Month: January 2020

By  Administrator_India, Capital Sands Euro zone economic growth was slower than expected in the last three months of 2019, a first estimate showed on Friday, while inflation in January picked up in line with expectations thanks to a jump in prices of food, alcohol and tobacco and energy. The European Union's statistics office Eurostat said gross domestic product in the 19 countries sharing the euro rose 0.1% quarter-on-quarter for a 1.0% year-on-year gain.Economists polled by Reuters had expected a 0.2% quarterly and a 1.1% annual increase. Separately, Eurostat said consumer prices fell 1.0% month-on-month in January for a 1.4% year-on-year rise, accelerating from a 1.3% rate in December and 1.0% in November. However, the pick-up in headline price growth was mainly du...

By  Administrator_India, Capital Sands The government has been very vocal about simplification of the tax structure and they have demonstrated that for the corporate sector through a gradual progression towards a simple rate and in some sense setting a sunset date for exemptions. In that light, we could see a similar path being taken on the personal taxation front. This could potentially mean simplification of the ways income is taxed and that in turn is likely to benefit investors and the mutual fund industry. There are obviously more populist expectations of increasing the 80C investment limits, reducing long term capital gain horizon etc. Given the Budget constraints, we are not that hopeful of the same but if it comes, it could very well be the one demand catalyst to ...

By  Administrator_India, Capital Sands India reported its first case of the new coronavirus on Thursday, saying a woman in Kerala had tested positive in an outbreak that originated in China, killing 170 people, and spread abroad. The patient was an Indian student of Wuhan University in China, the government said in a statement, adding the patient was stable and in isolation in hospital. The central Chinese city of Wuhan is the epicentre of the outbreak. “We had sent blood samples of 20 people from Kerala, of which 10 returned as negative. Out of six that were pending, the sample of a female student from Wuhan has come back as positive,” Kerala’s health minister, K.K. Shylaja Teacher, told reporters. The patient was being treated in an isolation ward in the district of ...

By Administrator_India Capital Sands The Indian Railways, on January 29, announced that it planned to use facial recognition to tackle crime at railway stations. The new facial recognition system is currently being tested in Bengaluru. A senior railway official told that the move would turn the railways into a virtual fortress. "Without a physical, brick and mortar boundary wall, we will be able to make the whole system more secure," the official told the news agency. Manmad and Bhusawal are the other two stations where the railways would be currently using the new technology, which is powered by artificial intelligence. In terms of hardware, the Indian Railway will install dome, bullet, UHD 4K and pan tilt zoom cameras to get a clear picture of everything that transpi...

By  Administrator_India, Capital Sands The Indian rupee appreciated by 0.45% for the third day this week to 71.21 against the US dollar. The pair consolidated from a two week high of 71.40 amidst fears surrounding the outbreak of China’s coronavirus weighing on the trading sentiment and strengthening of the counterpart currency. But, INR investors expect some relief in the form of Union Budget publishing on Saturday. Furthermore, markets wait for the U.S. Fed Reserve’s first meeting which is scheduled for 28th-29th January’20 to provide further direction on the pair’s movement. Trump Visit in Focus The United States President is scheduled to travel to India between February 21st and 24th, with a day stead fasted to a joint public function with PM Narendra Modi....

By  Administrator_India, Capital Sands US President Donald Trump said Jerusalem "will remain Israel's undivided capital" as he unveiled his Middle East peace plan aimed at solving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, describing it as “historic” and a "giant step" towards peace. Standing along with the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the White House, Trump proposed a two-state solution and said no Israelis or Palestinians would be uprooted from their homes. He said that under his vision, Jerusalem "will remain Israel's undivided, very important capital." He proposed Palestinian capital in Eastern Jerusalem and that US will set up its embassy there."My vision presents a realistic two-state solution," he said. “Together we can bring a new dawn in the Middle East...

By  Administrator_India Capital Sands European stocks pared early gains alongside U.S. index futures on Tuesday amid international efforts to curb the SARS-like virus from spreading. The yuan steadied and Treasuries turned higher. The Stoxx Europe 600 Index erased an early advance, while contracts on the three main American equity indexes clung to moderate gains. Earlier in Asia, Japanese shares fell for a second day and equities slumped in South Korea as that market reopened after holidays. Trading is scheduled to resume in Hong Kong on Wednesday; the latest guidance from China, where the outbreak is still concentrated, is for markets to reopen on Monday. The offshore yuan fluctuated after a sharp slide the previous day while the yen nudged higher for a sixth session.&nb...

By  Administrator_India, Capital Sands Billionaire investor Rakesh Jhunjhunwala is under the scanner of market regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) over alleged insider trading in Aptech shares. SEBI is also examining the role of other Aptech board members, including Ramesh Damani and Madhu Jayakumar, The Economic Times reported. Jhunjhunwala currently holds 24.24 percent stake in Aptech, which is valued around Rs 160 crore. It is the only company in his portfolio in which he has management control. Jhunjhunwala, his wife Rekha, brother Rajeshkumar and mother-in-law Sushiladevi Gupta were called in for questioning on January 24, the report said. Jhunjhunwala's sister, Sudha Gupta was question by the market regulator on January 23, t...

By  Administrator_India, Capital Sands Gold prices rose to their highest in more than two weeks on Monday as equities slipped on growing concerns that a China virus outbreak could impact that nation’s economy, prompting investors to drop riskier assets and look for safe havens. Spot gold climbed 0.5% to $1,577.93 per ounce by 0743 GMT. Earlier in the session, prices rose as much as 1% to their highest since Jan. 8 at $1,586.42. U.S. gold futures rose 0.3% to $1,576.50. Asian stocks slipped as the coronavirus killed 81 people and infected more than 2,700 in China, with residents of Hubei province, where the disease originated, banned from entering Hong Kong amid global efforts to halt the rapid spread. Investors are “looking out for the new risk (coronavirus) coming ...

By Administrator_India, Capital Sands Reluctance among Indian traders to ship premium basmati rice to Iran as U.S. sanctions hobble its ability to pay has contributed to a sharp drop in overall exports from the world’s biggest supplier of the grain, trade and government sources said. Rice shipments from India slipped by more than a quarter to 5.5 million tonnes between April and November 2019 — the first eight months of the fiscal year — from 7.5 million tonnes in the year-ago period, the sources said. In terms of value, exports dropped 19% to $3.8 billion from $4.7 billion. The grain is India’s biggest foreign exchange earning farm commodity, with shipments worth $7.75 billion in the 2018/19 fiscal year. Basmati rice exports to Iran, New Delhi’s top buyer of the aromatic g...