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The Hang Seng is up 0.7% while the Shanghai Composite is trading higher by 0.6%. The Nikkei is up 0.8%.
In US stock markets, Wall Street indices slid overnight with the S&P 500 index logging its biggest one-day percentage fall in about a month, weighed down by a drop in US retail sales that raised concerns about the economic recovery.
Overall, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.8% while the Nasdaq Composite declined 0.9%.
Back home, Indian share markets have opened on a positive note.
The BSE Sensex is trading up by 264 points. Meanwhile, the NSE Nifty is trading higher by 70 points.
The Sensex rose as much as 290 points to touch 56,000 mark for the first time.
HDFC Bank and Bajaj Finserv are among the top gainers today. Bajaj Auto, on the other hand, is among the top losers today.
Both, the BSE Mid Cap index and the BSE Small Cap index have opened higher by 0.3%.
Sectoral indices are trading in green with stocks in the power sector and finance sector witnessing most of the buying.
Shares of Mindtree and Titan hit their 52-week highs today.
The rupee is trading at 74.31 against the US$.
Gold prices are trading down by 0.1% at ₹47,270 per 10 grams.
Meanwhile, silver prices are trading down by 0.5% at ₹63,130 per kg.
Crude oil prices slipped today, the fifth day of declines with investors wary about prospects for stronger fuel demand as the use of rail, air, and other forms of transport remained constrained amid surging Covid-19 cases worldwide.
In news from the banking sector, HDFC Bank is among the top buzzing stocks today.
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has partially lifted the ban on HDFC Bank, allowing it to start sourcing new credit cards.
This move comes as a huge relief to the private lender, which was placed under an embargo by the regulator almost eight months back in December 2020.
While the restrictions on the bank’s new offering under its Digital 2.0 strategy remain, the lifting of restrictions on sourcing of new credit cards will lift an overhang on the bank.
In a communication, the RBI said,
The said restrictions are hereby lifted to permit the ban to undertake the sourcing of new credit cards.
The restrictions on all new launches of the digital business generating activities planned under the Digital 2.0 programme of the bank will continue till further review.
HDFC Bank is required to submit a board-approved letter of commitment towards continued compliance and also to achieve full compliance with the remaining observations of RBI’s IT examination report.
RBI clamped down on HDFC Bank in December last year, placing it under an embargo from securing any new credit card customers or proceeding with any new digital launches in the backdrop of a series of technical glitches in its digital channels over a period of two years.
The regulator has then directed the bank to conduct a third-party audit of its IT infrastructure, the final report for which was submitted to RBI recently.
The ban on HDFC Bank has benefitted its rivals, most notably ICICI Bank, by offering them an opportunity to gain customers in the credit card market.
ICICI Bank used the opportunity to aggressively push its new digital initiatives and gained significant market share in the cards business.
HDFC Bank share price has opened the day up by 2.2%.
Note that, HDFC Bank is one that has always adapted to changing times.
HDFC Bank wanted to transform itself from a leader in physical banking to a leader in online banking. Since then, HDFC Bank has constantly focused on going digital.
In 2004, only 10% of customer transactions were initiated through internet and mobile. The number has gone up to 92% in 2019.
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It is a great example of a company that has taken advantage of its scale and embraced disruption rather than fear it.
These are traits that one should look for in picking stocks. They not only withstand the disruption but also gain from it in the long-run.
Moving on to news from the steel sector, steel major Tata Steel is interested in acquiring state-owned Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Limited (RINL), the company’s Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and Managing Director T V Narendran said.
RINL, under the Ministry of Steel, owns and operates a 7.3 m tonnes plant in Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh.
It holds the distinction of being India’s first shore-based integrated steel plant.
Narendran told PTI that there is a great opportunity because it is east as well as it is south, it is a coastal plant so there are many advantages.
RINL has approximately 22,000 acre of land and enjoys access to Gangavaram Port, where raw materials such as coking coal etc. arrives.
Since RINL is located on the eastern coast of India, the acquisition will give Tata Steel more access to the South East Asian markets where the company already has presence, besides catering to the domestic needs of special steel through rail and road.
The CEO further said that Tata Steel has submitted expression of interest for Odisha-based steel maker Neelachal Ispat Nigam Ltd (NINL) as well.
NINL is a joint venture company, in which four central PSUs – MMTC, National Mineral Development Corporation (NMDC), Bharat Heavy Electricals (BHEL) and MECON and two Odisha government companies IPICOL and Odisha Mining Corporation (OMC) are shareholders.
Tata Steel share price has opened the day down by 0.4%.
This article is syndicated from Equitymaster.com
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