BackMarkets may consolidate, as all eyes on Fed meet; banks, Vedanta, BPCL in focus
Anil Agarwal-led Vedanta Resources Plc on Tuesday raised the open offer price for buying shares in its flagship Indian firm to ₹235 per share. In January, Vedanta Resources had offered to buy up to 10% in Vedanta Ltd at Rs160 apiece
PremiumMUMBAI: Indian stock markets will likely consolidate further on Wednesday, with trends in SGX Nifty suggesting a flat start to domestic benchmark indices. On Tuesday, the BSE Sensex ended at 50,363.96, down 31.12 points or 0.06%. The Nifty closed at 14,910.45, down 19.05 points or 0.13%.
Asian stocks were mostly lower on Wednesday following a sell-off in US stocks, as investors await the outcome of the Federal Reserve’s meeting on whether the central bank will maintain near-zero interest rates amid the economy’s post-pandemic recovery.
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Recent volatility in money markets has stoked speculation that the Federal Reserve may be forced into a technical adjustment to the levers controlling its benchmark interest rate, but few expect the central bank to act on the matter at this week’s meeting.
The Fed is expected to forecast that the US economy will grow in 2021 at the fastest rate in decades.
The Bank of England also meets on Thursday, and the Bank of Japan wraps up a policy review on Friday in which it may phase out a numerical target for its asset buying.
Back home, Anil Agarwal-led Vedanta Resources Plc on Tuesday raised the open offer price for buying shares in its flagship Indian firm to ₹235 per share. In January, Vedanta Resources had offered to buy up to 10% in Vedanta Ltd at Rs160 apiece.
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) is likely to reject banks’ request to extend interest-payment relief to working-capital borrowers, as it seeks to wind down some of the pandemic-era policies amid brighter prospects for the economy, according to a Mint report. As part of the covid package last year, RBI had allowed banks to convert the unpaid interest component in cash credit or overdraft facility into a fresh term loan to help stressed borrowers. The deadline to repay these loans is 31 March.
American private equity firm Carlyle Group will sell SBI Cards & Payments Services Ltd (SBI Cards) stake worth as much as Rs3,730 crore or $513 million through a block deal, according to deal terms seen by Mint. CA Rover Holdings, a Carlyle entity, will sell 38 million or 4% stake to institutional investors. As of 31 December, Carlyle held a 15.86% stake in the credit card company.
State-run oil refiner Bharat Petroleum Corporation (BPCL) declared second interim dividend of ₹5 apiece.
The yield on benchmark 10-year notes fell to 1.5281%, from 1.544% late on Tuesday.
Oil prices were lower again on concerns over demand after Germany, France and other European countries suspended use of AstraZeneca’s vaccine.
In currencies, the dollar held small gains, with caution evident ahead of the central bank meetings.
The dollar index rose 0.059%, with the euro down 0.22% to $1.1902.
Gold edged lower pressured by a stronger dollar. U.S. gold futures settled up 0.1% at $1,730.90.
Brent crude futures settled down 49 cents at $68.39 a barrel and U.S. crude futures fell 59 cents to settle at $64.80 a barrel.
(Reuters contributed to the story)
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