Morgan Stanley on Thursday became the latest brokerage to question the valuations of Indian equities and downgraded them from 'overweight' (OW) to 'equalweight' (EW) and recommended taking some money off the table. "We move tactically EW on India equities after strong relative gains - we expect a structural multi-year earnings recovery, but at 24 times forward price-to-earnings (P/E) we look for some consolidation ahead of US Fed tapering, an RBI hike in February and higher energy costs," Morgan Stanley equity strategists, led by Daniel Blake and Jonathan Garner, said in a note on Asia Pacific markets. The brokerage has upgraded Indonesia to OW, while maintaining an EW stance on China and UW on Taiwan.
India's private sector activity contracted further in August, reflecting faster contractions of both manufacturing and services output, amid decline in new orders and tough economic conditions.
The Reserve Bank is planning to extend wholesale Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) for transactions for interbank borrowing or call money market, sources said on Tuesday. The pilot in the wholesale segment, known as the Digital Rupee -Wholesale (e-W), was launched on November 1, 2022, with the use case being limited to the settlement of secondary market transactions in government securities. "RBI is now planning to go into the interbank borrowing market.
In India, it is not easy to fight it out with the large banks which are nimble-footed and technology-savvy and are continuously innovating on the retail turf with newer products for customer acquisition.
rediffGURU Ulhas Joshi recommends five factors you need to look at to evaluate the performance of two schemes.
The net inflows into active equity mutual fund (MF) schemes registered more than a twofold month-on-month rise in August, crossing Rs 20,000 crore, the highest in five months. This rise in net inflows was boosted by an 18 per cent growth in gross investments, driven by a record Rs 15,800 crore inflow through the systematic investment plan (SIP) route and Rs 5,000 crore collected by seven new fund offers (NFOs) in the active equity space, reveals data released by the Association of Mutual Funds in India (Amfi). Moreover, redemptions moderated in August, declining by 19 per cent to Rs 24,580 crore, after staying elevated in the previous three months owing to profit booking.
rediffGURU Sunil Lala answers your MF-related queries.
According to the annual HSBC 'Value of Education Learning for Life' report, India has the world's highest proportion of parents (88 per cent) who are willing to send their children abroad for higher studies, ahead of Turkey (83 per cent), Malaysia and China (82 per cent each).
The BWF also shared its Standard Operation Procedure with member associations, saying any breach "can result in accreditation being revoked and participants not permitted to enter the venue."
Reliance Industries Ltd, the nation's most valuable company, on Thursday said it has raised $4 billion (around Rs 30,000 crore) in debt through the largest ever foreign currency bond issuance by an Indian entity. The oil-to-telecom conglomerate plans to use the proceeds of the three tranche issues to retire existing borrowings. The issue was "nearly 3 times oversubscribed with a peak order book aggregating around $11.5 billion," the company said in a statement. This is the largest ever foreign currency bond transaction in India, eclipsing ONGC Videsh Ltd's $2.2 billion US dollar bonds issue of 2014.
Ask rediffGURU Ulhas Joshi your mutual fund queries.
People are interested in the strength of India's economy, the country's stability, and the opportunities, says Stuart Tait, regional head of commercial banking, Asia-Pacific at HSBC.
Mutual funds (MFs) have lined up information technology (IT) funds, indicating that technology stocks are back on fund managers' radar after a hiatus. Over the past 18 months, stock prices for companies in the software space have either corrected or remained subdued. Fund houses have launched five IT-based sectoral funds in the past three months, with three of them taking the passive route.
New investment projects announced in the manufacturing sector declined in the three months ended June 2023. The value of new projects was lower than in the March quarter, as well as the year-ago period, shows data from project tracker the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE). The new project announcements worth around Rs 85,000 crore in the manufacturing segment in June were a 48 per cent decline from the Rs 1.6 trillion in March and a 66 per cent decline from the Rs 2.5 trillion seen in June 2022.
Although growth picked up slightly across the world's main emerging markets on an average, rates of expansion remain subdued
India's working population relies heavily on cash deposits and a second home to generate post -retirement income, according to an HSBC report.
An aggressive rate hike by the US Fed and the possibility of a recession can trigger a slide in these stocks, which will be a good opportunity to buy from a long-term perspective.
India's manufacturing expanded at a faster pace than China
Indian equity markets had a good run in the first half of calendar year 2023 (CY23), with the S&P BSE Sensex and the National Stock Exchange Nifty50 hitting fresh 52-week highs. While the Sensex scaled up to a peak 64,718, the Nifty50 hit Mt 19,189. As the markets now prepare to enter the second half (H2) of CY23, all eyes are on global central banks, especially the US Federal Reserve, as to when they will pause and pivot as regards their interest-rate cycle.
