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Markets are anticipating an uptick in volatility. Investors are navigating headwinds from the Omicron variant, supply-chain disruptions and more central banks winding back pandemic stimulus that propelled a third year of double-digit returns for equities
Indian equities closed higher for the third straight session on Tuesday, led by gains in banks, financials, power and energy stocks.
The Sensex rose 672.71 points, or 1.14%, to close the day at 59,855.93, while Nifty was up 179.60 points at 17,805.30.
On the Nifty, NTPC, ONGC, SBI, Power Grid and Titan Company were among the to Nifty gainers, while Tata Motors, Coal India, Sun Pharma, Tata Consumer Products and Shree Cements fell the most.
Except Metal and Pharma, all other sectoral indices ended higher, with banks, oil & gas and power indices up 1% each. BSE MidCap index ended flat and SmallCap index rose 0.4%.
Everything is falling into place for further gains in global stocks this year, according to JPMorgan Chase & Co strategists.
“Stay bullish -- positive catalysts are not exhausted," strategists led by Mislav Matejka wrote in a note to clients on Tuesday. Downside risks -- including a hawkish turn by central banks, a slowdown in China’s economy, or more significant coronavirus restrictions -- will either fail to materialize or are already priced in to stocks, they said.
The positive outlook comes as benchmark indexes in both the U.S. and Europe trade at record highs, following last year’s ferocious rally on the back of unprecedented fiscal stimulus and a solid rebound from the pandemic-induced slump.
Having access to over 10 lakh customers post acquisition of DHFL last year, Piramal Capital & Housing Finance (PCHFL) plans to open 100 branches and expand to 1,000 more cities in coming years.
In September 2021, PCHFL completed acquisition of debt-laden Dewan Housing Finance Ltd (DHFL), thereby creating one of the largest housing finance companies in the country.
PCHFL has now access to over 1 million (10 lakh) customers across 24 states with a network of 301 branches, PCHFL said in a release on Tuesday.
To address diverse financing needs of the under-served 'Bharat' market, the company plans to expand its operations to about 1,000 cities in the next three years, with physical presence in about 500-600 cities.
In the next 12 months, it expects to open another 100 branches, the company said.
India’s biggest fund house in terms of assets, SBI Asset Management Company Ltd, has announced a split in the face value of each unit of SBI - ETF Gold in a 1:100 ratio.
Following the split, each unit of the SBI - ETF Gold will trade with a face value of Re 1, effective 6 January 2022, instead of ₹100 at present.
The net asset value (NAV) of the SBI - ETF Gold on 4 January was ₹4,254. Hence a 1:100 split is likely to bring down the NAV to levels of around ₹42.
However, this will not have any impact on the current value of holdings of the unitholders of the scheme.
As per industry insiders, SBI Mutual Fund’s move is likely aimed at making the scheme more accessible for retail investors, which may also help increase liquidity on the stock exchange.
SBI - ETF Gold is the third biggest gold investment scheme with assets of ₹2,562 crore as of 30 November 2021.
The scheme was launched in 2009 and has delivered -4.26% return on a one-year basis, 13.77% on a three-year basis and 10.46% gains on a 5-year basis.
Colgate-Palmolive India said on Tuesday it was holding talks with its sales representatives in the country after they threatened to disrupt supplies in one of India's most populous states and alleged they were being unfairly treated on pricing.
Reuters reported in November that Indian sales agents of companies including Reckitt Benckiser, Unilever and Colgate had seen their sales drop by 20%-25% over a year as mom-and-pop stores partnered with Indian billionaire Mukesh Ambani's Reliance to secure lower prices.
Following the story, sales representatives threatened to supplying the mom-and-pop stores, known in India as kiranas, unless they were given the same price deals as big corporate distributors such as Reliance.
Last week, a group of distributors said they will stop some Colgate products from Jan. 1 in western Maharashtra state, the richest and one of the most populous in India.
OPEC and its allies are poised to revive more halted oil production when they meet on Tuesday after predicting a tighter outlook for global markets.
