Stock Market Latest Updates: Sensex declines 242 points, Nifty slips below 9,200-mark; ONGC, NTPC among major losers

Udacity Partners, AWS to launch scholarships 

Udacity has recently announced its partnership with Amazon Web Services (AWS) to offer scholarships to help prepare the global workforce for the demand for machine learning capabilities.

With this scholarship, applicants will have an opportunity to take the foundational course titled AWS Machine Learning Foundations Course. 

The top 325 performers who successfully complete the course and score highly on the subsequent test will get a scholarship to Udacity’s Machine Learning Engineer Nanodegree programme.

SBI slashes lending rates

.@TheOfficialSBI reduces lending rates by 15 bps across all tenors.

1-year lending rate comes down to 7.25% from 7.40% effective May 10 pic.twitter.com/h3A9ONdMjg

— CNBC-TV18 (@CNBCTV18Live) May 7, 2020

Smart Pass to decongest cafeteria during peak hours

SmartQ, a B2B food-tech platforms, announced the launch of Smart Pass-an initiative to decongest the cafeteria during peak hours. 

SmartQ’s Smart Pass is a slot-based booking and allocation system, focusing on the safety and convenience of the user while providing the authority and flexibility of booking time slots based on their schedule.

The user can book the desired slot and also pre-order the food. The technology allows the user to view the seats booked and seats available for each slot on a real-time basis, said the company in a press release.

Sensex down 218 points, Nifty at 9,205 

Indices continued to stay in the red as Sensex was trading 218.48 points or 0.69 percent lower at 31,467.27 while the Nifty was down 65.80 points or 0.71 percent at 9,205.10 at around 3.15 pm.

Air France-KLM report $1.9 bn in losses, outlook grim

Air France-KLM lost 1.8 billion euros ($1.9 billion) in the first quarter, mostly just in a few weeks in March as travel restrictions grounded planes worldwide, and said Thursday that it will take several years to recover.

The partner airlines, which have already won billions of euros of bailout loans from the French and Dutch governments, forecast that the second quarter will be far worse, with traffic down 95 percent.

Air France-KLM predicted a slow resumption of activity over the summer, but estimated it would still be down 80 percent in the third quarter compared to previous years.

In a statement, the company forecast a “prolonged negative impact on passenger demand, not expected to recover to pre-crisis levels before several years.”

World food prices fall sharply in April: UN

World food prices fell for a third consecutive month in April, hit by the economic and logistical impact of the coronavirus pandemic, the United Nations food agency said on Thursday.

The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) food priceindex, which measures monthly changes for a basket of cereals,oilseeds, dairy products, meat and sugar, averaged 165.5 points last month, down 3.4 percent on March.

The FAO sugar price index fell to a 13-year low, plunging 14.6 percent from March, with the coronavirus crisis hitting demand and tumbling crude oil prices also reducing the need for sugarcane to produce ethanol, the Rome-based agency said.

Lufthansa’s Austrian unit mulls 15% job cut: Report

Lufthansa’s Austrian unit could cut 15 percent of its 7,000 jobs and reduce salaries by 13 percent as part of a package designed to convince the Austrian government of its future viability and persuade it to grant the group state aid, newswire APA reported.

Austrian Airlines (AUA) declined to comment on the APA report on Thursday. Its supervisory board met on Wednesday to discuss survival strategies as the coronavirus lockdown measures have brought the airline to a standstill with no income.

The group has applied for 767 million euros ($828 million) in state aid, but the Austrian government has demanded job guarantees and an assurance that the group will keep Vienna as a transfer hub before committing to any financial support.

LG Chem share falls nearly 2% after gas leak in Andhra Pradesh facility

The share price of South Korean chemicals and battery maker LG Chem Ltd dropped almost 2 percent on Thursday after a gas leak at a factory operated by a unit in India killed at least nine people, and led to hundreds more being treated in hospital.

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Uber to lay off 3,700 employees, 17% of workforce; CEO to forgo base salary

Uber Technologies Inc will cut about 3,700 full-time jobs and Chief Executive Officer Dara Khosrowshahi will forgo his base salary for the remainder of the year, the company said on Wednesday, as the COVID-19 pandemic decimates ride-hailing businesses.

