Indian stock market seen under pressure; Vedanta, Adani Enterprises in focus

Asian shares and oil prices tumbled on Tuesday as the spread of the Omicron coronavirus crisis rattled investors, who were already on edge over central bank decisions this week, including a major Federal Reserve meeting.

MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was down 0.46%.

A combination of economic risks from the Omicron version and a potentially more bullish tone from the Fed on Wednesday dampened risk appetite.

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index was down 1%, South Korea’s Kospi was down 0.4%, Japan’s Nikkei stock index was down 0.13% and Australian shares were down 0.31%.

Back home, billionaire Anil Agarwal’s mining conglomerate Vedanta has withdrawn cases to settle before the Delhi High Court as well as an international arbitration tribunal. 20,495 crore retrospective tax dispute with Govt. after slapping a The Income Tax Department had in 2016 sought 10,247 crore tax on UK-based Cairn Energy Plc for alleged capital gains made on internal restructuring of its India business. 20,495 crore in taxes from Cairn India.

Gautam Adani-controlled Adani Enterprises paid 1,103 crore to state-owned Airports Authority of India (AAI) to take over its airport properties in Ahmedabad, Mangaluru and Lucknow, Minister of State for Civil Aviation VK Singh said on Monday.

Anand Rathi will make his stock market debut on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, the Fed is expected to signal a sharp wind-down of its $120 billion-per-month bond buying program in a move to fight high inflation, which could put it one step closer to raising interest rates.

The dollar rallied ahead of upcoming meetings, with investors eyeing the possibility that the Fed would start raising rates in 2022.

The European Central Bank, the Bank of England and the Bank of Japan are also meeting this week, and each moves towards normalizing their own monetary policies.

Fears over the Omicron version of Covid-19 were heightened after British Prime Minister Boris Johnson warned of a “tidal wave” of new cases, and the World Health Organization said it posed a “very high” global risk, with some evidence suggesting that Plus it saves vaccine protection. read more

Oil futures eased as new doubts about the effectiveness of vaccines against the Omicron coronavirus pandemic rose, although OPEC predicted in its monthly report that the version’s impact on fuel demand would be mild.

Brent futures fell 83 cents, or 1.10%, to $74.32 a barrel, while US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude was down 8 cents, or 0.11%, at $71.21.

(Reuters contributed to the story)