Business Live: Sensex scales 50,000; Reliance gains on nod for Future deal

The Nifty and the Sensex opened the day on a  positive note, scaling a fresh all-time high as Reliance shares got a boost.

Join us as we follow the top business news through the day.

11:30 AM

Emerging market NPAs to continue rising: S&P

The COVID-19 pandemic and its aftermath will continue to dominate the credit story for emerging markets (EMs), including India in 2021, S&P Global Ratings said in a report.

It said bank systems in its sample EMs were exposed to major sources of risk including that of likely deterioration in asset quality.

“We expect non-performing loans to continue increasing and cost of risk to stabilise at high levels as central banks start to remove regulatory forbearance measures in some of the markets where such measures were implemented and banks start recognising the full extent of asset quality deterioration.” It said overall the COVID-19-related economic shock would be a profitability event with those EM banking systems still showing positive net results in 2020-2021. But a few banks will report losses due to their higher exposure to the hardest hit sectors.

11:00 AM

Junk bond yields hit new low

10:40 AM

Rupee gains 7 paise to trade near 5-month high of 72.98 vs USD

The dollar’s weak performance continues this morning.

PTI reports: “Advancing its gains for the third straight session, the rupee scaled a near five-month high of 72.98 against the US dollar on Thursday in line with the buoyant equity market and sustained foreign fund inflows.

At the interbank forex market, the rupee was 7 paise higher to trade at a level not seen since September 1, 2020.

On Wednesday, the rupee had settled at 73.05 against the American currency.

Meanwhile, the dollar index, which gauges the greenback’s strength against a basket of six currencies, slipped 0.18 per cent to 90.31.

On the domestic equity market front, the BSE Sensex was trading 277.80 points or 0.56 per cent higher at 50,069.92; and the NSE Nifty was up 84.35 points or 0.58 per cent at 14,729.05.

Foreign institutional investors remained net buyers in the capital market as they purchased shares worth Rs 2,289.05 crore on Wednesday, according to exchange data.

Brent crude futures, the global oil benchmark, rose 0.36 per cent to USD 55.89 per barrel.”

10:20 AM

‘Weak reform push, financial sector woes may damp growth’

Fitch Ratings on Wednesday said India’s medium-term growth potential is at about 6.5% but weak implementation of reforms, combined with continued financial sector problems, could lower its potential.

It said the revival of the reform agenda is among the Indian government’s policy responses to the COVID-19 pandemic shock.

“If implemented effectively, we believe these reforms may help to support India’s medium-term growth and partially offset downside pressures to investment from renewed asset-quality challenges in the financial sector and damaged corporate balance sheets,” the ratings agency said.

“We expect India’s central government to remain generally reform-minded over the next few years, and potential areas for further reform seem plentiful, in our view. However, the process of reform in India remains complex, and implementation at times has proven difficult,” Fitch said.

10:00 AM

Sensex scales 50,000; Reliance gains on nod for Future deal

A new milestone for Indian stocks.

Reuters reports: “Indian shares rose to a record high on Thursday, with the benchmark index scaling the 50,000 level for the first time, boosted by heavyweight Reliance Industries after the country’s stock exchanges approved its deal with Future Group.

The blue-chip NSE Nifty 50 index rose 0.44% to 14,708 and the benchmark S&P BSE Sensex was up 0.45% at 50,014.55 by 0346 GMT.

Investor sentiment was also boosted with global equity benchmarks hitting record highs on Wednesday on expectations of further U.S. stimulus from newly inaugurated U.S. President Joe Biden’s administration.

Reliance shares rose 1.7% after Indian stock exchanges on Wednesday gave the go-ahead for Future Group’s $3.4 billion deal to sell its retail assets, taking it a step closer towards closing a deal that has soured ties with its business partner Amazon.com Inc.”

9:30 AM

FedEx Express unveils plan to lay off up to 6,300 employees in Europe

FedEx Corp’s express unit on Tuesday announced a plan to lay off between 5,500 and 6,300 employees in Europe, as it nears the completion of the network integration of its TNT Express unit.

Shares of the package delivery firm were up about 1% at $254.76 in morning trade.

FedEx acquired European operator TNT Express, which specialises in shipments between businesses, in 2016 as part of its plan to expand in Europe.

The duplication from two European networks connecting similar geographies will result in job cuts across operational teams and back-office functions, the company said.

Weak shipment sales in Europe over the past few years havel ed to sluggish growth in the TNT unit and weighed on FedEx’s results.