by admin | May 25, 2021 | Investing, World
New York : S&P 500 and the Nasdaq closed at record high while investors assessed the possibility of a government shutdown.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average on Friday added 53.91 points, or 0.21 per cent, to 26,071.72. The S&P 500 increased 12.27 points, or 0.44 per cent, to 2,810.30, Xinhua news agency reported.
The Nasdaq Composite Index was up 40.33 points, or 0.55 per cent, to 7,336.38.
The US House of Representatives on Thursday passed a short-term spending bill to avoid a government shutdown, but whether the bill could pass the Senate remains uncertain.
Historically, a government shutdown has led to a short-term pullback in the stock market.
Earnings season kicked into full gear this week, with most results surpassing expectations.
Morgan Stanley, Bank of America, Citigroup, and American Express are among the companies that reported better-than-expected results this week.
Fourth quarter earnings are expected to increase 12.4 per cent from the last quarter of 2016. Of the 53 companies in the S&P 500 that have reported earnings to date for the fourth quarter of 2017, 79.2 per cent have reported earnings above analyst expectations.
On the economic front, US consumer sentiment in January slipped to 94.4, after falling to 95.9 in December, according to a survey released by the University of Michigan on Friday, lower than economists’ expectations of 97.
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | Economy, Investing, Markets, News
Mumbai : Better-than-expected macroeconomic data boosted investors’ sentiment, which helped key Indian equity indices to touch a record high on Monday.
The 30-scrip Sensitive Index (Sensex) was trading 122.17 points or 0.38 per cent higher during the afternoon trade.
The wider 50-scrip Nifty of the National Stock Exchange (NSE) was also trading 39.45 points or 0.39 per cent higher at 10,206.90 points.
The Sensex of the BSE, which opened at 32,488.23 points, was trading at 32,554.86 points (at 1.54 p.m.), higher 122.17 points or 0.38 per cent from Friday’s close at 32,432.69 points.
The Sensex touched a high of 32,687.32 points and a low of 32,445.43 points in the trade so far.
“India’s benchmark Sensex and Nifty indices on Monday hit an all-time high after better-than-expected macroeconomic data boosted investor confidence. BSE Sensex rose 192.38 points, or 0.59 per cent, to 32,625.07, while the Nifty 50 gained 64.35 points, or 0.63 per cent, to 1″,231.80,” Dhruv Desai, Director and Chief Operating Officer of Tradebulls, told IANS.
Cooling of food prices helped ease India’s annual rate of inflation based on the Wholesale Price Index (WPI) in September to 2.6 per cent, official data showed on Monday.
According to data released by the Commerce Ministry, the WPI, with the revised base year of 2011-12, eased from 3.24 per cent in August. The wholesale inflation rate was at 1.36 per cent during Sepetember 2016.
“The rate of inflation based on WPI Food Index consisting of ‘Food Articles’ from Primary Articles group and ‘Food Product’ from Manufactured Products group decreased from 4.41 per cent in August to 1.99 per cent in September,” the statement said.
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | Corporate, Corporate finance, Corporate Governance, Investing
Chennai : The initial public offering (IPO) by government owned reinsurer General Insurance Corporation (GIC) has received good response from the investors on Wednesday the first day of the issue.
According to the data available on the BSE website, the portion reserved for qualified institutional buyers (QIB) was oversubscribed by 1.55 per cent.
The reinsurance major has fixed the issue price in the band Rs 855 to Rs 912 per equity share. The face value of the share is Rs 5.
The number of shares on the offer was 12,47,00,000 shares and as per BSE data at 6 p.m. total number of bids were 9,40,62,368.
The issue will close on October 13, 2017.
Post issue the promoters stake would come down to 85.78 per cent and the total equity capital will be up to Rs 438.6 crore from Rs.430 crore.
The IPO is a mix of offer of sale and fresh issue.
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | Business, News
New Delhi:(IANS) The Supreme Court on Tuesday paved the way for the markets regulator SEBI to sell some 86 properties of Subrata Roy-led Sahara group, worth an estimated Rs.40,000 crore, giving hope to tens of thousands of investors who put their money in its various schemes.
