Thursday, 27 April 2017

Claims For US Unemployment Benefits Rise By 14,000 To 257,000, But Remain Low-The Total Investment & Insurance Solutions

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27 April 2017

More Americans filed for unemployment benefits last week, but applications remained at a low level that suggests most workers enjoy job security. The Total Investment & Insurance Solutions
THE NUMBERS: The Labor Department says weekly jobless claims rose by 14,000 to 257,000, the highest level in almost a month. The less volatile four-week average slipped by 500 to 242,250, lowest since late February. The Total Investment & Insurance Solutions
Overall, 1.99 million Americans are collecting unemployment benefits, down more than 7 percent from a year ago. The Total Investment & Insurance Solutions
THE TAKEAWAY: Jobless claims are a proxy for layoffs. They have come in below 300,000 for 112 straight weeks, the longest streak since 1970. The numbers suggest that most American workers are secure in their jobs. The Total Investment & Insurance Solutions
KEY DRIVERS: The U.S. economy is healthy, if not booming. Employers are adding a healthy 175,000 jobs a month so far this year and are confident enough to be holding on to their workers. The U.S. unemployment rate fell last month to 4.5 percent, lowest in nearly a decade
"The behavior of claims suggests there is room for the unemployment rate to decline further," Raymond Stone, co-founder of Stone & McCarthy Research Associates, wrote in a research report.

Economists believe the economy grew slowly — at an annual pace of 1 percent or lower — from January through March. The Commerce Department releases the first-quarter numbers on Friday. But forecasters expect growth to pick up in the spring. Employers are optimistic about future sales and are posting job openings.The Total Investment & Insurance Solutions

Wednesday, 26 April 2017

Nifty, Sensex to push higher - Wednesday closing report-The Total Investment & Insurance Solutions

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26 April 2017

I have mentioned in Monday’s closing report that Nifty, Sensex will continue to trend higher. The major Indian on ended with high gains, with closing Sensex above 30,000 for the first time. The trends of the major indices in the course of Tuesday’s trading are given in the table below: The Total Investment & Insurance Solutions
 
Major Indices (The Total Investment & Insurance Solutions)
Positive Asian stocks pushed the key benchmark indices higher for third day in a row. The barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, rose 190.11 points or 0.63% to settle at 30,133.35. The Nifty 50 index rose 45.25 points or 0.49% to settle at 9,351.85. The Sensex and the Nifty, both, hit record high in intraday day as well as closing basis. Sentiment was also boosted after the ruling party at the Centre, BJP's massive win in the Delhi civic elections.

IT major Wipro shed 0.8% to Rs 490.60 in volatile trade after hitting an intraday high of Rs 513 and intraday low of Rs 489. The company's consolidated net profit rose 7.2% to Rs 2267 crore on 4.86% rise in total income to Rs 15033.80 crore in Q4 March 2017 over Q3 December 2016. The result was announced after market hours yesterday, 25 April 2017. In its outlook, Wipro expects revenues from its IT services business to be in the range of $1915 million to $1955 million for the Q1 June 2017. Wipro's board recommended 1:1 bonus issue of shares. 

LIC Housing Finance slipped 0.16%. The company's net profit rose 18.12% to Rs 529.18 crore on 11.85% rise in total revenue to Rs 3661.86 crore in Q4 March 2017 over Q4 March 2016. The result was announced after market hours yesterday, 25 April 2017. 

V-Mart Retail gained 1.77% after the company said that it has opened a new store in Uttar Pradesh. The new store opened is a fashion store. With this, the tally of stores in Uttar Pradesh is 17 composite & 44 fashion stores. This takes the total number of stores to 143 stores in 122 cities across 14 states, with 37 composite stores & 106 fashion stores with a total area of about 12.1 lakhs square feel, company said. The Total Investment & Insurance Solutions

State-owned Indian Oil Corp (IOC) has received green nod for upgradation of its Bongaigaon refinery for production of BS-VI grade fuels in Assam at a cost of Rs 4,185 crore. The company wants to upgrade its Bongaigaon Refinery (BGR) as the government aims to implement BS-VI fuel in the entire country from April 2020 to curb pollution. Oil firms will have to be prepared to retail BS VI-compliant fuel by then. BGR, the eighth operating refinery of IOC, is situated at Dhaligaon in Chirang district, 200 km west of Guwahati.

