Tag: RBi policy

Closing Bell: Sensex sheds 1,024 pts, Nifty below 17,250 as market extends losses to 3rd day

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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Indian equity benchmarks tumbled on Monday dragged by a broad-based sell-off, as investors awaited the outcome of the RBI policy due this week. Both headline indices fell as much as 2.3 percent before recovering some of those losses.

The Sensex ended 1,023.6 points or 1.8 percent lower at 57,621.2 and the broader Nifty50 benchmark settled at 17,214, down 302.4 points or 1.7 percent from its previous close. Investors lost more than Rs 6 lakh crore in three back-to-back sessions as the market value of BSE-listed companies dropped to Rs 264.8 lakh crore.

During the session, the 30-scrip index plunged as much as 1,345.8 points and the 50-scrip benchmark to as low as 17,119.4, down 396.9 points from its previous close.

Broader markets walso weakened, with the Nifty Midcap 100 falling one percent and its smallcap counterpart finishing with a loss of 1.3 percent.

Tata Consumer, L&T, HDFC Bank, Britannia, HDFC Life, Bajaj Finance, HDFC and Hero MotoCorp, closing around 3-4 percent lower, were the worst hit among the 42 laggards in the Nifty50 pack.

On the other hand, PowerGrid, ONGC, Tata Steel, NTPC, SBI and Shree Cement, rising between 0.6 percent and 1.9 percent, were the top blue-chip gainers.

HDFC, HDFC Bank, Infosys, ICICI Bank and Larsen & Toubro were the biggest drags for both headline indices.

NSE’s India VIX index — known in market parlance as the fear gauge — ended up 8.1 percent at 20.4, its biggest jump in two weeks.

Barring the Nifty PSU Bank, all sectoral gauges on NSE suffered losses. The Nifty Bank and Financial Services indices were down two percent and 2.6 percent respectively.

The Nifty Bank, Private Bank and Financial Services indices were the worst hit among sectoral gauges, closing between 2.1 percent and 2.6 percent lower. The Nifty FMCG index fell two percent.

The PSU banking barometer bucked the trend, finishing 0.9 percent higher, led by SBI (up 0.6 percent) and Bank of Baroda (5.6 percent) after both reported strong financial results for the December quarter.

Godrej Properties’ shares rose 3.7 percent after the real estate company cancelled plans to invest Rs 700 crore in DB Realty to acquire a 10 percent stake and set up a joint platform.

Around 130 stocks in the BSE 500 index — the broadest gauge on the bourse — finished in the green.

From the midcap and smallcap segments, Gujarat Narmada, CreditAccess, Gulf Oil, Shankara Building and Eveready, up 12-16 percent, were among the top gainers. On the other hand, Jubilant Life, Suntech Realty, DLink and Ujjivan Financial, down 6-10 percent, were among the losers.

Here are some key reasons behind the crash on Dalal Street:

Nervousness on interest rates: The RBI is due to conduct its bi-monthly policy review this week. The central bank’s meeting comes at a time when the Bank of England has hiked key rates for a second straight time and accelerating inflation stoked concerns about aggressive tightening by the Fed. The US central bank has already lined up rate hikes this year.

Inflation: Major central banks aim to tame inflation. contain inflation as they Business in India and the world have been struggling against higher input costs. Central banks use higher interest rates as a means to control inflation by slowing down the flow of money.

Until late October 2021, the Indian market had seen a near one-sided rally driven by liquidity. In 2022 so far, headline indices have come within 1.5 percent of those highs but only to retreat to lower levels.

Crude: High oil prices continue to spook investors. Benchmark Brent futures are hovering near a seven-year peak above $93 per barrel, boosted by tight global supply and steady improvement in fuel demand from the pandemic lows.

Catch latest stock market updates with CNBCTV18.com’s blog

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Top stock tips by Sudarshan Sukhani, Mitessh Thakkar: Sun Pharma, Dabur, PNB and more

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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Indian equity benchmarks are likely to start Monday’s session on a muted note amid weakness across most other Asian markets. At 8:46 am, Singapore Exchange (SGX) Nifty futures — an early indicator of the Nifty index — were down 66.5 points or 0.4 percent at 17,423.5.

Equities in other Asian markets mostly eased on Monday after strong US jobs data allayed concerns about the global economy though also added to the risk of aggressive tightening by the Fed. MSCI’s broadest index of Asia Pacific shares outside Japan was down 0.3 percent.

