Business News Highlights: Market Closes Flat Amid Volatility, Realty Registers Gain Over 1%
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The Directorate General of Trade Remedies (DGTR) began an investigation into the alleged dumping of flasks and bottles by Chinese firms in India after a domestic player filed a complaint. DGTR is the investigation arm of the commerce ministry. The body will look into products such as flasks, cups, bottles, kettle, carafe, and dispensers and determine whether the dumped imports pose a threat to the domestic industry. If the DGTR establishes that the dumping caused material injury to domestic players, it will offer a recommendation to impose anti-dumping duty on the specific imports. The final decision will be taken by the finance ministry, reported PTI. The probe began as a result of a complaint by Placero International Pvt Ltd.
The Reserve Bank of India’s Governor Shaktikanta Das cautioned against excessive dominance by certain board members in banks. Addressing the directors of Urban Cooperative Banks (UCBs) at a meeting organised by the RBI on Monday, Das pointed out that the central bank found extra dominance being exerted by one or two specific board members, even in big commercial banks, and urged lenders to correct this.
Calling for free, fair, and democratic board discussions, Das said, “There should not be an over-dominance or excessive dominance by one or two members of the board, or the chairman or the vice-chairman. We have seen this even in big commercial banks… wherever we have seen this, we have told the bank that this is not the way,” as reported by PTI. The governor didn’t disclose any names but pointed out that all directors should be given a chance to speak and any individual’s say should not be considered as final on any matter.
Union Minister of Petroleum & Natural Gas Hardeep Singh Puri on Monday launched India's first green hydrogen fuel cell bus at Kartavya Path. The move is part of Indian Oil's efforts to conduct operational trials of 15 fuel cell buses powered by green hydrogen on designated routes in Delhi, Haryana, and Uttar Pradesh. The event kicked off with the unveiling of the first two fuel cell buses at India Gate.
This project marks a significant milestone as it is the first-ever initiative in India to provide green hydrogen at 350 bar pressure for fuel cell bus operation. Indian Oil has also established a refuelling facility at its R&D campus in Faridabad, capable of refuelling green hydrogen produced through electrolysis using solar PV panels.
The two key equity benchmarks, Sensex and Nifty, on Monday closed flat amid volatility as the indices entered the week of the monthly F&O expiry. The S&P BSE Sensex oscillated 462 points during intraday and ended 15 points higher at 66,024. On the other hand, the Nifty50, settled unchanged at 19,675.
On the 30-share Sensex platform, Bajaj twins, Kotak Bank, Asian Paints, UltraCemco, ICICI Bank were among the gainers. On the downside, Infosys, M&M, Wipro, TCS, SBI, Sun Pharma emerged losers.
The rupee depreciated 20 paise to close at 83.14 (provisional) against the US dollar on Monday.
The Power Grid Corporation announced on Monday that it will raise up to Rs 2,250 crore through the issuance of bonds to meet it’s capital expenditure. The state-run firm informed via an exchange filing that this proposal has been approved by it’s board of directors. The funds raised will be utilised to part-finance the firm’s capex needs, for allocating inter-corporate loans to wholly-owned subsidiaries, and for general corporate purposes. The company will issue bonds with a base size of Rs 500 crore and green shoe option (additional) Rs 1,750 crore, coming up to a total of Rs 2,250 crore.
Serentica Renewables announced on Monday that it raised Rs 5,600 crore in funding from state-owned REC and PFC firms. The company informed via a statement that it has secured Rs 3,000 crore debt funding from REC and Rs 2,600 crore debt funding from PFC. The company said it aims to develop 4GW of renewable energy capacities throughout the country to meet the green energy needs of it’s customers. It’s entire portfolio will provide a supply of over 9 billion units (BUs) of clean energy annually, offsetting 8.5 million tonnes of CO2, the firm informed.
Indian agri-tech startups reported a decline in investments by 45 per cent between the fiscal years 2021-22 and 2022-23, a report by consulting firm FSG revealed. The report stated an increase in global interest rates and intense caution exercised by investors amid volatility as the explanation behind the decrease.
The report added that agri-tech investments globally dipped by 10 per cent between calendar years 2022 and 2023, reported PTI. The consulting firm noted in it’s outlook that it expects the decline in funding to continue into the current financial year, but revive in the fiscal year 2024-25.
Dabur’s Burman family, which holds a controlling stake in the FMCG firm, on Monday, announced an open offer for a 26 per cent stake in diversified financial services group Religare Enterprises for up to Rs 2,116 crore ($255.03 million), a stock exchange filing by the company stated. According to the report, the Burman family said it aims to acquire up to 90,042,541 shares at Rs 235 each.
The filing said, "The acquirers hereby make this offer to the public shareholders of the target company to acquire up to 90,042,541 equity shares, constituting 26 per cent of the expanded voting share capital, at a price of Rs 235 per offer share, totalling Rs 21,159,997,135 (assuming full acceptance), subject to the terms and conditions set out in this public announcement and in the detailed public statement and letter of offer that are proposed to be issued in accordance with SEBI regulations."
Around 412 infrastructure projects, each requiring an investment exceeding Rs 150 crore, experienced cost overruns surpassing Rs 4.77 lakh crore in August this year, data from the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation revealed. The report from the ministry noted that out of 1,762 infrastructure projects valued at Rs 150 crore or more, 412 exceeded their budgets, and 830 experienced delays.
The initial cost of these projects was Rs 25,01,400.62 crore, but they are now projected to cost Rs 29,78,681.31 crore in total, indicating a substantial cost overrun of Rs 4,77,280.69 crore, equivalent to 19.08% of the original estimate, reported PTI.
