Free fall

Nifty50: 16,958 ▼ 215 (-1.2%)
Sensex: 56,463 ▼ 703 (-1.2%)

• The markets might just ace the #BeyonceDropChallenge if the current slide continues. For the fifth day in a row, the markets bled as investors dumped IT and FMCG stocks.
• In all, 44 of the Nifty50 stocks closed in the red.
• Investors are jittery after a streak of lower-than-expected quarterly results. To add to that, the Russia-Ukraine conflict continues to simmer and inflation is soaring.

Among the Nifty sectoral indices, IT (-2.9%) and FMCG (-2.8%) witnessed steep falls, with Oil and Gas (+0.7%) being the sole gainer.

Did you know?

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For more updates on F&O, click here.

Here are the top stories of the day.

Low interest-rate party over?

Banks are batting on the front foot. The RBI may have signalled a pause, but India’s biggest banks are not waiting. The country's largest bank, State Bank of India, was the first to hike interest rates by 0.1%. Axis Bank and Kotak Mahindra Bank were quick to follow. Both increased their benchmark lending rates by 0.05%. (ICYDK, the benchmark lending rate or the marginal cost of funds-based lending rate (MCLR) is the minimum rate at which banks are allowed to lend). Sounds like small change? Do the math against your home loan and you will know just how much more you will now have to pay!

While this is bad news for borrowers, markets upvoted this decision in the early hours of trade (before going into free fall). Why? Simple, banks will stand to earn more per loan! Does this mean interest rates will rise further? Your guess is as good as ours!

Pennar Industries on a hot streak

Pennar Industries is on a roll. Shares of the engineering products and solutions company rose as much as 7% intraday after it announced order wins worth ₹498 crore in the months of February and March this year. 

These orders have come from various sectors like railways and steel and will be executed within the next two quarters. The stock has had a dream run of late, having risen 140% in the last one year. To put it in perspective, the Nifty SmallCap Index has risen 28% in the same period.

Bling is King!

While markets are taking a beating globally, investors are following Ol’ Uncle Scrooge. Gold prices have risen 1.5% so far this month as the Russia-Ukraine conflict shows no signs of easing. The yellow metal also got a boost from fears of impending sanctions on Russian gas and crude. Further, the risk of a US recession has also sparked a gold rush.

IPO corner

The Bombay High Court has refused to stay the proposed IPO of LIC. This comes after three policyholders had filed a plea seeking judicial intervention for a stay on LIC’s draft red herring prospectus. For more details on the LIC IPO click here. 

Good to know

What is money laundering?

Money laundering is the process of making "dirty money" (or cash generated from criminal activities) appear to have come from legitimate sources. The dirty money is first transferred into a legitimate financial system. This transaction is then concealed by layering it under a series of transactions and accounting tricks. The money is then withdrawn from a legitimate account.

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