Tag: Investment

  • US dollar clings to gains as bets on further Fed hikes firm

    The dollar fought for a footing in choppy trade on Thursday, with support from upbeat U.S. data and hawkish policymaker comments, while the prospect of higher energy prices helped exporters’ currencies and weighed on those of importers.

    The dollar rose 1% on the euro and 1.3% on sterling overnight and was trying to hold those gains in bumpy early trade in Asia. The euro has now made two unsuccessful attempts to regain parity this week and last bought $0.9916. Sterling’s rebound from record lows has paused just below $1.15.

    The U.S. services industry posted another month of expansion in September, data showed overnight, while labour market figures were solid and the trade deficit narrowed. San Francisco Fed President Mary Daly reiterated policymakers’ focus on inflation fighting and dismissed market hopes for rate cuts in 2023.

    “I think that just reminded people that you might be a bit premature in trying to price in rate cuts in the U.S.,” said Westpac currency strategist Imre Speizer.”That pushed up rates and pushed up the U.S. dollar,” he said, as the Federal Reserve’s aggressive moves to rein in inflation sets the pace for central banks around the globe.

    “Its one trade for the whole world,” said Speizer. “No one currency’s interest rates are really able to go off and do their own thing independently.

    Bond markets globally sold sharply. Interest rate futures imply more than 130 basis points of tightening ahead for the Fed before the middle of next year. [US/][GVD/EUR][GB/]

    The U.S. dollar index wobbled 0.06% lower to 110.86, off lows near 110 from earlier in the week, though some distance below last week’s 20-year high of 114.78.

    Sterling last bought $1.1367, while the Australian and New Zealand dollars each rose about 0.4%, taking the Aussie to $0.6518 and the kiwi to $0.5772. [AUD/]

    The yen, which has been held steady by the risk of further Japanese intervention, sat at 144.57 per dollar.

    The Saudi Arabia-led cartel of oil producers agreed to steep production cuts on Wednesday, lifting Brent crude futures to a three-week high of $93.99 a barrel. [O/R]

    “Higher energy prices would have a much more direct impact on the European region given the more direct relationship to their finances,” said NatWest Markets’ strategist Jan Nevruzi.

    Later on Thursday the European Central Bank releases minutes from last month’s policy meeting. Traders are also awaiting Friday’s U.S. labour market data to gauge how fast and far the Fed might be willing to lift interest rates.

  • Elon Musk has secured almost $7 billion in new cash for his purchase of Twitter

    Elon Musk

    Elon Musk has obtained approximately $7.1 billion in new finance pledges for his proposed $44 billion takeover of Twitter, gaining the support of some of the world’s most powerful investors.

    He was also anticipated to act as Twitter’s interim CEO for a few months once the acquisition was completed

    The equity commitments come as the Tesla billionaire raises funds to fund one of the most significant tech industry takeovers. Binance, Brookfield Asset Management, Fidelity Management & Research, and Qatar Holding are among the investors identified in the filing on Thursday.
    Musk has also garnered the backing of fellow entrepreneur and Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison, who has a significant position in Tesla and serves on its board of directors. Ellison’s trust has pledged $1 billion to Musk’s takeover.

    In intraday trading, Twitter shares surged 3.63 percent.

    On April 25, the world’s wealthiest individual agreed to buy Twitter using a financing strategy that has concerned some Tesla investors. Musk promised to provide $21 billion in equity in addition to promising tens of billions of dollars in Tesla stock to support margin loans. According to the filing on Thursday, that figure has climbed to $27.25 billion.

    Saudi Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, chairman of the board at Kingdom Holding Firm and one of Twitter’s most ardent supporters, has agreed to pledge nearly 35 million shares in Twitter — worth $1.9 billion — in order to maintain a stake in the company following Musk’s takeover.

    He earlier rejected Musk’s offer, claiming that it fell “far short of the underlying worth of Twitter.” Musk is reportedly in talks with Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey about contributing some of his shares to the purchase.

    Musk’s new investors include a slew of traditional asset managers, venture capital firms, boutique hedge funds, and one of the world’s largest capital pools. Qatar Holding, a subsidiary of the country’s sovereign wealth fund, has committed to provide $375 million.

  • Uber reports a $5.9 billion net loss as Asian investment values tumble

    Uber

    Uber reported a net loss of $5.9 billion owing to unrealized losses from holdings in Didi Global, Grab Holdings, and Aurora Innovation, but provided a good earnings projection for the current period. It indicated that the firm intends to capitalize on strong ride demand without jeopardizing earnings by focusing on product upgrades rather than incentives to overcome the driver shortage.

