Market Bizzz

HSBC has received Sebi’s nod to acquire L&T Investment Managers. HSBC had announced the acquisition of L&T Finance Holdings’ MF business for $425 million in December. The schemes operated by L&T MF will be transferred to HSBC MF and merged or consolidated with identified schemes in line with regulatory guidelines

The U.S central bank is clear on the need for restrictive monetary policy to lower inflation, Fed Vice Chair Lael Brainard said on Monday, but the path and pace of rate increases will remain “data-dependent” as the central bank monitors the economy and the evolution of domestic and global risks.

Thousands of cases caused by the highly transmissible Omicron sub-variants BF.7 have been reported in Inner Mongolia since the start of October, turning the region into the country’s latest COVID epicentre.

The risk-sensitive Australian dollar made a 2-1/2 year low of $0.6275 on Monday and hovered at $0.6296 early on Tuesday. Analysts at the National Australia Bank said the Aussie was the market’s “whipping boy” in a sell off and that further lows were possible in the near term as sentiment is fragile.

Dealers said that the markets would be watching for minutes of the Federal Reserve Open Markets Committee Meeting on which will be released on Wednesday. The US government will also release data on consumer prices on Wednesday.

China’s semiconductor index fell more than 5% after Washington published a sweeping set of export controls, including a measure to cut China off from certain semiconductor chips made anywhere in the world with U.S. equipment.

​​​ Data on Friday showed inflation’s tightening stranglehold on the German economy, with a surge in import prices and drop in industrial output and retail sales adding to signs that Europe’s biggest economy is heading for recession. ​​Physical gold prices flipped to a discount in India last week as elevated local rates amid a dive in the rupee dampened festive demand, with higher prices playing spoilsport across other Asian hubs as well.

Nifty IT index has corrected more than 50 per cent on a year to date basis, compared to a two per cent drop in Nifty50. It is the worst performing sectoral index for the year and only one in the bear grip, falling more than 20 per cent.