Uber and rival Lyft Inc have been under investor pressure to show profits but the coronavirus-led lockdowns have forced them to cut costs and withdraw their full-year financial outlooks as demand for app-based rides have dropped sharply across the world.

Uber said the layoffs, affecting 17 percent of its employee count, included its customer support and recruiting teams, and expects to incur about $20 million in costs for severance and related charges.

Sensex dips 249 points, Nifty below 9,200-mark 

Indices extended losses as Sensex dropped 249.23 points or 0.79 percent to 31,436.52 while the Nifty was down 71.90 points or 0.78 percent at 9,199 at around 2.10 pm.

CAIT flags traders’ inability to pay full salary for April, seeks govt’s intervention

As the country battles COVID-19, traders’ body CAIT on Thursday said traders are facing tremendous financial crunch and payment of full salary for April to their staff was next to impossible.

The Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) has written to Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal seeking his intervention in the matter. 

“If such payments are made, the business of the traders will fall like anything and in absence of any inflow of money, such payments will be disastrous for the retail trade of the country and in turn will badly affect the economy,” CAIT secretary general Praveen Khandelwal said in the letter to Goyal.

He said it is becoming difficult for traders to pay full salary for the month of April to their employees since they are experiencing “tremendous financial crunch and any full payment of salary to the employees for the April month is next to impossible”.

Domestic aviation industry to face Rs 24,000-25,000-cr revenue loss this fiscal: Crisil

The domestic aviation industry, which has been severely hit by the coronavirus outbreak and the subsequent lockdown, is expected to crash-land this fiscal with a massive revenue loss of Rs 24,000-25,000 crore, a Crisil report said on Thursday.

Airlines will be the worst-affected segment, contributing more than 70 per cent to the losses (around Rs 17,000 crore), said Jagannarayan Padmanabhan, Director and Practice Leader, Transport and Logistics, Crisil Infrastructure Advisory, during a webinar.

Airport operators are likely to suffer losses worth Rs 5,000-5,500 crore and airport retailers will see a hit of Rs 1,700-1,800 crore, he noted.

Crisil estimates indicate that the Indian aviation industry will “crash-land this fiscal”, witnessing a revenue losses worth Rs 24,000-25,000 crore.

IndusInd Bank stock jumps over 6%

#CNBCTV18Market | IndusInd Bank extends gains, up over 6% pic.twitter.com/T8myNEqXlo

— CNBC-TV18 (@CNBCTV18Live) May 7, 2020

Markets trading with mild gains at half-time

The Indian markets at half-time are trading with mild gains as Nifty has entered in a narrow sideways consolidation with demand at 9,130 and supply at 9,350-levels, said Aditya Agarwala, senior technical analyst, YES Securities.

The bulls are trying to defend the 20-DMA support at 9,130, a sustained trade beyond this support could trigger some long build up taking the Index to levels of 9,350-9,450, he said.

“On the flip side if bears push the Index below the 20-DMA i.e. 9,130 fresh bouts of selling would drag it lower to levels of 8,930. European markets have all opened up in the green with gains of half a percent providing some support to our markets. Bank Nifty is the key Index which needs to sustain beyond the 19,800 for a meaningful rally to materialise,” Agarwala said.

Kotak Mahindra Bank declares 10% pay cut for staff with over Rs 25 lakh annual salary

Kotak Mahindra Bank has decided on a 10 percent pay cut for the employees earning above Rs 25 lakh per annum, in a business sustainability move amid the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a communication.

The move comes weeks after the top management voluntarily surrendered 15 percent of their payments for 2020-21.

The COVID-19 crisis is expected to have a heavy impact on the economy and many corporates have been cutting salaries.

Some have also retrenched staff, with the unorganised sector being hit the most. The unemployment rate in India touched 27 percent in the week to 3 May, according to think-tank CMIE.

MSMEs need govt push to benefit from advantage over China-made goods: Report

The government needs to give direct push to MSMEs to ramp up export of consumer goods to reap the benefits of its comparative advantage over products made in China in the post-pandemic world, a report said.

India can look in the range of incremental exports growing by $20 billion (in the least favourable outcome) to a significant $193 billion jump in the five-year horizon, only if it builds its capabilities and captures share from China, according to SBI’s Ecowrap report released on Thirsday. 