The 23-nation alliance led by Saudi Arabia and Russia is on track to ratify another modest output revival of 400,000 barrels a day, restoring supplies shuttered during the pandemic, delegates said. At a preliminary meeting on Monday, the group’s analysts cut estimates for the surplus expected in the first quarter, predicting weaker supply growth from its rivals.
The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries and its partners have restarted about two-thirds of the production they halted in 2020, and are seeking to drip-feed the remainder at a pace that will satisfy the recovery in fuel consumption -- and stave off any inflationary price spike -- without sending the market into a new slump. So far they’ve succeeded, with international crude prices trading near $79 a barrel.
The OPEC+ Joint Technical Committee, which analyzes the market on behalf of ministers, sees a surplus of 1.4 million barrels a day in the first three months of 2022, about 25% smaller than it estimated a month ago, according to a report seen by Bloomberg.
The committee saw only a “mild and short-lived" impact from the omicron variant, as “the world becomes better equipped to manage Covid-19 and its related challenges."
At a separate and very brief online meeting on Monday, OPEC ministers appointed veteran Kuwaiti oil executive Haitham Al-Ghais as its new secretary-general, to assume the post in August.
After a drop in November, electronic permits raised for goods transportation within and across states have showed a dramatic jump in December, suggesting robust activity in the manufacturing sector.
Data from GSTN, the company that processes GST returns, showed that 71.6 million e-way bills were generated in December, against 61.1 million in November. E-way bill is compulsory for shipping goods worth ₹50,000 or more and is taken as a lead indicator by analysts.
The quantum of e-way bills generated in December is also close to the level seen in October at 73.5 million, which led to the second highest GST revenue collections in November at ₹1.31 trillion since the roll out of GST in 2017.
Latest e-way bill data backs signals of robust economic activity coming from other indicators like purchase manager’s index--a survey, and exports data for December. According to IHS Markit India Manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) released on Monday, India’s manufacturing sector witnessed continued growth in production and new orders in December but at its slowest pace since September, while cost pressures continued to inch up. Manufacturing PMI at 55.5 in December pointed to a robust improvement in overall operating conditions, Mint reported on Monday.
Moody's Investors Service on Tuesday assigned a Baa2 rating to the proposed dollar-denominated senior unsecured bonds to be issued by Reliance Industries Limited (RIL). The outlook on the rating is stable.
RIL will use the bond proceeds for refinancing.
"RIL's Baa2 ratings reflect the company's large scale and dominant market position across its diverse businesses, its management's strong execution track record and our expectation that its credit metrics will remain strongly positioned for its Baa2 rating, despite its planned investments in clean energy and other business segments," says Sweta Patodia, a Moody's Analyst.
"RIL's high dependence on the Indian economy through its digital services and retail businesses constrains its rating to one notch above that of the Indian sovereign rating," adds Patodia, who is also Moody's lead analyst for RIL.
RATINGS RATIONALE
RIL benefits from diversified earnings sources that have little or no correlation, given its presence in the refining and petrochemicals, digital services, and consumer retail segments. These three segments together generated around INR944 billion ($12.6 billion) or 86% of RIL's consolidated EBITDA for the 12 months ended 30 September 2021.
The company's digital services and consumer retail businesses are housed under separate subsidiaries, while its refining and the petrochemical business -- also known as the oil-to-chemical (O2C) segment -- is held at the holding company level.
RIL's announcement to increase tariffs for its digital services business is positive for the telecommunications industry, while the easing of pandemic-related disruptions will support demand for oil and gas as well as increase consumer spending. These trends bode well for RIL's various business segments and will keep earnings strong over the next 12-18 months.
A resurgence of coronavirus infections due to the emergence of new variants could result in fresh lockdowns and affect the company's O2C and retail earnings.
RIL's earlier announcements to transfer its gasification undertaking into a wholly-owned subsidiary while reevaluating the planned transfer of its O2C business to a separate subsidiary will not have any impact on the company's credit profile.
RIL's adjusted net debt/EBITDA was estimated at around 1.1x as of 30 September 2021, compared with the rating downgrade trigger of net debt/EBITDA at 3.0x. In addition, Moody's expects the company to generate sufficient cash flows from operations each year to fund its capital spending.
