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Category: Financial Market

  • Reliance Industries has become the first Indian business to have a market capitalization of Rs 19 trillion

    After reaching a new high, Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) became the first Indian listed firm to have a market capitalization of Rs 19 trillion. In an otherwise sluggish market, the stock set a record high of Rs 2,827.10, up 2% on the BSE in intraday trade on Wednesday.

    RIL’s market capitalization was Rs 19.02 trillion at 09:33 a.m., according to BSE data, with the stock up 1.3 percent at Rs 2,811.85. The S&P BSE Sensex, on the other hand, was down 0.61 percent at 56,977.

    RIL’s stock price has increased by 11% in the last seven trading days, from a low of Rs 2,544 on April 18, 2022. The stock has gained 20% in the last three months, compared to a 0.42 percent fall in the S&P BSE Sensex.

    “Reliance industries is firing on all cylinders because its petchem business is doing extremely well on the back of a surge in Oil and Gas prices where Singapore gross refining margin (GRM) is at an all-time high. Its telecom business is unaffected by geopolitical tension and inflation whereas it is exploring synergies in its retail business. It is continuously expanding its path in the renewable energy business that opening more opportunities for the company,” said Santosh Meena, Head of Research, Swastika Investmart.

    RIL is a well-diversified commercial entity with a presence in refining or marketing petrochemicals (O2C), oil and gas exploration, retail, digital services, and media, making it one of India’s largest conglomerates. O2C and oil and gas contributed 50% of EBITDA in the 9MFY22 period, whereas retail, digital, and others contributed 10%, 34%, and 6%, respectively.

    On Tuesday, RIL and Abu Dhabi Chemicals Derivatives Company RSC (TA’ZIZ) inked a shareholder agreement for a chemical project in Abu Dhabi’s Ruwais. The development is significant because it will concentrate on the manufacturing of chlor-alkali, ethylene dichloride (EDC), and polyvinyl chloride (PVC), which are all used in a variety of industrial applications.

  • In early trade, the rupee fell 16 paise to 76.72 against the US dollar.

    stock exchange data

    In early trade on Wednesday, the rupee fell 16 paise to 76.72 against the US dollar, driven down by the greenback’s strength and continuous foreign fund outflows.

    The rupee opened at 76.69 versus the dollar on the interbank foreign exchange, before losing ground to quote at 76.72, a drop of 16 paise from the previous close.

    The rupee was trading at 76.56 against the dollar on Tuesday. According to Sriram Iyer, Senior Research Analyst at Reliance Securities, the rupee opened worse against the dollar on Wednesday as the American currency resumed its upward trend.

    Asian and emerging market counterparts were mixed, but Iyer noted that anticipation of Chinese intervention should limit the peers’ depreciation bias and boost sentiment for the local currency.

    The dollar index, which measures the strength of the greenback against a basket of six currencies, was up 0.05 percent at 102.34.

    Concerns about China’s weakening growth and predictions that the Federal Reserve will raise rates rapidly increased demand for the greenback, according to Iyer.

    On the domestic front, the 30-share Sensex was down 392.12 points, or 0.68 percent, at 56,964.49, while the wider NSE Nifty was down 126.25 points, or 0.73 percent, at 17,074.55.

    Brent crude prices increased 0.27 percent to USD 105.27 per barrel, the global benchmark.

    According to stock exchange data, foreign institutional investors were net sellers in the capital market on Tuesday, offloading shares worth Rs 1,174.05 crore.

  • India’s foreign exchange reserves fall for fifth straight week

    India's foreign exchange reserves continued its fall for the fifth straight week as the Reserve Bank of India appears to be selling dollars from its co

    India’s foreign exchange reserves continued its fall for the fifth straight week as the Reserve Bank of India appears to be selling dollars from its coffers to prevent sharp depreciation of the rupee amid a surge in global crude prices.

    The reserves fell by $2.471 billion in the week to April 8 to $604.004 billion, RBI data showed.. In the last five weeks, reserves fell by a massive $28.5 billion.

    RBI does not give reasons behind changes in forex reserves.

    The foreign currency assets, which includes holdings of dollars as well as other global currencies such as euro, pound and yen expressed in dollar terms, fell $10.7 billion in the reporting week to $539.727 billion.

  • Sebi penalises NSE, BSE for laxity in Karvy Stock Broking case

    India’s markets regulator on Tuesday fined BSE Rs 3 crore and the National Stock Exchange (NSE) Rs 2 crore for “laxity” in detecting misconduct by Karvy Stock Broking (KSBL).

    The Hyderabad-based brokerage misused securities worth Rs 2,300 crore belonging to more than 95,000 clients by pledging them without authorisation, said the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi). The firm and its group entities used funds the to raise Rs 851 crore from eight banks.

    “Without doubt, it was KSBL which misused clients (sic) securities by unauthorisedly pledging them and was thus responsible for loss caused by pledging securities which it did not own, including loss to investors as well as loss to banks and NBFCs who loaned funds to KSBL against securities which did not belong to KSBL,” said Sebi.

    Noticee (BSE & NSE), which resulted in delayed detection of the misconduct by KSBL and the Noticee needs to be held accountable for the same,” Sebi said in two separate orders against the country’s leading stock exchanges.”

    Sebi had examined details of inspection and action taken by NSE and BSE against KSBL conducted between 2016 and 2019. It further asked the exchanges to furnish the procedure they followed to ensure reconcillation of clients’ securities.

    Sebi’s investigation found lapses on the part of both exchanges.

    In 2019, Sebi had passed an ex-parte ad-interim order against KSBL when the unauthorisedly pledging issue came to light. Efforts taken by Sebi, depositories and exchanges helped KSBL’s clients recover their dues.

    In December 2019, depository firm NSDL had said securities were returned to 82,559 clients from the KSBL Demat account. In November 2020, NSE had said funds and securities worth Rs 2,300 crore belonging to about 235,000 investors of KSBL were settled.

    After the KSBL investigation, Sebi changed norms around pledging of shares to prevent misuse by brokerage. The regulator did away with the concept of power of attorney which earlier allowed brokerages gain access to client securities.

  • Veranda lists 15% higher over issue price on BSE; down 5% on NSE

    Shares of Veranda Learning Solutions opened 15 per cent higher at Rs 157 against its issue price of Rs 137 per share on the BSE on Monday. At 10:22 am; the stock locked in upper circuit of Rs 164.85, after hitting a low of Rs 149.15 in intra-day trade so far. According to the exchange data, around 775,000 equity shares changed hands with pending buy orders of 5,151 shares on the BSE.

    However, the stock locked in lower circuit of Rs 131.25 on the National Stock Exchange (NSE). It opened 9 per cent lower at Rs 125 against its issue price of Rs 137 per share. Around 3.03 million shares changed hands with pending sell orders 2.8 million shares so far.

    The company has raised Rs 200 crore through initial public offering (IPO). It has proposed to utilize the net proceeds of the fresh issue towards repayment of its borrowings amounting to Rs 60 crore, payment of acquisition consideration of Edureka or repayment of bridge loan availed to discharge acquisition at Rs 25.19 crore, growth initiatives towards Rs 50 crore and the balance for general corporate purposes.

    Veranda Learning Solutions offers diversified and integrated learning solutions in online, offline hybrid and offline blended formats to students, aspirants, graduates, professionals and corporate employees through multitude of career-defining competitive exams, professional courses, exam-oriented courses, short term upskilling and reskilling courses.

    The company provides comprehensive long-term and short-term preparatory courses in simple and lucid manner for students preparing for Union Public Service Commission, State Public Service Commission, Staff Selection Commission, Banking, Insurance, Railways and Chartered Accountancy. The company also provides customised short term skilling courses, long term courses and other corporate courses to its learners.

  • Gold up as dollar, yields weaken; progress in Russia-Ukraine talks weighs

    Gold prices rose on Wednesday, supported by a dip in the U.S. dollar and Treasury yields, though signs of progress in Russia-Ukraine peace talks dented the metal’s appeal as a safe haven and kept gains in check.

