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Indian equities had their best session in many days as a rally fuelled by index heavyweight Reliance Industries pushed up benchmark indices to help them settle near the day's high.
The Sensex ended 646 points, or 1.7%, higher at 38,840 while the Nifty added 171 points to settle at 11,449.
Reliance Industries hit record highs after reports of investment in its retail arm. The stock finally settled 7.1% higher at ₹2,314.65, having touched a high of ₹2,343.90 earlier in the day.
Gains in banks and IT stocks also boosted sentiment.
In the broader market, the BSE Midcap settled 0.9% higher while the Smallcap index ended up 1.3%.
On the Nifty50, RIL, BPCL, Asian Paints, IOC and Axis Bank were the top gainers while Bharti Infratel, Hindalco, Tata Steel, Bharti Airtel and Dr Reddy's led losses.
Reliance Industries Ltd's plan to sell stake in its retail subsidiary at an equity valuation of ₹4.21 trillion and its proposed acquisition of Future Group's retail businesses will solidify its position in India's organised retail market and strengthen its consumer business, said Fitch Ratings.
"We believe the proposed acquisition of Future Group's retail business will fortify its retail footprint, especially in the grocery retail sub-segment. The equity stake sale will further strengthen RIL's financial profile and competitive position beyond the proposed acquisition
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo asked Southeast Asian nations Thursday to reconsider deals with Chinese companies blacklisted by Washington for building island outposts he says Beijing is using to “bully" rival claimants in the disputed South China Sea.
India will soon launch a bid round to give out licences for retailing gas in cities to help extend the coverage of environment-friendly fuel to about 500 cities, Oil Minister Dharmendra Pradhan said on Thursday.
European shares lost ground on Thursday, with banks leading declines, as investors awaited signs of more stimulus from the European Central Bank in the face of a strong euro, although it was expected to keep its policy unchanged, Reuters reported.
The Supreme Court on Thursday sought the attorney general’s help to examine larger issues involved in contempt cases with respect to procedures and situations which led to judicial corruption allegations in a 2009 contempt case against Prashant Bhushan.
A three-judge bench, headed by Justice AM Khawilkar, deferred the hearing and impleaded attorney general KK Venugopal in the 11-year old contempt case.
The case will be next heard on 12 October.
Indiabulls Housing Finance Ltd on Thursday that it has sold a portion of its stake in OakNorth Holding Ltd to Boston-based HighSage Ventures LLC for ₹440 crore.
Sale proceeds will be accretive to the regulatory net worth and the CRAR of the company.
"Reliance Industries stock has been on a tear and hit an all time high today ever since the announcement of investment of ₹7,500 crore by Silver Lake in Reliance Retail Ventures Ltd. yesterday, valuing the retail business at ₹4.21 lakh crore which is at the higher end of market expectations...We expect the company to attract further investments in the retail business from other investors which is leading to another round of rerating for the company. We remain positive on Reliance industries Ltd. and expect that the digital and the retail business will be the future growth drivers for the company. Further investments in the retail business and scaling up of Jio Mart business will be key triggers for the company in the near future. Listing of the digital and retail business over the next few years would also lead to significant value unlocking for shareholders in the long run. We continue to maintain our buy rating on reliance Industries with a target of ₹2,366," Jyoti Roy, DVP equity strategist, Angel Broking.
State Bank of India (SBI) on Thursday said it has sold ₹4,000 crore of the Basel compliant Additional Tier 1 (AT1) bonds at a coupon of 7.74%. This is the
lowest pricing ever offered on such debt, issued by any bank since the country started implementing the stringent Basel ll capital rules in 2013.
As the aggregate bids w e r e in e x c e s s of Rs. 6,000 crores, SBI exercised the full green shoe option of ₹3,000 crore over and above the base issue size of Rs. 1,000 crore, the lender said in an exchange filing.
Supreme Court observes, banks, Centre can’t call borrowers hoping for relief as adversarial, CNBC-TV 18 reports.
The aircraft will be part of 17 Squadron - Golden Arrows. Defence minister Rajnath Singh and minister of armed forces of France, Florence Parly, are the chief guests of the event.
Gold ETFs collectively saw positive inflows in August, adding 39 tonne, equivalent of $2.1bn or 0.9% AUM. Appetite for gold ETFs in Asia saw an increase, driven by investor appetite and new funds launched in the region.
Gold steadied near a one-week high on Thursday as the dollar weakened, but the yellow metal traded in a narrow $8 range as investors held back from making large bets ahead of the European Central Bank's monetary policy decision due later in the day, Reuters reported.
Spot gold was flat at $1,945.87 per ounce, after hitting its highest since 3 September at $1,950.51 on Wednesday.
U.S. gold futures were steady at $1,955.50.
RIL current market cap is ₹14.07 trillion.
India recorded over 95,000 new coronavirus cases and more than 1,100 deaths in the last 24 hours. The country's tally has crossed 44 lakh, deaths top 75,000.
"...Now, the immediate supports for the index are placed at 11185 and 11130. The way some of the stocks showed momentum in the last hour of the trade (on Wednesday), we could see some bounce from the support of the above mentioned pattern. Hence, although we have been advising a sign of caution since last few days, one should now look for stock specific buying opportunities from a momentum trading perspective and avoid forming short positions. The immediate resistances are around 11360 and 11450."
"...Overall, Nifty is witnessing selling pressure at higher levels, with resistance seen around 11400-11500 zone whereas support is seen around 11000-11050."
The foreign ministers of Russia, India and China (RIC) would hold a luncheon meeting on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) meeting in Moscow, the Chinese Foreign Ministry said on Wednesday as per a report by Press Trust of India.
Oil prices recovered some of the losses they saw in the previous session when they hovered near three-month lows. U.S. crude rose 3.5% and Brent added 2.5%, although covid-19 outbreaks still threaten to slow a global economic recovery.
US crude eased 0.5% in Asian trade on Thursday to $37.88 a barrel.
Middle East sovereign wealth funds, including the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (ADIA) and Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund (PIF), are in talks to buy stakes in the retail arm of Indian billionaire Mukesh Ambani's Reliance Industries Ltd, the Financial Times reported on Wednesday.
ADIA is in discussions to invest about $750 million at a valuation of roughly $57 billion, while PIF could funnel as much as $1.5 billion into Reliance Retail, the FT said, citing people familiar with the matter.
Shares of Reliance Industries, HUL, Vodafone Idea, auto companies, and banks will be in focus today. The Supreme Court will resume hearing in the loan moratorium case today.
A total of 74 companies including Hindustan Aeronautics, and J&K Bank are scheduled to announce their June quarter results today.
SGX Nifty futures were down 8.50 points at 11,309.20 in early deals.
Asian stocks rose on Thursday tracking overnight gains in US peers. Topix index rose 0.7%, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng advanced 0.2%. Shanghai Composite added 0.5% while Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 Index gained 0.7%. The Kospi climbed 0.7%.
Snapping three days of losses, Wall Street's main indexes ended higher on Wednesday as investors took advantage of the pullback in tech stocks, a day after the Nasdaq confirmed correction territory, Reuters reported.
Tesla Inc shares rebounded after suffering their biggest one-day percentage drop in the prior session, while Apple Inc, Microsoft Corp and Amazon.com Inc - the top three U.S. public companies by market capitalization - each rose by at least 3%.
AstraZeneca Plc could resume trials for its experimental coronavirus vaccine next week, the Financial Times reported. Still, its U.S.-listed shares fell.
Tiffany & Co tumbled after French luxury goods giant LVMH warned it was set to walk away from its planned $16 billion takeover of the U.S. jeweler.
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