The stable outlook reflects Moody's expectation that the company's earnings will continue to improve over the next 12-18 months across all its business segments, such that its credit metrics will remain strongly positioned for its ratings.
The stable outlook is also in line with the stable outlook of the Indian sovereign rating and reflects Moody's view that RIL cannot be rated more than one notch above the Indian sovereign.
RIL has excellent liquidity. As of 30 September 2021, the company had adjusted cash and cash equivalents, including quoted marketable securities, of about INR1.9 trillion ($25.6 billion).
Its existing cash, along with expected cash flows from operations, will be sufficient to cover its cash outflows for capital spending and debt maturities in the next 18 months.
In November 2021, RIL received around INR266 billion in proceeds from the final call on its rights issue, which further enhances its liquidity.
The company's liquidity is further supported by its strong banking relationships and access to domestic and international capital markets
Europe's main stock markets jumped at the open Tuesday following a strong start to 2022 for Tokyo and Wall Street.
London's benchmark FTSE 100 index rallied 1% to 7,460.59 points as it kicked off its first trading day of the year.
Frankfurt's DAX index climbed 0.3% to 16,065.39 points and the Paris CAC 40 rose 0.6% to 7,261.39, building on strong gains Monday for the eurozone's main equity markets.
Asian shares were mostly higher Tuesday despite worries about rising numbers of cases of coronavirus in the region.
Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 jumped 1.8% to 29,301.79 in Tokyo's first trading day of 2022. Shares also rose in Australia and South Korea, but edged lower in Hong Kong and Shanghai.
Toyota Motor Corp. gained 6.1%, while Sony Corp. added 3.1%.Hong Kong’s Hang Seng was flat, at 23,270.45. The Shanghai Composite edged down 0.2% to 3,632.33.
Australia's S&P/ASX 200 jumped nearly 2.0% to 7,589.80. South Korea's Kospi gained less than 1 point to 2,989.24.
The brokerage house has revised the target price to ₹930 apiece from ₹920.
Based on our channel checks, we believe Varun Beverages is likely to maintain strong double-digit volume growth, in line with earlier quarters. It has not yet raised prices of its products in spite of inflation in key raw materials such as sugar and PET (packaging material). It plans to focus on Eastern states and is on track to set up a new plant in Bihar.
We also believe lockdown (if any) would likely have a negligible impact on the company’s sales as the lockdown is likely to be in Q1CY22 (non-season). We model the company to maintain EBITDA margins of ~19.5% over CY22-23E via judicious price hikes and cost-saving initiatives.
We expect Varun to report a PAT CAGR of 44.8% over CY20-23 with improving RoE. Maintain ADD with a DCF based TP of ₹930 (35x CY23E EPS; earlier TP: ₹920.
The Centre on Tuesday opposed a plea moved by BJP leader Subramanian Swamy in the Delhi High Court, seeking to quash the Air India disinvestment process and set aside the approvals given to it by authorities as the methodology adopted was "arbitrary, mala fide and corrupt".
A bench of Chief Justice D N Patel and Justice Jyoti Singh heard the arguments put forward by Swamy, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta and senior advocate Harish Salve, who appeared in the matter on behalf of AirAsia, and said it will pass an order on the petition on January 6.
It also asked the counsel for the Centre and the other respondents to file a short note during the day and granted liberty to Swamy to file a short note by Wednesday.
The court also asked the petitioner to file legible copies of certain documents annexed with the petition.
The brokerage house has target price of ₹475 on the stock.
"Fino is uniquely positioned to capture growing opportunities in rural India, led by deep-rural products like MATM (~51% market share as on Aug’21) & AEPS, tailor-made CASA accounts for under-served population, and payment app called “FinoPay" targeting rural population," the brokerage said.
Diversified revenue stream, merchant-led asset-light distribution model and deep rural network with operational presence in over 90% districts are key features of its unique business model and also the primary reason behind Fino turning profitable within 12 quarters. Notably, unlike other players, Fino is rapidly building organic customer base (~3.4mn) and merchant base (~0.8mn) without burning cash; annualised PAT margin stands at 4% with total annualised throughput of ~Rs1.7trn as on Sep’21.
