India, US relaunch Trade Policy Forum
Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal and US Trade Representative Katherine Tai on Tuesday relaunched the Trade Policy Forum (TPF) and agreed to engage on issues which are affecting the trade between the two countries.
The bilateral commerce between India and the US is expected to cross $100 billion this year.
Gold plunges ₹810, silver tumbles ₹1,548
Gold in the national capital on Tuesday plunged ₹810 to ₹46,896 per 10 gram reflecting an overnight decline in international precious metal prices, according to HDFC Securities. The metal settled at ₹47,706 per 10 gram in the previous trade.
Silver also tumbled ₹1,548 to ₹62,720 per kilogram from ₹64,268 per kilogram in the previous trade.
In the international market, both gold and silver were trading flat at $1,806 per ounce and $24.05 per ounce.
Rupee settles 4 paise down at 74.43 against US dollar
The rupee recovered most of its initial losses and settled 4 paise down at 74.43 against the US dollar on Tuesday, tracking a positive trend in domestic equities and easing crude oil prices. The local unit closed at 74.39 in the previous trading session.
At the interbank forex market, the local unit opened at 74.48 against the greenback and witnessed an intra-day high of 74.38 and a low of 74.57.
Sensex rebounds 198 pts, Nifty tops 17,500
Equity benchmark Sensex ended 198 points higher on Tuesday, tracking gains mainly in power, telecom and pharma stocks. The 30-share index settled 0.34% higher at 58,664.33.
The NSE Nifty rose 86.80 points or 0.50 % to 17,503.35.
PowerGrid was the top gainer in the Sensex pack, followed by NTPC, Tata Steel, Bharti Airtel, Sun Pharma and Bajaj Finserv. On the other hand, IndusInd Bank, Asian Paints, Infosys, Bajaj Auto and Maruti fell up to 2.59%.
Nxtra by Airtel launches new 38 MW hyperscale data centre in Chennai
Nxtra by Airtel, the data centre subsidiary of telecom major Bharti Airtel, on Tuesday announced the inauguration of its new 38 MW hyper scale data centre park in Chennai.
The expansion of data centre comes in the backdrop of the announcement to invest ₹5,000 crore by 2025 to increase its capacity by three times to over 400 MW. It includes setting up of hyper scale data centre parks in key metro cities.
TVS Motor to invest ₹1,200 crore in Tamil Nadu
Chennai-based TVS Motor will invest ₹1,200 crore in Tamil Nadu in the next four years on future technologies and electric vehicles.
The investment will be mainly for the design, development, manufacturing of new products and capacity expansion in the EV space.
Govt plans to provide more tax concessions on vehicles bought after scrapping old ones: Gadkari
The government is planning to provide more tax concessions on vehicles that are purchased after scrapping old vehicles under the recently launched National Automobile Scrappage Policy, Union Minister Nitin Gadkari said on Tuesday.
Under the new policy, the states and Union Territories (UTs) will provide up to 25% tax rebate on road tax for vehicles that are purchased after scrapping old vehicles.
India to release 5 mn barrels of crude oil from strategic reserves
India plans to release about 5 million barrels of crude oil from its emergency stockpile in tandem with the US, Japan and other major economies to cool surging oil prices.
India stores about 38 million barrels of crude oil in underground caverns at three locations on the east and west coast. Of this, about 5 million barrels will be released, starting as early as 7-10 days.
Italy's antitrust fines Amazon, Apple more than 200 mln euros
Italy's antitrust authority has fined U.S. tech giants and Apple a total of more than 200 million euros ($225 million) for allegedly engaging in anti-competitive cooperation in the sale of Apple and Beats products.
"Contractual provisions of an agreement entered into on Oct. 31, 2018 barred official and unofficial resellers of Apple and Beats products from using Amazon.it, allowing the sale of those products in that marketplace only to Amazon and to selected parties in a discriminatory manner," The authority said on Tuesday.
The Italian competition watchdog imposed a fine of 68.7 million euros on Amazon and a fine of 134.5 million euros on Apple, ordering the companies to put an end to the restrictions.
Adani Solar partners KSL Cleantech to expand market share in eastern, northeastern states
Adani Group firm Adani Solar is collaborating with KSL Cleantech to expand its market share in the eastern and northeastern renewable energy markets of the country.
Adani Solar, the Adani Group's solar manufacturing and EPC arm, on Tuesday announced the launch of its retail distribution business for India's eastern and northeastern states. The company has now extended its reach to more than 1,000 towns for the distribution of solar panels in India.
Tea industry heading towards crisis: Planters’ body
The Tea Association of India (TAI) has expressed concern over decline in prices and drop in production of tea, and cautioned that the industry could be heading towards a crisis.
There has been a “substantial drop” in tea prices during November, both in Assam and West Bengal, Secretary General of TAI, P K Bhattacharya, said. Input prices have also seen a steep rise, the planters’ body said.
The total projected crop in 2021 is 1,330 million kg, a decline from 1,400 million kg in 2020, due to poor weather conditions and pest-related issues.