    The ride-sharing and delivery company forecasted second-quarter gross bookings of $28.5 billion to $29.5 billion and adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, and amortization of $240 million to $270 million. The upper end of both ranges outperformed the average analyst forecast.

    Uber‘s positive results contrasted with rival Lyft’s poor prediction on Tuesday, which indicated that the driver shortage that has plagued both ride-hailing businesses for the past year will continue into the second quarter. In extended trading, shares fell as much as 27% after Lyft said it would increase spending on driver incentives to bring the number of drivers on its marketplace back into balance with rebounding rider demand.

    Uber’s estimate comes after revenue increased 136% to $6.9 billion in the first quarter, the firm said in a statement on Wednesday.

    Adjusted Ebitda earnings were $168 million in the quarter, exceeding the $135 million projected by analysts.

  • As the yen falls on the dovish BOJ, the dollar reaches a 20-year high and the euro a 5-year low

    The dollar rose to a 20-year high against its peers on Thursday as the Bank of Japan maintained its dovish stance, sending the yen to its lowest level since 2002 and the euro to a five-year low amid concerns about the region’s economic growth.

    The dollar soared beyond 130 yen as the Bank of Japan reaffirmed its commitment to maintaining ultra-low interest rates by promising to buy an infinite number of bonds everyday to meet its yield target.
    Given the pressure mounting throughout foreign exchange markets, there had been considerable market speculation that the BOJ might take a step back.

    After reaching a high of 103.93, the dollar index was last seen at 103.73, up 0.74 percent for the day.

    After data showed that the US economy unexpectedly fell in the first quarter due to a resurgence in COVID-19 cases, the greenback lost ground.

    Rai, on the other hand, claimed that the data did not necessarily show a sluggish economy, but that it was skewed by a much higher trade deficit caused by rising imports.

  • In early trade, the rupee fell 23 paise to 76.65 against the US dollar.

    Rupee advances 23 paise to 75.93

    The rupee fell 23 paise to 76.65 against the US dollar in early trade on Monday, reflecting the dollar’s surge in the international market.

    The rupee opened at 76.58 against the dollar on the interbank foreign exchange, then plummeted to an early low of 76.65 in early trades, a drop of 23 paise from its previous close.

    The rupee fell 25 paise versus the US dollar on Friday, closing at 76.42.

    According to Sriram Iyer, Senior Research Analyst at Reliance Securities, the rupee began down against the US dollar, pressured down by hawkish remarks from Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell last week.

    Meanwhile, Brent crude futures sank 2.85% to USD 103.61 per barrel, the global benchmark.

    The dollar index, which measures the value of the dollar against a basket of six currencies, increased by 0.02 percent to 101.23.

    On the domestic stock market, the 30-share Sensex was down 645.45 points, or 1.13 percent, at 56,551.70, while the broader NSE Nifty was down 189.05 points, or 1.1%, at 16,982.90.

    According to stock exchange data, foreign institutional investors were net sellers in the capital market on Friday, offloading shares worth Rs 2,461.72 crore.

  • ONGC, Oil India gain 3% in tandem with crude oil prices

    Shares of state-owned oil exploration & production companies like Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) and Oil India gained 3 per cent on the BSE in Wednesday’s intra-day trade in an otherwise subdued market after oil prices surged. Crude oil prices increased around 6 per cent on Tuesday amid reports of lower supply by oil producers and easing of lockdown curbs in parts of China.

    At 10:47 AM, ONGC and Oil India were up 3 per cent at Rs 173.85 and Rs 237.20, respectively, on the back of heavy volumes. In comparison, the S&P BSE Sensex was up 0.04 per cent at 58,597 points. Upstream companies like ONGC and Oil India are expected to witness strong earnings on higher oil prices. Oil prices saw a sharp increase amid concern over supply disruption due to the geopolitical conflict in Europe in the quarter that ended March 2022 (Q4FY22). Brent prices have averaged nearly $100/bbl in Q4FY22 with nearly $30/bbl being added during the quarter end due to the Ukraine war.

    Analysts at HDFC Securities expect Brent crude price to remain elevated as Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) supply growth is likely to lag behind global demand due to ongoing geopolitical tensions.

    “The average Brent crude price in FY22 stood at USD 80/bbl, up 79 per cent YoY, driven by recovery in global demand with opening up of economies. However, the OPEC supply is lagging behind demand growth due to Russian invasion of Ukraine. Despite the fact that no restrictions were imposed on crude oil import from Russia currently, some off-takers have shunned Russian oil due to uncertainties around insurance, shipping, etc. because of sanctions,” the brokerage firm added.

    The US Energy Information Administration (EIA) also estimates that the growth in global crude oil supply will suffer in 2022.

  • 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.