PVR Cinemas has signed a deal with IMAX for five additional screens. Installing these five additional IMAX screens will cost the company close to about Rs 10-10.5 crore per screen. So the total cost will be about Rs 50-55 crore. Out of the five, two screens are being planned to be fitted into cinemas, which are ready. So the revenue should start trickling-in in about four months' time, he said. Remaining three screens are planned for new sites of the company in Chennai, Hyderabad and Delhi. He believes, the revenue for these three screens will be garnered by the year end. The Total Investment & Insurance Solutions

The top gainers and top losers of the major indices are given in the table below:
 
Top Gainer (The Total Investment & Insurance Solutions)
Overseas, most European stocks were trading lower as markets eyed a fresh batch of corporate earnings, although the first round of the French presidential election on Sunday still lent some support. Asian indices ended higher following the rise in US stocks on the back of strong earnings announcements and on expectations for US President Donald Trump's impending tax reforms. In the US, stocks soared as McDonald's and Caterpillar reported strong earnings, with the Nasdaq surpassing the 6,000 mark for the first time.

The closing values of the major Asian indices are given in the table below:The Total Investment & Insurance Solutions
Asian Indices (The Total Investment & Insurance Solutions)

SEBI allows use of e-wallets for MF investments, options trading in commodity derivatives market -The Total Investment & Insurance Solutions

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26 April 2017
 
SEBI (The Total Investment & Insurance Solutions) 
Market regulator SEBI on Wednesday allowed options trading in commodity derivatives market, while allowing instant access facility (IAF) through online mode and use of e-wallets for investment in mutual funds (MFs). Redemption of investments made through e-wallet, however, can be done only through a bank account of the unit holder. The Total Investment & Insurance Solutions

The market regulator allowed investment of up to Rs50,000 per year in MF schemes through e-wallets. "However, redemptions of such investments can be made only to a bank account of the unit holder. E-wallet issuers must not offer any incentive such as cash back directly or indirectly for investing in mutual fund scheme through them. E-wallet's balance loaded through cash or debit card or net banking, can only be used for subscription to MF schemes and balance loaded through credit card, cash back, or promotional scheme should not be allowed for subscription to MF schemes. Further, this limit of Rs50,000 would be an umbrella limit for investment by an investor through e-wallet and/or cash, per mutual fund per financial year," SEBI said. The Total Investment & Insurance Solutions

To channelize households' savings into capital market and to promote digitalisation in mutual funds, SEBI Board also decided to allow IAF in MF for up to Rs50,000 or 90% of the folio value to resident individual investors in liquid schemes by applying lower of previous day net asset value (NAV) or prospective NAV. The Total Investment & Insurance Solutions

"For providing such facility asset management companies (AMCs) would not be allowed to borrow," SEBI said, adding, "Liquidity is to be provided out of the available funds from the scheme and AMCs to put in place a mechanism to meet the liquidity demands. This facility can also be used for investment in mutual funds through tie-ups with payments banks provided necessary approvals are taken from Reserve Bank of India (RBI). Presently, any scheme providing this facility would reduce the limit to Rs50,000, immediately and other than liquid schemes providing this facility would completely stop this facility within one month from the date of circular."

In a statement after its board meeting, SEBI said, it had permitted launch of options in commodity derivatives market in September 2016. "In this regard, to enable the Commodity Derivatives Exchanges to organize trading of 'options', the Board, after undertaking due public consultation process, has approved a proposal to amend the relevant provisions of Securities Contracts (Regulation) (Stock Exchanges and Clearing Corporations) Regulations, 2012. Detailed guidelines for trading in 'option' on commodity derivatives exchanges will be issued by SEBI," the statement says.

Further to the merger of Forward Markets Commission (FMC) with SEBI, the market regulator also decided to integrate broking activities in equity and commodity derivatives market. SEBI says, "The integration of the stock brokers in equity and commodity derivative markets while having many synergies in terms of trading and settlement mechanism, risk management, redressal of investor grievances, etc. would benefit the investors, brokers, Stock Exchanges and SEBI as the same would help to enhance the economic efficiency in terms of meeting the operational as well as compliance obligations at a member level resulting in ease of doing business. It will also provide for efficient use of capital for the investors, widen market penetration leading to greater financial inclusion for participants across all market segments and facilitate effective regulatory oversight by stock exchanges and SEBI."

