– RBI against dropping card storage clause
– Airtel files review petition on AGR dues
– Vodafone clears licence fee dues for Q1
– Jet Airways employees move NCLT
Now lemme give you a quick glance on the state of the markets.
Dalal Street is likely to have a muted start this morning. Nifty futures on the Singapore Exchange traded some 8 points higher at 8:30 hours (IST). Asian markets opened mostly lower on Friday in cautious trade after Wall Street shares closed flat with investors eyeing increasing virus cases.
Elsewhere, the yield on 10-year Treasuries was at 1.24%. The dollar hovered near a 9-1/2-month high against major peers on Friday led by fears that the Delta coronavirus variant could delay the global economic recovery. Oil prices came off three-month lows but were on track for a weekly decline of around 6 per cent as new lockdowns in countries with low vaccination rates facing surging cases of the Delta variant dimmed the outlook for fuel demand.
That said, here’s what is making news.
Infrastructure Investment Trusts, or InvITs, are increasingly becoming a popular asset class among rich investors, who are looking at options beyond the low-yielding traditional debt instruments. With more than 90% of the income generated required to be distributed as per existing regulations, wealth advisors are asking their well-heeled clients to buy InvITs, which could return 8-10% on an annualised basis.
Among various infrastructure segments, roads received the highest government projects worth Rs 22,200 crore in January-July 2021. This was three times compared to the corresponding period of the previous year. The allocation along with improving execution, increasing labour availability, and timely release of payments by the government augur well for the road construction companies.
The stock of Fortis Healthcare has generated a meagre 7% annual return over the past five years compared with 28% earned by its larger peer Apollo Hospitals. However, scenario may improve given the efforts of the new management of Fortis to turn around the business and overall uptick in the healthcare sector as the proportion of high margin, non-Covid revenue improves. Analysts expect an occupancy rate of over 65% in the coming quarters, similar to that in the June quarter.
LASTLY,
Siddhartha Lal’s reappointment as managing director of Eicher Motors Ltd has been voted down by shareholders. Sources told ET that they were basically against a proposal to increase his salary by 10% as it outpaced the company’s revenue and profit growth last year amid the Covid-19 pandemic.
NOW Before I go, here is a look at some of the stocks buzzing this morning…
Vodafone Idea (Vi) said it has cleared its licence fee dues for the first quarter of the current fiscal, refuting a media report that had claimed the loss-making telco had delayed the payment.
ONGC has invited bids for partnerships from private players for its 43 small producing fields with an aim to enhance their output.
Ujjivan Small Finance Bank on Thursday said that its managing director and chief executive officer Nitin Chugh has tendered his resignation. The resignation will come into effect from September 30, 2021.
IndiGo has said it will resume flights to Dubai from early Friday. The carrier had faced a three-day ban by Dubai authorities for having flown a person to the city state without the mandatory negative Covid test report.
Do also check out over two dozen stock recommendations for today’s trade from top analysts on ETMarkets.com.
That’s it for now. Stay with us for all the market news through the day. Happy investing!
