Share markets in India are presently trading marginally higher.
While Indian share markets opened on a negative note today, losses were recovered thereafter as indices rose sharply over 500 points. The gains were again wiped out amid panic selling as coronavirus fears mounted and presently the benchmark indices are trading near the dotted line.
Sectoral indices are trading on a positive note with stocks in the metal sector, energy sector and auto sector witnessing most of the buying interest.
The BSE Sensex is trading up by 105 points (up 0.4%), while the NSE Nifty is trading up by 35 points (up 0.3%).
The BSE Mid Cap index and the BSE Small Cap index are trading up by 0.7% and 0.1%, respectively.
The rupee is trading at Rs 74.01 against the US$.
In news from the commodity space, gold is witnessing selling pressure today.
The yellow metal extended its fall as prices fell nearly 1.5% on Tuesday. Losses were seen as market participants continued to sell asset amid heightened panic over the coronavirus pandemic.
In the global markets, spot gold slipped towards US$ 1,511.30 per ounce, having slumped as much as 5.1% on Monday to its lowest since November.
Speaking of gold, how lucrative has gold been as a long-term investment in India?
Barring just two years - 2013 and 2015, gold has delivered positive returns in 13 of the last 15 years.
Moving on to news from the banking sector, Yes Bank share price is in focus today as the stock of the lender climbed more than 60% in today's trade after rating agency Moody's upgraded the private lender's outlook to positive (from negative) while also upgrading its rating by a notch.
Moody's said that the upgrade of YES Bank's long-term issuer rating to Caa1 from Caa3, placing it at the same level as its long-term deposit ratings, takes into account the bailout of the bank's depositors and senior creditors under the YES Bank Reconstruction Scheme.
Note that seven banks led by State Bank of India (SBI) have invested Rs 100 billion, boosting its core capital. The troubled bank will restart full-fledged banking services from tomorrow 6 pm onwards.
Yesterday, in the RBI press conference, the RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das said if needed, the central bank would give additional liquidity support to the crippled lender.
The central bank had superseded Yes Bank board on March 5 and placed it under an administrator.
Das said the moratorium on Yes Bank will be lifted on March 18 at 6 pm and new board will assume position on March 26 and administrator will vacate office.
He assured depositors their money is completely safe and there is no need for worry saying that in the history of Indian banking, depositors of SCBs have never lost money.
It was announced that depositors can withdraw their money after 6pm on March 18.
Das also added that interactions with the banks investing in Yes Bank gives the RBI committee confidence that the revival plan will work out.
In one of the articles, we have written about the entire timeline of how YES Bank went from a stock market darling to a pariah.
Speaking of the banking sector, the low access to credit for micro small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) tells us there is a huge opportunity for lenders.
This is evident from the chart below:
India's Huge Lending Opportunity
Of the 60 million MSMEs in India, only 11% had access to credit from organised lenders. Most of them are self-financed or get credit from unorganised sources.
Comments
Log in or sign up to join the conversation.