India’s October factory growth at decade high
India’s factory activity expanded at its fastest pace in over a decade in October as demand and output continued to recover strongly from corona virus-related disruptions. Companies were convinced that the resurgence in sales will be sustained in coming months, as indicated by a strong upturn in input buying amid restocking effort.
| Month | Manufacturing Performance Index |
| April | 27.4 |
| May | 30.8 |
| June | 47.2 |
| July | 46 |
| August | 52 |
| September | 56.8 |
| October | 58.9 |
Also, the GST collection crossed Rs 1 lakh crore mark for the first time since February.
RBI increases trading hours for rupee and bond markets
The Reserve Bank of India has increased trading hours for the rupee and bond markets following easing COVID-19 lockdown restrictions. The trading hours for foreign currency and rupee market including Forex derivatives, government securities, commercial paper and certificates of deposit has been increased by 1.5 hours.
Now, the rupee market will close at 3:30 pm as per Indian Standard Time instead of earlier closing time of 2 pm, after opening at 10 am. The revised timings will be effective from November 9, 2020.
Manipal Hospitals to Pay Rs. 2,100 Cr to acquire Columbia Asia Assets
Company will become India’s second largest chain after Apollo Hospitals after the expected integration by early 2021. Manipal Health will also absorb ₹300 crores of Columbia Asia’s debt, a move that will help the Ranjan Pai-led hospital chain expand in key markets such as the National Capital Region and Kolkata. The acquisition will help Manipal Health add more than 1,300 beds across 11 hospitals in India. The combined entity will have 27 hospitals across 15 cities with more than 7,200 beds, and around 4,000 doctors and more than 10,000 employees.
Corporate bond risk back to pre-Covid levels
The difference between the yield on a corporate bond and a government bond has declined to pre covid levels, this means these bonds have become less risky and are at the same level of risk before the onset of the pandemic COVID-19. These spreads are unlikely to widen further and the corporate bond market may grow by 9.2 to 10 per cent, ICRA said.
Fresh bond issuances are expected to rise to Rs 8-8.2 lakh crores during the fiscal from Rs 6.55 lakh crore during FY2020. With estimated redemption of Rs 4.95 lakh crore, the volume of corporate bonds outstanding is estimated to rise to Rs 35.5-35.8 lakh crore translating to YoY growth of 9.2-10% for FY 2021.
Also read: Impact of COVID-19 on your Retirement Planning
L&T lowest bidder for 88-km viaduct of bullet train project, set to get Rs 7289-cr contract
The contract is worth Rs 7,289 crore and comes close on the heels of the company bagging the Rs 24,985 crore mega tender of designing and constructing a 237-km long viaduct for the project. The financial bids for the design and construction of the 88 km viaduct between Vadodara and Ahmedabad in Gujarat.
Total of three bidders involving seven major Indian infrastructural companies had participated in the competitive bidding, and other bidders were (1) Afcons Infrastructure Limited IRCON International Limited JMC Projects India Ltd- Consortium and (2) NCC Limited Tata Project Ltd.- J. Kumar Infra Projects Ltd. – HSR Consortium.
Equity MFs log Rs 7,200-cr outflow in Sept quarter on profit-booking
Investors pulled out over Rs 7,200 crore from equity-oriented mutual funds during the July-September quarter this year in comparison, such schemes had witnessed a hefty inflow of Rs 23,874 crore in the same quarter last fiscal. There was a net addition of 12.27 lakh folios whereas this year during the same quarter it is just 1.53 lakh. This is because new investors addition in equity funds have dropped and existing investors continue to redeem their investments in the previous quarter
In terms of segment-wise, multi cap was the worst hit with an outflow of Rs 3,334 crore, followed by large-cap (Rs 2,495 crore), value fund (Rs 1,817 crore) and mid-cap (Rs 1,250 crore). On the other hand, focused fund, equity-linked saving schemes (ELSS ) and sectoral category saw inflows of Rs 1,363 crore, Rs 269 crore and Rs 205 crore respectively.
FII and DII data
Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) net bought shares worth Rs 740.61 crore, whereas domestic institutional investors (DIIs) net sold shares worth Rs 533.97 crore in the Indian equity market on November 2, as per provisional data available on the NSE.
Emerging markets suck in $17.9 billion during October: IIF
Emerging markets sucked in $17.9 billion of portfolio flows in October, up from $7.5 billion the month before, buoyed by an improving outlook for the global economy and strength of the tech sector, data from Institute of International Finance showed.
Debt accounted for the majority of inflows, mostly to emerging Asia and China, as investors were attracted by a steady pipeline of external issuance. Debt inflows were around $11.7 billion during the month.
Equities were more sensitive to political risk and uncertainty stemming from the upcoming US election. Equity inflows stood at $6.3 billion, of which $4.7 billion were to China.
US Elections and US markets
The Dow and S&P closed higher on Monday with the NASDAQ posting slimmer gains on the eve of the U.S. presidential election, as investors girded for what could be big market swings this week.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose by 1.6% to 26,925.05, the S&P 500 gained 1.23%, to 3,310.24 and the NASDAQ Composite gained 0.42%, to 10,957.61.
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