'The biggest near-term risk to Indian equities is the outflow of investments to China as tactical trades by foreign investors.'
China Thursday offered to play a 'constructive role' to ease tension between Pakistan and Iran following their missile strikes against each other over the last two days and asked the two countries to 'exercise restraint and calmness and avoid escalation'.
Snapping the two months slide, the country's merchandise exports rose marginally by 0.5 per cent to $34.58 billion in September while trade deficit narrowed to $20.78 billion. According to official data released on Wednesday, imports increased by 1.6 per cent to $55.36 billion in September compared to $54.49 billion in the year-ago period. The trade deficit, or the gap between imports and exports, was $20.8 billion during the same month last year.
US President Joe Biden is set to meet his Chinese counterpart on Wednesday in the San Francisco Bay Area, CNN reported, citing senior US administration officials.
State-owned Indian Strategic Petroleum Reserves Ltd (ISPRL), which operates India's strategic crude oil storage, will make awards by December to lease around 1 million tons of crude oil storage space (7.3 million barrels) at two of the country's three existing Strategic Petroleum Reserves (SPRs), around a fifth of the total SPR capacity. This will enable the refilling of crude caverns even as escalating hostilities in the Gulf threaten disruptions in crude supplies, two industry sources said.
The escalation of conflict in the West Asian region is expected to push already high logistics costs besides hurting trade in sectors such as oil, electronics and agriculture, according to exporters. They said that insurance costs for exports to the countries directly involved in the war could also go up, which will impact Indian exporters' working capital. Think tank Global Trade Research Initiative (GTRI) stated that the conflict is already hurting India's trade with countries like Israel, Jordan, and Lebanon.
Loss to Bangladesh was a huge setback
India and China have made "some progress" in disengagement, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said on Sunday, describing it as a "welcome" move which opens up the possibility that other steps could happen.
'As the markets are expected to remain jittery in the near term, we advise investors to use this opportunity to enter quality largecaps from a long-term perspective.'
Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi during a call with Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday, urged India to use 'all its capacities' to end the Israeli actions in Gaza amid the ongoing conflict.
R Ravindra, India's Deputy Permanent Representative (DPR) to the United Nations, on Wednesday, underlined New Delhi's efforts to send humanitarian assistance to civilians in the Gaza Strip, amid the ongoing Israel-Hamas war, saying that it has sent 38 tonnes of food and critical medical equipment to the region.
Benchmark stock indices Sensex and Nifty fell for the third day running on Friday due to weak trends in global markets and soaring crude oil prices. Foreign fund outflows also weighed on investor sentiments amid strengthening US bond yields which are nearing 5 per cent for the first time since 2007. The 30-share BSE Sensex fell 231.62 points or 0.35 per cent to settle at 65,397.62.
Oil and LNG prices are likely to shoot up if Iran is to block Strait of Hormuz, through which countries like India import crude oil from Saudi Arabia, Iraq and UAE, leading to a spike in inflation, analysts said on the Iran-Israel conflict. The Iran and Israel conflict has escalated over the last few days. Iran first launched drone and rocket attacks on Israel, which retaliated by firing a missile. Crude oil prices have hovered around USD 90 per barrel since the conflict.
From highways connecting once-remote regions to aviation networks carrying millions, India's infrastructure story is one of transformation.
A combination of strong earnings and economic growth, and hopes of the Federal Reserve ending the rate-hike cycle have pushed gross buying of Indian equities by foreign portfolio investors (IPO) to a new high. In 2023, FPIs have been gross buyers of shares worth Rs 25.5 trillion, the highest ever in a calendar year. FPIs also sold shares worth Rs 23.9 trillion. On a net basis, they were net buyers to the tune of Rs 1.6 trillion, the highest since 2020.
Stocks in the automotive, financial, cement, metal, and hotel sectors are likely to benefit if the Narendra Modi-led Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) comes back to power for a third time. The key investment themes have been identified after analysing the Sankalp Patra - the party's manifesto for the next five years - released on Sunday.
Since March 2020, when the Nifty50 plummeted to 7,511 following the announcement of a nationwide lockdown, the stock market has been on an upward trajectory. Over the next four years, the major market index has delivered a remarkable compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) of over 31.5 per cent. In the past year alone, the Nifty50 has gained by 27 per cent, hitting a succession of record highs.
