BQuick On Oct. 25: Top 10 Stories In Under 10 Minutes - Happy Diwali

Wishing all our readers and viewers a very Happy Diwali. Do tune in to BQ Live on the weekend for special shows that will brighten your portfolio and illuminate your financial decisions in the new year.

Here is a roundup of the day’s top stories in brief.

1. SBI’s Profit Triples In Q2

India’s largest bank State bank of India jumped most in a month after its profit for the June-September quarter tripled on a partial stake sale of its life insurance arm. The country’s largest lender also reported an improvement in its asset quality.

• Net profit rose 218 percent on a yearly basis to Rs 3,012 crore in the quarter ended September, according to an exchange filing by India’s largest public sector bank.
• Net interest income, or the core income of the lender, rose 17 percent year-on-year to Rs 24,600 crore, surpassing the Rs 23,075-crore estimate.
• GNPA ratio contracted to 7.19 percent from 7.53 percent, while the net NPA ratio narrowed to 2.79 percent against 3.07 percent as of June.

Watch SBI Chairman Rajnish Kumar discuss the bank’s performance in Q2.

2. A Bigger Worry For IndiGo

India’s largest airline doesn’t expect its unit revenue to grow in the December quarter as a slowing economy forced people to cut travel during the festival period. And delayed delivery of fuel-efficient aircraft is expected to hurt profit.

• InterGlobe Aviation is witnessing subdued revenue growth during the festive season, the carrier’s management said in its second-quarter earnings call.
• The company cut its growth guidance for revenue per available seat kilometre—a measure of an airline’s efficiency—from 5 percent to nil.
• This time it is “unusual”, Ronojoy Dutta, its chief executive officer said adding that rivals offering discounts is a sign of weakness.

Here’s how aircraft delivery delays is adding to its woes.

3. JLR Comes To Tata Motors' Rescue, Once More

Tata Motors Ltd.’s quarterly loss was smaller than analysts’ estimates as its luxury car unit showed signs of improvement.

• Sales of Jaguar Land Rover—which contributes the most to Tata Motors’ profit—improved this quarter and delivered a well-rounded performance, the company said in a statement accompanying the earnings.
• Net loss narrowed to Rs 216.50 crore year-on-year in the quarter ended September from Rs 1,049 crore, the automaker said in an exchange filing.
• The automaker also approved a plan to raise capital to the tune of Rs 10,000 crore to pare debt.
  

Click here for the earnings details and how Tata Motors plans to raise funds.

4. Sensex Logs Second-Best Samvat In Four Years

The 31-stock index returned 12 percent in Samvat 2075. Meanwhile, the NSE Nifty 50 advanced 10 percent during the period. On Friday, the Sensex and Nifty closed little changed at 39,058 and 11,583 respectively, ahead of Muhurat trading on Sunday.

• The broader markets represented by the NSE Nifty 500 Index ended 0.1 percent lower.
• About 1,012 stocks declined and 736 shares advanced on National Stock exchange.
• Seven of 11 sectoral gauges compiled by NSE ended higher.

Follow the day’s trading action here.

U.S. stocks extended their weekly gains as corporate results remained in focus. Treasuries were little changed after data showed U.S. consumer sentiment pared gains from earlier in October while remaining elevated.

• The S&P 500 Index approached its record, led by technology shares.
• The pound fell as French President Emmanuel Macron blocked the European Union’s attempt to delay Brexit for three months.

Follow international markets here.

5. Bourses To Increase Surveillance On Select Stocks

India’s stock exchanges will bring in additional surveillance measures to reduce volatility in stocks having high promoter pledge.

The National Stock Exchange of India Ltd. and BSE Ltd., according to circulars uploaded on their websites, have decided to impose a minimum margin of 35 percent on stocks, including those part of the derivatives market, if they follow this criteria.

6. No Economic Recovery In Sight

India’s investment and consumption activity weakened in September, putting the economy on course for yet another quarter of sub-par growth.

• The dial on a Bloomberg gauge measuring overall economic activity swung one notch into weaker territory, with seven of the eight high-frequency indicators compiled by Bloomberg News showing weakness and one ticking up slightly.
• That caps a quarter of subdued activity, and is bound to disappoint investors looking for signs of a recovery after growth in national output slipped to a six-year low of 5 percent in the April-June period.
• The dashboard measures “animal spirits,” a term coined by British economist John Maynard Keynes to refer to investors’ confidence in taking action. It uses the three-month weighted average to smooth out volatility in the single-month numbers.

Here’s what businesses are pinning their hopes on.

7. Ten Investing Lessons Learnt In Samvat 2075

Diwali and the festive season surrounding the big day is all about giving. And what BloombergQuint's Niraj Shah has tried to do every year is distill some of the key investing insights that he has come across, into a single article.

This year, he takes lessons from veteran investors and businessmen such as Ramesh Damani, Ravi Dharamshi, S Naren, Kavin Bharti Mittal, Basant Maheshwari, Ramesh Damani, Prashant Khemka, Sumeet Nagar, Vijay Kedia and Prateek Agarwal.

Click here for more on investing insights shared by these veteran investors.

8. Jeff Bezos Is Set to Lose His Crown

Jeff Bezos is about to relinquish the title of world’s richest person to Bill Gates, as Amazon.com Inc. stock tumbled in late trading Thursday.

• Shares of the biggest online retailer dropped 8.1 percent to $1,637 in extended trading at 4:24 p.m. in New York.
• At that price, Bezos would have a net worth of $102.8 billion, ranking him second, and almost $5 billion behind Gates, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.

Bezos took the top spot from the Microsoft co-founder in October 2017.

9. Your Diwali Reading List

BloombergQuint hopes to illuminate your Diwali and new year with analysis of the year gone by, insights from experts and some top of the line commentary on the year ahead.

• Samvat to samvat: How India’s Stock Market Fared In Samvat 2075
• 10 brokerages, 20 stock ideas: Top Diwali Picks: The Stocks Analysts Are Betting On For Samvat 2076
• BQEdge Diwali Special: How To Invest In Turbulent Times
• Investors See Ingredients For Stocks Revival After Diwali
• Saal Mubarak: This Diwali, Ridham Desai And Hiren Ved Are Betting On These Themes
• Top Stock Picks: Three Veteran Analysts’ Top Stock Picks For Samvat 2076
• Personal Finance: This Diwali, Be Financially Responsible!
• Shopping hacks: This Diwali Learn How To Get The Best Deals

Diwali Bonus Feature

Meet Dharavi’s last generation of diya makers.

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