The BSE Sensex declined 45.66 points to 65,734.60 in early trade. The Nifty slipped 12.75 points to 19,562.15.
Published Date – 10:50 AM, Wed – 6 September 23
Mumbai: Equity benchmark indices declined in early trade on Wednesday in tandem with weak global cues and foreign fund outflows.
The BSE Sensex declined 45.66 points to 65,734.60 in early trade. The Nifty slipped 12.75 points to 19,562.15.
However, later both the benchmark indices rebounded and were trading in the green. The Sensex quoted 45.98 points up at 65,826.24 and the Nifty traded with a gain of 16.15 points to 19,591.05.
From the Sensex pack, IndusInd Bank, Tata Steel, JSW Steel, Tata Motors, Asian Paints and Maruti were the major laggards.
Bharti Airtel, UltraTech Cement, HDFC Bank, ITC and Reliance Industries were among the gainers.
In Asian markets, Seoul, Shanghai and Hong Kong were trading lower while Tokyo quoted in the green.
The US markets ended in the negative territory on Tuesday.
Global oil benchmark Brent crude climbed 0.07 per cent to USD 90.10 a barrel.
Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) offloaded equities worth Rs 1,725.11 crore on Tuesday, according to exchange data.
Rallying for the third day, the Sensex climbed 152.12 points or 0.23 per cent to settle at 65,780.26 on Tuesday. The Nifty advanced 46.10 points or 0.24 per cent to end at 19,574.90.
Silver futures on Wednesday dropped Rs 165 to Rs 73,280 per kilogram as participants reduced their bets.
Published Date – 03:49 PM, Wed – 6 September 23
New Delhi:Silver futures on Wednesday dropped Rs 165 to Rs 73,280 per kilogram as participants reduced their bets.
On the Multi Commodity Exchange, silver contracts for December delivery declined by Rs 165 or 0.22 per cent to Rs 73,280 per kg in a business turnover of 14,078 lots.
Globally, silver was trading 0.20 per cent lower at USD 23.83 per ounce in New York.
Gold prices on Wednesday fell by Rs 15 to Rs 59,228 per 10 grams in futures trade as speculators reduced their positions.
Published Date – 03:53 PM, Wed – 6 September 23
New Delhi:Gold prices on Wednesday fell by Rs 15 to Rs 59,228 per 10 grams in futures trade as speculators reduced their positions.
On the Multi Commodity Exchange, gold contracts for October delivery traded lower by Rs 15 or 0.03 per cent to Rs 59,228 per 10 grams in a business turnover of 12,028 lots.
Analysts attributed the fall in gold prices to the trimming of positions by participants.
Globally, gold was trading 0.10 per cent lower at USD 1,950.70 per ounce in New York.
Rishi Agrawal, CEO and Co-Founder, Teamlease RegTech said the change is great news for investors. In the T+1 settlement cycle, liquidity becomes available in a couple of days.
Updated On – 05:57 PM, Wed – 6 September 23
New Delhi: Investors will get faster settlement and they will have faster cash in hand with SEBI’s plan of one-hour trade settlement, said A Balakrishnan, Executive Director of Geojit Financial Services.
“We do not see any impediment in Sebi’s plan to implement one-hour settlement of trades first. It is highly implementable when Clearing Corporations and Depositories are ready with the systems. UPI’s success created confidence in near real time settlement,” he said.
“Investors will get faster settlement and they will have faster cash in hand. It is like having an UPI where transactions are settled quickly. It will mark a significant leap in transparency and efficiency in the Indian stock market offering investors real time access to their assets which will further attract resident investors in our stock market,” he added.
Rishi Agrawal, CEO and Co-Founder, Teamlease RegTech said the change is great news for investors. In the T+1 settlement cycle, liquidity becomes available in a couple of days. With the hourly settlement, this cycle will be further crunched, making capital market investments even more attractive. In addition, the change will also free up a significant chunk of margin money that brokers maintain with the clearing corporation.
However, the regulatory reporting obligations of the key market participants, such as brokers, clearing corporations, depository institutions, and fund houses, will be affected. They must modify their technology systems from an end-of-day batch processing mode to hourly processing, he said.
Forex traders said the Indian rupee depreciated on Wednesday as the US dollar rose to the highest levels in six months.
Published Date – 05:59 PM, Wed – 6 September 23
New Delhi: The rupee depreciated by 10 paise and settled for the day at an all-time low of 83.14 (provisional) against the US dollar on Wednesday, weighed down by a surge in crude oil prices and strong American currency.
Forex traders said the Indian rupee depreciated on Wednesday as the US dollar rose to the highest levels in six months. Moreover, elevated crude oil prices also weighed on rupee.
At the interbank foreign exchange market, the local unit opened at 83.08 against the US dollar and moved in a range of 83.02 to 83.18 in the day trade.