Japan’s Nikkei 225 was down 0.8 percent and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng down 0.6 percent. China’s Shanghai Composite was up 1.8 percent. South Korea’s KOSPI was down one percent, and Singapore’s Straits Times up 0.3 percent.

S&P 500 futures were down 0.2 percent. On Friday, Wall Street indices ended a choppy session on a mixed note, after Amazon’s positive earnings capped a run of mixed big tech numbers. The S&P 500 rose 0.5 percent and the technology stocks-heavy Nasadaq Composite surged 1.6 percent, though the Dow Jones slipped 0.1 percent.

CNBC-TV18’s in-house panel of experts has picked a list of stocks for investors to buy/sell in trade today. Here are the top buy-sell calls by market experts:

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Marketbuzz Podcast With Reema Tendulkar: Sensex, Nifty50 likely to open lower; SGX Nifty futures drop

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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Indian equity benchmarks Sensex and Nifty50 are likely to start Friday’s session on a weak note. At 8:53 am, Nifty futures trading on Singapore Exchange — an early indicator of NSE’s Nifty50 benchmark index in India — were down 22 points or 0.1 percent at 17,523.5.

About MarketBuzz: The CNBCTV18.com podcast on the big themes, vital news and key events that you should know before the opening bell, powered by CNBC-TV18 anchors. MarketBuzz is your daily morning briefing by CNBC-TV18 research analysts and anchors Sonia Shenoy, Ekta Batra, Anisha Jain, Nigel D’Souza and Mangalam Maloo to kickstart your stock market investing. Subscribe to our free podcasts on Audioboom or listen on the featured podcast page on CNBCTV18.com.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Marketbuzz Podcast With Reema Tendulkar: Sensex, Nifty50 likely to open higher tracking global markets

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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Indian equity benchmarks Sensex and Nifty50 are likely to start Thursday’s session on a positive note, a day after the RBI kept the key interest rates on hold and decided to continue with its ‘accommodative’ stance. At 8:52 am, Nifty futures trading on Singapore Exchange — an early indicator of NSE’s Nifty50 benchmark index in India — were up 83.5 points or 0.5 percent at 17,568.5.

About MarketBuzz: The CNBCTV18.com podcast on the big themes, vital news and key events that you should know before the opening bell, powered by CNBC-TV18 anchors. MarketBuzz is your daily morning briefing by CNBC-TV18 research analysts and anchors Sonia Shenoy, Ekta Batra, Anisha Jain, Nigel D’Souza and Mangalam Maloo to kickstart your stock market investing. Subscribe to our free podcasts on Audioboom or listen on the featured podcast page on CNBCTV18.com.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Stock Market Highlights: Sensex ends 157 points higher, Nifty reclaims 17,500; ITC up 5%, L&T 3%

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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Stock Market Highlights: Indian equity benchmarks Sensex and Nifty50 finished a choppy session higher on Thursday, managing to extend gains to the third day in a row. Gains in auto, metal and fast moving consumer goods stocks were offset by losses in financial shares. Broader markets also strengthened, with the Nifty Midcap 100 finishing 0.6 percent higher, and its smallcap counterpart rising 1.2 percent.

Catch highlights of the December 9 session, and more, here:

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

UPI limit for IPO, govt bonds hiked to Rs 5 lakh; how it will impact investors

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Wednesday said that it has enhanced the investment limit via United Payments Interface (UPI) in initial public offering (IPO) and RBI Retail Direct Scheme for G-Secs to Rs 5 lakh.

The current limit for the same is Rs 2 lakh for making investments.

With this move, retail investors will now be able to make UPI transactions of up to Rs 5 lakh for investments in IPO and for buying government bonds via RBI Retail Direct Scheme.

According to Vijay Singhania, Chairman at TradeSmart, this is an important step in widening the primary market investor base.

“Till date, the facility was available mainly to retail investors, who are categorized as those who invest up to Rs 2 lakh in an IPO. By increasing the limit, the market is now open to High Net Worth Individuals (HNIs). National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), the umbrella organization for retail payments, recently reported that over 7.6 million mandates were created in November compared with just 1.14 million in the preceding month. RBI’s move will help increase these numbers further,” Singhania said.

Notably, UPI has become the largest retail payment mechanism by volume in the country and has evolved into a simpler payment solution not just for retail requirements but also for regular recurring investments.