“Although, the revealed comparative advantage (RCA) for India is lower than China as far as capital goods exports are concerned, India can still capitalise on this opportunity to push its capital goods exports.

ArcelorMittal reports $1.1 bn net loss in March quarter

ArcelorMittal on Thursday reported a net loss of $1.1 billion for the first quarter ended 31 March 2020 amid the coronavirus crisis.

The world’s largest steelmaker had posted a net income of $0.4 billion in the year-ago quarter, the company said in a statement.

“ArcelorMittal recorded a net loss for quarter 1, 2020 of $1.1 billion… as compared to a net loss for quarter 4, 2019 of $1.9 billion and a net income for quarter 1, 2019 of $0.4 billion,” the company said.       

The world’s leading integrated steel and mining company follows January-December fiscal year.

Sensex down 176 points, Nifty holds 9,200-mark 

Indices erased some of the losses as Sensex was trading 176.41 points or 0.56 percent lower at  31,509.34 while the Nifty was down 50.75 points or 0.55 percent at 9,220.15 at around 1.15 pm.

ONGC, Asian Paints, NTPC, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Bharti Airtel and Ultra Cement were the top losers in the Sensex pack.

SOLV launches COVID-19 emergency credit line programme for MSMEs 

SOLV, a B2B digital platform for MSMEs backed by the Standard Chartered Group, in association with FICCI-CMSME, announced the launch of its COVID-19 emergency credit line programme for MSMEs.

The nation-wide lockdown has badly hit business sustainability for the MSME segment due to the lack of cash-flows to meet their fixed cost. In this scenario, the COVID-19 emergency credit line is aimed at easing the financial pain being faced by the MSME sector, ensuring their growth is not hampered.
 

Using technology and an extensive partner network, SOLV’s COVID-19 emergency credit line is set to rapidly address the urgent financing needs of MSMEs who are exploring ways of maintaining their cash flow and staying relevant in the new market conditions.

New academic session in standalone B-schools to begin from July: AICTE

New academic session in standalone business schools or management colleges offering post graduate diploma or certificate courses will begin from 1 July and the institutions will not be allowed to hike fees, according to the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE).

The new academic session for freshers will begin from 1 August.

“All standalone institutions offering Post Graduate Diploma in Management (PGDM) and Post Graduate Certificate in Management (PGCM) courses will have to follow the new academic calendar. Institutions may start the session as per notified dates in online mode and should only shift to regular face to face mode only after instructions from HRD Ministry,” AICTE member secretary Rajive Kumar said.

India plans to woo global companies for investment

India to step up its investment pitch, sources tell @rituparnabhuyan. Here's a list of the sectors & countries targetted#CNBCTV18Exclusive pic.twitter.com/FwX6sIljKx

— CNBC-TV18 (@CNBCTV18Live) May 7, 2020

All visas, OCI cards for foreign nationals outside India remain suspended

All visas for foreign nationals and the OCI card visa free travel for Indian-origin people, who are not in the country, remain suspended till the restrictions on international travel to and from India are in place, the Indian embassy in Washington said on Wednesday.

However, for all foreign nationals inside the country whose visas have expired and cannot travel out of India due to the international travel restrictions, can apply for their visa extension without any additional fee, it said in a statement.

Visa free travel facility granted to Overseas Citizenship of India (OCI) card holders who are not in India presently, will continue to remain in abeyance till prohibition on international air travel of passengers from/to India is lifted.

The OCI card of a traveller presently in India shall remain valid, the embassy said.

Daimler India Commercial Vehicles resumes plant operations

Daimler India Commercial Vehicles (DICV) on Thursday said it has resumed plant operations in a phased manner.

The company said it was able to restart operations at the plant in less than 24 hours after receiving permission from local authorities as it had started intensive preparation even before the lockdown in India came into effect in March, DICV said in a statement.

Commenting on the resumption of operations, DICV Managing Director & CEO Satyakam Arya said, “Being part of the Daimler global network allowed us to see the implications of COVID-19 well before the lockdown was announced here in India. We immediately initiated a Crisis Management Team (CMT) to steer us safely through this difficult situation.”

HMSI starts rebooting dealership operations

Honda Motorcycle and Scooter India (HMSI) on Thursday said it has commenced opening up of dealerships in various parts of the country.

