Page 1585 - Business Finance
Zara owner Inditex hit by FX swings and warm weather
MADRID (Reuters) - Zara owner Inditex missed sales and profit forecasts on Wednesday, hit by adverse currency moves and an unusually warm September, leading investors to wipe more than $5 billion off the fashion retailer's market value at one stage.
Sensex soars 630 points, Nifty reclaims 10,700-mark
Benchmark indices defied gravity for the second straight session Wednesday as investors gave a thumbs-up to the prompt appointment of former bureaucrat Shaktikanta Das as the new RBI Governor. The BSE Sensex zoomed 629.06 points, or 1.79 per cent, to end at 35,779.07, while the broader NSE Nifty rallied 188.45 points, or 1.79 per cent, to 10,737.60. All the 30 Sensex stocks as well as BSE sectoral indices finished with gains, led by realty, auto, metal, capital goods and financial counters. Major gainers in the Sensex pack were Hero Motocorp, which rallied 7.01 per cent, followed by Bharti Airtel (6.69 per cent), Yes Bank (5.30 per cent), Adani Ports (4.90 per cent), Tata Steel (3.75 per cent) and Bajaj Auto (3.70 per cent). Analysts said the quick appointment of the new RBI governor and expectations of more steps to ease the liquidity situation bolstered trading sentiment. Former economic affairs secretary Shaktikanta Das Wednesday assumed charge as the 25th governor the RBI. He ...
Airlines seem clocking USD 35.5 bn net profit in 2019: IATA
The global airlines' industry is projected to report a net profit of USD 35.5 billion in 2019, remaining profitable for the tenth straight year, helped by lower oil prices and solid economic growth, IATA said Wednesday. The grouping of around 290 airlines worldwide also said that the passenger numbers are expected to rise to 4.59 billion next year from 4.34 billion in 2018. Releasing its latest Global Economic Outlook report, the International Air Transport Association (IATA) noted that the net profit of the airline industry is projected to touch USD 35.5 billion next year, higher than USD 32.3 billion expected for 2018. The 2018 projection has been revised downwards from USD 33.8 billion forecast in June. In 2019, the average net profit per departing passenger is projected to be USD 7.75 compared to USD 7.45 for this year. "We had expected that rising costs would weaken profitability in 2019. But the sharp fall in oil prices and solid GDP growth projections have provided a buffer. ...
ITC's agri-biotech arm inks pact with UK's James Hutton to source new potatoes varieties
ITC Ltd Wednesday said its agri-biotech arm Technico Agri Sciences (TASL) has entered into an agreement with the UK's James Hutton Institute to source 16 new varieties and 600 new clones of potato for trial and testing in India. "These differentiated varieties promise to further benefit India's farmers and the potato processing industry as well as help in promoting potato exports. The agreement is initially for a period of five years and is extendable," ITC said in a statement. These varieties (of potato) will grow through a process of research and development and evaluation to identify varieties suitable for growing in India in different states, the company said. The company said this agreement will also help address the demand of processors and exporters for new varieties and are expected to further improve yields by 15-20 per cent and enhance farmer incomes by better realisation. Technico Agri Sciences Limited (a 100 per cent subsidiary of ITC Ltd) is involved in the business of ...
Turmeric futures surge 1.4 pc on spot demand
Turmeric prices rose by 1.4 per cent to Rs 6,086 per quintal in futures trade Wednesday mainly driven by uptick in domestic and exports demand at the spot market. Besides, limited arrivals from major producing regions fuelled the uptrend. At the National Commodity and Derivatives Exchange, turmeric for delivery in December was trading higher by Rs 84, or 1.4 per cent, to Rs 6,086 per quintal with an open interest of 860 lots. Similarly, the spice for delivery in far-month April increased by Rs 8, or 0.12 per cent, to Rs 6,570 per quintal with an open interest of 14,430 lots. Analysts said fresh positions created by participants following pick-up in domestic as well as exports demand against restricted supplies from producing regions mainly pushed up turmeric prices.
India needs to have a good oil hedging policy: Raghuram Rajan
With geo-political factors impacting crude prices, India needs to have a good oil hedging policy as the volatility will continue to rise, former Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor, Raghuram Rajan said Wednesday. Rajan said the issue has been discussed in the past and it began with a strategic petroleum reserve, but beyond that there is a need to think about hedging oil prices especially when it comes to levels such as now. "There is a very strong need for an oil hedging mechanism for a country like ours which is so dependent on oil," Rajan said in a pre-recorded interview being telecast at Times Network's India Economic Conclave. The problem is many who are entrusted with this, fear the chance of oil prices falling even further if you hedge it, but that has to be taken as a national consequence of the hedging programme. "We, as a country, must think about whether we should start this process," he said. Rajan said as far the GDP growth number is concerned, there is ...
