Intercontinental Exchange is at $84.44 per barrel, lower by 0.99% from its previous close. (Read More)
Stocks continued their new year rally on Monday as optimism over the global economy, inflation coming under control and China's reopening offset concerns the Bank of Japan (BOJ) might temper its super-sized stimulus policy at a pivotal meeting this week.
The yen climbed to its highest since May after rumours swirled the BOJ might hold an emergency meeting on Monday as it struggles to defend its new yield ceiling in the face of massive selling, sending the dollar to a seven-month low.
The region's STOXX 600 benchmark rose 0.3% by 1145 GMT driven by healthcare stocks which gained 0.6%, and Britain's FTSE at 7856 inched towards a record 7903.
MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan added 0.37%, with hopes for a speedy Chinese reopening giving it a gain of 4.2% last week.
The fragile rally in equities that has characterised the opening weeks of the year could be tested from a number of angles this week, however, as world leaders, policymakers and corporate CEOs gather for the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos. (Reuters)
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