All crypto prices crashed by 15 per cent and more, hours after the government announced that it will introduce the cryptocurrency bill in the Parliament's winter session, which seeks to prohibit all private cryptocurrencies in the country, with a few exceptions.
Also, the government will introduce the Banking Laws (Amendment) Bill 2021 - which aims to privatise two public sector banks, in the forthcoming Winter session of Parliament, which will commence from November 29.
Aditionally, India decided to release five million barrels of crude oil from its strategic petroleum reserves (SPRs) simultaneously with countries like the US, Japan, China and Republic of Korea. The decision has come amid reports that the US has urged these nations to release crude oil from their respective reserves. The move is being considered to bring down global fuel prices.
Meanwhile, the government today also released two instalments of tax devolution to states totaling Rs 95,082 crore, as a step towards boosting investment in the infrastructure sector.
Earlier in stock markets today, shares of data analytics firm Latent View Analytics opened for trading at a 160 per cent premium from its issue price of Rs 197 and Indian equity benchmarks snapped their four-day losing streak paced by gains in metal, state-run banking, pharma and oil & gas shares.
Here are the highlights of today's trending business stories:
Hours after the government announced that it will introduce the cryptocurrency bill in the Parliament's winter session, which seeks to prohibit all private cryptocurrencies in the country, all crypto prices crashed by 15 per cent and more.
As of 11:45 PM on November 23, all major cryptocurrencies saw a fall of around 15 per cent and more, with Bitcoin down by around 17 percent, Ethereum fell by 15 per cent, and Tether down by almost 18 per cent.
The government will introduce the Banking Laws (Amendment) Bill 2021 in the forthcoming Winter session of Parliament, which will commence from November 29. The proposed legislation is among the list of 26 bills which are scheduled to be introduced during the session.
According to the purpose of the bill, in order to privatise two public sector banks, amendments need to be made in Banking Companies (Acquisition and Transfer of Undertakings) Acts, 1970 and 1980 as well as incidental amendments are required to be made in the Banking Regulation Act, 1949.
Rating agency Moody's has upgraded telecom major Bharti Airtel's credit rating outlook to positive from stable, reflecting improvement in its financial performance and growth potential. Moody's has affirmed Bharti's Ba1 corporate family rating (CFR) and senior unsecured rating, and the Ba1 rating on the backed senior unsecured notes issued by Bharti Airtel International (Netherlands) BV.
Investors Should Invest Carefully In Securities Markets: SEBI Chief
Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) chief Ajay Tyagi has cautioned investors about making investments on the basis of market rumours and advised them to deal with registered entities only.
Domestic crude oil production in October 2021 fell 5.95 per cent short of the target for the month and stood at 2,512.46 thousand metric tonnes (TMT), according to data released by the petroleum ministry. It was also 2.15 per cent lower than the production seen in October 2020, the data said further.
The Cryptocurrency and Regulation of Official Digital Currency Bill 2021- the official bill to regulate the digital currency will be introduced in the Parliament during the winter session that starts on November 29. The crypto bill is among a total of 26 bills that have been listed for introduction, according to a government statement today.
US will release 50 million barrels of crude from its strategic reserves in concert with China, Japan, India and South Korea and the U.K, in an unprecedented, coordinated attempt by the world's largest oil consumers to tame prices that could prompt a backlash by OPEC+.
Of that amount, 32 million will be released from the U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve as an exchange over next several months, while 18 million will be as an accelerated release from previously authorized sale, the White House said in a statement on Tuesday.
India has decided to release 5 million barrels of crude oil from its strategic petroleum reserves (SPRs) simultaneously with countries like the US, Japan, China and Republic of Korea. In an official statement, the petroleum ministry said that the crude oil release will take place in consultation with these countries, which are also major global energy consumers.
The decision has come amid reports that the US has urged these nations to release crude oil from their respective reserves. The move is being considered to bring down global prices of the commodity. India holds about 26.5 million barrels of oil in is reserves.
Government has released two instalments of tax devolution to states totalling Rs 95,082 crore, as a step towards boosting investment in the infrastructure sector.
The two instalments were released against the normal monthly devolution of Rs 47,541 crore which is given to states by the union finance ministry.
The instalments were released on Monday (November 22) as was decided in a meeting held between finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman and states' chief ministers and finance ministers on November 15.
Italy's antitrust authority has fined U.S. tech giants Amazon.com and Apple Inc a total of more than 200 million euros ($225 million) for alleged anti-competitive cooperation in the sale of Apple and Beats products.
Contractual provisions of a 2018 agreement between the companies meant only selected resellers were allowed to sell Apple and Beats products on Amazon.it, the competition watchdog said, adding that this was in violation of European Union rules.
Indian equity benchmarks snapped their four-day losing streak on Tuesday paced by gains in metal, state-run banking, pharma and oil & gas shares. The benchmarks staged a gap down opening, however sharp recovery in the markets came on the back of short-covering as markets got into oversold zone in morning deals, analysts said. The Sensex recovered rose over 1,100 points from day's lowest level and Nifty 50 index moved above 17,500 after hitting an intraday low of 17,216.
Citigroup is looking to create 100 roles focused on digital assets including blockchain and digital currencies at its institutional division, the U.S. bank said on Tuesday.
The initiative is the latest by traditional banks looking to find ways to tap the growing cryptocurrency sector, which has been gaining mainstream appeal as well as regulatory scrutiny.
Puneet Singhvi, Citi's head of blockchain and digital assets at its global markets operation, will lead the new team, Citi said in a memo to staff. The note was sent to the media.
Gold and silver futures fell on Tuesday, November 23, taking cues from the international spot prices. On the Multi Commodity Exchange (MCX), gold futures due for a December 3 delivery, were last seen 0.37 per cent down at ₹ 47,744, compared to the previous close of ₹ 47,923. Silver futures due for a December 3 delivery were last seen 1.30 per cent lower at ₹ 63,733 against the previous close of ₹ 64,571.
