>> Elon Musk dethrones Jeff Bezos as the world’s richest
>> SIP investors strike gold in mutual funds
>> LIC makes a killing on D-Street
AND
>> Petrol prices hit all-time high
And there is more. But first, a quick glance at the state of the markets..
>> Nifty futures on the Singapore Exchange traded 32 points higher at 8 am (IST), signalling a positive bias on Dalal Street.
ELSEWHERE
>> Asian stocks followed their US peers higher Friday as investors focused on the prospect of more stimulus. Japan’s Topix rose 0.7%, Australia’s S&P200 climbed 0.4%, South Korea’s Kospi rose 2.1%, Hang Seng added 0.4% but Shanghai Composite dipped 0.3%.
>> Stocks rose on Wall Street overnight. The Dow climbed 0.69%, the S&P500 1.48% and the Nasdaq 2.56%.
IN CURRENCIES
>> The rupee dived 20 paise to settle at 73.31 against the US dollar on Thursday, tracking muted domestic equities and a rebound in the American currency.
>> The dollar held on to its biggest gain in more than two months against major peers. The Aussie dollar was mostly flat. The euro declined 0.2% and the Japanese yen 0.1%.
>> Bitcoin traded 0.2% lower at $39,418 after smashing through $40,000 for the first time on Thursday and soaring as high as $40,420
IN OIL MARKET
>> Oil traders continued to focus on the Saudi pledge to deepen production cuts. Brent crude settled 8 cents up at $54.38 a barrel while WTI crude rose 0.4% to $51.01
AND IN BULLION
>> Spot gold price fell 0.3% to $1,913.87 an ounce in international markets. Back home, gold price plunged by Rs 714 to Rs 50,335 per 10 gm in Delhi while silver dipped by Rs 386 to Rs 69,708 a kg
All in all, the trade setup on Dalal Street looked positive. On Thursday, Nifty formed a ‘Bearish Belt Hold’ candle on the daily chart in a negative formation.
LET ME NOW GIVE YOU A HEADS-UP on some of the top news we are tracking at this hour.
… Elon Musk, the outspoken entrepreneur behind Tesla Inc. and SpaceX, is now the richest person on the planet. A 4.8% rally in the electric carmaker’s share price Thursday boosted Musk past Amazon.com Inc. founder Jeff Bezos on the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, a ranking of the world’s 500 wealthiest people. Musk’s net worth was $188.5 billion at 10:15 am in New York, $1.5 billion more than Bezos, who has held the top spot since October 2017. The milestone caps an extraordinary 12 months for Musk.
… A considerable minority on D-Street who stuck to their SIPs right through the Covid-induced carnage are now reaping rich rewards. For the record, investors have earned an average annualised returns of 13-14% on their SIPs for the past five years. Over three years, the return is even higher at 17-19%. These returns are sharply higher than what would be major losses at the end of FY20.
LIC is on course to register its best-ever annual equity returns. It raised stock purchases by 60% in the first nine months of the fiscal as its enormous cash flows helped the insurer bet on a bright future when the rest of the investing community panicked. The insurance behemoth purchased equities worth Rs 64,801 crore in the first nine months of the fiscal year up to the first week of January against Rs 40,510 crore made in the same period last year.
… TCS is expected to sustain the revenue momentum in the December 2020 quarter following a pick-up in business activities. Net profit without considering one-off legal expenses in the previous quarter may show weakness in the third quarter given the salary increase and unfavourable currency movements. The management commentary on deal momentum, pricing and major verticals will be crucial. The country’s largest software exporter is slated to declare results on Friday evening.
… Petrol prices shot to an all-time high on Thursday, going past Rs 84 in Delhi, as state companies raised rates to align with the recent rise in the international market. State oil companies are expected to daily revise domestic rates of petrol and diesel in line with changes in international prices but have often avoided so in the past year. Rates have remained static for months and then changed daily for several days, making domestic price patterns harder to predict.
LASTLY, AN UPDATE ON ALL THE STOCKS BUZZING THIS MORNING
>> Vodafone Idea has moved the Supreme Court for a modification on orders that upheld Rs 58,400 crore claimed by the telecom department as final AGR dues, pointing out errors in the government’s calculations
>> JP Morgan remains overweight on Tata Steel, JSW Steel and SAIL amid strong domestic steel pricing environment and strong earnings outlook.
>> Analysts say Radico Khaitan is on the verge of a multi-year breakout and the stock is headed for a rally toward Rs 600 from the current price of Rs 487.
>> CLSA said there are fears of earnings downgrades for RIL as about 70% of the 84% EPS growth over two years comes from the telecom tariff hikes and refining margin rebound, which are uncertain.
That’s it for now. For all the market news through the day, do track ETMarkets.com. Have a great day ahead! Bye-bye
