While the four largest listed paint companies have seen marginal negative returns, the S&P BSE Fast Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG) and the National Stock Exchange Nifty FMCG indices have delivered a solid 16 per cent return during the same period. Initially, volume growth and reduced costs bolstered the sector's sentiment, but brokerages have grown cautious due to increased competitive pressures.
The crises of the 21st century, 9/11, the economic meltdown, COVID-19, Russia-Iran war and the Hamas-Israel war seem to be never ending. In this situation, Iran might be contemplating a nuclear deterrent to defend itself, observes Ambassador T P Sreenivasan, the distinguished long-time Rediff contributor who turns 80 on June 17..
Winner will construct 300,000 barrels per day refinery.
Iran's seizure of a British-flagged oil tanker was allegedly due to a collision with an Iranian fishing boat, Iran's official news agency IRNA said.
Sources also said that India meets the criteria for a US sanctions waiver for procuring S-400 missile defence systems from Russia and the Trump administration has 'enough flexibility' on the issue.
Investors attribute some of the growth in Indian stocks, that saw Bombay's benchmark BSE index rise nearly a third in 2014, to the election of a pro-business government in May, under Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
ONGC on Monday said it was still in reckoning for the confiscated assets of Russian oil firm Yukos and added Moscow may give it a stake in Rosneft's Vankor oil and gas field if the deal falls.
India expects to remain unscathed this time, mainly because it is in a sweet spot as the world's third largest oil consumer, after the US and China, says Subhomoy Bhattacharjee.
Despite the recovery to above $40 levels after hitting $28-29 in Jan, worries of over-supply in the face of weak demand remain.
India may see a structural shift in supplies of crude oil with Russia emerging as a key source of fuels, a development that reduces New Delhi's dependence on West Asian oil, gives Indian refiners better bargaining power with price-setter Saudi Arabia, and improves overall energy security. The unexpected surge in supplies of Russian crude in the last few months, unthinkable until the war in Ukraine, may also deliver other unforeseen gains such as boosting exports of refined fuels to Europe, which historically has counted on Russian shipments. India has jumped on to the bandwagon of opportunistic buying of Russian crude but if calibrated carefully, Urals crude can be a long-term asset for India refiners.
Deals will cover oil exploration and supply, infrastructure and an increase in direct diamond sales to India
Foreign flows into Indian equities are expected to pause in the short to medium term, say analysts. The outlook is influenced by multiple factors, including rising oil prices, actions from global central banks, climbing bond yields, and the dollar index gaining prominence. "Valuations appear rich with the markets at record highs.
French hospitality at its best at a state dinner in honour of China's President Xi Jinping and his wife Peng Liyuan at Elysee Palace, Paris.
Srikanth Kondapalli on what to expect from the seventh BRICS summit meeting to be held in Russia in July.
Given that India will get a huge part of its oil supplies from Iran through its government-owned oil PSUs, any unwelcome shocks in global crude rates could be absorbed well enough.
Petrol and diesel prices are likely to be hiked this week as oil companies prepare to pare losses accumulated from keeping rates steady for over four months in the run-up to assembly elections in five states, including UP, despite international oil prices jumping to a 13-year high of $140 per barrel. West Texas Intermediate crude futures, the US oil benchmark, rose to $130.50 per barrel on Sunday evening, its highest since July 2008, before retreating. The international benchmark, Brent crude, hit a high of $139.13 at one point overnight, also its highest since July 2008.
Petrol and diesel price hikes are likely to resume after state elections get over next week to bridge the Rs 9 a litre gap created by international oil prices soaring past $100 a barrel. International crude oil prices shot above $110 a barrel for the first time since mid-2014 on fears that oil and gas supplies from energy giant Russia could be disrupted, either by the conflict in Ukraine or retaliatory western sanctions. The basket of crude oil India buys rose above $102 per barrel on March 1, the highest since August 2014, according to information from the Petroleum Planning and Analysis Cell (PPAC) of the oil ministry.
The task of Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley to keep inflation under check, even when the country reeled under severe drought for two years in a row, and reduce the current account deficit, was made easier by low crude oil prices.
Price said India's relationship with Russia developed over several decades.
Just as very high oil prices looked an anomaly in a sluggish world, so now do record high equities.
