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The Nifty and the Sensex opened the day on a negative note, falling further weighed by tanking Reliance shares.
Join us as we follow the top business news through the day.
1:00 PM
Twitter grants academics full access to public data, but not for suspended accounts
Twitter Inc on Tuesday opened free access to its new application programming interface (API) software for academic researchers, enabling them to study public conversations on its platform, but is not providing data from suspended accounts as part of the product.
Twitter said, with the new product, academic researchers will be able to tap into all the tools released to date on the new API platform, which will enable them to listen to and analyze public conversations.
The data will not, however, include tweets from accounts suspended for violations of Twitter rules, which means academics will be unable to use the API to study tweets by former U.S. President Donald Trump, company executives told reporters on Monday.
12:30 PM
Tiktok to shut down India business
Months after the ban imposd by the Centre, Tiktok decides to shut down operations in India.
PTI reports: “Chinese social media firm Bytedance, which owns Tiktok and Helo apps, has announced the closure of its India business following continued restrictions on its services in the country.
Tiktok’s global interim head Vanessa Pappas and vice president for global business solutions Blake Chandlee in a joint email to employees have communicated the decision of the company that it is reducing team size and the decision will impact all employees in India.
The executives expressed uncertainty on the company’s comeback to India but expressed hope to do so in times to come.
“While we don’t know when we will make a comeback in India, we are confident in our resilience, and desire to do so in times to come,” the email said.
According to a source at Bytedance, the company held a town hall on Wednesday where it communicated about the closure of India business.
When contacted Tiktok spokesperson said the company has worked steadfastly to comply with the government of India order issued on June 29, 2020 and continually strives to make its apps comply with local laws and regulations.
“It is therefore disappointing that in the ensuing seven months, despite our efforts we have not been given a clear direction on how and when our apps could be reinstated. It is deeply regretful that after supporting our over 2,000 employees in India for more than half a year, we have no choice but to scale back the size of our workforce.
“We look forward to receiving the opportunity to relaunch TikTok and support the hundreds of millions of users, artists, story-tellers, educators and performers in India,” the spokesperson said.
The government had blocked Tiktok and Helo along with 59 apps in June and has further communicated to the companies that the order to block them will be continued.
“We’ve cut expenses, while still paying benefits. However, we simply cannot responsibly stay fully staffed while our apps remain un-operational. We are fully aware of the impact that this decision has for all of our employees in India, and we empathize with our team,” the e-mail said.
Bytedance executives said that the decision to ban its app came despite the company complying with local laws and regulations.
“We have done our best since then to address their (Indian government’s) concerns. We regret that this was the result of a lack of clear direction from the government of India on how and when our apps could be reinstated.
“Despite our efforts to communicate with them, especially since it impacts the careers and livelihoods of so many Indians, today we are forced to reduce the size of our team,” the email said.
The executives said that they will share severance and benefits details.”
12:00 PM
Reliance Industries shares decline over 2%; Future Retail tanks 5%
Aamazon isplaying spoilsport for RIL and Future investors.
PTI reports: “Shares of Reliance Industries on Wednesday declined over 2 per cent amid concerns over the Future Group deal.
The heavyweight stock opened the day on a weak note and further dipped 2.43 per cent to Rs 1,892.55 on the BSE.
At the NSE, it declined 2.56 per cent to Rs 1,891.15.
Shares of Future Retail also tanked 4.98 per cent to Rs 77.25 on the BSE.
US online retailer Amazon has filed a petition in the Delhi High Court seeking detention of Future Group founders, including CEO Kishore Biyani, and seizure of their assets as it sought to block Future Group from selling retail assets to Reliance Industries.
In the petition, Amazon sought enforcement of the Singapore arbitrator’s ruling in October against its partner Future’s Rs 24,713 crore deal with Reliance.
Amazon, which wants the deal to sell retail assets to Reliance to be stopped, also asked the court for a direction for “detention of the directors (of Future Group entities) in civil prison”.
Future Retail, in a regulatory filing on Monday said it would defend the matter through its legal counsels.”
11:30 AM
Doubts over the Chinese economic rebound
11:00 AM
Cairn threatens Indian asset seizures abroad in tax case
A month after it won an international tribunal award of $1.2 billion in damages against India in the retrospective taxation case, U.K.-based Cairn Energy Plc has threatened that it may be forced to begin attaching Indian assets including bank accounts in different world capitals, unless the government resolves the issue.
In a letter to the Indian High Commission in London that was also sent to the Prime Minister’s Office, Ministry of External Affairs and the Finance Ministry this week, which The Hindu has seen, Cairn Energy’s top leadership has said that the “necessary preparations have been put in place” in order for the tribunal verdict to be “enforced against Indian assets in numerous jurisdictions around the world” if India fails to discuss paying the amount awarded.
