| News Announcement |
Impact Analysis |
| US sanctions waiver for oil buying comes to an end on May 02nd, 2019 |
- Effective that day, most countries like India, China and Japan cannot import Iranian oil anymore
- It is not clear whether China will abide by the sanctions but India has already cut its import orders with Iran
|
| Reliance Home Finance debt downgraded to the Default category |
- Reliance Home Finance debt has been downgraded to Default status after group fundraising did not materialize
- The entire group has been struggling due to liquidity constraints and this downgrade follows Reliance Capital
|
| Crude corrects after touching a high of $75.60/bbl |
- The crude spurt came during the week after Russia decided to cut exports and the Iran sanctions weighed on prices
- However, after Trump coaxed the OPEC to increase supply and bring down the oil prices, Brent fell more than $3/bbl
|
| Piramal Enterprises may look at taking a stake in the loan book of DHFL |
- Piramal has clarified that it will only buy part of the portfolio of DHFL and not take a stake in Dewan Housing
- Dewan has been struggling for the last 6 months due to rising borrowing costs and a weak HFC market
|
| Yes Bank logged a loss of Rs.1507 crore in the fourth quarter |
- The big loss was an outcome of huge write-offs as NPAs of IL&FS and Jet Airways and also write-offs on investments
- The gross NPAS of the banks and the net NPAs have gone up sharply although loan growth has been robust
|
| Hero Moto faces pressure on the top line and bottom line |
- Hero Moto faced pressure on sales volumes and pricing power as revenues and profits fell for the quarter
- The entire auto sector has been hit by weak demand on the back of high fuel prices and willingness to postpone
|
| RBI instructs banks to make provisions for loans to IL&FS |
- As a special case, the NCLT had permitted banks to not provide for IL&FS bad loans as it was a restructuring case
- RBI is of the view that such provision delays distort the picture of the health of Indian banks
|
| Reuters poll hints at end of the rate tightening cycle globally |
- The poll has indicated that the US Fed may have set the tone and other central banks may follow to end hawkishness
- That could be good news for the Indian markets as it gives the RBI scope to maintain a dovish stance
|
| India goes into Phase 4 of general elections on Monday 29th April |
- Phase 4 elections cover the financial capital of Mumbai and the financial markets will be shut on that day
- Till now 3 phases of elections are already completed with more than 60% of the seats already being polled for
|
| Indian home buyers unhappy with financial creditor status |
- IBC gives homeowners financial creditor status but there have been very few takers as buyers prefer to negotiate
- To invoke the IBC, it will call for a class action, which home buyers are unwilling to commit to
|
| Fitch warns that change in government could hit oil and gas reforms |
- The current government has introduced a slew of oil sector reforms including free pricing of petrol and diesel
- Fitch is of the view that sustained oil sector reforms would only be possible with continuity in policy
|
| Microsoft touches $1 trillion market cap for the first time in history |
- The move towards $1 trillion market cap was driven by better top line and bottom line growth in the March quarter
- Last year, Apple and Amazon had crossed the $1 trillion market cap mark but have retreated to lower levels
|
| RBI dollar swap happens at a premium of Rs.8.78 on the spot dollar |
- This dollar swaps introduces rupee liquidity in the system and absorbs dollars putting pressure on the rupee
- The higher premium expanded the forwarded premium and that was the key reason weakening the rupee
|
| Nifty and Sensex extremely volatile during the week |
- On most days during the week, the indices were sharply up or sharply down due to bouts of volatility
- The VIX remains elevated above the 25 marks making the markets extremely volatile at current levels
|
| Cash market volumes plummet sharply in the Indian broking industry |
- Cash market volumes for Indian brokers has fallen from 7.7% in 2013 to just about 2.2% in 2019
- This has been led by lower cash market volumes and sharply lower rates post the introduction of discount broking
|
| US also likely to give positive surprises on the GDP growth front |
- The US is expected by outperforming its original estimates by nearly 10-20 basis points in terms of GDP growth
- China was the first to report better than expected growth raising hopes of a turnaround in global growth
|
| RBI may relent on relaxing of the February 12th circular |
- In line with the SC order, the RBI may relent on giving 30 days time before initiating NCLT proceedings
- Feb 12th circular had tried to constrict the time to just 1 day which the SC ruled was impractical for banks to implement
|
| India makes alternative plans for oil import ready post-Iran sanctions |
- Sanctions will matter to India because India remains Iran’s second largest customer or crude oil
- India has lined up alternate oil supply from Saudi Arabia, the US and also from Mexico
|
| Asian bond inflows in March 2019, the best month since Jan 2018 |
- Foreign investors infused $5 billion into Asian bonds with India and Indonesia being the major recipients
- The flows quickened after the currencies in these economies stabilized. Thailand saw outflows on political uncertainty
|
| Terror strikes in Lanka brought back the specter of terror in South Asia |
- It was a horrific terror attack in Sri Lanka in which over 350 were killed and the much larger number injured
- Terror spreading is never good news, more so considering that Sri Lanka is an immediate neighbor for India
|
| SIPs on equity funds yielded 10.26% CAGR in the last five years |
- This return was still better than gold and reality but lower than the average returns of Nifty around 11.4% in the last 20 years
- SIPs have been the backbone of retail appetite for equities and India has seen record flows into equity funds via SIPs
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