Asian share markets are trading mixed today as stocks in Japan fell, while equities in South Korea advanced.

The Nikkei is trading marginally higher while the Hang Seng is trading lower by 1%. The Shanghai Composite is down 0.7%.

US stocks finished higher on Monday after a deal over the US debt ceiling lifted risk sentiment, although the agreement could face a rocky path through Congress.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average ended 1% higher and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite rallied 2.5%.

Here's a table showing how US stocks performed on Monday:

Data Source: Equitymaster

Back home, Indian share markets are trading on a positive note following the trend on SGX Nifty.

At present, the BSE Sensex is trading 78 points higher. Meanwhile, the NSE Nifty is trading up by 34 points.

UltraTech Cement and Kotak Mahindra Bank are among the top gainers today.

ITC and Nestle on the other hand are among the top losers today.

Check out the NSE Nifty heatmap to get the complete list of gainers and losers.

Broader markets are trading on a positive note. Both the BSE Mid Cap index and the BSE Small Cap index are trading 0.4% higher.

Sectoral indices are trading on a positive note with the exception of the realty sector and metal sector. Stocks in the energy sector and auto sector witness buying.

Shares of UltraTech Cement and ABB India hit their 52-week high today.

The rupee is trading at Rs 82.67 against the US dollar.

In commodity markets, gold prices are trading higher at Rs 59,425 per 10 grams today.

Meanwhile, silver prices are trading lower by 0.6% at Rs 70,678 per 1 kg.
 

SBI Lists Foreign Currency Bonds

The largest public sector bank, State Bank of India (SBI) listed US$ 750 million (m) (about 62,005.1 m) worth of foreign currency bonds on Monday. This is part of SBI's US$10 billion global medium note program under which it will fund its overseas business growth.

The funds were raised at platforms like India INX's Global Securities Market (GSM) and GIFT International Financial Services Centre in Gujarat.

These foreign currency bonds were issued by SBI through its London branch and were priced competitively.

India International Exchange Limited (India Inx) is the country's first international stock exchange backed by Finance Ministry and government. It is also situated at the International Financial Services Centre, GIFT City.

Earlier this month, SBI posted Q4 results. Its net profit crossed the mark of Rs 500 bn. This was the highest-ever net profit reported by any bank. Little wonder that the SBI share price is rising.

In the past year, SBI's share price is up 25%.

In fact, SBI is one of the 5 Indian banks that posted record-high profits in FY 2023.
 

Grasim Industries to head the new initiative for B2B e-commerce

The Aditya Birla group has engaged a team of senior executives to spearhead its digital platform venture for building materials. The business-to-business (B2B) venture will be overseen by the conglomerate's flagship company, Grasim Industries.

The firm aims to launch the B2B e-commerce platform in Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh in the second quarter of 2024.

Reports revealed that the team was meticulously recruited over the past few quarters, with a significant number of high-level appointments consisting of experienced individuals from e-commerce startups.

Sandeep Komaravelly will assume the position of chief executive officer to spearhead the B2B platform, while Abhilash Pillai has been appointed as the chief operating officer of the industrial products and service marketplace.
 

RVNL Q4 results

State-owned Rail Vikas Nigam (RVNL) on Monday posted a 5% year-on-year (YoY) fall in net profit at Rs 3.6 billion (bn) for the March 2023 quarter.In the corresponding quarter last year, the company posted a net profit of Rs 3.8 bn.

In the March quarter, total revenue stood at Rs 57.2 bn, down 11.1% against Rs 64.4 bn in the corresponding period of the preceding financial.

At the operating level, earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA) dipped 8.3% to Rs 3.7 bn in the fourth quarter of this financial year over Rs 4.1 bn in the corresponding period in the previous financial year.

The EBITDA margin stood at 6.6% in the reporting quarter against 6.3% in the corresponding period in the previous financial year.

The board has recommended a final dividend of Rs 0.36 per share for the financial year 2022-23.

Earlier this month, the railway ministry announced that RVNL was granted Navratna status. With this, RVNL will see an enhanced delegation of powers, more operational freedom, and financial autonomy, which will likely give a huge impetus to the company's progress, particularly as it expands its footprint beyond the railway sector and into international projects.

RVNL is an executing arm of Indian Railways and works for and on behalf of the ministry for projects assigned to it for execution. It works on a turnkey basis and undertakes the full cycle of project development from conceptualization to commissioning including stages of design, preparation of estimates, calling and award of contracts, and project and contract management.

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