Stock Market LIVE: Indices expect steady start; SGX Nifty is in green

Oil prices little changed; supply concerns, banking crisis in focus

Crude prices moved in a narrow range in early Asian trade on Tuesday after rallying in the previous session, with oil markets focused on developments in the banking crisis as well as on supply concerns and indications of strengthening demand.

Brent crude futures fell 2 cents to $78.10 a barrel at 0018 GMT. West Texas Intermediate U.S. crude gained 8 cents, or 0.1%, to $72.89.

Prices rose in the previous session after Turkey stopped pumping crude from Kurdistan via a pipeline following an arbitration decision that confirmed Baghdad’s consent was needed to ship the oil.

Monday’s announcement that First Citizens BancShares Inc will acquire deposits and loans of failed Silicon Valley Bank spurred optimism about the condition of the banking sector that has roiled financial markets.

U.S. authorities are also reportedly in early deliberations about expanding emergency lending facilities. (Reuters)

HDFC board clears raising ₹57,000 crore through non-convertible debentures

Mortgage lender HDFC Ltd on Monday said its board has approved raising funds through non-convertible debentures (NCDs) in tranches aggregating to ₹57,000 crore.

The board has cleared issuance of unsecured, redeemable, non-convertible debentures under a Shelf Placement Memorandum, aggregating ₹57,000 crore, in various tranches, on a private placement basis, HDFC said in a regulatory filing.

This is in accordance with the approval granted by the shareholders of the HDFC at the 45th annual general meeting held on June 30, 2022, it said.

Besides, it said, “the board has approved increase in the overall borrowing powers of the corporation from ₹6 lakh crore to ₹6.50 lakh crore, outstanding at any point of time and recommended the same for approval of the members of the corporation by way of postal ballot.” (PTI)

Government may sell Balco stake next fiscal year

More than two decades since the privatization of Bharat Aluminium Co. (Balco), the Union government is preparing to sell its remaining stake in the company in the next fiscal year, two people aware of the development said.

The Union ministry has already reached out to the Department of Investment and Public Asset Management (Dipam) for a road map for the stake sale, the people said on the condition of anonymity. (Read More)

Adani Green Energy put under second stage of longterm ASM framework from today

After moving two Adani firms to Stage 1 of additional surveillance measure(ASM), the NSE and BSE will move Adani enterprises’ energy production arm, Adani Green Energy under the second stage of the long-term ASM framework from Tuesday.

In two separate circulars, the bourses said Adani Green Energy shall continue in the ASM framework but will be moved to the respective higher stage from March 28.

The move also comes after the two bourses put Adani Total Gas and Adani Transmission from the second stage of the long-term ASM framework to Stage-I on Friday.

$1 trillion bond market in India sees rising clout of insurers

The growing wealth of India’s public is leading to a crucial shift in its $1 trillion sovereign bond market.

Their savings — channelled through life insurers, provident and pension funds — are increasingly getting plowed into long-term debt, leading to a structural change in the costs of borrowing for Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government.

India’s yield curve has flattened markedly as the insurers and pension funds snapped up 10-to-40-year debt, with HDFC Life Insurance Ltd. saying that market participants are asking the central bank to sell more longer-dated bonds. Their growing footprint mean that the state will be less reliant on banks over time, while reducing anxiety among traders over how Modi’s infrastructure-building spree will be funded. (Read More)

Wall Street equities gain on Monday, Treasury yields rise as bank worries ease

Wall Street equities gained while U.S. Treasury yields rose on Monday as investor concerns about the financial system were calmed after First Citizens BancShares said it would take on the deposits and loans of failed Silicon Valley Bank.

The deal offered a respite after weeks of turmoil prompted by the collapse of tech-focused Silicon Valley Bank and punctuated by more bank failures and rescues. And on Saturday Bloomberg News reported that U.S. authorities are considering the expansion of an emergency lending facility that would offer banks more support, easing concerns about contagion.

U.S. Treasury yields rose on optimism that stress in the banking sector could be contained, and US 2-Year Treasury yields rose to a session high after an auction.

The S&P 500 bank index, after closing down more than 22% for the month-to-date on Friday, was up more than 3% on Monday. In Europe, Deutsche Bank shares rose 6% after leading declines in the sector on Friday, when investors fled as the cost of insuring the bank’s debt against default had jumped.

“The main driver to today’s sentiment has been the banking news over the weekend,” said Michael James, managing director of equity trading at Wedbush Securities in Los Angeles.

Citing the First Citizens deal and the potential for expansion of emergency U.S. lending, James said there was a “sigh of relief” on Monday for the banking sector “which has had a giant anchor around its neck for the last three weeks.” (Reuters)