Also read | IPO investing: How to read key numbers, spot red flags in a draft prospectus

“Today, one can invest in everything from mutual funds to term and health insurance to even cryptocurrencies via UPI. The simplicity and security of UPI transactions is leading to higher adoption, and the RBI is doing its bit to support this by facilitating its use while investing in Retail Direct Scheme and IPO applications. The move reduces barriers to investing, and is expected to encourage better participation in such schemes,” said Adhil Shetty, CEO at Bankbazaar.

Echoing Shetty’s views, Anand Kumar Bajaj, Founder, MD and CEO at PayNearby said that recent announcement to enhance the transaction limit for payments through UPI will further deepen the reach of digital payments in the country and make them more inclusive, catapulting us towards a less-cash economy.

It is reported that transaction limit in the UPI system was enhanced from Rs 1 lakh to Rs 2 lakh in March 2020.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

RBI to allow UPI-based payments through feature phones; here’s what it means for you

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Wednesday said it will soon be launching Unified Payments Interface (UPI) based payment products for feature phone users. This means individuals will be able to make direct payments via UPI to other individuals via feature phones also.

Currently UPI cannot be used to make payments via feature phones.

Hailing the move, Bipin Preet Singh, Managing Director, Co-Founder, and CEO at MobiKwik said that the acceptance of UPI payments through feature phones is a welcome step by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI).

“It will widen the horizon of financial inclusion in India and enable digital footprint for masses, a prerequisite for evaluating the credit worthiness of an individual. It is a game changer of sorts for a common man in India who can now be eligible for other financial services such as buy now pay later, digital insurance, small ticket loans as well,” he said.

Seconding Singh’s views, Amit Kumar, Founder at GalaxyCard said enabling UPI on feature phones will be a big enabler for digital payments as they are highly penetrated in India.

As of now UPI has been working on smartphones with internet connection. However, a large number of people who have feature phones have been unable to carry out UPI transactions through using such phones.

RBI’s proposal to add a new feature to UPI will enable such feature phone users to carry out payment transactions.

Notably, feature phones have National Unified USSD Platform (NUUP) as an option for availing basic payment services using the short code of *99#, but the same has not picked up. These products, coupled with other complimentary solutions, will facilitate UPI-based digital payment solutions on feature phones to promote wider digitisation.

According to Ajay Chaurasia, Head of Product, RupeeRedee, UPI has accelerated the country’s move towards a cashless economy and considering a significant number of feature phone users in the country, RBI’s plans to launch UPI payment for feature phones will bring them to mainstream digital payments.

“Being the largest retail payment system in terms of volume of transactions, UPI works remarkably in replacing cash for low-value transactions. Strengthening the security and improving digital payment infrastructure for feature phones will allow a larger rollout of the service. In addition, it will help RBI to reach out to underserved populations or potential users located in low-connectivity areas by deploying cost-saving methods to provide increased access to digital payment methods. This, in turn, will help India achieve its national objective of financial inclusion by transforming the conventional way of making payments,” Chaurasia said.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

RBI monetary policy: Repo rate unchanged, here’s what experts say

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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The Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) Monetary Policy Review Committee on Wednesday kept repo rates unchanged, while maintaining its ‘accommodative’ stance.

An accommodative stance means that the RBI will cut rates to inject money into the financial system whenever needed. The repo rate stands unchanged at 4 percent, the reverse repo rate at 3.35 percent, the marginal standing facility and the bank rate have been maintained at 4.25 percent.

Aditya Narain of Edelweiss Securities, Amandeep Chopra of UTI MF, Abheek Barua of HDFC Bank, Anand Bagri of RBL Bank, Rajiv Anand of Axis, Taimur Baig of DBS Group Research and CS Setty of State Bank of India (SBI) shared their views on the same.

According to Setty, the liquidity management by RBI is on the expected lines.

“There are no surprises but it gives great confidence to us that the momentum which we have seen in the last two months particularly in Q2 will continue to be there,” he said.

Also Read: RBI maintains status quo: Here’s full speech of Governor Shaktikanta Das

Baig added that the central bank need not worry too much about inflation.

“If you think about the years 2020, 2021 and 2022, every successive year would be lower inflation. We are going from 6 to 5ish to 4ish into 2022, 2023,” he said.

It is a very dovish policy and the focus is around growth and growth impulses, said Anand.

“The intent should be to ensure that we get durable growth and on the back of that we start to see credit growth going forward. That is perhaps the intent of the RBI as well as we get into FY23,” he said.