    Spot gold was up 0.3% to $1,923.95 per ounce by 0210 GMT. U.S. gold futures rose 0.5% at $1,927.70.

    The metal fell as much as 1.8% on Tuesday to its lowest since Feb. 28 at $1,889.45.

    “(Weaker) dollar has provided a level of support for gold…bond prices bounced from a key level of support yesterday which helped push yields lower despite the supposed risk-on rally seen across equities. And that’s provided another pillar of support for gold,” City Index senior market analyst Matt Simpson said.

    Underpinning gold, investors remain wary over Russia’s true intentions over their pledge to scale down ‘military operations’, he added.

    Ukraine reacted with scepticism to Russia’s promise in negotiations to scale down military operations around Kyiv and another city as some Western countries expected Moscow to intensify its offensive in other parts of the country.

    The dollar index slid to a more than one-week low in the previous session, making gold less expensive for other currency holders. [USD/]

    U.S. benchmark 10-year yields also slipped from near three-year highs, and lower yields decrease the opportunity cost of holding non-yielding bullion. [US/]

    Holdings of the world’s largest gold-backed exchange-traded fund, SPDR Gold Trust, slipped 0.2% to 1,091.44 tonnes on Tuesday. [GOL/ETF]

    Spot silver was up 0.1% at $24.78 per ounce and platinum rose 0.9% to $991.49.

    Palladium gained 1.5% to $2,182.15, after dipping to a more than two-month low of $2,032.97 in the last session.

    The auto-catalyst metal has tumbled nearly 40% since scaling an all-time peak on March 7 as supply concerns from Russia eased.

  • Hacker steals $625 mn in crypto from Blockchain platform Ronin

    In one of the largest decentralized finance (Defi) breaches yet, a hacker has stolen cryptocurrencies worth $625 million from Ronin, a Blockchain platform behind the popular non-fungible token (NFT) game Axie Infinity.

    The Blockchain platform and Axie Infinity operator Sky Mavis admitted the security breach, saying that 173,600 Ethereum and 25.5M USDC (a cryptocurrency pegged to the US dollar) were drained from the Ronin bridge in two transactions.

    “The attacker used hacked private keys in order to forge fake withdrawals. We discovered the attack after a report from a user being unable to withdraw 5k ETH from the bridge,” Ronin Network said in a statement late on Tuesday.

    The company has temporarily paused the Ronin Bridge to ensure no further attack vectors remain open.

    The company was working with law enforcement officials, forensic cryptographers, and investors to make sure all funds are recovered or reimbursed.

    “As we’ve witnessed, Ronin is not immune to exploitation and this attack has reinforced the importance of prioritising security, remaining vigilant, and mitigating all threats,” said the Blockchain platform.

    “As of now, users are unable to withdraw or deposit funds to Ronin Network,” it added.

    In January this year, hackers stole crypto tokens worth $120 million from the Blockchain-based decentralized finance (Defi) platform BadgerDAO. Several crypto wallets were drained before the platform could stop the cyber attack.

    In December last year, cyber criminals stole cryptocurrency worth $80 million from Qubit Finance, a decentralised finance (DeFi) platform.

  • Rupee advances 22 paise to 76.78 against US dollar in early trade

    Rupee advances 22 paise to 76.78

    The rupee advanced 22 paise to 76.78 against the US dollar in the opening trade on Wednesday, supported by the weakness in the American dollar and recovery in domestic equity markets.

    Forex traders said the rupee could remain range-bound and can witness high volatility amid the deepening Russia-Ukraine conflict.

    At the interbank foreign exchange, the rupee opened at 76.90 against the US dollar, then gained momentum and touched 76.78, registering a gain of 22 paise from the previous close.

    On Tuesday, the rupee fell for the fifth consecutive day and depreciated by 7 paise to close at a lifetime low of 77 against the US dollar, weighed by surging crude oil prices.