10:40 AM
Rupee rises 8 paise to 72.86 against US dollar in early trade
The rupee diverges from stocks.
PTI reports: “The rupee appreciated 8 paise to 72.86 against the US dollar in opening trade on Wednesday, ahead of the outcome of the US central bank’s meeting.
At the interbank forex market, the domestic unit opened at 72.91 against the US dollar and inched higher to 72.86 against the greenback, registering a rise of 8 paise over its previous close.
On Monday, the rupee had settled at 72.94 against the American currency.
Traders said the local unit was trading in a narrow range against the US dollar on Wednesday morning ahead of the Fed meeting conclusion. Markets are also keenly watching progress on the US stimulus front.
Meanwhile, the dollar index, which gauges the greenback’s strength against a basket of six currencies, rose 0.08 per cent to 90.23.
“Asian currencies were mixed against the greenback ahead of the Fed meeting tonight,” Reliance Securities said in a research note.
The euro and the sterling have started marginally weaker against the US dollar this Wednesday morning in Asian trade.
On the domestic equity market front, the 30-share BSE benchmark Sensex was trading 294.83 points lower at 48,052.76, and the broader NSE Nifty fell 86.25 points to 14,152.65.
Foreign institutional investors were net sellers in the capital market as they offloaded shares worth Rs 765.30 crore on a net basis on Monday, according to exchange data.
Forex and equity markets were closed on Tuesday on account of Republic Day.
Brent crude futures, the global oil benchmark, rose 0.43 per cent to USD 56.15 per barrel.”
10:20 AM
GDP to contract 8% in FY21, FICCI survey shows
India’s GDP is expected to contract by 8% in 2020-21, according to the latest round of FICCI’s Economic Outlook Survey.
The annual median growth forecast by the industry body is based on responses from leading economists representing industry, banking and financial services sectors. The survey was conducted in January.
The median growth forecast for agriculture and allied activities has been pegged at 3.5% for 2020-21.
“Agriculture sector has exhibited significant resilience in the face of the pandemic. Higher rabi acreage, good monsoons, higher reservoir levels and strong growth in tractor sales indicate continued buoyancy in the sector,” FICCI stated on the survey findings. However, industry and services sector, which were most severely hit due to the pandemic induced economic fallout, are expected to contract by 10% and 9.2% respectively during 2020-21. The industrial recovery is gaining traction, but the growth is still not broad based. The consumption activity did spur during the festive season as a result of pent-up demand built during the lockdown but sustaining it is important going ahead, the survey said.
10:00 AM
Indian shares slip as Reliance falls after Amazon tries to block Future deal
The fall continues.
Reuters reports: “Indian shares opened lower on Wednesday, weighed down by heavyweight Reliance Industries after U.S. e-commerce giant Amazon.com requested a court to block Future Group’s $3.4 billion retail asset sale to the conglomerate.
The blue-chip NSE Nifty 50 index fell 0.57% to 14,157.30, while the benchmark S&P BSE Sensex slipped 0.56% to 48,059.52 by 0353 GMT.
Shares of Reliance Industries slipped 1.96% and was the top drag on the Nifty.
Future Retail opened 4.9% lower after Amazon.com asked the Delhi High Court to enforce a Singapore arbitrator’s decision and also called for Future Group’s chief executive officer to be detained.
Investors are also eyeing a slew of corporate results due later in the day, including private sector lender Axis Bank and consumer giant Hindustan Unilever.”
9:30 AM
IMF lifts 2021 global growth forecast
The International Monetary Fund on Tuesday raised its forecast for global economic growth in 2021 and said the coronavirus-triggered downturn in 2020 would be almost a full percentage point less severe than expected.
It said multiple vaccine approvals and the unveiling of vaccinations in some countries in December had boosted hopes of an eventual end to the pandemic.
But it warned that the world economy continued to face ‘exceptional uncertainty’ and global activity would remain well below pre-COVID projections made one year ago. Close to 90 million people are likely to fall below the extreme poverty threshold during 2020-2021, with the pandemic wiping out progress made in reducing poverty over the past two decades.
The IMF forecast a 2020 global contraction of 3.5%, an improvement of 0.9 percentage points from the 4.4% slump predicted in October, reflecting stronger-than-expected momentum in the second half. It predicted global growth of 5.5% in 2021, an increase of 0.3 percentage points from earlier, citing expectations of a vaccine-powered uptick later in the year and added policy support in the U.S., Japan and other large economies.
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