Concerns about a possible Russian attack on Ukraine further infuriated investors, with the US State Department evacuating family members of its embassy staff in Kiev.
The Hang Seng is down 1.1% while the Shanghai Composite is up 0.1%. Nikkei is trading on a flat note.
In US stock markets, Wall Street indexes fell on Friday, with the Nasdaq dropping its fourth straight day after Netflix’s weak forecast sent its shares spiraling lower along with other streaming companies.
Fears of inflation and concerns about the impact of higher interest rates also weighed on investor sentiment.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 450 points, or 1.3%, while the technology-focused Nasdaq Composite fell 2.7%, or 385 points.
Back home, Indian stock markets are trading on a negative note.
The US Fed is scheduled to meet on Tuesday and Wednesday, which will have a huge impact on global markets.
Meanwhile, as the Union Budget 2022-23 nears (scheduled for 1st February 2022), the Indian stock markets are likely to be volatile as they have historically remained volatile with a negative bias in the fortnight before the presentation of the Budget. Huh.
Market participants will be tracking the stocks of Axis Bank, SBI Cards, HDFC AMC Indian Energy Exchange (IEX) and Zensar Technologies as these companies announce their December quarter results today.
BSE Sensex is trading with a fall of 540 points. Meanwhile, NSE Nifty is trading with a fall of 181 points.
IndusInd Bank is among the top gainers today. On the other hand, Bajaj Finance and Wipro are among the biggest losers today.
The broader markets are underperforming the benchmark indices. The BSE Mid Cap Index is down 1.7% while the BSE Small Cap Index fell 2.2%.
All sectoral indices are trading in the red with metal sector and IT sector stocks being the biggest sell-offs.
Shares of Adani Transmission and Cholamandalam Investment hit a 52-week high today.
Rupee is trading at 74.42 against US Dollar.
Crude oil prices jumped today as geopolitical tensions in Eastern Europe and the Middle East raised concerns about an already tight supply outlook, while OPEC and its allies continued to struggle to raise their output.
Gold prices are trading with a gain of 0.3% 48,392 per 10 grams.
During this, silver prices trading down 0.9% 64,691 per kg.
Gold is higher today as investors await a meeting of the US Federal Reserve to confirm on the way to hike interest rates.
Meanwhile, concerns over inflation and Russia-Ukraine tensions kept the bullion safe haven’s allure.
Gold is viewed as an inflation hedge, but it is highly sensitive to rising US interest rates, which increases the opportunity cost of holding non-interest bearing bullion.
In global markets, spot gold was trading at USD 1,833.36 an ounce, while US gold futures were up 0.2% at USD 1,834.70.
Gold was sold at a discount in India last week as a rise in domestic prices dampened demand and jewelers waited for the annual budget.
Coming to the precious yellow metal, how attractive has gold been as a long-term investment in India?
The chart below shows the annualized returns on gold over the past 15 years:
see full image
As you can see, gold has given positive returns in 13 of the last 15 years, barring just two years – 2013 and 2015.
The recent price volatility in the bullion market has troubled many traders. Despite the recent volatility in prices, gold is one of the best performing commodities this year to tide over the fallout from the coronavirus pandemic.
In the latest development in the IPO sector, Fabindia plans to expand 40 billion through an initial public offering (IPO) and in a new approach, the company’s promoters also plan to gift over 700,000 shares to artisans and farmers.
With this, the company aims to raise funds from the markets at valuations above 200 billion
The lifestyle retail brand on Saturday filed a draft red herring prospectus (DRHP) with the market regulator for the offer, which will include fresh issue of shares up to a maximum of Rs. 5 billion while the offer for sale (OFS) will be up to 2,50,50,543 shares.
To reward and express gratitude to certain artisans and farmers associated with the company or its subsidiaries, two of Fabindia’s promoters – Bimla Nanda Bisel and Madhukar Khera – intend to transfer 400,000 shares and 375,080 shares to them respectively.
At DRHP, the company mentions about its ESG initiatives, believing that we enable and uplift the people we work with, care for the environment, and have long been ethical in our conduct. and make a lasting positive impact.
Six decades old FabIndia runs over 300 FabIndia-branded outlets and over 70 Organic India stores across the country. It procures products directly from over 2,200 farmers and deals with over 10,300 farmers through its partners.
Note that Fabindia is the latest of several retailers, including Go Fashion and Biba, that have either tapped markets or targeted their IPOs later this year.
Go fashion picked up 10.1 billion through its IPO and made a great debut in the stock market in November 2021, listing at a 90% premium to its issue price. Meanwhile, other players like Manyavar’s owner Vedanta Fashion and Biba are also preparing for an IPO.
How Fabindia’s IPO pans out remains to be seen as it comes at a time when retailers are grappling with low sales and customer footfalls in stores amid the threat of a third wave.
Stocks are moving up on specific news…
Bandhan Bank and ICICI Bank are among the top stocks today.
Private lender Bandhan Bank on Friday reported a 36% rise in its net profit 8.6 billion for the quarter ended December 2021. The lender had reported a net profit 6.3 billion in the year-ago period.
Its net interest income (NII) for the quarter up 2.6% 21.2 billion
Total non-performing assets (NPA) as on December 2021 94.4 billion against 87.6 billion by September 2021. Meanwhile, the net NPAs till December 2021 was 24.1 billion
Despite the technical write-off 12 billion during the quarter, the Bank’s provision coverage ratio increased from 74.1% in September 2021 to 74.4% as of December 2021.
Shares of Bandhan Bank are currently trading with a gain of 3.6 percent.
Bandhan Bank is not the only private lender in the limelight today as ICICI Bank earnings beat estimates.
ICICI Bank reports 25% growth in standalone net profit 61.9 billion on top of 23% jump in net NII 122.4 billion
ICICI Bank’s net NPA ratio declined to 0.85% from 0.99% in the previous quarter, the lowest since March 2014.
The bank said that it is the market leader in electronic toll collection through FASTag, with 42% growth in collections with a market share of 39% by value in electronic toll collection.
The share price of ICICI Bank is trading with a gain of 0.8%.
(This article is syndicated from) Equitymaster.com,
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