The SEBI Board, which met on Wednesday also allowed to include non-banking finance companies (NBFCs) registered with RBI and having a net worth of over Rs500 crore in the qualified institutional buyers (QIBs) category. These entities can also participate in initial public offerings (IPOs) with specially earmarked allocations, SEBI added. The Total Investment & Insurance Solutions

Recently, many instances have been there, where, it has been observed that the Banking sector is exposed to the risk of significantly high non-performing assets (NPA) and banks have been advised by the RBI to reduce the NPA and to initiate stringent actions to recover the dues from the borrowers. 

As a result, SEBI says it expects many banks to go aggressively for recovering their dues and may opt for corporate debt restructuring (CDR) or strategic debt restructuring (SDR) or bilateral restructuring. In order to carry out actions for recovery from a borrower, which may be a listed company, banks or financial institutions have sold equity shares of the issuer during the preceding six months of the relevant date. Such banks or financial institutions may also be one of the allottees of the specified securities of the company pursuant to CDR approved scheme under preferential issue route.

At presently, SEBI (Issue of Capital and Disclosure Requirements -ICDR) Regulations prohibit the issuer from making preferential issue to any person who has sold any equity shares of the issuer during the six months preceding the relevant date. It also provides that the entire pre-preferential allotment shareholding of the allottees, if any, shall be locked-in from the relevant date up to a period of six months from the date of trading approval. The Total Investment & Insurance Solutions

SEBI says, its Board considered and approved the proposal for extending such relaxation to scheduled banks and public financial institutions, as is already being extended to mutual funds and insurance companies.

To further strengthen the monitoring of issue proceeds raised in IPOs, follow-on public offerings (FPOs) and rights issues, SEBI has approved some key proposals, like...

·         Mandatory appointment of Monitoring Agency where the issue size (excluding offer for sale component) is more than Rs. 100 crore. 
·         Frequency of submission of Monitoring Agency Report has been enhanced from half-yearly to quarterly.

·         Introduction of maximum timeline of 45 days for submission of Monitoring Agency Report from the end of the quarter in conjunction with the submission of the quarterly results.

·         Mandating the disclosure of the Monitoring Agency Report on Company's website in addition to submitting it to Stock Exchange(s) for wider dissemination.

·         Introduction of new requirement, i.e., comments of Board of Directors and Management on the findings of Monitoring Agency.The Total Investment & Insurance Solutions

Shapoor Mistry resigns from Indian Hotels' board-The Total Investment & Insurance Solutions

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26 April 2017

Tata Group firm Indian Hotels Company on Tuesday reported that its Director Shapoor Mistry has resigned from its board. The Total Investment & Insurance Solutions

Shapoor Mistry is the Chairman of Shapoorji Pallonji & Co and the elder brother of Tata Sons' ousted Chairman Cyrus Mistry. The Total Investment & Insurance Solutions

The company made the announcement through a regulatory filing to stock exchange NSE. The firm runs the Taj Hotels Resorts and Palaces.


On October 24 last year, Tata Sons' Board ousted Mistry as its Chairman and appointed Ratan Tata as Interim Chairman.The Total Investment & Insurance Solutions

Need to tax agricultural income: NITI member -The Total Investment & Insurance Solutions

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26 April 2017

Noted economist and NITI Aayog member Bibek Debroy on Tuesday said there was a need to expand the tax base by bringing agricultural income under the tax ambit.

He said there was also a need to eliminate exemptions on personal income tax.

Talking to reporters here, Debroy said while the exemptions on personal income tax need to go, the "eventual answer to expand the tax base is to tax the rural sector, including agricultural income above a certain threshold. The Total Investment & Insurance Solutions

"While only the agricultural income of farmers is exempt from taxation, their non-agricultural income also goes un-taxed," he said.

Asked what should be the threshold for taxing agricultural income, Debroy said it should be same as in the urban areas.

"I don't believe in the artificial rural-urban distinctions. So whatever is the threshold of personal income tax in urban areas should be for the rural areas as well. 

