Share Market highlights: Sensex ends 135 points down, Nifty below 11,300; IndusInd Bank, Bajaj Finance top losers

IndiGo promoters Rakesh Gangwal and Rahul Bhatia have finally held out an olive branch, ending a months-long dispute between them, a news channel reported. While the finer details of the truce are awaited, Gangwal and Bhatia have arrived at an agreement after the public spat, sources told CNBC-TV18. In the board meeting held on July 19 and 20, along with considerations on April-June earnings of the airline, the matter between Gangwal and Bhatia was also discussed. The promoters have finally settled on operational issues and airline strategy, the sources told the news channel.

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Recruiters are bullish about adding staff to their payrolls in next six months of this year, and the maximum hiring is expected to be in the experience band of three-five years, a report said on Wednesday. According to leading job site Naukri.com’s bi-annual survey titled Naukri Hiring Outlook July–December 2019, 78 per cent recruiters surveyed are anticipating hiring activity in the next six months, as against 70 per cent in the corresponding period last year.

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Team India cricket captain Virat Kohli is the only Indian in the Instagram sports ‘rich list’ in 2019. Incidentally, Kohli is also the only cricketer to feature in the list. For a second year in a row, Portugal football star Cristiano Ronaldo has topped the coveted list published by HopperHQ.com. According to the data on the site, Kohli charges $196,000 (Rs 1.35 crore) for every post that the athelete makes on the picture-sharing social media site. Kohli, who led India to the semifinal at the recently concluded ICC World Cup 2019, has over 36 million followers on Instagram.

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Shares of private sector airline Interglobe Aviation gained on Wednesday afternoon, following reports that the promoters have reached a truce. IndiGo share price jumped by nearly 1% to hit the day's high at Rs 1,547.35. The stock gained nearly 6% from lows after CNBC TV18 reported that promoters have called a truce, citing sources. Finer details of the agreement between promoters are being worked out, said the channel further. 

US regulators are expected to unveil Wednesday a settlement with Facebook – a reported USD 5 billion fine that might be the least painful part of the agreement for the social network. The deal, which follows a lengthy investigation by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), allows Facebook to avoid prosecution for its data protection lapses. The real question, however, remains what type of restrictions and requirements will be placed on the internet giant to ensure future compliance. CEO and founder Mark Zuckerberg holds a firm grasp on the reins of Facebook, which has some 2.7 billion users, and he will be held personally responsible for implementation of the settlement, according to The Wall Street Journal.

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The owner of Jet Airways headquarters in Mumbai has moved NCLT, asking for the removal of Jet Airways’ Resolution Professional from the premises of HQ Siroya House, according to some media reports. Since the airline has not paid dues after the month of March, the license for space occupancy has been terminated, Luckystar Property Holdings, the legal owner of the premises, Siroya, told the Mumbai bench of National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT). The license was terminated early in June as Jet Airways defaulted on payments for April and May, the media reports said. Jet Airways had temporarily suspended its operation on April 17. 

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The Indian IT industry is an important stakeholder in promoting business relations between India and the US as it contributes to the competitiveness of global operations of American companies and creates thousands of jobs in the US, Indian envoy Harsh Vardhan Shringla has said. Participating in a discussion on ‘America’s Highly Skilled Workforce, the Talent Pipeline, and H-1B Visas’ organised here by Wilson Centre’s Asia Programme and NASSCOM, Shringla on Tuesday said the Indian IT companies have invested billions of dollars across many states in the US. “The Indian IT industry has been an important stakeholder in promoting and supporting stronger bilateral business relations between our two countries,” the Indian Ambassador to the US said.

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India, which is home to more young people than any other country, is running out of time to harness the potential of its youth to drive economic growth. The nation’s population in the under-19 age group has already peaked, government data show. That means the labour force will grow more slowly from here on out. In just over 20 years, the South Asian nation will be an ageing society, similar to where China is now, according to the Economic Survey published by the Finance Ministry earlier this month.

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Supreme Court’s decision to revoke the license of real estate major Amrapali Group will not only help hundreds of stranded homebuyers but also have a positive impact on the domestic housing sector, experts said. The verdict would now clear the road ahead for the financially sound and ethical real estate developers to come up, Anuj Puri, chairman of Anarock Property Consultants told Financial Express Online. “Several homebuyers will now get significant relief as they now have an assurance that their homes will be delivered, and also will not have to bear the extra burden of the pending statutory dues. With NBCC given the charge to complete all the projects in question, buyers are being shown real light at the end of a long, dark tunnel,” he added.

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Billionaire Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Industries has toppled PSU giant IOC for the first time ever to emerge as the highest ranked Indian firm on Fortune 500 list. Until now, PSU major Indian Oil Corp (IOC) had been the top-ranked Indian company on the list since 2010, when the list was first compiled. "This year, ranked 106, Reliance Industries (RIL) has replaced IOC (117) as the top-ranked Indian company on the Global 500 list," Fortune said. Notably, Reliance Industries' revenue has increased by 32.1% from $62.3 billion in 2018 to $82.3 billion in 2019, according to Forbes. In comparison, IOC's witnessed a 17.7% growth in revenue from $65.9 billion to $77.6 billion in the same period. "Over the past 10 years, RIL's revenue rose at a compounded annual growth rate of 7.2% from $41.1 billion in 2010, while that of IOC rose at 3.64% from $54.3 billion in 2010," Forbes noted.