Following various state government guidelines and respecting red, orange and green zoning in letter and spirit, company showrooms and workshops have started reopening with effect from 4 May, HMSI said in a statement.

The company dealers are ensuring 100 percent adherence to all the mandated safety, sanitisation and social distancing protocols, before re-start of their respective operations, it added.

TRAI begins online OHDs, but tariff floor price issue may not be taken up for now

Telecom regulator TRAI on Wednesday resumed its customary open house discussion (OHD) on pending matters through video-conference but the issue of floor price of tariffs is unlikely to be taken up via online mode for now, till the ongoing situation arising from COVID-19 pandemic stabilises, a source said.

The TRAI source said the regulator may soon come out with a consultation paper dealing with bill shocks in international mobile roaming, that will seek to address the issues faced by consumers in terms of loss of connectivity, and high bills.

The modalities of the consultation paper will be finalised soon, and it may be released within a month.

JM Financial reports almost flat net at Rs 130.6 cr

JM Financial on Wednesday reported a marginal 1.5 percent rise in consolidated net income to Rs 130.6 crore for the three months period to March on a 6.12 percent growth in revenue.

The numbers would have been higher had it not been for a one-time provision of Rs 175 crore to deal with the uncertainties arising from COVID-19 pandemic, the company said in a statement.

The company reported a total revenue of Rs 840.58 crore in the reporting quarter, registering a growth of 6.12 percent over the same period previous fiscal, it said.

For the full year, consolidated net profit declined 4.75 percent to Rs 545 crore, while revenue slipped a marginal 1.3 percent to Rs 3,453.55 crore.

BSNL employee union backs purchase from foreign firms

A BSNL employee union on Wednesday extended support for the company’s Rs 9,300 crore 4G tender that has a clause to facilitate procurement of network equipment from foreign companies and restrict purchase from Indian companies.

The All Unions and Associations of BSNL (AUAB) in a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi on 5 May said that Indian companies do not have experience of managing large mobile networks and the state-run firm “cannot afford to procure sub-standard equipment from inexperienced companies”.

Domestic telecom product and equipment promotion body TEPC has charged BSNL of violating policy to give preference to indigenous technology companies and incorporating clauses that restrict the participation of Indian companies.

Trade unions protest states’ move to cut staff pay, curb migrant workers’ movement

Trade unions on Wednesday strongly protested against the decision of some state governments to cut their employees’ pay, increase working hours and delay movement of migrant workers who wish to return home amid the lockdown.

As many as 12 central trade unions raised various issues during a webinar with Labour Minister Santosh Gangwar and senior officials of the ministry on Wednesday.

The unions demanded effective implementation of Inter-State Migrant Workmen Act, 1979 and also pitched for bringing a national policy for migrant workers.

Coal output unlikely to be scaled down, inventory to substitute fuel import: EY

India’s coal production is unlikely to be scaled down as the demand far outstrips the local supply available, global consultancy firm EY on Wednesday said.

It further said that the buffer inventories of coal will be consumed once the downstream plants start running at full capacity after the lockdown is lifted.

“Given that India’s demand of coal far outstrips the supply available locally, miners are unlikely to reduce output of operations but continue to build receivables in the hope the inventories will eventually substitute imports of coal once the downstream businesses stabilise to normal…,” Saurabh Bhatnagar, partner and national leader, metals and mining, EY India, said.

Volkswagen Passenger Cars India appoints Abbey Thomas as head of marketing

Volkswagen Passenger Cars India on Wednesday announced appointment of Abbey Thomas as head of marketing with immediate effect.

With over 25 years of expansive automotive industry experience, Thomas who had previously worked with Audi India as head of planning (product & sales) will be spearheading marketing strategy for the VW brand in India, the company said in a statement.

Thomas takes over from Bishwajeet Samal, who moves to Wolfsburg, Germany for an international assignment with Volkswagen AG, the company added.

He joined the VW Group in 2011. Prior to joining the group, he worked with several European and Asian car manufacturers across the globe.

ITC shares down over 1%

#CNBCTV18Market | ITC fails to hold morning gains, slips to day's low pic.twitter.com/OLJZDodP6N

— CNBC-TV18 (@CNBCTV18Live) May 7, 2020

HCL Technologies shares jump over 4% after Q4 earnings

Shares of HCL Technologies on Thursday jumped over 4 percent after the company posted 22.8 percent rise in its consolidated net profit for the March quarter.

