Market Bizzz

Gold prices increased slightly on Monday, following a surge of over 1% last week. The rise came after the U.S. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell gave less hawkish comments. The uncertainty over the U.S. debt ceiling outcome and the stability of the banking sector also added to the safe-haven bullion’s boost. At the moment, spot gold is up 0.2% at $1,979.79 per ounce, while U.S. gold futures were steady at $1,981.00.

Oil prices increased slightly on Monday due to a weaker dollar and supply cuts made by Canada and OPEC+ producers. Brent crude futures rose by 0.2% to $75.72 per barrel, and U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude rose 0.2% to $71.84 per barrel. Last week saw gains of around 2% for both oil benchmarks, following Alberta fires, which cut off a significant amount of crude supply in Canada, and voluntary OPEC+ production cuts. A lack of crude supply may threaten the success of a new Nigerian facility, the Dangote Petroleum Refinery, where oil rig counts have reduced in the U.S.

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The initial public offering (IPO) of state-run ECGC, India’s largest export credit insurance firm, is likely to be postponed to the next financial year due to volatile export market conditions, said sources. Factors like the Russian-Ukraine war and monetary tightening by central banks may adversely affect the company’s valuation if the IPO is rushed.

India’s capital markets regulator, Sebi, has proposed to reduce the time taken for the listing of shares on stock exchanges after initial public offerings (IPOs) to three days from six days at present. The move is expected to be beneficial to issuers and investors. Sebi has sought input from the public until 3 June on the proposal, which came after extensive tests and simulations involving stakeholders such as sponsor banks, depositories, registrars, NPCI and stock exchanges.

In addition to the issuance of convertible securities and non-convertible debentures, the board also approved raising Rs 3,000 crore through private placement and/or public issuance. The funds will be used to replace short-maturity loans, meet working capital requirements, reimburse capex, and for general corporate purposes. A fresh approval is being sought from shareholders for its previous plan to raise Rs 14,000 crore through the issuance of non-convertible debentures and convertible securities.

On March 17, both the bourses moved NDTV from the second to the first stage of the long-term Additional Surveillance Measure (ASM) framework.

Glenmark Pharmaceuticals’ Q4 consolidated profit before exceptional items and tax was INR3.09bn ($37.78m) for the quarter ended 31 March, down 12.3% compared to a year earlier, due to increased input costs and lower demand in the Indian drugs market. The firm posted one-time costs of INR8bn due to settlements over lawsuits in the US related to antitrust issues and consumer protection. While its sales rose 11.5%, the Indian drugs segment reported a 6.4% sales decline, accounting for 31% of its total, while North American sales grew by 15.3%.