Business News at 05:30 pm on 3rd March 2023

Let’s begin with the market. Adani Group stocks surged today with the flagship firm Adani Enterprises share price hitting the upper circuit, after US investment firm GQG purchased stakes worth $1.87 billion in four group firms. GQG is one of the world’s leading Global and Emerging Markets investors, which manages more than $92 billion in client assets. Out of the total amount of Rs 15,446 crore invested by GQG, Rs 5,460 crore went to Adani Enterprises; Rs 5,282 crore to Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone Ltd; Rs 1,898 crore to Adani Transmission; and Rs 2,806 crore to Adani Green Energy. Due to this deal, foreign institutional investors turned net buyers in the Indian share market on Thursday, purchasing shares worth a net Rs 12,771 crore.

Meanwhile, It’s not a steady sail for Elon Musk. After losing $1.9 billion in a single day in wealth, Elon Musk lost his spot as the world’s richest person only 48 hours after he reclaimed the title from Bernard Arnault. Earlier last week, he retook the number one spot with the net worth at an estimated $187.1 billion. However, the shares of Tesla fell by more than 5 per cent on Wednesday, trimming Elon Musk’s net worth by nearly $2 billion. His current net worth right now is $184 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. The world’s richest person now is Bernard Arnault, the CEO of LVMH, who has a fortune of $186 billion.

Over to industry. India’s largest power producer NTPC Ltd., is making a rare move to buy domestic coal in the spot market, underscoring rising concerns about a potential squeeze on summer energy supply, as per a Bloomsberg report. The state-owned generator plans to issue a tender for 3 million tons in the next week or so, according to people familiar with the plan, who asked not to be named as the information isn’t yet public. NTPC didn’t immediately respond to an emailed request for comment. India is bracing for another summer of grueling heat that’s likely to push power demand to a record and pressure the country’s grid, which relies on coal for about 70% of electricity generation.

Moving on. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell will testify before two committees next week. The main concerns will probably center on whether or not the Fed’s more pronounced rate increases will cause the US economy to enter a recession. Incidentally, nine of the last 12 cycles of interest rate increases by the Federal Reserve since the 1950s have resulted in recessions. The National Bureau of Economic Research is the official agency to declare a recession if it happens. On Tuesday, March 7, at 10 AM, Powell will give a testimony on ‘The Semiannual Monetary Policy Report’ to Congress at the Hart Senate Office Building 216. The Committee on Banking, Housing, And Urban Affairs will meet in an open session, hybrid format to conduct a hearing in which Powell will be the witness.

On to the defence sector. The foreign ministers of Quad countries today reaffirmed the grouping’s commitment for a free and open Indo-Pacific, and said it strongly supports the principles of rule of law, sovereignty and territorial integrity and peaceful settlement of disputes. The Quad foreign ministers carried out a comprehensive review of the situation in the Indo-Pacific at a meeting presided over by External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and attended by US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, his Japanese counterpart Yoshimasa Hayashi and Australia’s Penny Wong. The meeting came in the backdrop of growing global concerns over increasing Chinese assertiveness in the region.

Next up, the automobile sector. 2023 started on a high as the auto industry registered a two-digit rise in volumes in January 2023. Now for the corresponding month, February has continued the ripple effect registering positive passenger vehicle sales as car and SUV sales have crossed 3 lakh units for FY2023. According to sources, passenger vehicle sales stood at 3.35 lakh units in February 2023 recording a growth of 10.6 percent over 3.03 lakh units in the year-ago period. This is the highest sales volume for the segment during February.

Lastly, the share market. Indian benchmark equity indices ended the last trading session of the week broadly in green. The NSE Nifty 50 surged 272.45 points or 1.57% to 17,594.35 and BSE Sensex skyrocketed 899.62 pts or 1.53% to 59,808.97. Bank Nifty climbed 861.55 pts or 2.13% to 41,251.35 and PSU Bank soared 203.40 pts or 5.40% to 3,970.15. The top gainers on Nifty 50 were Adani Enterprises, Adani Ports, State Bank of India, Bharti Airtel and SBI Life while the top losers were Tech Mahindra, UltraTech Cement, Cipla, Divis Lab and Nestle India.