– Govt may restructure role of Niti Aayog
– RBI wants tax sops for Retail Direct Scheme investments
– Tata Steel revives plans to sell Thailand biz
– No consensus yet on treatment of cryptocurrency
Now lemme give you a quick glance on the state of the markets.
Asian stocks opened mostly higher on Monday following Wall Street gains, as investors digested data showing a worse-than-expected contraction of Japan’s economy in the Covid-hit third quarter. MSCI’s index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was up by 0.37 per cent.
Elsewhere, the yield on 10-year Treasuries was at 1.56%. The dollar hovered below an almost 16-month high versus major peers on Monday, as traders awaited fresh clues on the US economy after bringing forward last week bets for a Federal Reserve interest rate hike on the back of red-hot inflation. Oil prices had a tougher week, hit by a strengthening dollar and speculation that President Joe Biden’s administration might release oil from the U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve.
That said, here’s what is making news.
RBI is likely to approach the Centre to secure tax benefits for retail investments in sovereign securities under the Retail Direct Scheme (RDS), which takes India into an elite club of nations democratising ownership of government debt. Tax exemptions, people familiar with the matter told ET, have the potential to burnish the allure of the scheme.
Amid a crypto craze, fuelled by an ad blitz, it is unclear how cryptocurrencies are entering India to meet spiralling demand. With no rules on disclosure of holdings, no one knows the total stock of cryptos in all the e-wallets of investors and how many have been bought locally. There is a growing perception that instead of an outright ban like that in China, crypto trading in some form and with certain controls may be allowed in India.
India Inc sustained momentum in revenue and profit for the September quarter helped by a gradual recovery in economic activities. But, profitability was at a five-quarter low amid rising commodity inflation and a low cost base in the year-ago quarter, which was marred by the first wave of the pandemic. Revenue of a common sample of 2,801 companies that declared results in each of the past 13 quarters increased year-on-year by 27.1% in the second quarter while net profit rose by 44.8%.
LASTLY,
CLSA has called for booking profits in Indian equities citing rich valuations, margin pressure and a high probability of earnings disappointment. The firm has cut its exposure to the country’s stocks joining the likes of Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs, UBS and Nomura, which have recently downgraded their ratings here.
NOW Before I go, here is a look at some of the stocks buzzing this morning…
Nykaa saw a 63% year- on-year and 10% sequential growth in gross merchandise value (GMV) for the quarter ended September 30, said FSN E-Commerce Ventures Ltd, the parent entity of the newly listed beauty e-tailer said in regulatory filings late on Sunday.
Tata Steel has revived plans to sell its Thailand business as the company looks to exit less profitable overseas units in the ongoing supercycle, said senior group officials aware of the developments.
Manappuram Finance reported an 8.8 per cent decline in its consolidated net profit to Rs 369.88 crore in the quarter ended in September 2021 due to lower income. The non-banking finance company had posted a net profit of Rs 405.44 crore in the July-September quarter of 2020-21.
Garden Reach Shipbuilders and Engineers Ltd on Saturday reported a 56 per cent jump in its net profit to Rs 58.79 crore in the second quarter of the current fiscal. The warship maker had posted a profit of Rs 37.69 crore in the year-ago period.
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!