Bandhan Bank to open 40 new branches by December
Bandhan Bank would add another 40 branches by December 31, taking the total number to 978, the Kolkata-based lender's founder and CEO C S Ghosh said on Wednesday. Ghosh said five new branches would be opened on Wednesday. The total number of ATMs would be 476, he said. The Reserve Bank of India had earlier imposed restrictions on Bandhan Bank's branch expansion, after it failed to pare promoters' stake to 40 per cent from close to 82 per cent, within the stipulated three-year time frame. The lender commenced operations on August 23, 2015. "The bank had received prior approval from the RBI for opening the new branches," Ghosh told PTI. "We are working on the process of stake dilution of the promoting company in the bank," he added.
Mahindra Electric, SmartE join hands to deploy electric 3-wheelers in fleet
Mahindra Electric and SmartE, an electric vehicle fleet operator, Wednesday announced a partnership with plans to deploy 10,000 electric three-wheelers across the country by 2020. Under the partnership, SmartE will introduce 1,000 Mahindra Treo and Treo Yaari electric three-wheelers in Delhi-NCR by March 2019 with an aim of transforming last mile connectivity. "To start with, SmartE has already taken 50 Treo range of electric three-wheelers from us. The plan is to deploy 1,000 such vehicles in Delhi-NCR by March 2019," Mahindra Electric CEO Mahesh Babu told reporters here. The partnership has the potential to expand pan India, he said, adding "the plan is to deploy 10,000 such vehicles by 2020". Last month, Mahindra Electric had launched its first lithium ion electric three-wheeler range Treo and Treo Yaari with starting price of Rs 1.36 lakh (ex-showroom Bengaluru). SmartE Co-Founder and CEO Goldie Srivastava said the company plans to roll out a total of one lakh vehicles by 2022 ...
Oil producers to review cuts impact in April: UAE
Oil producers who agreed last week to trim production to boost prices will meet in April to review the impact and sign a long-term pact, the UAE minister said Wednesday. OPEC and some non-OPEC producers decided to cut output by 1.2 million barrels per day for six months from January after world prices shed a quarter of their value in just a few weeks. Prices currently hover around $60 a barrel, down from more than $85 a barrel in early October in the face of fears of weaker demand and an increase in supplies. "In April, we will have a meeting to review the decision," United Arab Emirates Energy Minister Suhail al-Mazrouei told reporters on the sidelines of a conference in Dubai. Mazrouei said that national oil company ADNOC has already informed clients that it will cut production by 2.5 percent from January. The UAE, OPEC's fourth largest producer, has been pumping around 3.0 million bpd. He said that the producers decided to meet in April instead of June "to allow us to take the ...
LTI appoints Nachiket Deshpande as COO
Larsen & Toubro Infotech (LTI) Wednesday said it has appointed former Cognizant executive Nachiket Deshpande as chief operating officer (COO). Deshpande, who brings over 23 years of experience, served as the senior VP and global delivery head for the banking and financial services unit at Cognizant in his last role, a statement said. He has held management positions in the US, Europe and Asia across delivery, practice building and client facing roles, it added. "Nachiket joins us at an exciting phase of LTI's transformation as customers entrust us with solving their unique challenges. He brings extensive experience and diverse capabilities to continue our growth leadership," LTI CEO and Managing Director Sanjay Jalona said.
Market rallies on broad based buying support
The market rallied for the second consecutive session amid broad based buying support. The barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, rose 625.96 points or 1.78% to 35,775.97, as per the provisional closing data. The Nifty 50 index rose 188.45 points or 1.79% to 10,737.60, as per the provisional closing data. The rally was supported by firmness in Reliance Industries, HDFC twins and ICICI Bank. The Nifty ended above the 10,700 mark.
Ease of doing biz: DIPP to help states in ranking districts
The Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP) of the commerce ministry will help states undertake a ranking exercise of districts to promote ease of doing business in the country, an official said. After carrying out the exercise for States, DIPP has suggested it for districts. The department has developed a district-level reform plan that has been shared with the state and union territory governments for implementation. They have been requested to evaluate districts on the basis of achievements in implementation of this plan on the basis of users' feedback. "We have circulated 218 points to all States. They should be implementing these points. We will help them in capacity building to implement this reform plan for ranking purpose," a senior official from the ministry said. Commerce and Industry Minister Suresh Prabhu has also written to all States in this regard. "The States will do the ranking and DIPP will provide all the support and help," the official said. The ...
