Asian stocks drop ahead of next week’s Fed meeting

Japanese and Australian shares declined and equity futures for Hong Kong signaled losses after selling on Wall Street hit stocks and government bonds Thursday. The Nasdaq 100 slid 0.7% while the S&P 500 fell 0.5% as traders weighed higher-than-expected jobless claims against too hot producer price data.

Rupee plunges to record intraday, closing lows

“Demand from local importers continued to keep the rupee under pressure. There were some inflows, but they were all absorbed by the RBI. The central bank was seen protecting levels of 84.87 to 84.88 but RBI interventions did not change the direction of the pair,” said Anil Bhansali, head of treasury at Finrex Treasury Advisors.

Pharma, Capital Goods stocks new darlings of fund houses

​​India pharma companies’ progress in complex generics, stable US pricing and steady sales growth in India led to fund houses buying into stocks like Alembic Pharma, Divis Labs, Glenmark, Medplus, Orchid and Sanofi Consumer.

Bank deposits went up in line with credit growth in year to Nov

Indian banks saw a 10.6% rise in public deposits to ₹224.7 lakh crore between November 2023 and November 2024, matching the growth in credit. Both term and demand deposits achieved double-digit growth. This balanced growth follows regulatory concerns about potential overheating in retail credit, leading to a more sustainable credit-deposit ratio.

Bourses raise the bar for SME offers

The National Stock Exchange (NSE), the country’s largest bourse, is asking IPO-bound SMEs to have free cash for at least two out of the three years preceding their IPO and provide a utilisation certificate from the statutory auditor to ensure proper use of funds raised through the IPO, said a person with direct knowledge of […]