Equity indices a tad down in early trade
India's key equity indices -- Sensex and Nifty -- traded marginally lower during early trade on Monday.
image for illustrative purpose
New Delhi, March 21 India's key equity indices -- Sensex and Nifty -- traded marginally lower during early trade on Monday.
At 9.48 a.m., Sensex was 0.1 per cent or 71 points down at 57,793 points, whereas Nifty 0.1 per cent or 10 points down at 17,277 points.
After a sharp decline in the wake of the Russia-Ukraine war, the Indian equity benchmark Sensex had increased over 5,000 points in the past eight trading sessions since March 8.
During the said time period, Nifty rose over 1,400 points.
"Nifty after the 15 per cent correction from the peak has climbed back by 10 per cent. This resilience of the market even in the midst of uncertainties and challenges is significant from the investors' perspective. For the short-term the biggest positive for the market is the FPIs turning buyers. Crude again back at $110 is a headwind," said V.K. Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist at Geojit Financial Services.
On IT stocks, Vijayakumar said that Accenture's market beating results and excellent guidance augur well for the IT sectoral stocks.
Live Updates
- 21 March 2022 10:46 AM IST
FII and DII data
Buying by foreign institutional investors (FIIs) continued for second consecutive session as they have net bought shares worth Rs 2,800.14 crore, while domestic institutional investors (DIIs) have net sold shares worth Rs 678.45 crore on March 17, as per provisional data available on the NSE.
- 21 March 2022 10:45 AM IST
US weekly jobless claims fall to 214,000
Fewer Americans applied for unemployment benefits last week as layoffs continue to fall amid a strong job market rebound. Jobless claims fell by 15,000 to 214,000 for the week ending March 12, down from the previous week's 229,000, the Labor Department reported Thursday. First-time applications for jobless aid generally track the pace of layoffs.
The four-week average for claims, which compensates for weekly volatility, fell to 223,000 from the previous week's 231,750. In total, 1,419,000 Americans a 50-year low were collecting jobless aid the week that ended March 5, down 71,000 from the week before that.
- 21 March 2022 10:45 AM IST
RBI remains net seller of US dollars in January; sells $771 million
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) remained a net seller of the US currency in January 2022, selling USD 771 million in the spot market. In the reporting month, the central bank bought USD 6.548 billion and sold USD 7.319 billion in the spot market, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Bulletin for March 2022 released on Thursday showed.
- 21 March 2022 10:44 AM IST
Forex reserves decline $9.65 billion to $622.27 billion
The country’s foreign exchange reserves declined USD 9.646 billion to USD 622.275 billion in the week ended March 11, according to the latest data from the RBI. In the previous week ended March 4, the reserves rose USD 394 million to USD 631.92 billion. It touched a lifetime high of USD 642.453 billion in the week ended September 3, 2021.
During the reporting week, the decline in the reserves was due to a fall in the foreign currency assets (FCA), a major component of the overall reserves, the Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) weekly data released on Friday showed.
- 21 March 2022 10:44 AM IST
Advance tax collections jump 41%; net direct tax mop-up soars 48%
India's collection from tax on personal and corporate income jumped over 48 per cent in the current fiscal after a 41 per cent surge in advance tax payments, mirroring sustained economic recovery in a year that witnessed two waves of coronavirus infections.
Net collections of direct taxes until March 16, 2022 in the fiscal year that started on April 1, 2021 stood at Rs 13.63 lakh crore, compared to Rs 9.18 lakh crore in the same period a year back, an official statement said.
- 21 March 2022 10:43 AM IST
Global economic fallout of Russia-Ukraine war expected to negatively impact Indian economy: IMF
The global economic fallout of the war in Ukraine is expected to negatively impact India's economy, while the immediate impact of the conflict on China is likely to be relatively small, the IMF said on Thursday.
The global economic fallout of the war is expected to negatively impact India's economy through a number of channels, which differ from those impacting the Indian economy during COVID-19, Gerry Rice, International Monetary Fund's Director of the Communications Department, told reporters here. Rice said the sharp rise in global oil prices represents an important trade shock with macro-economic implications.
It will lead to higher inflation and current account deficit, he said as Russia launched a "special military operation" against Ukraine on February 24. But the impact on the current account could potentially be partially offset by favourable movements in prices of commodities that India exports, for example, wheat, he said.
- 21 March 2022 10:43 AM IST
Oil climbs on pressure from Ukraine conflict, tight market
Oil prices jumped $2 on Monday as Ukrainian forces dug in against heavy Russian attacks, while major oil producers reported they are struggling to produce their allotted quotas under a supply agreement.
Brent crude futures climbed $1.96, or 1.8%, to $109.89 a barrel at 0039 GMT, adding to a 1.2% rise last Friday. US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures rose $2.09, or 2%, to $106.79, extending a 1.7% jump last Friday.