Urbanisation process needs to be extremely innovative, sustainable: Kant
India's urbanisation process has to be extremely innovative as well as sustainable, and the country should not repeat mistakes of western world, Niti Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant said on Wednesday. Cities account for just 3 per cent earth's landmark but they account for 84 per cent of world GDP, Kant said while addressing delegates at 'ITC Sustainability Awards 2018'. "Western world created the most polluting model of urbanisation.The concept of sustainable development comes from the eastern part of the world. "In India, the process of urbanisation has just began. India's process of urbanisation has to be the extremely innovative and sustainable. We should not repeat mistakes of western world," he said. Kant pointed out that in every minute, 30 Indians move from rural areas to urban areas. The Niti Aayog CEO also noted that the world is looking for the sustainable products and willing to pay higher price for sustainable products, so India will be spearheading renewable energy.
Crude oil futures bounce on firm global cues
Crude oil futures rose by 1.06 per cent to Rs 3,827 per barrel Wednesday after participants widened their bets, tracking a positive trend overseas. At the Multi Commodity Exchange, crude oil for delivery in January was trading higher by Rs 40, or 1.06 per cent, to Rs 3,827 per barrel with a business turnover of 1,096 lots. The February rates also moved higher by Rs 51, or 1.34 per cent, to Rs 3,849 per barrel with a business volume of 250 lots. Marketmen attributed the rise in crude oil prices to raising of bets by traders and a firming trend overseas. Oil prices climbed by more than 1 per cent on Wednesday, lifted by expectations that an OPEC-led supply cut announced last week would stabilise markets as well as hopes that long-running Sino-American trade tensions could ease, say reports. Meanwhile, West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude prices rose by 1.2 per cent, to USD $52.25 per barrel while Brent crude, the international benchmark, was trading higher by 1.33 per cent at USD 60.77 .
FIEO urges new RBI Governor to ensure smooth flow of credit to exporters
Exporters body FIEO Wednesday urged new RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das to ensure smooth flow of credit to the sector as decline in the funds will hit outbound shipments. Das, former economic affairs secretary, has assumed charge as the RBI Governor. "We hope that the new Governor will ensure flow of credit to exports sector which is declining sharply on year on year basis, affecting the liquidity of exporters particularly the MSMEs," Federation of Indian Export Organisations (FIEO) President Ganesh Kumar Gupta said in a statement. The commerce ministry has yesterday stated that it is working closely with the finance ministry to take measures for ensuring adequate availability of funds to exporters. He also said that while exchange rate is market driven, RBI's intervention is essential to stem extreme volatility in rupee as it is not beneficial for exporters or importers. "A movement of rupee in narrow band of 5 per cent would be more appropriate for export sector as near predictability
Gold logs first loss in 4 days; silver slips too
Snapping a three-day gaining streak, gold prices Wednesday fell by Rs 110 to close at Rs 32,540 per 10 gram at the bullion market in the national capital on lacklustre demand from local jewellers and weak global cues. Silver rates were also down by Rs 25 to Rs 38,550 per kg on weak demand from coin makers and industrial units. In the national capital, gold of 99.9 per cent and 99.5 per cent purity fell by Rs 110 each to 32,540 and Rs 32,390 per 10 gram, respectively. The precious metal gained Rs 550 in the three previous sessions. Traders attributed the fall in prices to weaker demand from local jewellers and negative global cues. Sovereign gold, however, held steady at Rs 25,000 per piece of 8 gram. Globally, gold traded lower at USD 1,242.08 an ounce in New York, while silver held steady at USD 14.57 an ounce. Silver ready fell by Rs 25 to Rs 38,550 per kg, while weekly-based delivery was marginally up by Rs 22 to Rs 38,181 per kg. Silver coins, however, remained unchanged at Rs ...
Market hits fresh intraday high
The market extended gains and hit fresh intraday high in mid-afternoon trade. At 14:20 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was up 460.92 points or 1.31% at 35,610.93. The Nifty 50 index was up 138.90 points or 1.32% at 10,688.05.
NBCC (India) sizzles after new order win
NBCC (India) rose 4.19% to Rs 52.25 at 15:05 IST on BSE after the company received a letter of award of work from Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship for construction of office building at New Delhi.
Shriram Transport Finance Company allots NCDs aggregating Rs 660 cr
On private placement basis
TVS Motor Company wins 2 key awards at CII - ITC Sustainability Awards 2018
This is the second time TVS Motor Company has been awarded the prestigious 'Corporate Social Responsibility Award' by CII - ITC.