Fag-end buying lifts Sensex 260 pts, Nifty tops 14,550; Infosys dips 2.5%

Overall, the Nifty Bank, Pharma, Metal, IT, Financial Services, and Private Bank indices ended up to 1.4 per cent higher

2:37 PM

MARKET UPDATE:: Sensex turns green

2:35 PM

Oil prices register one-month highs as IEA and OPEC raise forecasts

Oil prices rose on Thursday to the highest level in nearly a month, after jumping 5% in the previous session, driven by increased demand forecasts from the International Energy Agency (IEA) and OPEC as major economies recover from the pandemic. Brent crude was up by 16 cents at $66.74 a barrel by 0659 GMT, after reaching $66.94 earlier, the highest since March 18, and gaining 4.6% on Wednesday. READ MORE

 

2:29 PM

Jhunjhunwalas trim stake in Titan, 2 others in Q4; buy Fortis Healthcare

During the March quarter of the financial year 2020-21 (Q4FY21), Jhunjhunwala offloaded a 0.26 percentage point stake, or 2.25 million shares, in Titan Company, bringing down his holding to 3.97 per cent from 4.23 per cent at the end of December quarter following underperformance in the stock vis-a-vis BSE Sensex. The stock dipped nearly 1 per cent as against a 4 per cent rise in the benchmark during the March quarter. READ MORE

2:17 PM

BOJ's Kuroda warns of lingering Covid pandemic pain for economy

Japan's economy is picking up steam but any recovery is likely to be modest due to lingering caution over the coronavirus pandemic, Bank of Japan Governor Haruhiko Kuroda warned on Thursday.

 

The central bank offered a bleaker assessment than three months ago for two of Japan's nine regions and maintained its view on the remaining areas, signalling cautious optimism on the outlook for the fragile recovery. READ MORE

2:08 PM

IL&FS raises aggregate debt recovery target to Rs 61,000 crore

The new board and management of IL&FS as part of its quarterly update process on the progress of ongoing group resolution process on Thursday shared that it has addressed aggregate debt of Rs 43,000 crore till date. The group has further enhanced its estimates of aggregate debt recovery to Rs 61,000 crore - an increase of Rs 5,000 crore over its earlier estimate of Rs 56,000 crore. READ MORE

1:55 PM

Eicher Motors shares skid 4%, hit over 3-month low

Shares of Eicher Motors, on Thursday, slipped 4 per cent to an over three-month low of Rs 2,384 on the National Stock Exchange (NSE) in intra-day trade as analysts remain cautious about the company's prospects, going ahead, both on the volume front as well as the margin performance on account of slowing demand momentum, commodity price impact and increasing competition in the premium motorcycle segment. READ MORE

1:54 PM

Foreign brokerages temper return expectation from Indian equities

The sudden rise in Covid cases and the micro-lockdowns imposed across key economic hubs in India has seen foreign brokerages trim their return expectation from Indian equities over the next 12 months.

 

After Nomura that recently cut its March 2022 Nifty50 target to 15,340 (earlier target: 14,680 by December 2021), analysts at Goldman Sachs, too, have tempered their expectation, albeit modestly. They now see the Nifty at 16,300 levels in 12 months (16,500 earlier). However, they have retained their ‘overweight’ stance on India for now. READ MORE

1:45 PM

MARKET CHECK :: Sensex off lows, now down 100 pts

1:35 PM

Low base, recovery in demand to drive up auto firms' Q4 earnings

Aided by a lower base because of last year’s lockdown and recovery across segments, auto companies are expected to post average revenue growth upwards of 35 per cent year-on-year (YoY) in the March quarter (Q4). Though wholesale numbers declined, compared with the festive season sales, factory dispatches remained strong despite multiple price hikes and lower discounts. READ MORE

1:24 PM

WPI inflation spikes to over 8-year high of 7.39% in March

The wholesale price-based inflation shot up to over 8-year high of 7.39 per cent in March on rising crude oil and metal prices.

 

Also, the low base of March last year, when the data was computed with a low response rate due to the nationwide lockdown, contributed to a spike in inflation in March 2021. READ MORE

1:13 PM

NEWS ALERT :: Multiplexes to operate at 30% capacity in Delhi, says Arvind Kejriwal

1:08 PM

NEWS ALERT :: Weekend curfew imposed in Delhi

1:05 PM

Gautam Adani may win three more slots on MSCI India Index as shares double

Billionaire Gautam Adani is likely to see three more companies from his coal mining-to-data centers conglomerate join the MSCI India Index after shares in each one of them more than doubled this year, according to analysts. READ MORE

1:03 PM

Half the PMS schemes trail Nifty 50 in FY21, clutchful offer 100% returns

Companies providing portfolio management services (PMS) had a tough time beating the benchmark index in the last financial year, with more than half of the schemes underperforming the Nifty 50 index.

 

Fifty five per cent, or 117 out of 213 PMS schemes, underperformed the benchmark, which gained nearly 71 per cent in FY21, data from industry tracker PMS Bazaar shows.  READ MORE

12:49 PM

From best to worst: Rupee tumbles in 2 weeks on Covid, poised for more loss

The mayhem is also weighing on dollar bonds from the nation’s issuers, which have under-performed Asian peers this month, as India overtook Brazil as the second-worst-hit Covid nation in the world. Stricter restrictions on movement across the country are reviving memories of last year when extended lockdowns squeezed demand and pushed the economy into its worst contraction in nearly seven decades. READ MORE