Petrol and diesel prices, which have been on a freeze for the past four months in view of assembly elections in states like Uttar Pradesh, need to be increased by over Rs 12 per litre by March 16 for fuel retailers to break even. International crude oil prices shot above $120 a barrel for the first time in nine years on Thursday before retreating a little to $111 on Friday, but the gulf between cost and retail rates has only widened. With international oil prices - on which domestic fuel retails are directly benchmarked - spiking in the last two months, state-owned fuel retailers "need a massive price hike of Rs 12.1 per litre on or before March 16, 2022, just to breakeven and a price hike of Rs 15.1 is required" after including margins for oil firms, ICICI Securities said in a report.
Saudi Arabia's deep pockets and a strong financial system could help the country to ride out a low-price environment in order to protect its market share.
Oil billionaire T Boone Pickens has predicted that crude oil will touch $150 soon. And he also says the one commodity that will grow bigger than oil is natural gas. In the last one year, natural gas prices across the world, especially in the US, UK and Russia have more than doubled.
There is a congruence of interests between Ukrainian intelligence and its Western mentors to destroy Wagner and eliminate it from the geopolitical chessboard altogether, argues Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
Government plans to sell 5 per cent of its shareholding in ONGC in the follow-on public offer next month.
Pushing a barrel of oil back to around $100 would require a reduction of production of about two million barrels a day - a cut that would fall predominantly on Saudi Arabia.
A decline in demand from six of India's top 10 import partners -- China, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, South Korea, Australia, and Singapore -- resulted in India's imports hitting a 17-month low of $50.6 billion in January, showed the data compiled by the department of commerce. Shipments from South Korea, Australia, and Singapore declined by 14.1 per cent, 26.7 per cent, and 9.8 per cent, respectively. Among the 10, growth in inbound shipment was seen only in the case of the United Arab Emirates (12.1 per cent), the US (27.4 per cent), Russia (297.4 per cent), and Indonesia (22.9 per cent).
From the Sensex pack, Bajaj Finance, Bajaj Finserv, Reliance Industries, Wipro, HDFC Bank, HDFC, ICICI Bank and Tata Steel were the major laggards. ITC was the lone winner in the Sensex pack.
Russia will significantly boost the supplies of Liquefied Natural Gas to energy-hungry India from 2016, President Dmitry Medvedev has announced. Mentioning the success of ONGC Videsh Ltd venture in Sakhalin-1 offshore oil block, Medvedev, who along with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh addressed a CEOs' forum of the top companies of the two countries in Moscow on Friday evening, also expressed Russia's interest in expanding cooperation with India in hydrocarbons.
The phone conversation came days after it emerged that Modi will not be travelling to Russia for the annual India-Russia summit this year.
India will receive its first shipment of oil from Russia's Sakhalin-I fields, where it is investing more than $2.7-billion, from the second quarter of 2006.
The Antonov AN-24 plane crashed and burst into flames five kilometers from the Varandey airfield in Nenets Autonomous District, more than 1,000 km north of Moscow while approaching for landing. 23 survivors were rushed to hospital.
The nuclear-deal-in-the-making with the US has forced the government into a firefighting mode not only domestically, but also internationally, where it is working overtime to avoid straining relations with the key long-time ally -- Russia.
The Union Cabinet on Thursday approved a revision in the formula for pricing of natural gas and imposed cap or ceiling price to help cut CNG and piped cooking gas prices by up to 10 per cent. Natural gas produced from legacy or old fields, known as APM gas, will now be indexed to the price of imported crude oil instead of benchmarking it to gas prices in four surplus nations such as the US, Canada and Russia, Union I&B Miniser Anurag Thakur told reporters after a meeting of the Cabinet. APM gas will be priced at 10 per cent of the price of basket of crude oil that India imports (Indian basket of crude oil).
The ongoing oil price decline is mainly a result of oversupply in the global market
After its spat with India over the oil exploration in blocs claimed by Vietnam in the disputed South China Sea, China on Tuesday asked Russia to stay away from taking up similar operation at the invitation of Hanoi.
From February to mid-March, oil prices receded rapidly.
He said both countries are opening new areas of cooperation in the energy sector, telecommunications and science and technology and they have set up funds to facilitate investment in high technologies.
French oil giant Total, British oil and gas major BG, the US' Exxon Mobil, and Russia's Gazprom are likely to bid for Indian exploration blocks on offer in the fourth round of New Exploration Licensing Policy.