"At best, what (we) can do is -- because it is agricultural income -- (we) can average it out over a three- or a five-year period instead of using income from one particular year... because agricultural income is subject to annual fluctuations," Debroy said. The Total Investment & Insurance Solutions

"Barring that, the threshold should be the same."

During the press conference, NITI (National Institution for Transforming India) Aayog Vice Chairman Arvind Panagariya shared details of the draft three-year action plan proposed to replace the erstwhile Five-Year Plans. The Total Investment & Insurance Solutions


Panagariya said that over the next three years, there was a need to tackle tax evasion, expand the tax base and simplify the tax system through reforms.The Total Investment & Insurance Solutions

Stocks Hold Steady Ahead Of Tax-Plan Announcement -The Total Investment & Insurance Solutions

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26 April 2017

Stock markets around the world made only modest moves on Wednesday, waiting to see what the White House has in store for U.S. tax policy. The Total Investment & Insurance Solutions

Stocks have sprinted higher since November, due in large part to excitement that lower taxes and looser regulations for businesses are on the way. The White House is expected to unveil its first proposals this afternoon, and officials have called them part of "the biggest tax cut" in U.S. history, though the announcement is likely to include only broad outlines and few details.

KEEPING SCORE: The Standard & Poor's 500 index rose nearly 2 points, or 0.1 percent, to 2,390, as of 9:55 a.m. eastern time. It follows two days of strong gains of more than 0.6 percent, and the index is close to its record closing level of 2,395.96, set at the start of March.

The Dow Jones industrial average rose 23 points, or 0.1 percent, to 12,019, and the Nasdaq gained 2, or less than 0.1 percent, to 6,027. The Total Investment & Insurance Solutions

THE TAX PLAN COMETH: Along with expectations for lighter regulations on business, hopes for lower taxes have been among the main drivers for the 10 percent sprint higher for the S&P 500 since Election Day. The Total Investment & Insurance Solutions

The White House is expected to announce this afternoon plans to cut the corporate tax rate to 15 percent from 35 percent. That may be only a starting point for negotiations, but a tax rate even in the 25 percent range would mean fatter after-tax profits for companies, which could propel their stock prices even further. The Total Investment & Insurance Solutions

Such a tax cut could be particularly helpful for smaller companies that do most of their business domestically, which could set up small- and mid-cap stocks for even larger gains than their big, multinational competitors. The Total Investment & Insurance Solutions

EARNINGS: This is a frenetic week for companies reporting how much they earned during the first three months of the year. More than a third of the businesses in the S&P 500 are slated to go this week.

Reports have been largely better than expected, and analysts expect this to be the strongest quarter of growth in years. The Total Investment & Insurance Solutions
Edwards Lifesciences jumped to the biggest gain in the S&P 500 Wednesday after it reported stronger revenue and profit for the latest quarter than analysts expected. Its stock rose $11.41, or 11.5 percent, to $110.33. The Total Investment & Insurance Solutions

MARKETS ABROAD: In Europe, the French CAC 40 rose 0.2 percent, the FTSE 100 in London added 0.1 percent and the German DAX was close to flat. In Asia, the Japanese Nikkei 225 jumped 1.1 percent, the South Korean Kospi rose 0.5 percent and Hong Kong's Hang Seng added 0.5 percent.

COMMODITIES: Benchmark U.S. crude oil lost 37 cents to $49.19 a barrel. Brent crude, which is used to price international oils, fell 48 cents to $52.09 per barrel in London.

Gold fell $3.20 to $1,264 per ounce, silver lost 15 cents to $17.45 and copper gained a penny to $2.58 per pound. The Total Investment & Insurance Solutions
CURRENCIES: The euro slipped to $1.0887 from $1.0939 late Tuesday, while the dollar rose to 111.42 Japanese yen from 111.09 yen. The British pound slipped to $1.2821 from $1.2830.


