Market Bizzz

MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan rose 1.5% in early trading, the biggest gain in a week, buoyed by a 1.2% rebound in resources-heavy Australian shares, a 2.8% jump in Hong Kong stocks and a 0.7% rise for blue chips in mainland China

On a weekly basis, the S&P 500, Nasdaq and Dow are on track to snap their longest losing streaks in decades, during which the benchmark S&P plummeted 14.1% and brought it within striking distance of being confirmed as a bear market.

The news overshadowed Twitter’s regularly scheduled annual shareholder meeting earlier Wednesday. Shareholders didn’t address the Musk deal directly – that vote will be scheduled for an as-yet undetermined future date, should the deal proceed. Twitter shares jumped 5.5% to $39.22 in after-market trading, building on a 3.9% rise during regular trading.

The minutes from the Federal Open Market Committee’s May meeting, which culminated in a 50-basis-point hike in the Fed funds target rate – the biggest jump in 22 years – showed most of the committee’s members judged that further such rate hikes would “likely be appropriate” at its upcoming June and July meetings.

Between March 2020, when the Nifty hit a four-year low of 7,511.1, and October 2021, when the index touched an all-time high of 18,604.45, the stock benchmark has risen nearly 148%. Retail investor participation has multiplied and touched 2.71 crore accounts as of April 30 this year also on account of low returns from other asset classes, mainly fixed deposits and real estate.

In an interview to ET, CEO Vinita Gupta said the company had already exited a few products filed from its Somerset facility in New Jersey and has identified 15-20 more products to exit. “We need to look at whether we can sell through the inventory, we need to make sure that we don’t really have the residual burn of the idle (capacity) cost on the company.”

Coal India, BPCL, IndiGo, Apollo Hospitals, Torrent Pharma, Max Health, NHPC, PFC, Bata, Whirlpool, Fortis, AIA Engineering, Nalco and SJVN are among the companies which will announce their March quarter earnings today.