India splurged a record $55.7 billion on gold imports in 2021, buying more than double the previous year's tonnage as a price drop favoured retail buyers and pent up demand emerged for weddings that were delayed when the pandemic first hit.
The previously unreported details of the world's second biggest consumer nation's soaring imports were disclosed to Reuters by a senior government official who requested anonymity as he was not authorised to speak to media.
The 2021 gold import bill easily doubled the $22 billion spent in 2020, and surpassed the previous high, set in 2011, of $53.9 billion, according to the official, who tracks broad import trends.
In volume terms, India imported 1,050 tonnes of gold in 2021, the most in a decade, and far more than 430 tonnes imported in 2020, the official said.
India’s robust exports in December notwithstanding, the country is staring at high trade gap numbers in FY22 and FY23 with current account remaining in deficit due to increased imports, an analysis of the trade data released by the government shows.
According to a report by Kotak Institutional Equities, despite a record pick up in exports this year, December trade deficit of $22 billion is only marginally lower than the record highs of September and November.
“Both exports and imports were the highest recorded to date likely on the back of positive price effect, seasonal uptick, and buoyancy in global and domestic demand. We expect the trade deficit to remain high and CAD/GDP at (-)1.7% in both FY2022E and FY2023E with USD-INR in the range of 74-76.5 in the near term," the brokerage said in its report.
The country’s exports in December rose a record 37% year-on-year to $37.29 billion, government data showed on Monday. This is the highest-ever monthly achievement of exports so far. Imports also increased by 38.06% to $59.27 billion over $42.93 billion in December 2020. Consequently, India's trade deficit last month widened 39.9% YoY to $21.99 billion.
Billionaire Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Jio Infocomm Ltd., India’s largest mobile phone carrier, is planning its biggest ever rupee bond sale as it targets gains in market share.
The company is seeking commitments Tuesday for as much as 50 billion rupees ($671 million) of notes maturing in five years at a coupon of 6.20%, according to people familiar with the matter. Jio last tapped the local-currency bond market in July 2018, and is planning to use the proceeds from the current proposed deal to refinance financial liabilities.
Jio’s entry into the wireless market in 2016 with free calls and ultra-cheap data, unleashed a tariff war in the country and shrank the telecom space from a dozen players to three private sector operators as others exited, merged or went bankrupt. The top-rated firm is coming to the debt market as the nation’s central bank drains excess liquidity from the banking system as it normalizes policy, pushing borrowing costs for AAA graded five-year corporate debt to near a nine-month high.
Jio is preparing to roll out 5G services in India this year after buying airwaves worth almost $8 billion in March. It was the top bidder in the latest spectrum auctions, underscoring its intent to retain its edge over rivals.
Jio’s parent Reliance Industries Ltd. has hired banks too to arrange a series of fixed income investor calls from Tuesday for a potential multi-tranche dollar bond offering.
Alembic Pharmaceuticals on Tuesday said it has received approval from the US health regulator to market Doxycycline Hyclate delayed-release tablets, used to treat drug resistant bacterial infections, in the US.
The company has received approval from the US Food and Drug Administration (US FDA) for its abbreviated new drug application (ANDA) for Doxycycline Hyclate delayed-release tablets, the drug firm said in regulatory filing.
The approved ANDA is therapeutically equivalent to the reference-listed drug product (RLD) Doryx Tablets, 75 mg, 100 mg, 150 mg, and 200 mg, of Mayne Pharma International Pty Ltd (Mayne).
Doxycycline Hyclate delayed-release tablets are indicated to reduce the development of drug resistant bacteria.
According to IQVIA data, Doxycycline Hyclate delayed-release tablets USP, 75 mg, 100 mg, 150 mg, and 200 mg have an estimated market size of $10 million for twelve months ended September 2021.
The brokerage has a target of ₹408 on the stock, which includes valuation of ₹150 for its commercial vehicle business and ₹151 for JLR. The brokerage expects JLR's volume and profitability to recover as supply situation eases for chips.
