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The Hang Seng and the Shanghai Composite are trading up by 1.1% and 0.4%, respectively. The Nikkei is trading down by 0.3%.
In US stock markets, Wall Street indices swung between gains and losses on Thursday after minutes from the Federal Reserve’s last meeting struck a hawkish note, buoying cyclical sectors, while technology shares were mixed after suffering big losses this week.
The Federal Reserve is signaling it will raise rates more dramatically because of inflation concerns, which has sent jitters through a market priced to perfection.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average finished down 0.5% while the Nasdaq Composite declined 0.1%.
Back home, Indian share markets opened on a positive note following the trend on SGX Nifty.
Benchmark indices extended gains as the session progressed today, following a sharp sell-off yesterday.
Investor sentiment has turned jittery yesterday following huge sell-off across global markets as fears of a faster-than-expected hike in US interest rates weighed on the markets.
The BSE Sensex is trading up by 477 points. Meanwhile, the NSE Nifty is trading higher by 140 points.
ICICI Bank and Wipro are among the top gainers today. HDFC, on the other hand, is among the top losers today.
The BSE Mid Cap index is up 0.6%. The BSE Small Cap index is trading higher by 0.7%.
All sectoral indices are trading in green with stocks in the banking sector, energy sector and consumer durables sector witnessing most of the buying.
Shares of Titan and KPIT Technologies hit their 52-week highs today.
The rupee is trading at 74.39 against the US$.
Gold prices are trading up by 0.1% at ₹47,489 per 10 grams.
Meanwhile, silver prices are trading up by 0.1% at ₹60,450 per kg.
Gold inched higher, hovering close to a two-week low hit in the previous session, after the chief of the World Health Organisation (WHO) said the Omicron variant cannot be considered ‘mild’, while stronger yields capped bullion’s gains.
Crude oil prices rose today as an uprising in Kazakhstan stoked worry that crude supply from the OPEC+ producer could be disrupted at the same time output has dropped in Libya.
In news from the insurance sector, HDFC Life on Thursday announced the closure of the acquisition Exide Life deal, which will pave the way for increasing its presence in the south India market.
The private sector insurer acquired a 100% stake in Exide Life from its parent Exide Industries after issuing over 87 m shares at an issue price of ₹685 and a cash payout of ₹7.3 bn, aggregating to ₹66.9 bn.
Exide Industries now holds a 4.1% stake in HDFC Life.
The insurer said the deal is closed subsequent to receiving all relevant regulatory approvals and it will soon initiate the merger of Exide Life with itself.
In a statement, the company said,
Exide Life’s agency-based distribution model, a strong presence in south India and experience across tier-II and -III locations complement HDFC Life and will help expand its market and bolster its proprietary distribution.
HDFC Life’s MD and CEO Vibha Padalkar said they recognise that the life insurance market in India is multi-faceted, where one solution might not fit all.
She also thanked the outgoing MD and CEO of Exide Life, Kshitij Jain, for his leadership in helping build Exide Life as a strong institution.
Shares of HDFC Life Insurance are trading up by 0.7%.
Speaking of the insurance sector, have a look at the chart below which shows the investment assets of non-life insurers and life insurers over the past 10 years:
Investment Assets of Non-Life Insurers 11x That of Life Insurers
As per Tanushree Banerjee, Co-Head of Research at Equitymaster, the above chart is enough proof of how big an earning opportunity is the zero-cost float to the non-life insurers. Their investment assets under management is nearly 11 times that of life insurers.
Moving on to news from the power sector, NTPC and Adani group stocks are in focus today.
Adani Enterprises on Thursday said it had won a contract to supply imported coal to state-owned electricity generator NTPC but played down its significance saying the volume of 1 m tonnes was small.
The contract was awarded by NTPC through an elaborate bidding process that started in the end of October 2021, followed by reverse bidding and negotiations.
The above development come after there were speculations about NTPC sourcing coal from Adani. The group clarified that the quantum of this order is a small quantity in overall import coal business of the company.
Adani Enterprises added that incidentally, 1 m tonnes quantity is merely 2% of the likely volume of import coal trade business of Adani Enterprises in 2021-22.
NTPC share price is trading up by 0.1% while Adani group stocks are trading on a mixed note.
Moving on to news from the banking sector, the central government has approached the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), seeking relaxation in the promoter shareholding cap for the new buyer of IDBI Bank.
The Centre has sought relaxing the 26% cap for new promoters of IDBI Bank, as it looks to initiate a strategic divestment of the lender.
The RBI is considering the Centre’s proposal, as the government plans to come up with an expression of interest (EoI) and preliminary information memorandum for the bank’s sale.
The government currently holds a 45.5% stake in IDBI Bank. Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) of India owns 49.2% stake in the lender. The remaining 5.3% is held by public shareholders.
The government is yet to finalise the stake LIC and the Centre will reduce in IDBI Bank. However, talks have been held to proportionately bring down shareholding in the lender.
Reports state that the government may also look at retaining around 26% stake in the lender, in line with proposed amendments planned for privatisation of two other public sector banks (PSBs).
We will keep you updated on the latest developments from this space. Stay tuned.
This article is syndicated from Equitymaster.com
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