Markets likely to be cautious; HDFC Bank, SBI Cards, SpiceJet in focus

Asian stocks and US equity futures wavered Wednesday and the dollar held a rally as investors assessed risks to the economic recovery from the resurgent coronavirus.

MSCI Inc.’s gauge of Asia-Pacific shares fluctuated as it flirts with a fifth-straight daily drop. Equities made modest gains in Japan, China and Hong Kong. Overnight, U.S.-listed Chinese equities tumbled again on Beijing’s regulatory crackdown. US equity contracts pared losses in the wake of the S&P 500’s largest decline in a month.

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has partially lifted restrictions imposed last December on HDFC Bank, allowing it to resume issuing credit cards. However, restrictions on new digital launches remain.

SBI Cards and Payment Services (SBI Card) has raised ₹500 crore by issuing bonds on a private placement basis. The stakeholders’ relationship and customer experience committee of the company has approved the allotment of 5,000 fixed rate, redeemable non-convertible debentures (NCDs) of face value of ₹10 lakh each aggregating to ₹500 crore on private placement basis, SBI Card said in a regulatory filing on Tuesday.

No-frills carrier SpiceJet Ltd, which had in July announced plans to hive off its cargo operations into a separate entity, on Tuesday said it has sought permission from its shareholders to complete the process.The airline, which had in July announced plans to raise up to Rs2,500 crore, will also seek approval from its shareholders to raise funds through QIP (Qualified Institutional Placement), it said in the stock exchange notification.

Treasuries were little changed ahead of the release of the latest Federal Reserve minutes amid a highly uncertain outlook for yields. Traders are evaluating the spread of the delta virus variant, the prospect of reduced stimulus support and whether elevated inflation will prove transitory.

Investors are evaluating the outlook for global stocks after a 90% advance from last year’s pandemic lows, as the fast-spreading delta strain impedes reopening and fans worries that economic growth is peaking.

Meanwhile, the Jackson Hole symposium next week—the Fed’s most-prominent annual conference—may offer clues about when and how the central bank will taper bond purchases.

In a town hall meeting Tuesday, Fed chair Jerome Powell flagged that the pandemic is “still casting a shadow on economic activity” but didn’t discuss the outlook for monetary policy or make specific comment on growth and the risks from the delta variant.

Crude oil held losses, pressured by the recent climb in the dollar and signs of an uneven U.S. recovery. Bitcoin was trading around $45,000.

(Bloomberg contributed to the story)