    The Indian rupee could remain range-bound this Wednesday and will continue to witness high volatility, said Sriram Iyer, senior research analyst at Reliance Securities.

    The dollar fell, while a recovery in the domestic equity markets could cap weakness. However, oil continued to move higher after the US ban on Russian energy products and could cap the appreciation bias, Iyer noted.

    Meanwhile, the dollar index, which gauges the greenback’s strength against a basket of six currencies, fell 0.05 per cent to 99.01.

    Meanwhile, global oil benchmark Brent crude futures jumped 2.59 per cent to USD 131.29 per barrel.

    On the domestic equity market front, the 30-share Sensex was trading 550.95 points or 1.03 per cent higher at 53,975.04, while the broader NSE Nifty rose 117.70 points, or 0.74 per cent, to 16,131.15.

    Foreign institutional investors remained net sellers in the capital market on Tuesday as they offloaded shares worth Rs 8,142.60 crore, as per stock exchange data.

  • Rupee plummets 76 paise to 76.93/USD as oil soars amid Ukraine crisis

    Sliding for the fourth straight session, the rupee tanked 76 paise to close at 76.93 on Monday, after touching its lifetime low of 77 against the US dollar, as crude oil prices climbed to multi-year highs amid the Russia-Ukraine crisis.

    Global oil prices soared past USD 120 per barrel amid the US and European nations mulling a ban on Russian energy imports.

    Sustained foreign fund outflows and a lacklustre trend in domestic equities also weighed on investor sentiment, forex traders said.

    At the interbank foreign exchange market, the rupee opened at 76.85 against the American currency and slumped to an all-time low of 77, before closing at 76.93, down 76 paise from the previous close.

    “The Indian rupee has plummeted to a lifetime low against the US dollar as the deepening Russia-Ukraine conflict has sapped risk appetite in the market while prompting safe-haven flows into the US dollar,” said Sugandha Sachdeva, Vice President – Commodity and Currency Research, Religare Broking Ltd.

    Besides, the parabolic rise in crude oil prices towards multi-year highs and spiralling commodity prices are fuelling inflationary risks, which is a key headwind for the rupee-dollar exchange rate, Sachdeva added.

    According to Sachdeva, the overall trend for the Indian rupee is skewed towards the downside and a convincing close below 77 “would pave the way for further downside towards 77.50 mark in near term, while we envisage the local currency to test the 79 mark from a medium-term perspective.”

    Meanwhile, the dollar index, which gauges the greenback’s strength against a basket of six currencies, was trading 0.46 per cent higher at 99.09.

    Global oil benchmark Brent crude futures jumped 6.55 per cent to USD 125.85 per barrel.

    On the domestic equity market front, the 30-share Sensex ended 1,491.06 points or 2.74 per cent lower at 52,842.75, while the broader NSE Nifty plunged 382.20 points or 2.35 per cent to 15,863.15.

  • Forex reserves jump by $2.76 bn to $632.95 bn: RBI data

    The country’s foreign exchange reserves increased by USD 2.762 billion to USD 632.952 billion for the week ended February 18 on a healthy rise in the value of gold reserves and core currency assets, the RBI said on Friday.

    In the previous reporting week, the overall reserves had declined by USD 1.763 billion to USD 630.19 billion.

    During the reporting week, the rise in overall reserves was on account of an increase in the foreign currency assets (FCA), a major component of the overall reserves, the Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) weekly data released on Friday showed.

    FCA increased by USD 1.496 billion to USD 567.06 billion in the week ended February 18, it said. Expressed in dollar terms, the foreign currency assets include the effect of appreciation or depreciation of non-US units like the euro, pound and yen held in the foreign exchange reserves.

    Gold reserves increased by USD 1.274 billion to USD 41.509 billion in the reporting week, the data showed.

    The special drawing rights (SDRs) with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) decreased by USD 11 million to USD 19.162 billion, RBI said.

    The country’s reserve position with the IMF increased by USD 4 million to USD 5.221 billion in the reporting week, the data showed.