Tata Communications, a global digital ecosystem enabler, and Zain KSA, a pioneering mobile telecommunications and digital services provider that is committed to supporting innovation and spearheading the next-generation’s technological revolution in the Middle East, today announced they have entered a strategic engagement to fuel digital transformation journeys of enterprises and government organisations in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA). With this collaboration the combined ecosystems will deliver solutions and platforms to remodel cities with smart street lighting, smart waste management, connected workplace, healthcare and connected cars.
The flagship project where Tata Communications and Zain KSA are working together to bring smart street lighting solution for one of the key cities in KSA. Tata Communications IoT ecosystem will serve as one-stop-shop to provide the hardware, platform, application and insights while Zain KSA will expand the footprint with its business-to-business (B2B) offerings through joint projects related to software-defined wide area network (SD-WAN) and global contact centres, as well as the application of smart transport and Internet of Things (IoT) solutions enabling smart waste handling, smart metering and other smart city use cases, to name a few.
Apple Inc supplier Foxconn is unlikely to reopen its shuttered south Indian iPhone manufacturing facility until January 7, a senior government official familiar with the matter told Reuters.
The Foxconn plant, located in the southern state of Tamil Nadu, was closed on Dec. 18, following protests over 250 of its workers being treated for food poisoning. Apple has since placed the factory on probation after discovering that some dormitories and dining rooms did not meet required standards.
The company, officially known as Hon Hai Precision, told the Tamil Nadu state government it was still working to address Apple's concerns over workers' living conditions, the official said.
Cadila Healthcare Ltd has seen its stock price correct more than 30% from the highs seen in May. Muted growth expectations for the near term have, largely because of softening gains from covid drug sales, have kept investor sentiment in check. Delay in execution of the vaccine has not helped matters either and US sales growth impacted by pricing pressure has aggravated problems for the company.
December quarter results are expected to reflect these. “The company is expected to see a 10% decline in earnings on account of moderation in covid contribution, disposal of Animal health business and delay in execution of covid vaccine supply" said analysts at PhillipCapital India Research in their Q3 result preview.
But hereon, analysts have a positive view on earnings growth. Growth in the US market is likely to get support from increasing new product launches. The company is likely to launch about 50 new products in the US during 2022, which should take care of pricing pressure.
Resolution of regulatory issues pertaining to the Moraiya manufacturing facility too will be watched for. A positive development can be a trigger as plant clearances can lead to increased product approvals and launches in the US. (Read here)
In the major Indian cities, the Omicron variant of the coronavirus is accounting for more than 50 per cent of the fresh cases of the infection and the massive surge in the number of cases over the last one week is indicative of a third wave of the pandemic, as is being witnessed in several countries, Dr N K Arora, the chairman of the COVID-19 working group of the NTAGI, said on Tuesday.
Omicron is being detected in most of the states in the country, he told PTI.
Noting that in the major metro centres and the surrounding regions, the new variant of the virus is accounting for over 50 per cent of the fresh cases, Arora said, "The galloping increase in the number of Covid cases over the last one week is indicative of the third wave, as is being seen in several other countries across the globe."
Shares of textile companies such as KPR Mills Ltd, Gokaldas Exports Ltd, Vardhaman Textiles Ltd and Nitin Spinners Ltd, among others, have seen steep rallies of 130-270% in the last one year. A combination of favourable global and company-specific factors is said to have resulted in this sharp up move.
Increased government intervention is said to be one of the favourable factors which is driving optimism towards this sector. (Read here)
HDFC Bank’s advances aggregated to approximately ₹ 12,600 billion as of 31 December 2021, a growth of around 16.4% over ₹ 10,823 billion in the year-ago period, and a growth of around 5.1% over ₹ 11,988 billion as of 30 September 2021.
As per the Bank's internal business classification, retail loans grew around 13.5% year-on-year and around 4.5% sequentially; commercial & rural banking loans grew 29.5% over December 31, 2020 and around 6.0% over September 30, 2021; and corporate & other wholesale loans grew by around 7.5% over December 31, 2020 and around 4.5% over September 30, 2021.