Gold, a safe-haven bet, is likely to continue its record-smashing journey in the New Year, rising to Rs 85,000 per 10 grams and even Rs 90,000 level in domestic markets if geopolitical tensions and global economic uncertainties continue.
'2019 was fought on delivery. But in 2024, you can see the before and after effects.'
While Narendra Modi spent fewer days abroad than his predecessor -- 275 days versus Dr Singh's 306 - he has travelled more widely than any other Indian PM.
As China's Foreign Minister Sun Weidong visited Pakistan on a mediation mission, a statement from Foreign Ministry on Monday said it is maintaining close contacts with Pakistan and Iran to 'bridge their differences'.
Most of India's oil supplies are expected to stay safe because of the country's good relations with both Russia and Iran. That would take care of over a third of India's supplies.
The ongoing Hamas-Israel conflict has disrupted India's efforts to gain from a recent fall in crude oil prices. Since Hamas' invasion of southern Israel on October 7, petroleum has become costlier by around $5 per barrel, threatening to stoke prices and impact growth. Brent crude was trading at $89.8 per barrel on October 9 (9.15 pm IST), up over 4 per cent, thwarting India's anticipation of a period of declining oil prices - after the leading global petroleum benchmark declined by around 11 per cent last week.
Putin said that the Indian leader had "aptly" noted that it is "not an anti-western one but a non-western one".
India's merchandise exports dipped marginally in March to $41.69 billion, and by 3.11 per cent during the last fiscal year to $437.06 billion mainly due to continued geopolitical turmoil, and depressed global trade. Imports, too, declined in March as well during the entire 2023-24. Trade deficit, or the gap between imports and exports, narrowed 17.74 per cent in March to $15.6 billion and came down 9.33 per cent to $240.17 billion in FY24.
Putin expressed concern over the situation in Gaza, and said Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has been invited to BRICS events.
After his visit to Brussels, McGurk will visit Israel where he is slated to meet with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Defence Minister Yoav Gallant and senior security and intelligence officials.
While India won't be immune to global spillovers, we need to create the macro preconditions for sustained growth. Policy agility, prudence, and resilience will be key, suggests Sonal Varma.
Although India-US relations have strengthened significantly in recent years, partly because of the security situation in the region, the Indian policy establishment would have to be prepared to protect India's interests in a world that could get more unpredictable.
With the fight now having been taken to the seizure of nuclear plants, it is one more warning to Europe that this prolonged war could end up with disastrous consequences, observes Rashme Sehgal
Israel temporarily put on hold a decision on a possible ground invasion of Gaza to give more time to Egypt's truce efforts, but seven days of incessant raids took the Palestinian death toll to 111 amid warnings by Hamas that it won't succumb to Israeli conditions.
As news of Hasina's departure spread, hundreds broke into Hasina's residence, vandalising and looting the interiors, providing dramatic expression to the anti-government protests that have killed more than 100 people in the last two days. At the centre of people anger is the Hasina government's controversial quota system reserving 30 per cent jobs for families of veterans who fought the 1971 liberation war. With volatile crowds taking to the streets -- some clambering on Hasina's father and Bangladesh founder Sheikh Mujibur Rahman's statue and smashing it with hammers in a lasting image underscoring the fickleness of history -- Army chief General Waqar-uz-Zaman announced that the 76-year-old prime minister has resigned.
Bahrain has of late emerged as a regional hub for banking because of low tax rates and easy regulations. At present, 409 banks and financial institutions have operations there.
After the Ukraine war, coke prices just soared and most units don't have money left to buy raw material. Customers are not absorbing the price escalation'
Oil sank to the lowest level in a month after shedding all of its gains from the US-Iran clash as traders waited to see whether any further hostilities will disrupt exports from the East Asia.
Russia's unprecedented rapprochement with North Korea has raised concerns about the re-emergence of a Russia-China-North Korea alliance which could increase the probability of conflict on the Korean Peninsula, explains Dr Rajaram Panda.
The pro-Iran militia did not say who was responsible but Iraqi state television reported it was a US air strike.
Earlier in an op-ed in The Washington Post, Schumer said the democratic international order must stand strong to confront the rise of the Chinese Communist Party.
India, the world's third biggest oil consumer, meets more than 80 per cent of its oil needs through imports.
Foreign Direct Investment flows to India in 2021 were 26 per cent lower, mainly because large M&A deals recorded in 2020 were not repeated, the UN trade body has said.
