Today’s Stock Market Live Updates: Even as the monsoon deficit has been almost wiped in most parts of India, there is good news from the Kharif front. The Kharif sowing is up 14% while the paddy area under sowing is up 18% in this seasons. In addition, the brisk sowing of pulses and oilseeds has given confidence that food inflation may be held at bay this year. In the previous year, most of the inflation pressure came from food inflation even as core inflation was continuously tapering. Kharif sowing typically continues till the end of September each year.
Birla Opus Paints, the latest entrant into the paints business, has mapped out aggressive distribution plans for its product. The company will ramp up its distribution in nearly 300 towns, resulting in revenues of Rs10,000 crore and profits from the third year of operation. The company already has a strong presence in Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, and Telangana. The domestic paints market is pegged at Rs70,000 crore but is likely to expand in tandem with the growth in housing and construction.
Two of the leading telecom players, Jio and Airtel are likely to see 2% rise in revenues in Q1, on sequential basis, even as ARPUs are likely to remain stagnant. The growth is likely to be led by new subscribers, data consumption, and shift to postpaid model. Vodafone Idea, however, could see a 50 bps fall in revenues. While the profits and market share of Jio are much higher than that of Airtel, it is Bharti Airtel that leads in terms of ARPUs. However, Reliance now plans to hike tariffs, although their ARPUs will still fall short.
Oil prices tapered to around $86/bbl in the Brent market on the back of hopes that the Gaza peace talks should finally fructify and bring an end to this battle of attrition in the Middle East and West Asia. Amid the Gaza talk hopes, there are also fears that Hurricane Beryl may disrupt supplies of oil. Currently, Qatar and Egypt are acting as the mediators in the peace talks between Israel and Gaza. Meanwhile Hurricane Beryl has already made landfall in Texas, that also happens to be the largest oil producing state in the US.
A full 4 years after Yes Bank was rescued from the brink by a clutch of private and PSU banks, the RBI has approved the plan for its saviour banks to exit Yes Bank. Currently, Yes Bank is valued in the market at $10 billion, which is a far cry from the brink it found itself in about 4 years ago. As of now, the RBI has given its in-principle approval for an incoming partner to buy 51% stake in Yes Bank. This will give an exit route after SBI had led the rescue deal for Yes Bank in 2020. It would be the biggest deal in Indian banking space.
June was a month that saw a sharp revival in mutual fund NFOs. A total of 29 NFOs have been launched by mutual funds since the start of June, which is half of the total NFOs in the first five months of 2024. The underlying trend is that most of these new fund launches are passive funds, where the restriction on the number of funds per class are more liberally interpreted. Apart from the buoyant markets and the rising AUM of mutual funds, the end of election uncertainty and a stable government are also key factors.
The shareholders of Nestle India have cleared the payment of royalty to the parent company, Nestle SA of Switzerland, at the existing rates. Earlier in 2024, shareholders of Nestle India had rejected the proposal to hike the royalty rate by 0.15% per year progressively for a period of 5 years. That would have taken the royalty payment up from 4.50% to 5.25% over 5 years, which his much higher than what other MNCs were paying to their parent. In the board meeting, Nestle India agreed to stick to 4.5% royalty payout for now. Amidst the ongoing SEBI inquiry, Quant AMC has seen net outflows in the last week of June. This is the first occasion in the last 6 months that this has happened. The outflows were to the tune of Rs2,800 crore and could be an example lightening their positions. Maximum outflows were seen in the Quant Small Cap Fund, followed by the flexi-cap and mid-cap funds. On June 23, SEBI was reported to have conducted search and seizure operations at 2 offices of Quant AMC on suspected front running by the mutual fund.
