| Major News Item | Impact Analysis |
| Ø IndusInd Bank formally sealed its merger with Bharat Financial | Ø The merger share swap between Bharat Financial and IndusInd will be in the ratio of 639:1000
Ø Bharat Financial gets a larger balance sheet and IndusInd Bank gets a much wider reach in the hinterland
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| Ø D-Mart witnesses a slowdown in growth for the September quarter | Ø The profit growth for the quarter dipped from 35.7% to 26% following GST inventory related pressures
Ø This does raise doubts over the company’s valuation as it is already quoting at around 90-95 times earnings
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| Ø India will require nearly $45 billion to upgrade its airports as per CAPA | Ø CAPA expects the current capacity of the Indian airports to saturate in the next 5 years
Ø The current expansions will take the capacity from 3 crore passengers to 4.5 crore but that will still be insufficient
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| Ø NIIF inks a $1 billion equity investment deal with ADIA | Ø This investment proposal from the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority will be a big boost for infrastructure projects
Ø Other sovereign funds like RUSNANO of Russia and Qatar Investment Authority are also contenders to invest
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| Ø Rising fuel and freight cost to weigh on the profits of cement companies | Ø Aggressive re-stocking in the aftermath of GST launch is already putting pressure on cement costs
Ø Cement companies are likely to see 14% fall in sales and 32% fall in profits as sand mining has also come under attack
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| Ø WPI inflation for September 2017 came in lower at 2.6% | Ø Lower WPI inflation was largely driven by weak food inflation with vegetables prices seeing a sharp cut
Ø However, Manufacturing inflation did see a spike for the month due to the lag effect of GST implementation
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| Ø Next Fed chairperson name likely to be announced in early November | Ø Janet Yellen is one of the contenders but is unlikely to get the job due to her pronounced differences with Trump
Ø As per market estimates Jerome Powell and Kevin Warsh are emerging as the 2 likely candidates for the job
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| Ø Axis Bank stock tanks as the company disappoints on the NPA front | Ø Gross NPAs were sharply up from 4.17% to 5.9% while net NPAs shot up from 2.02% to 3.12% in the September quarter
Ø Higher slippages and red flags over some of its exposures have raised concerns despite rise in profits
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| Ø Leading funds tweak their portfolios in the month of September | Ø HDFC Fund has been buying beaten down stocks like Infosys and Axis and selling Vedanta and Tata Steel
Ø Reliance MF has been buying Tata Motors and SBI but has been selling in ONGC and Coal India
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| Ø Some positive financial triggers emerge from Wipro Q2 results | Ø Despite flat revenues, Wipro managed to report 5.3% growth in profits on the back on 100 bps expansion in OPM
Ø However, the disappointment appears to be that the guidance is still muted on the back of weak global IT spending |
| Ø Unilever believes that pricing power in the Indian market is yet to pick up | Ø While volume growth is visible post GST, the price traction is still missing in India
Ø India remains a key market for Unilever as it is the second largest market after the US
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| Ø OPEC signals extension of oil supply cuts till end of 2018 | Ø This indication in the aftermath of a key meeting between the Middle East leaders and Vladimir Putin
Ø They have curtailed 1.8 million bpd and may either sustain or increase the cuts to maintain oil prices around $60/bbl
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| Ø Blackstone announces details of its $100 billion infrastructure fund | Ø The fund is allocating $100 billion to infrastructure with a $20 billion support from the Saudi based PIF
Ø Blackstone will be looking at listed companies, private equity and in carve outs and will include focus on India too
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| Ø Dollar climbed and treasuries fell on major tax reform hopes in the US | Ø Major tax cuts were part of the deal that Trump had announced while campaigning for presidency
Ø Apart from tax reforms, there is also the expectation that a Fed insider may emerge as a likely candidate for the chair
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| Ø Global investors line up for stressed assets of Essar Steel and Bhushan Steel | Ø Both the companies have been referred to the NCLT under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC)
Ø Global giants like Arcelor Mittal and POSCO of Korea are strong contenders for the stake in these companies
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| Ø Piramal targets $1 billion of pharma sales by year 2020 | Ø The company can re-enter the Indian pharma space only after 2018 due to its non-compete clause with Abbott
Ø Piramal had sold its domestic formulations business to Abbott in 2010 for a consideration of $3.8 billion
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| Ø Ultratech profits fall but still beats street estimates | Ø The fall in profits was driven by higher pet coke prices and a 5X increase in sand prices
Ø The top-line grew by 17% and that is likely to sustain due to the government’s aggressive infrastructure spending
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| Ø India tightens gold import norms to plug loopholes in gold | Ø Government imposes curbs on some trading houses after a surge in gold shipments in the last one year
Ø Gold imports are a worry as it leads to depletion in forex reserves without any concomitant productivity benefits
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| Ø MPC minutes suggest that RBI may tread a cautious path | Ø With inflation staying above the 3.2% mark, the RBI may not be too keen to cut rates
Ø The consensus appears to be leave rates untouched at least till the next calendar year begins
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| Ø Hero Moto witnesses record sales on the day of Dhanteras | Ø Dhanteras single-day sales at 3 lakh units was at an all-time record for Hero Moto as spending remained buoyant
Ø Hero Moto has been seeing a sharp rise in off-take in the aftermath of the implementation of GST
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| Ø The national mood could now shift political with elections coming up | Ø The big focus will be on Gujarat which goes to polls later this year, possibly in the second half of December
Ø While the BJP has dominated Gujarat for over 20 years, there is a crisis of leadership that is visible currently |