The foreign lender's profit after tax was Rs 2,960 crore
India is likely to see over 100 mature, large-scale profitable or on the path to profitability startups in the next five years, of which 80 have the potential to go for public listing, market research and consultancy firm Redseer said on Tuesday. Redseer Strategy Consultants, in a report on IPOs, said 20 of the mature startups have gone public so far. "India may see over 100 matured, large-scale profitable/path-to-profitability start-ups in the next five years.
The star Indian pair of Chirag Shetty and Satwiksairaj Rankireddy will be the key attraction in the men's doubles category. However, they are set to face a stiff competition as the line-up includes the three-time world champion and world No. 2 Indonesian duo of Mohammad Ahsan and Hendra Setiawan alongside another Indonesian pair of Fajar Alfian and Muhammad Rian Ardianto, who are currently ranked eighth in the world.
India's first digital rupee pilot project will commence on Tuesday with nine banks, including SBI, HDFC Bank and ICICI Bank, issuing the virtual currency for transactions in government securities. "...the first pilot in the digital rupee - Wholesale segment shall commence on November 1, 2022," the RBI said in a statement on 'Operationalisation of Central Bank Digital Currency-Wholesale (e?-W) Pilot'. It also announced that the first pilot in digital rupee - Retail segment is planned for launch within a month in select locations in closed user groups comprising customers and merchants.
As yields rise, bond prices fall. Higher yields not only translate into losses for investors, it also pushes up borrowing cost for companies as well as government
Foreign banks set the template in consumer banking in its infancy, but have almost vacated this booming space.
Stocks of gold jewellery retailers have been able to retain their sheen in 2023 despite volatile gold prices. Kalyan Jewellers, Titan, PC Jewellers, Thangamayil Jewellery, and Tribhovandas Bhimji Zaveri (TBZ) have rallied 21-72 per cent so far since April as compared to a 13 per cent gain in the benchmark Sensex index. The rally gained steam on the back of gold's 6 per cen
The pace of economic growth in emerging markets continued to revive from the stagnation seen earlier in the year.
Small queues were witnessed at some bank branches on Tuesday for the exchange of Rs 2,000 notes against smaller denominations as part of the withdrawal exercise. As per the RBI guidelines issued on Friday, the exchange of Rs 2,000 facility is available from Tuesday. A person can exchange up to a limit of Rs 20,000 at a time without filling any form or requisition slip.
India's manufacturing sector activity remained broadly flat in June as new orders declined for the first time in over four years and power cuts and fragile economic conditions weighed on the sector's performance, an HSBC survey said.
According to HSBC, the volatility in Indian markets since May can be attributed to the initial talk about tapering of bond purchase by the US Federal Reserve but the catalyst for recent volatility in Indian equities was when policymakers decided to tighten liquidity to stem capital outflows.
Factory growth picked up in May.
Of the BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India and China) economies, China, Russia and Brazil posted sharper increases in activity, but India registered a fourth successive decline in output.
Indian start-ups breathed a sigh of relief after the UK government facilitated the acquisition of the now-defunct Silicon Valley Bank's (SVB's) British arm by HSBC. In a bid to allay fears, the US Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FIDC) announced recently that it had transferred all deposits of start-up-focused SVB to a newly created bridge bank and all depositors would have access to their money. President Joe Biden also sought to reassure jittery depositors that they can have confidence that the US banking system is "safe".
During May, the HSBC composite index for India, which maps both manufacturing and services sectors, stood at 52, whereas for China it was 50.9, Brazil (51.2) and Russia (51). An index measure of above 50 indicates expansion.
India's services sector activity expanded in May and the pace was the fastest in three months, driven by uptick in new orders, an HSBC survey said on Wednesday.
According to HSBC's 'Climate Confidence Monitor', one in three people in Vietnam, India and China believe that climate change can be halted, compared to just one in twenty in developed economies such as France and the UK.
Shapoorji Pallonji Group's head Pallonji Mistry died at his residence here, company officials said on Tuesday. Mistry, the largest individual shareholder in the Tata Group with a 18.4 per cent holding in the conglomerate, was 93.
Notwithstanding expectations of a pick-up in construction activity during a seasonally strong January-March quarter (fourth quarter) of 2022-23 (FY23), analysts are cautiously optimistic about the building material sector - encompassing paints, pipes, wood panels, tiles, metals, and cement - as volatile input costs, coupled with fears of a global slowdown, are making demand projections uncertain. Against this backdrop, analysts suggest investors stay selective and pick stocks of companies with stronger brand recall, expanding distribution network, diversified product profile, healthier balance sheet, and sustainable cash flow. "The government's various proposals under Budget 2023-24 (FY24) may lead to the building material segment growing between 8 per cent and 12 per cent for the next five years.
Bank of America Merrill Lynch believes this would ease pressures on CAD as $10 a bbl fall in oil price reduces CAD by $8 billion or 0.4 per cent of GDP.