BONDS: U.S. government bond prices rose. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note slipped to 2.33 percent from 2.34 percent late Tuesday.The Total Investment & Insurance Solutions

Tuesday, 25 April 2017

Nifty, Sensex Will Continue to trend higher – Tuesday closing report-The Total Investment & Insurance Solutions

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25 April 2017

I have mentioned in Monday’s closing report that Nifty, Sensex may rally further. The major Indian on ended with high gains, with Nifty closing above 9300 for the first time. The trends of the major indices in the course of Tuesday’s trading are given in the table below:
 
Major Indices (The Total Investment & Insurance Solutions)
Key benchmark indices logged strong gains, S&P BSE Sensex, jumped 287.40 points or 0.97% to settle at 29,943.24. The Nifty 50 index surged 88.65 points or 0.96% to settle at 9,306.60. The Sensex hit its highest closing level in almost three weeks. The Nifty hit a record high on intraday as well as closing basis. Today's gains were led by index heavyweights ITC, HDFC and Reliance Industries (RIL). The BSE market breadth was bullish – with 1467 advances, 1444 declines and 169 unchanged. Similarly, on NSE, there were 803 advances, 707 declines and 64 unchanged. 

RIL gained 1.14% to Rs1,432.50 after consolidated net profit excluding exceptional items rose 16.6% to Rs8046 crore on 45.2% growth in turnover to Rs92,889 crore in Q4 March 2017 over Q4 March 2016. The result was announced after market hours yesterday, 24 April 2017. RIL increase in revenue in Q4 was primarily on account of increase in prices of refining and petrochemical products on the back of higher oil prices. Turnover was also boosted by robust growth in retail business. The Total Investment & Insurance Solutions

RIL said, Reliance Jio Infocomm, a subsidiary of RIL crossed 50 million subscribers in just 83 days, and 100 million in 170 days, adding at an average rate of 6 lakh subscribers per day. Jio continues its rapid ramp-up of subscriber base and as of 31 March 2017, there were 10.89 crore subscribers on the network. The Total Investment & Insurance Solutions

Auto major Mahindra & Mahindra advanced 3.4% to Rs 1,307.50 on reports that a foreign brokerage has upgraded the stock to outperform from neutral with increased target price at Rs 1,500 from Rs 1,390 earlier. The brokerage house cited potential for M&M's tractor business that will surprise positively going ahead. Reports suggested that the brokerage believes with number of state governments planning to introduce farm loan waivers, tractor demand could get further boost. The brokerage added that weakness in utility vehicle market already factored in by M&M. The Total Investment & Insurance Solutions

IT major Infosys announced that it is strengthening its engineering footprint in Eastern Europe by opening its first office and delivery center in Karlovac, Croatia. The announcement was made after market hours yesterday, 24 April 2017. 

Infosys said that in line with the company's strategy to establish global competency centers, offering the best talent in the market and making it available to customers globally, this delivery center (DC) also marks expansion into Eastern Europe's established heavy engineering sector. The new facility will meet near-shoring requirements, support engineering clients worldwide, as well as offer research & development (R&D) services.

Textiles firm Welspun India on Tuesday reported a 22.57% fall in consolidated net profit at Rs154.48 crore for the quarter ended 31 March. Its net profit had stood at Rs199.53 crore in the year-ago quarter. Total income of the company rose by 8.1% to Rs1,772.71 crore during the quarter under review as against Rs1,639.38 crore during the same period previous fiscal, Welspun India said in a BSE filing. During financial year 2016-17, Welspun India’s consolidated net profit fell to Rs362.37 crore as against Rs749.12 crore in the preceding fiscal, it said. The company’s total income also rose to Rs6,721.09 crore in the just concluded fiscal, from Rs6,014.29 crore in 2015-16. Its board has also recommended a dividend of Rs0.65 per share. 

The top gainers and top losers of the major indices are given in the table below:
 
Top Gainer (The Total Investment & Insurance Solutions)
Overseas, most European stocks nudged higher, with attention turned to earnings reports and a deal involving luxury-fashion company Christian Dior a day after equities rallied on the first-round result in France's presidential election. Business confidence in France was steady in April amid improved conditions in the factory sector, offset by a slip in service sector confidence. INSEE's headline business confidence index was unchanged in April from the month before at 104. Asian shares rose across the board. The Total Investment & Insurance Solutions


The closing values of the major Asian indices are given in the table below:The Total Investment & Insurance Solutions
Asian Indices (The Total Investment & Insurance Solutions)