Vodafone Idea hikes tariffs by 20-25%
Telecom service provider Vodafone Idea has raised its tariff plans for prepaid users by 20-25%, effective from November 25, 2021.
"The new plans will start the process of ARPU improvement and help address the financial stress faced by the industry," the company said in a filing with the exchange.
The announcement follows Airtel's decision to hike tariffs by 20-25% for prepaid users.
Retailers Association urges govt to reconsider proposed GST rate hike
Retailers Association of India (RAI) urged Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, state governments and GST Council to reconsider the proposed hike in GST rates on several textiles and apparel items to 12% from January.
RAI added that apparel retail businesses are already ailing and the 7% hike has been proposed to address the issue of inverted duty structure in the textile industry faced by a small segment of the total textile value chain
"However, such a steep increase in the GST rate will adversely impact 85 per cent of the industry while trying to ease the problem faced by not more than 15 per cent of the industry," the retailers' body said in a statement.
MobiKwik to delay planned IPO
Payments firm MobiKwik has delayed its plans to proceed with an initial public offering (IPO) of shares this month after the dismal market debut of larger rival Paytm.
Founder and CEO Bipin Preet Sigh told Reuters that MobiKwik will go public "when we feel we are going to have a successful IPO". He added his firm has a year from October, when it received regulatory approval, to launch an IPO.
Shares of Paytm have tanked more than 30% below its issue price of 2,150 per share, as investors have questioned both the company's steep valuation and its business model.
IMF urges El Salvador against using bitcoin as official currency
The International Monetary Fund warned El Salvador against using bitcoin as official tender due to the risks associated with the cryptocurrency.
El Salvador had announced plans for the world's first "Bitcoin City" months after it became the first country in the world in September to legalize bitcoin as legal tender.
"Given Bitcoin's high price volatility, its use as a legal tender entails significant risks to consumer protection, financial integrity, and financial stability," the IMF said in a statement.
Future Retail employees urge top court to clear asset sale in Amazon dispute
Employees of Future Retail have asked the Supreme Court to allow the company to sell its retail assets and rule against Amazon.com Inc in an ongoing dispute.
Employees cited risks to 27,000 jobs as Supreme Court gears up to hear the dispute on Tuesday.
Future has failed to close its $3.4 billion deal to sell its retail assets to Reliance Industries due to successful legal challenges by Amazon. It argued that Future violated some pre-existing contracts the two sides had struck, by deciding to sell its retail assets to Reliance.
Latent View soars 160% on debut
Shares of Latent View Analytics opened at a 160% premium to their offer price indicating strong investor demand for the company after digital payments firm Paytm's listing debacle.
Latent View's initial public offering was oversubscribed more than 300 times. The stock debuted at ₹512.20 in pre-open trade, compared with the offer price of ₹197.
Rupee slips to 74.55 against US dollar
The Indian rupee fell 16 paise to 74.55 against the US dollar in opening trade on a muted trend in the domestic equity market and firm American dollar.
The rupee opened on a weak note at 74.48 and lost further ground to touch 74.55 against the American dollar. On Monday, the rupee had closed at 74.39 against the US dollar.
The dollar index, which gauges the greenback's strength against a basket of six currencies, rose by 0.01% to 96.55
India and U.S. to find ways to resolve trade issues
India and the United States agreed to look for ways to resolve differences on market access and digital trade as U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai visits India for two days.
New Delhi and Washington have failed to reach a conclusion over multiple issues including tariffs for more than an year.
Both countries have agreed to revive their Trade Policy Forum, after a gap of four years on expectation that the forum could help expand bilateral trade that has never seemed to live up to its potential.
Markets update | Sensex plunges over 650 points, Nifty below 17,250
Indian benchmark equity indices opened on a negative note after falling nearly 2% on Monday. At 9:23 IST, the Sensex was down 670.83 points or 1.15% at 57795.06 and the Nifty was down 195.70 points or 1.12% at 17220.85.
Asia stocks were mostly lower on Tuesday after the US President Joe Biden picked Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell for a second term, reinforcing expectations the U.S. will taper its stimulus soon.
MSCI's gauge of Asia Pacific stocks outside Japan fell 0.49%, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index and China's benchmark CSI300 Index opened 1.1% and 0.2% lower, respectively.
Australia's S&P/ASX 200 outperformed with a 0.55% gain while Japanese markets were closed for a public holiday.
Oil falls on expectation that countries will tap emergency crude reserves
Oil prices fell on growing talk that the United States, Japan and India will release crude reserves despite the threat of demand faltering as COVID-19 cases rise in Europe.
U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures fell 0.6%, to $76.32 a barrel and Brent crude futures fell 0.4%, to $79.40 a barrel.
The U.S. Department of Energy is expected to loan oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, and the same will be coordinated with other countries.
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LatentView Analytics lists on stock exchanges today. The Indian benchmark equity indices fell nearly 2% on Monday after a series of unfavourable news during the weekend. Paytm extended losses for the second day after making a weak debut last week while Reliance fell on the announcement that it would re-evaluate the deal with Saudi Arabia's Aramco.
---- Edited by John Xavier
(With inputs from Reuters, PTI and other news agencies.)