'India To Release Crude Oil From Strategic Reserves To Cool Prices'
India to release about five million barrels of crude oil from its emergency stocks in tandem with other major economies to cool prices, news agency PTI reported quoting an official.
IKEA's malls business, one of the world's biggest, said on Tuesday it had bought a plot in Gurugram for a shopping centre that will be its first to open in India.
Ingka Centres, which has 47 malls, that itself calls "meeting places", anchored by IKEA stores across Europe, Russia and China and plans to enter North America and India, said the estimated investment for the project was around 400 million euros and that construction would start in early 2022.
Vodafone Follows Airtel In Raising Rates
Telecom operator Vodafone Idea (VIL) on Tuesday announced that it will raise prepaid tariff rates by up to 25 per cent with effect from November 25. Voda Idea's tariff rate hike comes just a day after telecom major Bharti Airtel decided to increase prepaid prices by up to 25 per cent.
As of 12:16 pm, the Sensex was up 11 points at 58,477 and Nifty 50 index advanced 36 points to 17,452.
Future has failed to close its $3.4 billion deal to sell its retail assets to market leader Reliance Industries due to successful legal challenges by Amazon, which argues that Future violated some pre-existing contracts the two sides had struck, by deciding to sell its retail assets to Reliance.
Source: Reuters
Cryptocurrency products and funds posted inflows in the latest week, with investors undeterred by the latest price corrections, weekly data from digital asset manager CoinShares showed on Monday.
Institutional investors poured in $154 million in the crypto sector in the week ended November 19, with a year-to-date total of $9.2 billion, already exceeding total inflows of $6.7 billion in 2020.
Source: Reuters
Shares of billionaire Anil Agarwal-led Vedanta Limited - rose as much as 7.74 per cent to hit an intraday high of ₹ 354 on the back of heavy trading volumes. As many as 4.33 crore Vedanta shares changed hands by 11:19 am, on the BSE, compared with an average of 14.13 lakh shares traded daily in the past two weeks, data from BSE showed. Promoters of Vedanta - Twin Star Holdings and Vedanta Netherlands Investments B.V. are looking to purchase up to 17 crore equity shares of the company at an indicative price of ₹ 350 per share, valued at ₹ 5,950 crore, newspaper Business Standard reported on Monday.
The Indian equity benchmarks came off intraday lows but were trading with a negative bias. The 30-stock Sensex was down 275 points or 0.47 per cent at 58,222 and Nifty was down 40 points to 17,376.
Saudi Aramco said it will continue to look for investment opportunities in India, days after Reliance Industries Ltd. scrapped a plan to sell a stake in its oil-to-chemicals unit to the Middle Eastern company.
"India offers tremendous growth opportunities over the long term," Aramco said in a statement on Sunday. It will "continue to evaluate new and existing business opportunities with our potential partners."
Aramco had signed a non-binding letter of intent in August 2019 for a potential 20% stake in Reliance's oil-to-chemicals unit valued at about $15 billion. Reliance said the companies would walk away from the deal on Friday.
Source: Bloomberg
Fuel prices were kept unchanged for the 19th consecutive day on Tuesday. Earlier on November 4, the government had slashed excise duty on petrol and diesel to bring rates slightly down from the record-high levels.
In the national capital, petrol is currently sold for ₹ 103.97; while diesel rate stood at ₹ 86.67, according to Indian Oil Corporation. In Mumbai, petrol is retailed at ₹ 109.98 per litre; while diesel is being sold at ₹ 94.14 per litre.
The United States is expected to announce a loan of crude oil from its emergency stockpile on Tuesday as part of a plan it hashed out with major Asian energy consumers to lower energy prices, a Biden administration source familiar with the situation said.
The move is designed to tame soaring energy prices after the OPEC producer group and its allies rebuffed repeated requests from Washington and other consumer nations to pump more quickly to match rising demand.
Oil prices fell on Tuesday, reversing gains in the previous session, on growing talk the United States, Japan and India will release crude reserves to tame prices despite the threat of demand faltering as COVID-19 cases flare up in Europe.
The United States is expected to announce a loan of crude oil from its emergency stockpile on Tuesday as part of a plan it hashed out with major Asian energy consumers to lower energy prices, a Biden administration source familiar with the situation said.
Digital payments firm MobiKwik could delay its initial public offering (IPO) by two to three months and could even push it to the next financial year as it struggles to get foreign institutional backers at the right valuation, the Economic Times newspaper said on Tuesday.
The report comes days after larger rival Paytm's dismal market debut that saw its shares tumble more than 27 per cent, raising questions about upcoming offerings in India's until-now red hot IPO market.
Shares of Latent View Analytics opened for trading at Rs 512, marking an upside of 160 per cent from its IPO price of Rs 197 per share. Latent View Analytics' IPO was subscribed a whopping 326 times.
JSW Steel, Tata Steel, Tata Motors, Adani Ports, Coal India, Hindalco, Indian Oil, Divi's Labs, Power Grid and Maruti Suzuki were among the gainers.
Infosys, ICICI Bank, Shree Cements, Bajaj Auto, Tata Consultancy Services, Dr Reddy's Labs, SBI Life, IndusInd Bank and Asian Paints were among the losers.
Mid- and small-cap shares were also witnessing buying interest as Nifty Midcap 100 index rose 0.43 per cent and Nifty Smallcap 100 index advanced 0.73 per cent.
Seven of 11 sector gauges compiled by the National Stock Exchange were trading higher led by the Nifty Metal index's nearly 2 per cent gain. Nifty Realty, PSU Bank, Media and Auto shares were also witnessing buying interest.
