| News Announcement |
Impact Analysis |
| GDP for Dec-19 quarter improves to 4.7% from 4.5% in Q2 |
- The bounce in GDP was largely driven by a bounce in agriculture production on the back of a good Rabi crop
- However, manufacturing continued to remain tepid even as services growth was at par with the previous year
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| Sensex loses close to 3000 points during the week on China worries |
- The worst hit were the frontline stocks with metals, autos and pharma stocks taking the brunt of the correction
- Nifty and Sensex have now lost close to 10% from their recent peaks touched towards the end of December 2019
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| Core sector growth for January comes in higher at 2.2% |
- This is a positive development after the core sector growth remained negative between August and November
- While oil, gas and fertilizers lagged, the positive boost came from power, coal and cement production
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| Bharti pays Rs.18,004 crore as full and final settlement to DOT |
- It may recollected that Bharti had earlier paid Rs.10,000 crore to DOT after the Supreme Court stricture
- In addition, Bharti has now paid Rs.8,004 crore to DOT of which Rs.5,000 crore is being deposited as ad-hoc
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| Gold sustained above the $1650/oz mark during the week |
- Even as stock markets faltered and there were concerns over GDP growth, there was a safe haven shift to gold
- Gold holdings at the SPDR ETF are at the previous peak gold holdings level seen in 2012
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| Brent Crude corrects closer to $50/bbl as Chinese demand plays spoilsport |
- Crude prices have been falling sharply as China consumes 14% of global oil and that demand is down by 20%
- In the last 3 months, crude prices have lost close to 30% and that has clearly pointed towards an economic slowdown
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| Emerging market stocks see value depletion of $600 billion |
- Most emerging markets have large dependencies on China and such sectors have been deeply hit
- In addition, the global investors have adopted a risk-off approach and preferred debt over EM equity
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| NSO has pegged full year GDP growth at closer to 5% |
- This presupposes a growth rate of nearly 5.8% in the last quarter of the current fiscal year
- That does sound a tad optimistic considering that the overhang of the Chinese virus will also be a major issue
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| SBI Cards mops up Rs.2800 crore from anchor investors at Rs.755 per share |
- The bids were much higher than the shares offered hinting at strong institutional interest in the stock
- With the IPO opening in tough market conditions, the BRLMs are relying on institutions and SBI brand to sell the IPO
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| Dow suffered the biggest weekly correction since 2008 |
- In a way, the previous week was reminiscent of the Lehmann crisis of 2008 in terms of market impact
- Dow has lost more than 10% from its recent peak and even NASDAQ has been a participant in the correction
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| SEBI chief gets an extension of 6 months beyond his tenure |
- In the midst of volatile markets, the Finance Ministry opted to continue with Mr. Tyagi for another 6 months
- There are internal and external candidates who are currently in the running for the top job at SEBI
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| RBI approves new CEO appointment for IndusInd Bank |
- Sumant Kathpalia, who is an insider of the bank, will take over as the next CEO of IndusInd Bank after Sobti retires
- Like Sobti, Kathpalia is also an ex-AMRO hand and this could be a vote for continuity of banking policies at IndusInd
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| April-January fiscal deficit touches 128% of revised estimates |
- It may be recollected that fiscal deficit for the year had been expanded from 3.3% to 3.8% due to revenue constraints
- This could create a question mark over yields and also on how it will impact the sovereign ratings
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| India Cements emerges among the top performers in February |
- The stock rallied sharply after some large investors bought a large stake in India Cements
- India Cements, like other South based cement companies, has been enjoying sharply better pricing
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| FPIs pull out Rs.11,368 crore during the week from equities |
- There was concerted risk-off selling by the FPIs on all the five days of the week on pandemic fears
- During the week, FPIs have been selling in equity and in debt showing a general aversion for EM asset classes
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| Central banks may be preparing for another round of loosening |
- Probability of the Fed easing interest rates has gone up to 75% giving a hint that the US may be mulling rate cuts
- The RBI may also opt for rate cuts if growth falters despite inflation concerns so as not to derail growth
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| Indian gas demand to rise by 66% in the next five years |
- The biggest demand for gas is expected to come from city gas distributors rolled out across 400 districts
- Large players like GAIL are investing more than Rs.1 trillion to prepare itself for a gas driven future
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| Donald Trump’s visit made a bang but there was not much concrete for India |
- India was expecting hints of a free trade agreement (FTA) from Trump, but trade deal has been put off
- Trump repeated his pet peeve about India not opening up its economy adequately and keeping tariffs too high
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| Investors will be allowed to directly purchase funds from the exchange |
- Currently, this facility is only given to the registered brokers and to the independent financial advisors (IFA)
- Now customers will be able to purchase Direct Plans on the exchange platform reducing the float risk
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| Global investors approach AAR for tax deducted by Wal-Mart on Flipkart sale |
- Out of the $16 billion deal, Wal-Mart had deposited capital gains tax of Rs.7439 crore with the IT department
- Sellers need to get a certificate under Section 197 for exemption from tax under the DTAA
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| Government moves to assuage fears of Mauritius entities |
- This fear among FPIs was due to the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) putting Mauritius in the grey list
- This had raised concerns over whether the Mauritius entities would be barred from operating in India
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