S&P Global Ratings retained it’s growth forecast for India for the current fiscal year at 6 per cent, citing a slowdown in the world economy, an increasing risk of deficit monsoons, and a delayed effect of rate hike. The agency increased it’s full fiscal retail inflation outlook to 5.5 per cent, from 5 per cent earlier, citing increased oil prices.
The two key equity benchmarks, Sensex and Nifty, on Monday were trading flat in early morning hours amid volatility. At 9.45 am, the S&P BSE Sensex was marginally up 26 points to 66,034. On the other hand, the NSE Nifty was trading at 19,675, up 1.45 per cent.
On the 30-share Sensex platform, Bajaj twins, Maruti, Asian Paints, UltraCemco, JSW Steel were among early gainers. On the downside, L&T, Infosys, HCL, ITC, Wipro, TCS, HCL emerged losers.
ICICI Lombard General Insurance Company appointed Sanjeev Mantri as the new MD and CEO for the company on Sunday. Mantri replaced Bhargav Dasgupta, who was named as the vice president of the Asian Development Bank. The company informed via an exchange filing that the new appointment will come into effect on December 1, 2023, and is valid for a period of five consecutive years or retirement, whichever is earlier, pending approval from IRDAI and members of the company.
Background
Business News Highlights: Hello and welcome to ABP Live's Business LIVE blog. Please follow this space for all the breaking news and latest updates from the Stock Market, economy, and the corporate world.
The two key equity benchmarks, Sensex and Nifty, on Friday, ended closed in red for the fourth consecutive session. The stock market indices remained volatile throughout the day, but ultimately ended trading at the lowest level of the day. Analysts observed that JP Morgan's decision to include Indian government bonds in its Emerging Market index weathered weak global sentiment. At the closing bell, the S&P BSE Sensex was down 221 points or 0.33 per cent at 66,009.15, while the Nifty declined 68.10 points or 0.34 per cent to 19,674.25.
On the 30-share platform, Wipro (down 2.32 per cent), HDFC Bank, UltraTech Cement, PowerGrid, and Sun Pharma were among the top losers. On the flip side, IndusInd Bank, Maruti Suzuki, SBI, Mahindra & Mahindra, and Bajaj Finserv took the lead. The major losers on the Nifty50 also included Wipro, Dr Reddy, UPL, Cipla, and Bajaj Auto, while the gainers were IndusInd Bank, Maruti Suzuki, SBI, Mahindra & Mahindra, and Asian Paints.
The rupee appreciated by 18 paise to close at 82.95 against the US dollar on Friday. The domestic unit opened with a gain of 27 paise against the American currency on Friday after JPMorgan announced that India will be included in the emerging market bond index. The highly anticipated move could potentially bring billions of dollars in investments to India's debt market. This inclusion is scheduled for June 28, 2024. Following this, the domestic currency opened at 82.82 a dollar as compared to the previous close of 83.09.
Foreign Portfolio Investors (FPIs) pulled out over Rs 10,000 crore from Indian equities in the first three weeks of September, primarily due to rising US interest rates, recessionary fears, and overvalued domestic stocks. According to the exchange data, in the 15 trading days, so far in September, FPIs emerged as sellers in 11 days with a net withdrawal of Rs 10,164 crore. This figure included bulk deals and investments through the primary market. Of the total pullout of Rs 10,164 crore so far this month, over Rs 4,700 crore was withdrawn in the last week. Notably, FPI investment in equities hit a four-month low of Rs 12,262 crore in August.
Here are some important factors that can impact the market on September 25.
Macro Factors
Globally, markets will keenly observe the final economic growth data from US for the second quarter of the calendar year set to be released on September 28, followed by a speech from Fed Chair Jerome Powell on September 29.
Further, the US will release new home sales statistics for August on September 26, in addition to personal income and spending data for August scheduled to be released towards the end of the week.
Additionally, the UK will release it’s GDP numbers for the June quarter of 2023 on September 29. The European Central Bank will hold it’s general council meeting on September 28 and is scheduled to announce it’s inflation rate flash data on the last trading day of the week. Japan is expected to come out with it’s unemployment rate for August and consumer confidence figure for September on September 29.
Domestically, fiscal deficit and infrastructure output numbers for August are expected to be released by the end of the week, in addition to foreign exchange reserves for the week ended September 22, as per a report by Moneycontrol.
This week will mark the September month Futures and Options (F&O) expiry, which will add to the volatility in the market, said Santosh Meena, head of research at Swastika Investmart Ltd.
IPOs Ahead
The markets this week will witness three mainboard offers and nearly 13 SME issues, lined up for subscription.
JSW Infrastructure will launch it’s initial public offering (IPO) on September 25 and accept bids till September 27. This is reportedly the biggest public offer in this month. The IPO consists of a fresh issue worth Rs 2,800 crore and has a price band of Rs 113-119.
Another IPO to launch on September 25 is Updater Services which will be open till September 27. This issue comprises fresh shares worth Rs 400 crore and an offer for sale of 80 lakh shares by promoters and other selling shareholders. The issue has a price band of Rs 280-300.
Valiant Laboratories will launch it’s IPO from September 27 to October 3. The issue consists of fresh equity worth Rs 1.08 crore and is priced in the range of Rs 133-140.
Additionally, 13 SME IPOs including Vishnusurya Projects, Arabian Petroleum, Newjaisa Tech, and Inspire Films will open for subscription in the week.
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