The rupee finally settled at 83.14 (provisional) against the US dollar, down 10 paise from its previous close.
The India currency earlier hit the lowest level of 83.13 on August 21 this year.
On Tuesday, the rupee plunged by 33 paise to close at 83.04 against the US dollar.
Meanwhile, the dollar index, which gauges the greenback’s strength against a basket of six currencies, fell marginally by 0.07 per cent to 104.73.
Brent crude futures, the global oil benchmark, declined 0.67 per cent to USD 89.44 per barrel. “Brent crude breached the USD 90/barrel mark. US dollar gained on safe-haven demand amid concerns over global economic slowdown after China’s Caixin Services PMI fell to an 8-month low at 51.8 in August vs forecast of 53.6,” said Anuj Choudhary – Research Analyst at Sharekhan by BNP Paribas.
Choudhary further said that “we expect the rupee to trade with a negative bias on risk aversion in global markets and a strong US dollar. “FII outflows and rising crude oil prices may further pressurise rupee. However, any intervention by the RBI and expectations of a no rate hike by Fed in its September FOMC may support rupee at lower levels. Traders may take cues from ISM services PMI data from the US.” On the domestic equity market front, the 30-share BSE Sensex closed 100.26 points or 0.15 per cent higher at 65,880.52. The broader NSE Nifty advanced 36.15 points or 0.18 per cent to 19,611.05.
Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) were net sellers in the capital markets on Tuesday as they offloaded shares worth Rs 1,725.11 crore, according to exchange data.
On Monday, SpiceJet announced the allotment of 4.81 crore equity shares on a preferential basis to nine of its aircraft lessors to clear outstanding dues of Rs 231 crore
Published Date – 06:04 PM, Wed – 6 September 23
New Delhi: Shares of SpiceJet were in heavy demand on Wednesday and jumped 20 per cent to hit the upper circuit limit.
The stock rallied amid reports that nearly 3 per cent equity changed hands at the BSE.
On Monday, SpiceJet announced the allotment of 4.81 crore equity shares on a preferential basis to nine of its aircraft lessors to clear outstanding dues of Rs 231 crore.
Shares of the company jumped 19.98 per cent to settle at Rs 39.70 — its upper circuit limit — on the BSE.
In volume terms, 247.71 lakh shares of the company were traded on the BSE.
The National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) on Tuesday suggested that SpiceJet settle the issues with lessors that have sought initiation of insolvency proceedings against it.
SpiceJet on Tuesday said it has received up to three months more time from the Registrar of Companies for holding its annual general meeting for the year ended March 2023.
Currently cashless claim process is tiresome and insurers deduct 10 per cent or more from the total billing in the name of consumables and other heads.
Published Date – 06:58 PM, Wed – 6 September 23
Mumbai: Insurance sector regulator IRDAI on Wednesday said it is working on with health insurance providers to ensure 100 per cent cashless settlement of medical expense claims as soon as possible.
Currently cashless claim process is tiresome and insurers deduct 10 per cent or more from the total billing in the name of consumables and other heads.
Also, most hospitals don’t allow cashless admissions even though the insurance product offers such a facility, citing one or other excuses.
Addressing the three-day global fintech festival here on the second day, IRDAI (Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India) chairman Debasish Panda said the regulator is working with health insurers and the national health authority and also the insurance council to roll out 100 per cent cashless claim settlements as soon as possible.
However, he didn’t give any time frame.
IRDAI is also working closely with the Insurance Council and the National Health Authority to onboard more hospitals onto the National Health Exchange for this, he said.
Panda said the regulator is working with insurers to facilitate better and affordable pricing of health insurance for the elderly, which, he said, is an area of critical concern now as current pricing make mediclaim policies beyond the reach of most of the elderly. On the drive for ‘insurance for all’ by 2047 when the nation will be celebrating a century of independence, panda said, “we should work for achieving the target much before the terminal date”.
Oil prices hit a 10-month high of nearly USD 90 per barrel as Saudi Arabia and Russia extended their voluntary production and export cuts until the end of the year
Updated On – 08:06 PM, Wed – 6 September 23
Representational Image
New Delhi: Oil prices hit a 10-month high of nearly USD 90 per barrel as Saudi Arabia and Russia extended their voluntary production and export cuts until the end of the year.
For a nation that is more than 85 per cent dependent on imports for its oil needs, the surge in prices means India will have to shell out more and the prospect of returning to market-driven petrol and diesel prices in the near future diminished further.
Brent crude prices surged around 6.5 per cent over the past week after Saudi Arabia, which leads the expanded OPEC+ cartel with Russia, decided to keep its one million barrels a day reduction in supplies to the global market until the end of December.
Russia has added its own voluntary export cuts in recent months.
