Reserve Bank Governor Shaktikanta Das on Monday said despite the latest headwinds arising from the Jackson Hole summit leading to extreme volatility, our banking system and financial markets are strong enough to withstand such pressures. Taking the markets by surprise, US Fed chair Jerome Powell had told the annual Jackson Hole summit of central bankers and economists last week that he would have to keep raising federal fund rates to tame inflation, which remains the biggest challenge to the world's largest economy. He also warned of the pains that such monetary policy actions would create on growth and jobs.
Indians are no more rushing to buy bullion after this week's sharp sell-off
Benchmark indices continued their downtrend on Monday, with the Sensex falling 84.88 points, tracking selling in index majors Infosys and Reliance Industries along with weak global equities. The 30-share BSE benchmark went lower by 84.88 points or 0.15 per cent to settle at 56,975.99 after recovering some lost ground during the fag-end of trade. During the day, it tanked 648.25 points or 1.13 per cent to 56,412.62. The NSE Nifty declined 33.45 points or 0.20 per cent to close at 17,069.10.
Key stock indices Sensex and Nifty declined over 1 per cent at close on Monday due to heavy selling in banking, auto and FMCG shares amid weak global market trends and continued foreign fund outflows. Reversing its previous session's gains, benchmark BSE Sensex tumbled 638.11 points or 1.11 per cent to settle at 56,788.81. During the day, it tanked 743.52 points or 1.29 per cent to 56,683.40. The broader NSE Nifty fell by 207 points or 1.21 per cent to end at 16,887.35 as 42 of its constituents declined.
India's GDP expanded 13.5 per cent in the April-June quarter, the quickest pace in a year, to retain the world's fastest growing economy tag but rising interest costs and the looming threat of a recession in major world economies could slow the momentum in the coming quarters.
If Sebi and RBI remain quiet about this brazenly illegal activity, will someone in the finance ministry or the NITI Aayog take a closer look, asks Debashis Basu.
Commodity futures trading is emerging as a booming investment destination. Here is how the futures market evolved in India over the years.
Eight FDI proposals worth Rs 1,311.54 crore (Rs 13.11 billion), including that of Norwegian telecom firm Telenor, have been cleared by the government on the basis of FIPB approvals.
With developments like the Russia-China alliance and the rise of China in the Middle East, India's role has diminished though the India-Israel-US-UAE grouping may assume some importance in the future, observes Ambassador T P Sreenivasan.
Equity benchmark Sensex ended marginally higher after a choppy session on Friday as concerns over the economic impact of the second wave of Covid-19 and pace of vaccination weighed on investor sentiment.
As the country moves towards creating a spot gold exchange, markets regulator Sebi's whole time member G Mahalingam on Wednesday suggested routing all the imports of the precious metal through the exchange ecosystem in the future. Such a "funnelling" would ensure that gold monetisation takes place right at the source as the metal enters the country, he said while addressing a conference organised by industry lobby Ficci. However, he also noted that the issue has not been dealt with in the papers floated by Sebi.
Sri Lanka on Tuesday deployed military personnel at State-run petrol pumps to monitor and manage fuel distribution amidst a shortage that led to serpentine queues of consumers outside filling stations.
Jewellery stores remained deserted as buyers deferred their non-essential purchases awaiting softness in gold prices.
The BSE Sensex maintained its winning run for the fourth session on the trot on Wednesday to reclaim the 60,000-level after a gap of over four months as investors remained upbeat amid softening crude oil prices and persistent foreign fund inflows. A strengthening rupee and positive Asian markets further bolstered sentiment, traders said. The 30-share BSE benchmark jumped 417.92 points or 0.70 per cent to settle at 60,260.13 -- closing above the psychologically key 60,000-mark for the first time since April 5 this year.
Seeking to spur foreign investments, Finance Minister P Chidambaram has said the Union Cabinet will decide on raising FDI caps in different sectors in the third week of this month.
'The recent correction in indices has made the markets cheaper to invest for the long term.'
FTIL group is in big trouble after over Rs 5,500 crore payment crisis surfaced at its subsidiary NSEL last year.
Tata Motors, Ford, Nissan, Maruti Suzuki, Toyota Kirloskar, BMW, Renault and Isuzu have also announced price hike from next month citing impact of increase in commodity prices and foreign exchange rates.
Bullion traders said a weakening trend in global markets, as the dollar's strength eroded demand, mainly put pressure on the precious metal.