2) The Bank’s deposits aggregated to approximately ₹ 14,460 billion as of December 31, 2021, a growth of around 13.8% over ₹ 12,711 billion as of December 31, 2020 and a growth of around 2.8% over ₹ 14,063 billion as of September 30, 2021.
Retail deposits grew by around 17.0% over December 31, 2020 and around 4.0% over September 30, 2021; wholesale deposits grew by around 1.0% over December 31, 2020 and were lower by around 1.5% over September 30, 2021.
3) The Bank’s CASA deposits aggregated to approximately ₹ 6,810 billion as of December 31, 2021, a growth of around 24.6% over ₹ 5,467 billion as of December 31, 2020 and a growth of around 3.5% over ₹ 6,582 billion as of September 30, 2021. The Bank’s CASA ratio stood at around 47% as of December 31, 2021, as compared to 43.0% as of December 31, 2020 and 46.8% as of September 30, 2021.
L&T classifies orders worth ₹1,000-2,500 crore as significant.
Oil prices were flat on Tuesday ahead of a meeting where major producers are expected to stick to plans to add supply in February, as soaring COVID-19 cases have yet to spark lockdowns in the biggest fuel-consuming countries.
Brent crude futures gained 1 cent to $78.99 a barrel at 0239 GMT, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures slipped 2 cents to $76.06 a barrel.
The two benchmark contracts both climbed more than 1% on Monday.
The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), Russia and allies - together called OPEC+ - are due to meet on Tuesday. The Joint Ministerial Monitoring Committee is due to meet at 1200 GMT, followed by a ministerial meeting at 1300 GMT, both by videoconference.
The Nifty continues its upward trajectory. It has crossed its intermediate high of 17639; this should allow the index to achieve 17800-17850 as the next target. This zone might prove to be a resistance patch as well. Traders can consider booking profits on their long positions when the Nifty hits 17800-17850. 17200 is good support for the markets and intraday dips can be utilized to accumulate long positions.
India's exports in December rose a record 37% year-on-year to $37.29 billion, government data showed on Monday. This is the highest-ever monthly achievement of exports so far. Exports stood at more than $27.22 billion in December 2020. The exports growth last month is also a 37.55% jump over December 2019, when it stood at $27.11 billion.
“Highest ever goods exports in the history of India in Dec’21! Exports over $37 Billion, 37% jump over Dec’20. Govt. led by PM @NarendraModi ji is providing a boost to manufacturing sector for building an #AatmanirbharBharat," commerce minister Piyush Goyal said in a tweet.
Outbound shipments during April-December 2021 has already crossed $300 billion, exceeding the exports of 2020-21, according to data of the commerce ministry.
Vedanta group firm Hindustan Zinc Ltd (HZL) on Monday reported an 11% rise in integrated metal production at 2,61,000 tonnes in the third quarter of this fiscal, led by better plant and mined metal availability and improved operating parameters.
The company's integrated metal production stood at 2,35,000 tonnes in the year-ago period, HZL said in a BSE filing.
Integrated zinc production was at 214,000 tonnes, up 17% as compared to Q3 FY'21.
Refined lead production was at 47,000 tonnes in the third quarter of FY'22, down 10% as compared to the year-ago period.
Mined metal production rose 3% to 2,52,000 tonnes on account of higher ore production at Sindesar Khurd and Zawar mines and higher feed grade at Rampura Agucha, supported by improvement in recovery, partly offset by lower ore metal grade.
China’s factory activity expanded in December as production and sales picked up, though employment remained weak, a private gauge showed Tuesday.
The Caixin Manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index rose to 50.9 last month from November’s 49.9, Caixin and IHS Markit said in a statement. Economists had expected a marginal improvement to 50, the dividing line between expansion and contraction.
Output rose at the fastest pace in the past year, supported by improved market conditions and stronger customer demand, while inflation eased, according to the statement. Employment fell for the fifth month in a row, with the sub-index dropping to 48.7, the weakest since February last year.
Housing Development Finance Corp. (HDFC), the country's largest mortgage lender, on Monday said it assigned loans worth ₹7,468 crore in the quarter ended December, up by 5.5% from a year ago.
