| News Announcement |
Impact Analysis |
| Sensex bounces over 550 points from lower levels in two days |
- The bounce in the Sensex came after a nearly 1620 points correction in the Sensex over 9 days of selling
- The bounce can be largely attributed to short covering in sectors like auto, financials, and metals
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| Trump may extend trade talks deadline beyond the March 01st limit |
- This is important because, in the absence of a solution, the higher tariffs of 25% would kick in from March 01st
- While the US and China have been talking, it is getting stuck at intellectual property rights and structural issues
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| Economic Offences Wing (EOW) to question 100 brokers in NSEL scam |
- The Rs.5600 crore NSEL scam had erupted in 2013 and had eventually led to the winding up of the exchange
- EOW is investigating cases of laundering of money and other breaches of client trust plus mis-spelling by brokers
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| India trying to crystallize its response to Pakistan post-Pulwama |
- India has already withdrawn MFN status to Pakistan and also started applying diplomatic pressure
- India has also been talking about cutting water supply from the Indus to Pakistan before a frontal response
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| MPC minutes underline the growing worry over inflation concerns |
- MPC broadly hinted at another possible rate cut in the April monetary policy on the back of growth concerns
- The MPC had expressed concerns over manufacturing growth but expressed confidence that inflation was under check
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| UBS upgrades SBI from Neutral rating to Buy rating |
- UBS is betting on the NPA cycle bottoming out and the NCLT recoveries reflecting during the year
- UBS is also positive on the distribution franchise of SBI, which is nearly 3 times the size of the second largest bank
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| Jet Airways shareholders approve the conversion of loan into shares |
- SBI, the largest lender to Jet Airways, will convert its loans into equity to hold a 51% stake in Jet Airways
- While Goyal will lose majority control of Jet, it remains to be seen what Jet does with an airline in its portfolio
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| Brent Crude touched a high of $67.73/bbl during the week |
- The rise in oil prices was driven by OPEC supply cuts despite the US touching crude production of 12 million bpd
- The economic sanctions on Venezuela and Iran are also taking its toll on the oil prices
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| Adani Group eyes stakes in 6 AAI airports up for sale |
- With GMR throwing in the towel on airports business, Adani could stand to be the big beneficiary in its expansion
- Adani would be looking at airports in Ahmadabad, Jaipur, Lucknow, Guwahati, Trivandrum, and Mangalore
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| Lenders may refuse to release Rs.260 crore to RCOM against tax refunds |
- RCOM urgently needs to deposit Rs.450 crore with the court for payment to Ericsson or it invites contempt of court
- RCOM has been asking the banks to fund them against the Rs.260 crore tax refund that is due from the government
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| China agrees to buy US goods worth $1.2 trillion as a peace measure |
- This will help the US to reduce its trade deficit to zero, which had been the bone of contention in world trade
- However, China is unlikely to budge on structural changes and on the issue of intellectual property protection
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| RBI to merge 3 categories of NBFCs under a single head for simplicity |
- Asset finance, loan and investment companies will now be merged under a single head of NBFC-ICC category
- As per the last policy, risk weights will now be assigned to NBFC loans by banks based on credit rating
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| Gold prices get closer to $1350/oz on the back of global uncertainty |
- Gold has been one asset class that has been doing extremely well in the back of the trade uncertainty
- In addition, the consistent weakness in the dollar is also taking the prices of gold higher denominated in dollar terms
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| India overhauls oil and gas exploration policy to reduce oil dependence |
- The new policy envisages more financial and marketing freedom to oil exploration companies
- In addition, there will also be financial incentives for early production and also for production above targets
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| Government to recapitalize PCA banks to the tune of Rs.48,239 crore |
- Prompt Corrective Action (PCA) banks are likely to exit by June and this move will enable them to build their credit books
- However, Moody’s has raised doubts on credit pick up as the lag effect of NPAs is likely to continue for another 2 years
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| January witnessed a slowdown in air traffic to just 9.1% growth |
- This is sharply slower than the 16-18% growth exhibited by aviation companies in the last 2 years
- The fall in growth was largely on the back of flight delays and cancellations leading to reduced flight capacity creation
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| The rate of interest on EPF has been raised to 8.65% for this quarter |
- This is likely to further distort the yield structure in India due to the front ending of yields on safe government debt
- On the downside, PF investors may end up with losses on the EPF investments in IL&FS bonds
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| Captive coal mines can now sell 25% of their coal output in open market |
- This will create some genuine competition to Coal India and its subsidiaries in terms of domestic coal supply
- Earlier the government had permitted companies to bid for coal mines purely for the purpose of selling in the open market
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| Indian API manufacturers show positive growth in business metrics |
- APIs are the active ingredients or raw materials that go into the preparation of drugs and medicines
- Chinese competition has taken a hit due to stringent anti-pollution measures in China and that has taken prices up
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| RBI agrees to pay the government an interim dividend of Rs.28,000 crore |
- This will be used to predominantly fund the Rs.20,000 outlay this year on assured income to farmers
- The government had budgeted a total payout of Rs.74.100 crore from the RBI and other financial institutions this year
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| Saudi prince pledges $20 billion to Pakistan; $100 billion to India |
- The Saudi prince almost came to Pakistan and India with a blank cheque book
- However, India may not have been too successful in using the offices of the prince to isolate Pakistan diplomatically
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