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After opening higher, the headline indices Sensex and Nifty pared gains on Wednesday morning tracking global cues. The Sensex is down 230 points to 37,753 while the Nifty is trading below the 11,250-mark. Yes Bank, HDFC shares are among the biggest gainers, jumping up to 3%. L&T, M&M are down by more than 1% each. A look at LIVE Sensex heatmap.

The Indian currency Rupee opened lower at 69.09 a dollar against the previous close of 68.94 a dollar on Wednesday amid sustained selling by foreign institutional investors.  Yesterday, the Rupee ended marginally lower amid strengthening of the US dollar against major currencies and continuous foreign fund outflows. Rupee ended at 68.94 per dollar against the last settlement of 68.9125 per dollar on Tuesday.  “USD-INR trading range for the day is 68.79-69.17. The rupee traded in range on selling by exporters but oil bids and a strong greenback may support,” said Kedia Advisory.

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The International Monetary Fund (IMF) on Tuesday cut India’s FY20 growth forecast by 30 bps to 7 per cent, owing to weaker-than-expected outlook for domestic demand. Similarly, the FY21 forecast has been slashed by 30 bps to 7.2 per cent. However, India would continue to remain the fastest growing major economy globally, ahead of China, the global financial institution said. “India’s economy is set to grow at 7.0 per cent in 2019, picking up to 7.2 per cent in 2020. The downward revision of 0.3 percentage point for both years reflects a weaker-than expected outlook for domestic demand,” the IMF said. The growth in emerging markets and developing economies is seen rising to 4.7 per cent in 2020 as against 4.8 per cent earlier.

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Japanese car giant Nissan plans to cut more than 10,000 jobs around the world as part of efforts to turn itself around, Japanese media said Wednesday, citing company sources. The cuts come after Nissan announced in May that it would trim 4,800 jobs from its global workforce of around 1,39,000. Nissan’s net profit fell to a near-decade low in the last business year and it has already warned of “a difficult business environment” for the next 12 months. The company is due to announce first-quarter earnings on Thursday and a Nissan spokesman said there would be no comment on the reports before then.

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The headline indices Sensex and Nifty opened higher on Wednesday morning tracking global cues. The Sensex is up 100 points to 38,082, while the Nifty is trading near the 11,350-mark. Yes Bank, HDFC shares are among the biggest gainers, jumping up to 3%. L&T, M&M are down by more than 1% each. A look at LIVE Sensex heatmap.

Ola’s workforce of over 7,000 employees is the key to the interesting phase that it is going through wherein it is expanding services globally, penetrating deeper within India with new product innovations, and adding more verticals to our business, said Srinivas Chunduru, Group Chief Human Resource Officer at Ola. Chunduru describes how holistic is the company’s engagement with employees across its business levels to ensure that all its policies and practices resonate with its employees globally. “All policies and people initiatives are developed keeping in mind the financial, physical and emotional well-being and fall under our signature programme Ola Edge,” he said elaborating more on how its people are central to its global growth in interaction with Financial Express Online.

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Oil prices rose on Wednesday, extending gains after an industry group reported a much bigger than expected drop in U.S. inventories, while the U.S. Navy said it may have downed a second Iranian drone last week. Brent crude futures were up 24 cents, or 0.4%, at $64.07 a barrel by 0049 GMT, after rising nearly 1% on Tuesday. U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude were up 22 cents, or 0.4%, a barrel, having risen about 1% in the previous session.

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Gold prices edged higher on Wednesday, recovering from a one-week low touched in the previous session, on expectations of an interest rate cut by the U.S. Federal Reserve and escalating tensions in the Middle East.  Spot gold was up 0.2% at $1,420.40 per ounce as of 0128 GMT, after hitting its lowest since July 17 at $1,413.80 in the previous session. U.S. gold futures were steady at $1,420.80 an ounce.

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As part of its efforts to strengthen strategic alliances between the US and the Indian IT industry, the National Association of Software and Services Companies (NASSCOM) recently took a delegation of SMEs to the US to help them explore the possibilities of entering the American market. Said to be a one-of-its-kind engagements programme, the delegation of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) visited several states, including New Jersey, North Carolina, Ohio, Michigan and Texas, from July 15 to 22.

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The S&P 500 and Nasdaq approached record highs on Tuesday, lifted by upbeat quarterly reports from Coca-Cola and United Technologies and on optimism the United States would resolve its trade conflict with China. Stocks extended gains late in the session after Bloomberg reported that U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer would travel to Shanghai next week for face-to-face trade meetings with Chinese officials. White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow told reporters on Tuesday the in-person talks to resolve the U.S.-China trade deal were a good sign.

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