Page 11 - Interest Rates

Stock markets settle flat in volatile trade ahead of RBI's rate decision

Benchmark stock indices Sensex and Nifty closed flat in a volatile trade on Wednesday as investors stayed on the sidelines ahead of RBI's interest rate decision on Thursday. The 30-share BSE Sensex declined 34.09 points or 0.05 per cent to settle at 72,152. During the day, it hit a high of 72,559.21 and a low of 71,938.22. The Nifty ended marginally up by 1.10 points or 0.01 per cent to 21,930.50. IT shares TCS, Infosys and Tech Mahindra declined due to profit taking offsetting gains from select banking and pharma shares. "The domestic market exhibited cautious range-bound movement, despite robust PMI data and favourable global cues ahead of RBI policy meet. While no change in stance is anticipated, the RBI's commentary on any hints regarding potential rate cuts and improvements in liquidity will be closely monitored," Vinod Nair, Head of Research, Geojit Financial Services said. Among the Sensex firms, State Bank of India rose the most by 3.78 per cent after the bank announced th

US Federal Reserve wary of cutting interest rates too soon: Jerome Powell

Treasuries fell across all maturities at the open in Asia as Powell's comments underscored the likelihood that bond investors had overshot in pricing for rapid rate cuts

Too soon to declare victory over inflation: OECD tells central banks

Global economic growth is proving more resilient and inflation in the US and Europe is easing faster than the organization expected in its November outlook

Monetary policy: RBI likely to hold rates for sixth time, shows BS poll

Focus on liquidity; few expect neutral stance

RBI interest rate decision, global trends to dictate stock mkts: Analysts

Stock markets will be driven by quarterly earnings by index majors, global trends and the RBI's interest rate decision this week after digesting news on budget proposals and US Federal policy outcome, say analysts. The trading activity of foreign investors and the movement of global oil benchmark Brent crude would also dictate trends in equities. "On the domestic front, the MPC (Monetary Policy Committee) meeting is scheduled from February 6-8. The Q3 quarterly results season will continue to remain in focus. Bharti Airtel, Power Grid, Nestle, Lupin and Tata Power will announce their results this week," said Pravesh Gour, Senior Technical Analyst, Swastika Investmart Ltd. Market participants will be keeping an eye on the movement of the rupee against the dollar and crude oil prices, Gour said. Investments by Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) and Domestic Institutional Investors (DIIs) will also be monitored, he added. "With the US Fed and interim Budget now behind, all eyes w

Bank of England keeps rates unchanged at 5.25%, may cut if inflation falls

The pound erased earlier losses and investors trimmed bets on the extent of Bank Rate cuts but still saw four reductions in 2024, a view that Bailey said he did not want to challenge

Canada braces for possible wave of business bankruptcies amid slowdown

There were about 1.2 million small businesses with employees in Canada in 2021 and contributing over a third to the country's gross domestic product, according to the latest official data

Euro zone yields drop as markets price in ECB interest rate cut in April

Some analysts reckoned that soft economic growth and inflation figures from the euro zone, due from Wednesday, could add to expectations for more ECB monetary easing

ECB's next move is 'a cut' but policymakers spar on timing: Report

The ECB kept its key rate unchanged at a record high 4% last Thursday but sounded confident that inflation was coming under control

American Express misses Q4 profit estimates on higher loan loss provisions

Eleven rate hikes by the U.S. Federal Reserve have made borrowing expensive and increased risks of more defaults, especially as credit card debt is typically costlier than other loans

No hint of cuts as ECB keeps rates unchanged at record-high of 4%

Investors are betting that the ECB is getting it wrong on both growth and inflation and will be forced to U-turn and deliver five rate cuts in rapid succession from early spring

RBI 'mute spectator', allowing banks to charge high interest rates: HC

The Allahabad High Court has observed that the Reserve Bank of India has been a "mute spectator" while banks are imposing arbitrarily high interest rates on customers despite guidelines issued by the banking regulator. The observation was made by a bench comprising Justices Mahesh Chandra Tripathi and Prashant Kumar while disposing of a petition filed by Manmeet Singh who had availed of a loan of Rs 9 lakh from a private bank. "Surprisingly, RBI had been issuing guidelines but has done nothing for the implementation of the same. They have just been a mute spectator allowing the banks to charge arbitrarily a very high rate of interest," the court observed. On the RBI's responsibility as the banking regulator in the country, the court said, "Even if the benefit of doubt is given to the banks that they are free to charge the interest rate but it is duty of the RBI to see that the customers are not inconvenienced by huge rate of interest charged by the banks." The petitioner had obtain

Small, big and systemically important banks

The systemically important bank classification is no comment on how secure depositors' money is in other banks. Sit back, relax and enjoy the higher rates for now

Rising interest rates threaten India's credit growth, pressure margins

While Samsung Electronics Co. disappointed last week, the country's chip output and shipments grew the most in years in November, reviving optimism about the outlook

Weak earnings, fading US interest rate cut hopes drag Indian stock market

The blue-chip NSE Nifty 50 shed 0.51% to 21,462.25, while the S&P BSE Sensex lost 0.44% to 71,186.86

US homebuilder confidence spiked most in January since February 2023

The National Association of Homebuilders/Wells Fargo index of builder confidence rose this month to 44, the highest since September, from an unrevised 37 in December

RBI may shift policy stance to neutral by Jun, cut rates by Aug: Nomura

The Reserve Bank may shift the monetary policy stance to "neutral" by June and deliver rate cuts starting August this year, a Japanese brokerage said on Monday. Pointing out to softer core inflation 'or price rise in items excluding food and fuel' in the data released for December, Nomura said there is a need for the policy to pivot towards an easier regime after the extended pause. The brokerage reiterated its earlier view of rate cuts being expected from August onwards, and pegged the quantum of cuts at 1 percentage point. "We expect 1 per cent of rate cuts cumulatively starting August, with a change of stance to 'neutral' in Q2, with risks skewed towards earlier easing," its analysts said. The core inflation for December came at 3.8 per cent, the note said, adding that the annualized growth of super-core inflation has dipped below 3 per cent by its estimates which is a "positive surprise". For January, the headline inflation is likely to cool-off to about 5 per cent, while the

Bond sales hit record pace as emerging markets see year of risks ahead

The rush this early in the year underscores a belief that interest rates are as low as they can get for some time to come

US job growth surpass expectations in December; wages rise solidly

Average hourly earnings rose 0.4% in December after gaining 0.4% in the prior month. That raised the year-on-year increase in wages to 4.1% from 4.0% in November

Israel delivers first interest rate cut since pandemic as war rages

The monetary committee on Monday lowered its key rate to 4.5% from 4.75%, ending a pause in place since July