The move has led to Brent rising above USD 90 a barrel for the first time this year on Tuesday. On Wednesday, it was trading at USD 89.67 per barrel.
The basket of crude oil that India imports has averaged USD 89.81 per barrel this month, up from USD 86.43 in August, according to oil ministry data.
The Indian basket was hovering in the range of USD 73-75 per barrel in May and June, rekindling hopes for a return to market-based pricing and a reduction in petrol and diesel prices.
But rates spurt to USD 80.37 per barrel in July and now to near USD 90.
“Public sector oil companies had been recouping losses they incurred for holding rates when crude oil prices shot through the roof last year. In May, international oil prices and retail pump rates had come at par.
“But now with the prices rising, the difference between cost and retail prices will reappear,” an industry official said.
India imports 85 per cent of its oil needs and its fuel pricing is indexed to international rates.
Petrol and diesel prices have been on a freeze for a record 17 months in a row. Petrol costs Rs 96.72 per litre in the national capital and diesel comes for Rs 89.62 a litre.
State-owned fuel retailers are supposed to revise petrol and diesel prices daily based on a 15-day rolling average of benchmark international fuel prices but they haven’t done that since April 6, 2022.
Prices were last changed on May 22 when the government cut excise duty to give relief to consumers from a spike in retail rates that followed a surge in international oil prices.
Sources said if international oil prices had stayed around USD 73-74 a barrel range, oil companies would have re-started daily price revision.
Higher prices would mean domestic producers like the Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) get a higher price. However, the incremental revenues are likely to be ploughed by the government in the form of a windfall profit tax.
The tax, levied in the form of Special Additional Excise Duty (SAED), on domestically produced crude oil was reduced to Rs 6,700 per tonne starting September 2, from Rs 7,100 a tonne previously.
A windfall tax is levied on domestic crude oil if rates of the global benchmark rise above USD 75 per barrel.
Crude oil pumped out of the ground and from below the seabed is refined and converted into fuels like petrol, diesel and aviation turbine fuel.
According to Das, the banks and non-bank finance companies can continue with their lending activities even after RBI hands over the platform.
Published Date – 08:44 PM, Wed – 6 September 23
Mumbai: Governor Shaktikanta Das on Wednesday said the Reserve Bank is mulling handing over the newly-launched frictionless credit platform to a private company as it did with the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI).
Under the frictionless platform initiative, banks are extending loans like the Kisan credit cards in under 10 minutes.
Speaking at the Global Fintech Fest here, Das said the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) led the initiative and is involved on a day-to-day basis with it as that requires multi-agency coordination like accessing land records from states’ revenue departments and satellite data.
“… broadly, the idea is eventually we want to make it an open architecture. We do the open platform, we will gradually withdraw and hand it over to a private company like RBI did in the case of NPCI and it will be an open architecture on which any bank or NBFC can onboard,” Das said.
According to Das, the banks and non-bank finance companies can continue with their lending activities even after RBI hands over the platform.
The RBI chief said the platform was launched in select districts of two states in September 2022 and the pilot has enabled successful disbursal of up to Rs 1.6 lakh per borrower sans any collateral in a matter of few minutes as against the six weeks taken earlier with multiple visits to bank branches.
The NPCI on Wednesday launched a slew of new payment options on popular payments platform UPI, including conversational transactions.
Updated On – 10:52 PM, Wed – 6 September 23
NPCI
Mumbai: The NPCI on Wednesday launched a slew of new payment options on popular payments platform UPI, including conversational transactions.
Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor Shaktikanta Das announced the launch of the products by the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) at the ongoing Global Fintech Festival here.
One of the products is Hello! UPI that will enable users to make voice-enabled UPI payments via apps, telecom calls, and IoT devices in Hindi and English. It will soon be available in several other regional languages also.
NPCI said the credit line on UPI facility will enable customers access pre-sanctioned credit from banks via UPI.
Separately, users will be able to send and receive money offline using the other product, LITE X product.
Further, the UPI Tap & Pay facility, in addition to the conventional scan-and-pay method, will allow customers to simply tap Near Field Communication- (NFC-) enabled QR codes at merchant locations to complete their payments.
The products are aimed at creating an inclusive, resilient, and sustainable digital payments ecosystem and help UPI achieve the target of 100 billion transaction per month, according to the NPCI.
NPCI Advisor and Non-Executive Chairman of Infosys Nandan Nilekani, and NPCI Non-Executive Chairman Biswamohan Mahapatra were also present at the launch.
Nilekani termed the NPCI as a “crown jewel” in the Indian technology landscape.
To ensure seamless interoperability, all UPI apps, including bank and third-party apps, will be able to discover and link credit lines on UPI, and provide end-to-end customer lifecycle services, NPCI said.