On BSE, the scrip advanced 4.38 percent to Rs 542.40, while on NSE it rose 4.37 percent to Rs 541.80.

Earlier in the day, the IT firm posted 22.8 percent rise in consolidated net profit at Rs 3,154 crore for the March quarter driven by strong growth across verticals.

It had registered a net profit of Rs 2,568 crore in the January-March 2019 quarter, HCL said in a regulatory filing.

Yes Bank shares zoom 20% on quarterly profit

Shares of Yes Bank on Thursday zoomed 20 percent after the company reported a net profit of Rs 2,629 crore for the March quarter.

The stock jumped 19.92 percent to Rs 31.60 on BSE, while it rallied 19.96 percent to Rs 31.55 on NSE.

Yes Bank on Wednesday reported a net profit of Rs 2,629 crore for the March quarter, helped by a massive gain of over Rs 6,200-crore arising out of a controversial write-off of bond investors’ investment.

Karnataka hikes excise duty on liquor by 11%

The Karnataka government hiked excise duty on liquor by 11 percent to mop up revenues, two day after allowing its sale, following the easing of COVID-19 induced lockdown.

This hike is in addition to the six per cent that was announced in the budget.

“Yes, this 11 percent increase in excise duty is in addition to the six per cent announced in the budget,” Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa told reporters.

According to sources, the hike will translate into a consumer paying Rs 5 more for an 180 ml bottle of liquor. The hike is applicable on brandy, whisky, gin and rum, but not to  beer, wine, toddy and feni, they said.

NITIE ties up with edu-tech firm to conduct exams online amid lockdown

The National Institute of Industrial Engineering (NITIE), a prominent B-schools has tied up with edu-tech company mUni Campus for conducting their exams online with live proctoring for students amid the coronavirus-forced lockdown.

According to Manoj Kumar Tiwari, Director, NITIE, students were provided an opportunity to practice online demo test for over two days to get comfortable with this new way of giving exams online. 

“The examination was conducted in a quite innovative way. Students were able to appear for the exam comprising of a mix of MCQs, short and long descriptive questions,” he said.

Some auto firms resume production, others prepare to restart manufacturing

Automobile majors, including Maruti Suzuki India, Mercedes-Benz, TVS Motor, and Royal Enfield, on Wednesday announced resumption of or plans to restart production at their respective manufacturing units following relaxation of guidelines by the government for the third phase of lockdown.

The country’s largest carmaker Maruti Suzuki India (MSI) said it would resume operations at its Manesar plant from 12 May.

The Gurugram district administration had allowed MSI to run Manesar facility on a single shift basis, while fixing the total number of employees at plant at 4,696.

The company’s Manesar (Haryana) plant is outside the limits of Gurugram Municipal Corporation, while its Gurugram plant falls within the city limits.

Govt to run awareness campaign in 1 lakh villages on fertiliser use

Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar on Wednesday said the government will run a mission mode awareness campaign this fiscal in over 1 lakh villages for promoting use of bio/organic fertilisers and reducing consumption of chemical soil nutrients.

A decision in this regard was taken after reviewing the progress of the Soil Health Card (SHC) scheme, launched in 2015.

Under the scheme, soil health cards are given to farmers at an interval of two years. The cards provide information to farmers on nutrient status of their soil along with recommendations on appropriate dosage of nutrients to be applied for improving soil health and fertility.

Bad Bank idea in consultation stage: SBI chief  

SBI Chairman says these are some initial thoughts at IBA level that it’s the right time for structure along the lines of a Bad Bank can be worked out pic.twitter.com/pbYl1OGhpW

— CNBC-TV18 (@CNBCTV18Live) May 7, 2020

Sensex slips 237 points, Nifty at 9,205

Indices extended the losses as Sensex dipped 236.84 points or 0.75 percent to 31,448.91 while the Nifty was down 65.90 points or 0.71 percent at 9,205 at around 12.20 pm.

ONGC was the top loser in the Sensex pack falling over 3 percent. Other losers included Kotak Mahindra Bank, Titan, Ultra Cement, Bharti Airtel, Asian Paints and PowerGrid.