It had assigned loans amounting to ₹7,076 crore in the corresponding December 2020 quarter of the previous financial year.
All loans assigned during the quarter ended 31 December, were to HDFC Bank pursuant to the buyback option embedded in the home loan arrangement between HDFC Bank and the Corporation, it said in a regulatory filing.
Loans sold in the preceding 12 months amounted to ₹27,591 crore as against ₹16,956 crore, it said.
The index has marched forward gallantly and is all set to move up higher. As expected on Friday, we have achieved the target of 17600. We should now be headed to 17850 as the next level of resistance. Post that 18050 would be the next possible target for the Nifty. Since we are in positive terrain, any drop or intra day dip can be utilized to accumulate buy positions for higher targets.
The negative sequence of lower tops and bottoms on the daily chart is now placed at the edge of negation, as Nifty moved above the last lower top of 13th December at 17,639 levels on Monday. This could mean that the bearish set up is likely to be negated and any dips from current levels in Nifty 50 could unfold a bullish set up like higher highs and lows, as per daily chart.
Fallen US biotech star Elizabeth Holmes was convicted on Monday of defrauding investors in her blood-testing startup Theranos, in a high-profile case seen as an indictment of Silicon Valley culture.
Holmes is a rare example of a tech exec being brought to book over a company flaming out, in a sector littered with the carcasses of money-losing companies that once promised untold riches.
Her case shone a spotlight on the blurred line between the hustle that characterizes the industry and outright criminal dishonesty.
Jurors took seven days of deliberations to reach their verdict, finding her guilty of four counts of tricking investors into pouring money into what she claimed was a revolutionary testing system.
But the panel -- who had listened to weeks of sometimes complex evidence -- also acquitted her on four charges and could not reach a verdict on three others.
The 37-year-old now faces the possibility of 20 years behind bars for each conviction. She remains at liberty ahead of another hearing on the terms of her bail next week. No date was set for sentencing.
State-run Oil and Natural Gas Corporation's (ONGC) Director HR (human resources), Alka Mittal, has been given additional charge of chairman and managing director, making her the first woman to head the energy major, ONGC said in a tweet on Monday evening.
"ONGC Director (HR) Dr Alka Mittal has been entrusted with additional charge of ONGC CMD, making her the first woman to head the #Energy major," ONGC tweeted from its official handle.
Mittal was given the additional charge after incumbent Subhash Kumar superannuated on December 31, 2021. She is also the senior-most director on the ONGC board.
Shares of Future Retail, Maruti Suzuki, Tata Motors, FMCG stocks, among others, will be in focus today.
Most Asian stocks rose Tuesday after the S&P 500 closed at a record high on the first trading day of 2022. Treasuries maintained losses.
Japan led an advance as more Asian markets traded after the new year break. The U.S. gains followed European stocks which hit unprecedented highs even as trading volumes remained light because of holidays. On Tuesday, U.S. futures were little changed.
Hong Kong shares edged higher after their worst start to a year since 2019. Chinese equities weakened as investors weigh the possibility of further policy easing with data showing that property companies saw sales drop last year.
Markets are anticipating an uptick in volatility. Investors are navigating headwinds from the omicron variant, supply-chain disruptions and more central banks winding back pandemic stimulus that propelled a third year of double-digit returns for equities.
U.S. December payroll data and minutes from the Fed’s meeting last month later this week may build a case for tightening to begin sooner.
S&P 500 futures were little changed, and so were Nasdaq 100 futures.
Japan's Topix index rose 1.3%, Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 Index advanced 1.5%, Kospi index fell 0.3%, Hang Seng Index rose 0.2%, and the Shanghai Composite Index fell 0.3%.
Overnight, major Wall Street indices closed at fresh records and Apple briefly reached a $3 trillion valuation in a bullish open to 2022, despite expectations for higher interest rates.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average finished up 0.7% at 36,585.06, a record. The broad-based S&P 500 jumped 0.6% to 4,796.56, also a record, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index advanced 1.2% to 15,832.80.
The new landmarks come on the heels of a series of all-time highs in December as markets continue to bet the latest surge in Covid-19 cases won't derail economic growth.
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