The rupee appreciated 7 paise to 79.74 against the US dollar in early trade on Thursday as a positive trend in domestic equities supported the local unit. However, a strong American currency overseas and forex outflows restricted the rupee's gain, dealers said. At the interbank foreign exchange, the rupee opened at 79.72 against the American dollar, then went lower to trade at 79.74 against the greenback in early deals, registering a gain of 7 paise over the last close.
Mutual funds have launched a clutch of new fund offers in the silver ETF (exchange traded fund) category this year and collected Rs 1,400 crore in assets after the introduction of the newly-created investment asset class by market regulator Sebi in 2021. Further, fund houses including Kotak Asset Management Company have filed draft documents with the markets regulator to float silver ETF as well as silver ETF fund of funds for investors, information with the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) showed. These NFOs (new fund offers) are providing an opportunity to the investors to digitally invest and own silver which is easily tradable during market hours.
From the 30-share pack, Infosys, Tech Mahindra, TCS, HDFC, HDFC Bank, Wipro and HCL Technologies were among the major laggards in early trade. Nifty tumbled 314.95 points to 17,160.70.
Gold looks cheap compared to the stock markets that are highly overbought at the moment.
We have not suffered such huge price shocks across so many basic commodities, at the same time, in decades. Has the inflationary impact of all this been factored into stock prices as yet, asks Debashis Basu.
R-Cap's demands following PwC's audit report add a fresh layer of worries for MCX investors and could hit valuations marginally.
Shanghai Gold Exchange plans to open a centre at GIFT City, in partnership with BSE or NSE
India's top oil and gas producer ONGC on Friday reported a tripling of net profit in the June quarter as it earned record prices before the government slapped a tax on windfall profits arising from a global rally in energy rates. Oil and Natural Gas Corporation's (ONGC) standalone net profit at Rs 15,205.85 crore, or Rs 12.09 per share, in April-June, compared to Rs 4,334.75 crore, or Rs 3.45 a share, in the same period a year back, according to a stock exchange filing by the company. Sequentially, the profit was higher than the Rs 8,859.54 crore net profit of January-March.
Sentiments remained bearish as gold fell to 16-week low in the overseas markets as positive US economic data backed the case for the Federal Reserve to keep on reducing monetary stimulus which has dimmed the metal's appeal.
Capital markets regulator Sebi has tweaked peak margin rules which will bring huge relief to traders and brokerage houses that have been incurring high margin penalties so far, experts said on Wednesday. Under the new framework, the beginning of the day margin will be considered as peak margin. This is only in respect of the collection of upfront margin. The peak margin rule that was implemented last year restricted brokers' ability to fund clients' intraday positions.
'Earning expectations remain strong.'
The ruble has recouped most of its losses and become the top-performing currency globally. It continues to gain and is up 60 per cent against the US dollar from its lows in the first week of March. The ruble appreciated to 83 to the dollar intraday on Tuesday against a record low of 139 on March 7.
'Investors should hold equity assets for 3 to 5 years.'
All essentials are in short supply due to import restrictions forced by the forex crisis.
'For someone who wants to invest for the future or his family, diversification is necessary.' 'Diversify across asset classes -- equities, gold, real estate, fixed income, commodities, and even cryptocurrency.'
The Netherlands has emerged as India's fifth-largest export destination in 2021-22 (FY22), jumping from its 10th position a year ago. Exports to the fifth-largest economy in the European Union (EU) bolted 94 per cent to $12.5 billion in the financial year ended March 31. In FY22, the Netherlands surpassed Hong Kong, Singapore, the UK, Germany, and Nepal to become India's largest export destination in the EU. Germany, which was earlier India's top European export destination (eighth position), has now dropped two ranks to 10th place.
India, he said, has already taken a host of reforms in banking and other sectors and is now focussing on stepping up public investment. "Compared to other nations, even among advanced countries, I think India is relatively better placed for the simple reason that India paid a certain price last decade... we had a banking system stress which was then compounded by stress in the non-banking financial sector towards 2018," he said at Amazon Smbhav Summit.
Case relates to alleged irregularities in '08 sanction to MCX-SX; Shah grilled in NSEL case.
After defaulting for a consecutive time in paying its investors, National Spot Exchange Ltd (NSEL) got a Rs 177-crore (Rs 1.77 billion) lifeline from its main promoter, Jignesh Shah-run Financial Technologies.
The stock market watchdog had said any adverse findings by other regulators might have a bearing on the exchange.
The GIFT City management is in talks with Hong Kong, London, and Singapore arbitration centres