On Monday, the prices of Industrial metals fell on demand concerns after China reported weak economic data. China’s economy unexpectedly slowed in July, but the positive side of the story was that the PBOC, the Chinese central bank, has cut rates for the second time this year to boost credit and
revive growth. The situation was compounded by a rising dollar, which made metals more expensive. There are also some concerns over microchip supplies from Taiwan getting impacted by the geopolitical uncertainty.
If the FPIs just about turned net buyers of $634 million in July 2022, the flows in August have been a lot more decisive. In the first 2 weeks of August 2022, the FPIs have infused Rs22,452 crore into Indian stocks as inflation concerns receded. Between October 2021 and June 2022, FPIs had sold Rs2.46 trillion worth of equities on rate hike fears. The falling inflation levels have helped turn the sentiments of the FPIs. Dollar index has also abated from the 109 levels in late July to 105.26 levels. FPIs are buying rate
sensitive stocks.
Ola Electric plans to foray into the electric car (EV) segment and plans to launch its first model by 2024. Ola Electric is already a major players in the electric scooters business, although it is now struggling with its delivery schedules. It has set a target of selling 10 lakh electric cars by FY27. Ola plans to price their electric cars between Rs1 lakh and Rs50 lakhs. They plan to touch a million cars before March 2027. It is adding manpower for its battery cell research units. Instances of scooters catching fire have been an issue.
Kohlberg Kravis Roberts (KKR), the leading private equity investor in the world, plans to sell up to 26% stake in Max Healthcare Institute on 16th August. The deal is expected to be worth Rs9,416 crore and will be executed entirely through block deals. The indicative price of the sale could be between Rs350 and Rs362. There is likely to be a lot of demand from domestic mutual funds and insurers. Jefferies and Kotak will manage the deal and will mark the exit of KKR from Max Healthcare. KKR had sold part stake last year.
India affirmed that there was no pressure on them from Western countries to stall energy purchases from Russia. India has been buying crude aggressively from Russia as the latter had offered generous discounts after Europe cut its oil intake from Russia. In July, India has already overtaken China to become the second largest importer of crude from Russia, after EU. Russia also became India’s third largest supplier of coal in the world after Australia and Indonesia. Indian oil purchases will be driven by its energy security demands.
Nayara Energy, partly owned by Rosneft of Russia, posted record quarterly profit in the June 2022 quarter as margins got a boost from higher intake of discounted Russian oil. Its net profits for the quarter stood at Rs3,564 crore bouncing from a net loss in the year ago period. Apart from Rosneft, UCP
Investment group and global oil trader Trafigura, are the other stakeholders in Nayara Energy. Traditionally, refiners in India rarely bought Russian oil due to freight costs. Purchases have surged post the Russia Ukraine war.
On Friday, the stock of Paytm fell sharply by 6.2% after proxy advisory firms opposed reappointment of Vijay Sekhar Sharma as its MD and CEO. Three proxy firms, viz. IIAS, SES and InGovern raised objections to the reappointment of Sharma and urged shareholders to vote against the proposal. The proxy firms have raised objections to the dual posts held by Sharma. They also called for his removal due to the sharp fall in the stock price post IPO and also because Paytm could not meet its operating profit
commitments.
White Oak Capital AMC, founded by Prashant Khemka of Goldman Sachs, collected Rs550 crore in its maiden equity NFO; White Oak Capital Flexicap Fund. The NFO was well received by domestic and foreign investors. As per early figures coming in, the fund had garnered around 25,000 unique investors across 350 locations for its flexi-cap fund offering. White Oak is among the recent AMCs to have entered the Indian mutual funds market and has investment management and advisory AUM of over Rs40,000 crore.