Business News at 05:30 pm on 16th November 2023

A softer-than-expected inflation in the US and UK, which could signal a dovish stance from central bankers, drove indices across the world on Wednesday. For Indian investors, the good news was that investor wealth hit an all-time high of Rs 325.38 trillion on Wednesday, an increase of Rs 3.27 trillion from Monday. The positive global cues, which saw the Dow Jones rallying by over 2%, also sent the Indian benchmark indices rising over 1%. The Sensex climbed 742 points to close at 65,675.93, while the Nifty 50 gained about 232 points, or 1.19% to close at 19,675.45. Intraday, the Sensex jumped 814 points while Nifty 50 climbed about 250 points. Realty, IT and technology stocks pushed the rally in the benchmarks. Meanwhile, Durable companies selling television sets, air conditioners, washing machines and refrigerators have closed this year’s festive season between October and November, with around 25-30% sales growth, led by urban demand, spurred by lucrative offers as well as the need to upgrade. Online platforms, according to Unicommerce, saw a growth of 37% during the festive period this year versus 22% seen last year. Companies such as Godrej, LG, Blue Star and Voltas said that the share of online within durables is about 12-15% versus offline’s share of 85%, in part because consumers are driven to touch, feel and experience products themselves before making a purchase. Products such as side-by-side refrigerators and full-automatic washing machines have also seen good traction this year. Moving on, The Reserve Bank of India on Wednesday barred Bajaj Finance to stop sanction and disbursals of its two products—‘eCOM’ and ‘Insta EMI Card’–with immediate effect due to non-compliance with the regulator’s digital lending guidelines, according to a statement. RBI said the non-banking finance company failed to issue ‘Key Fact Statements’ to the borrowers under these two lending products, and also found deficiencies in the Key Fact Statements already issued by Bajaj Finance in other digital loans that were sanctioned by the NBFC. Bajaj Finance’s mobile application had 16.74 million downloads during Q2FY24, up 33 percent YoY, whereas it offered 134 different programs or features on the app, higher than 87 in the similar period last fiscal. Next up…After cereals, retail inflation in pulses category is expected to remain at elevated levels till early next fiscal despite the government selling surplus stocks in the market and duty-free imports. Officials said that the prospects of a lower output of arhar and chana varieties have pushed up mandis prices which are currently ruling above the MSP. The modal retail prices of tur and chana according to the department of consumer affairs rose by 33 percent and 14 percent to Rs 80 per kg and Rs 160 per kg respectively on Wednesday compared to prices prevailing six months back. Chana prices in the Delhi wholesale mandi are currently ruling Rs 6423 per quintal. In other news, Infosys co-founder NR Narayana Murthy on Wednesday said India must invest 1 billion US Dollar annually for 20 years to train teachers to accelerate the National Education Policy. Murthy was delivering a lecture at the Infosys Prize 2023 ceremony hosted by Infosys Science Foundation.Explaining that it will not financially burden the country, he said, “Our nation, targeting a GDP of 5 trillion US Dollar soon, will not find it a big financial burden.” Quoting Derek Bok, a former president of Harvard University, Murthy said, “If you think education is expensive, try ignorance.” Batting for better salaries to researchers and teachers, he also said that “we must also provide better facilities to our researchers. We must honour them”. Now, the ongoing Israel-Gaza conflict is a worrying manifestation of geopolitical challenges for the India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor, finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman said on Wednesday, echoing the views expressed by US President Joe Biden. Addressing the Indo-Pacific Regional Dialogue here, Sitharaman said India is expected to overtake Japan and Germany to emerge as the third-largest economy in the world by 2027. Backed by the US, the IMEC was signed at the 18th G-20 Summit held in New Delhi this year and marked the culmination of India’s G-20 Presidency. The IMEC is seen an alternative and a challenge to China’s Belt and Road initiative. Lastly, GIFT Nifty traded up 50 points or 0.25% at 19,767.5, indicating a positive opening for domestic indices NSE Nifty 50 and BSE Sensex on Thursday. Previously, on Wednesday, the NSE Nifty 50 soared 231.90 points or 1.19% to settle at 19,675.45, while the BSE Sensex jumped 742.06 points or 1.14% to 65,675.93. Rupak De, Senior Technical analyst at LKP Securities said that Nifty has witnessed a robust upward movement, propelled by a strong global equity market sentiment, particularly following a gap-up opening. let’s see the stocks that you need to watch out today. These include Fortis Healthcare, Bajaj Finance, ONGC, Suzlon Energy, Siemens, One97 Communications among others.