LIC picks additional 2.01% stake in M&M Financial Services.

Opening Bell:

SGX Nifty is up by 86 points in the early morning trade, indicating a positive opening for Indian stock market.

Markets in the Asia-Pacific traded higher as the US Federal Reserve said they expect to switch to smaller rate hikes “soon”, according to minutes released on Wednesday. The Bank of Korea opted for a smaller 25 basis point hike, widely in line with expectations. The Japanese Nikkei is up by 1.24 percent. South Korea’s Kospi gained by 0.60 percent. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng is added 0.53 percent in the early morning trades.

Wall Street’s main indexes ended Wednesday with solid gains after the Federal Reserve’s November meeting minutes showed interest rate hikes may slow soon. S&P 500 gained 0.59 percent whereas Nasdaq composite added 0.99 percent.

Stocks News:

Polus Global Fund exits Inox Green Energy Services; Elara India, Nomura Singapore, Yes Bank sell 2% shares. Foreign portfolio investor Polus Global Fund exited the wind power operation and maintenance services provider by selling entire 53.85 lakh shares at an average price of Rs 61.21 per share.

Nippon India Mutual Fund picks nearly 3% stake in Voltamp Transformers. Nippon India Mutual Fund bought additional 3 lakh shares in the company at an average price of Rs 2,650 per share, whereas Nalanda India Fund offloaded 4.2 lakh shares.

Life Insurance Corporation of India picks additional 2.01% stake in M&M Financial Services. Life Insurance Corporation of India bought additional 2.01% shares in M&M Financial Services via open market transactions, increasing the shareholding to 7.02% from 5.01% earlier.

Capri Global Holdings picks 1.58% stake in Fino Payments Bank. Investor Capri Global Holdings has picked 1.58% stake or 13.19 lakh shares in Fino Payments Bank via open market transactions. These shares were bought at an average price of Rs 228.77 per share.

Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) net sold shares worth Rs 789.86 crore, while domestic institutional investors (DIIs) net bought shares worth Rs 413.75 crore on November 23, as per provisional data available on the NSE.

Domestic and International Events

• A “substantial majority” of policymakers at the Federal Reserve’s meeting early this month agreed it would “likely soon be appropriate” to slow the pace of interest rate hikes as debate broadened over the implications of the U.S. central bank’s rapid tightening of monetary policy, according to the minutes from the session.
• Oil prices fell more than 3% on Wednesday, continuing a streak of volatile trading, as the Group of Seven (G7) nations considered a price cap on Russian oil above the current market level and as gasoline inventories in the United States built by more than what analysts expected.
• The number of Americans applying for unemployment benefits rose to the highest level since August but still remains low by historic standards. The Labor Department reported Wednesday that 240,000 people applied for jobless aid last week, up by 17,000 from the week before. The four-week moving average of claims, which smooths out week-to-week volatility, rose by 5,500 to 226,750.
• Japan’s manufacturing activity contracted at the fastest pace in two years in November as demand worsened due to strong inflationary pressures, a business survey showed on Thursday. The contraction in factory activity also marked the first monthly decline in 22 months and raised a question mark over Japan’s economic outlook as the country relies heavily on trade with China and other nations for its growth.

Key Equity Indices