The directions from the bench of Chief Justice T.S. Thakur, Justice Anil R. Dave and Justice A.K. Sikri came after it found that Sahara group was yet to mobilise the Rs.10,000 crore towards the bail amount to secure the release of Subrata Roy, who is lodged in Tihar Jail since March 2014.
“Start working on that. You are now free to go ahead,” the bench told the watchdog, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI). As regards Roy, the bench firmly said: “The only way he can come out is by complying with our orders.”
Two other directors of Sahara — Ravi Shankar Dubey and Ashok Roy Choudhary — are also in jail.
The Sahara group is said to originally owe around Rs.24,000 crore to investors. The apex court by its August 31, 2012, order had directed Sahara to return the money with 15 percent interest. Counsel for the watchdog had estimated the dues to be worth around Rs.36,000 crore last month.
The apex court said the entire process of sale of Sahara properties will be overseen by former Supreme Court judge Justice B.N. Agarwala and that the Sahara group will be kept informed on the steps being taken for the disposal of the properies.
No property shall be sold below 90 percent of its prevailing circle rates, the bench said. Also, no deadline has been fixed to complete the process. Sahara has already furnished the title deeds of the 86 properties to facilitate the sale.
Noting that the market regulator had 20 unencumbered title deeds thus far worth Rs.20,000 crore, the court asked the Sahara group to furnish other unencumbered title deeds of another Rs.20,000 crore.
The step is being taken to recover money that Sahara’s two firms had collected from the public by way of optionally fully convertible debentures. The SEBI has been directed to appoint an agency to decide the mechanism for the sale of properties.
The two companies are: Sahara India Real Estate and Sahara Housing Investment Corp.
During the hearing, Kapil Sibal, representing Sahara, said: “Nowhere in the world does this type of case happen. There is no jurisdiction in the world that allows a person to be inside jail for two years without any charge.”
The judges did not take kindly to the retort. “Don’t lecture us. Don’t give us a speech. Nowhere in the world does a person say that I have assets worth Rs.187,000 crore. I can pay anytime. But is not paying even Rs.10,000 crore.”
When Sibal urged the court to extend communication and other facilities to Subrata Roy, the court asked him what did he do with those facilities that were extended earlier to negotiate the sale of three overseas hotels and other assets to raise money — but in vain.
Sahara has among its other assets, some aircraft, the Sahara Star hotel in Mumbai, a 42.5 percent stakes in Force India Formula One Team, two properties in Bengaluru, as also the famed Grosvenor House hotel in London, New York Plaza and Dream New York hotel.
by admin | May 25, 2021 | World
New York:(IANS) US stocks opened sharply lower on Friday as investors were digesting the highly-watched jobs data.
US non-farm payrolls data came out mixed, which missed on the headline number but beat estimates on the unemployment rate and wage indicators.
The Labor Department reported Friday that total non-farm payroll employment increased by 173,000 in August, well below market consensus of 223,000. Over the prior 12 months, employment growth had averaged 247,000 per month.
The unemployment rate, however, edged down to 5.1 percent, beating market estimates of 5.2 percent. The number of unemployed persons edged down to 8 million.
Over the year, the unemployment rate and the number of unemployed persons were down by 1.0 percentage point and 1.5 million, respectively.
In August, average hourly earnings for all employees on private nonfarm payrolls rose by 8 cents to $25.09, also higher than market expectations.
The jobs report is the final read on monthly labor conditions before the Federal Reserve makes a decision on interest rates at its next policy meeting in about two weeks.
“A below-consensus headline with a big upward revision adds up to economic data good enough to justify a rate hike in two weeks if economic data were all that mattered,” chief economist at FTN Financial Chris Low said in a note.
Shortly after the opening bell, the Dow Jones Industrial Average dipped 162.61 points (0.99 percent), to 16,212.15. The S&P 500 lost 19.67 points (1.01 percent), to 1,931.46. The Nasdaq Composite Index tumbled 62.66 points (1.32 percent), to 4,670.84.
On Thursday, US stocks pared early gains to end mixed as investors tried to digest a batch of mixed economic reports.
