Business News at 05:30 pm on 15th April, 2024

Let’s begin with the major update as tensions continue to escalate across West Asia as the conflict between Iran and Israel sees no resolution. Decidedly this has a domino impact on global asset classes. Be it commodities like crude and gold or equity markets, there is a definitive sense of caution and risk aversion. What should be your strategy and what’s the outlook for the market? Investors should guard themselves as uncertainty is high. They can look at IT stocks as TCS posted better-than-expected results and a promising outlook for FY25. Also, banking stocks will show strength due to fair valuation and since their results will be good, said V K Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist at Geojit Financial Services. “In other news – Apple saw a significant decline in global iPhone shipments in the first quarter of 2024, dropping by nearly 10 percent compared to the same period last year, according to a report from the International Data Corporation. Cupertino shipped 50.1 million units, down from 55.4 million in the previous year, marking the “sharpest” decline among the top five smartphone brands. Samsung reclaimed the top position in the market, regaining its lead from Apple, with a 20.8 percent market share and 60.1 million units shipped, consistent with its overall performance in the previous year. Meanwhile, Apple’s market share fell to 17.3 percent from 20.7 percent in the first quarter of 2023.” Moving on – Happiest Minds Technologies Limited on Monday announced that it has partnered with MindSculpt Analytics, a healthcare solutions company, for reshaping the science of exploration of complex data to deliver tailored medical diagnostics solutions leveraging advanced artificial intelligence and machine learning techniques. Happiest Minds, with its technology, bioinformatics, and data science expertise, has been chosen by MindSculpt Analytics to build this preventive and diagnostics platform. The focus of the current engagement is to build a holistic health portrait of the individual and over time leverage this for an early and accurate diagnosis and personalized treatments of multiple ailments that include a range of age and neuro-related diseases. The project, it added, seeks to deliver precise mapping of individuals’ physiology. “Meanwhile – Adani Group owned-Ambuja Cements on Monday announced that it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire My Home Group’s 1.5 MTPA Cement Grinding Unit in Tuticorin, Tamil Nadu. The acquisition, it added, is estimated at a total value of Rs 413.75 crore through internal accruals will aid in enhancing the coastal footprint across southern markets of Tamil Nadu and Kerala. The total cement capacity of Adani Group stands at 78.9 MTPA. “The asset spread across 61 acres of land, conveniently located near the Tuticorin Port with a long-term fly ash agreement will be value accretive from the beginning,” the company said in a regulatory filing. This acquisition will provide Ambuja Cements access to the southern market customers.” “Up next – Indians have a habit of looking at a vehicle’s registration plate first, and every now and then, some even shell out way more than their vehicle to get a fancy number. However, every once in a while, we see a plate that’s completely out of the ordinary. This is mostly the Bharat series number plate. For those wondering what this is, here’s a detailed explanation, and how you can get one. The Bharat number plate, or the BH plate, was introduced in August 2021 and eliminates the need to re-register a vehicle when moving to a different state. For example, if a vehicle is registered in Delhi (DL) and when the owner moves to Mumbai, the DL registration is valid for 12 months in Mumbai.” “Moving ahead – Byju’s CEO Arjun Mohan has stepped down from his position after serving for approximately seven months. The news was confirmed to FE Education by Mohan himself. Founder Byju Raveendran will now take responsibility for running daily operations of the EdTech company. Mohan form now on, will play the role of an external advisory, where he will lend his deep edTech expertise to the company and its founders during this transformation phase. This move comes approximately 10 months after Byju’s appointed Mohan, the former CEO of upGrad, as the CEO of its international business, marking a notable shift in the edtech industry’s top leadership.” Lastly, the stock market. The benchmark equity indices closed in negative territory on April 15. The NSE Nifty 50 lost 241 points or 1.07% to close at 22,277.85, while the BSE Sensex pulled back 860 points or 1.16% to finish at 73,383.11. Nifty Bank dropped 817 points or 1.68% to close at 47,747.45. ONGC, Hindalco, Maruti Suzuki, Nestle India, and Britannia were the top gainers in the Nifty 50. While Shriram Finance, Bajaj Finserv, Wipro, ICICI Bank, and Eicher Motors were the key losers during the later hours in the Nifty 50 on April 15.