  • SBI Cards dips 5% as over 3% of equity changes hands via block deals on NSE

    Shares of SBI Cards and Payment Services dipped 5 per cent to Rs 836 on the National Stock Exchange (NSE) in Tuesday’s intra-day trade after over 3 per cent equity of the company changed hands at the counter via block deals.

    Till 09:21 am; around 31.9 million equity shares representing 3.37 per cent equity of SBI Cards changed hands on the NSE, the exchange data shows. The names of the buyers and sellers were not ascertained immediately.

    As per reports, private equity firm Carlyle Group was to sell its entire stake in the company for as much as Rs 2,558 crore via block trade. CA Rover Holdings, a Carlyle entity, as of December 2021 quarter, held 29.20 million shares or 3.09 percent stake in SBI Cards. The shares were to be offered at Rs 851.50-876.75 a piece, representing around 3 percent discount to Monday’s closing price.

    Earlier on September 21, 2021, CA Rover Holdings sold 32 million equity shares or 3.4 per cent stake of SBI Cards at an average price of Rs 1,021 per share on the NSE, data shows.

    Meanwhile, SBI Cards has underperformed the market by falling 23 per cent in the past six months, as compared to a 1.5 per cent rise othe Nifty50 index. However, in the last one month, the stock has outperformed by gaining 14 per cent as against a 12 per cent surge in the benchmark index. The stock hit a 52-week low of Rs 712.25 on March 7, 2022.

    At 09:35 am; SBI Cards traded 3 per cent lower at Rs 847.85, as compared to a 0.2 per cent decline on the Nifty50 index.

  • Sensex down 200pts, Nifty tests 18,000; RIL, HDFC twins weigh

    After a tepid start, the key benchmark indices were seen holding marginal losses in late morning trade-off the low of the day as gains in select IT and FMCG shares helped offset losses in financials.
    The BSE Sensex from an opening high of 60,786, had slipped to an intra-day low of 60,227. The index, however, was down around 200 points at 60,400-odd levels. The NSENifty was seen testing the 18,000-mark, down 50-odd points.
    Among the Sensex 30 shares, the HDFC and Bajaj twins along with Reliance Industries were the major losers, down 1-2 percent each. On the positive front, Titan, NTPC, Dr.Reddy’s, Mahindra & Mahindra, Hindustan Unilever, TCS, Maruti, and Nestle India were the prominent gainers, up 1-2 percent each.
    The broader markets, however, outperformed the benchmark indices by a large margin. The BSE Midcap index was up 0.8 percent, while the Smallcap index rallied 1.3 percent. The overall breadth too was fairly positive with nearly 2,300 stocks advancing, versus 913 declining stocks on the BSE so far.
    Sectorally, the BSE Consumer Durables, Power, Telecom and Auto indices were the strong gainers; whereas Bankex was the notable loser.

    Among other individual stocks, SBI Cards shed 4 percent on the BSE. As per reports, private equity firm Carlyle Group will sell its entire stake in the company for as much as Rs 2,558 crore.

    Moreover, Zomato, too, dropped 5 percent after the Competition Commission on Monday ordered a detailed probe against Zomato and Swiggy, for alleged unfair business practices with respect to their dealings with restaurant partners.

  • Fishin announces Rs.1000 crore investment in Telangana

     Fishin, a world-renowned company in import of Tilapia fish, is investing Rs.1, 000 crore in Telangana for setting up the largest freshwater aquaculture project in the world.

    The company will be setting up the project near Mid Manair reservoir, Rajanna Sircilla district.

    This announcement was made by the company Chairman and CEO Manish Kumar after his meeting with Industries Minister KT Rama Rao at San Jose on Thursday.

    The Company, the largest importer of Tilapia variety of fish in the world and the largest importer of frozen food into the US, announced this investment of Rs 1,000 crores in a fully integrated freshwater fish culture ecosystem including hatcheries, feed manufacturing, cage culture, processing, and exports.

    The project will produce 85,000 MTs of Tilapia fish per year using cage culture methodology. It will also generate direct employment for 3,000 people and another 2,000 people will benefit by way of indirect employment.

    Minister KT Rama Rao thanked the team of Fishin’ for choosing Telangana as their investment destination. He assured that the State government would extend all cooperation to the company.

    He said that the Telangana Government’s investment in Agriculture and Irrigation sectors was bearing fruit. The State was witnessing a second Green Revolution and a Blue Revolution, he informed.

    The Industries Minister appealed to the Fishin’ firm to give preference to the local fishermen community and Mid Manair Project displaced households while hiring.

    Industries Department Principal Secretary Jayesh Ranjan, Director – Food Processing Akhil also participated in the meeting.