Also Read: RBI says banks need no approval to infuse capital in branches, overseas arms

“We are going to continue to be in an environment where liquidity will be somewhere around Rs 6-8 lakh crore over the next 18-24 months. Therefore the challenge in front of RBI is to ensure that the short-end rates don’t move towards the reverse repo rates but rather stay close to the repo rate and at some point of time in FY23 we start to move the repo rate up albeit slowly,” he added.

“The fact that policy continues to prioritize growth, downplays inflation and there is no talk about the path to either tightening or rates increasing is fundamentally very comfortable for the markets,” said Narain.

Also Read | RBI policy: Shaktikanta Das proposes to enhance 14-day VRRR auction, re-establish it as main liquidity management operation

In terms of the pattern, RBI is clearly following the set path of reducing liquidity in system, said Chopra.

Barua said that this is a formal acknowledgement that the real monetary policy tool has nothing to do with what the MPC does.

“It is what is happening with liquidity management,” he said.

Liquidity management is going on an expected lines however there has been a little bit of spike in the liquidity in the last fortnight, said Soumya Kanti Ghosh, Group CEA at SBI.

For more, watch the accompanying video.

Click here for more updates on RBI monetary policy

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

RBI keeps repo rate on hold; why home loan borrowers should cheer

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Wednesday kept the repo rate unchanged at 4 percent in its monetary policy announcement, bringing cheers to millions of home loan borrowers. The status quo on the interest rate means that the low home loan interest rates regime will continue in the market and augur well for the housing sector and the real estate sector as a whole, experts said.

As we know, the repo rate is the interest rate the RBI charges commercials banks when they lend funds. So, when RBI keeps it unchanged, it expects the banks to keep it stable for end-consumers. This means the loans offered to the customers will see no change in interest rates, keeping the Equated Monthly Installments (EMI) static.

According to Yash Gupta, Equity Research Analyst at Angel One Ltd, the home loan rates currently are between 6.5 percent-8 percent and these are one of the lowest home loan rates in history.

“The same should stay for some more time. This works well for all home loan borrowers as the environment of affordability will continue,” said Anuj Puri, Chairman at ANAROCK Group.

Echoing Puri’s views, Dhaval Ajmera, Director of Ajmera Realty and Infra India Ltd said that with a low loan interest rate regime, the home sales velocity witnessed across key Indian cities will continue on an upward trajectory.

Suren Goel, Partner, RPS Group further said that it is perhaps the best time to buy a dream home as interest rate along with house pricing is one of the biggest influencers.

According to Ramani Sastri – Chairman & MD, Sterling Developers Pvt. Ltd, the RBI’s decision on keeping the repo rate unchanged will certainly bode well for all interest-sensitive sectors ahead of the New Year when the economy is on its road to recovery.

“For home buyers, this decision will help reinstate confidence and further access to affordable home loans and help foster housing demand. It has also helped the sector to regain its strength as well as stay afloat during these unprecedented times,” he said.

Sastri said that the homebuyers should take advantage of the current situation because there are chances that the prices might go upwards later on account of reducing supply and the pressure of increased costs of raw materials.

“There has been a fundamental change in buyers’ expectations and attitude towards homeownership, which has already resulted in the residential real estate sector performing exceedingly well across all segments in the post-COVID-era. We are also seeing a lot of first-time homebuyers, who were not able to reach a decision earlier are eager to conclude the deal now. Real estate is definitely an asset class that one must remain invested in today and in the long term and looking ahead, we do believe that markets will see sustained growth,” he added.

Going forward, added Atul Monga, CEO and Co-founder, BASIC Home loan, the focus remains that how long can these rates be sustained with keeping inflation in check.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

RBI Policy Highlights: Key rates on hold; Shaktikanta Das promises continued support for economy, says core inflation a concern

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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RBI Monetary Policy Highlights | Governor Shaktikanta Das announced the Monetary Policy Committee’s decision to hold the key interest rates at existing levels.  Currently, the repo rate stands unchanged at four percent, and the reverse repo rate at 3.35 percent. The MPC voted 5:1 to continue with its ‘accommodative’ stance. The RBI revised its consumer inflation forecasts. It now expects retail inflation at 5.1 percent in Q3, and 5.7 percent in Q4, but has maintained its FY22 projection at 5.3 percent. The RBI retained its real GDP growth forecast at 9.5 percent for FY22.

Catch highlights of the December 8 RBI policy here:

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow