▼Nifty: 11,278 (-0.35%) ▼Sensex: 38,193 (-0.45%)
Today, the market witnessed a strong tussle between the bulls and the bears. The Nifty50 had a gap-down opening and continued to fall till noon. Banks dragged the index lower. However, in the second half of the day, the bulls bounced back, led by the bellwether Reliance Industries. Other top gainers were Zee and Tata Steel, which rose 3.5% and 3%, respectively. Meanwhile, SBI shares fell 4.5%.
Here's a look at the top stories for the day.
RIL rises as Silver Lake invests ₹7,500 crore in Reliance Retail
Reliance Industries (RIL) announced today that Silver Lake, a US-based private equity firm, will invest ₹7,500 crore into its subsidiary Reliance Retail Ventures. Silver Lake had invested nearly ₹10,000 crore in Jio Platforms earlier this year. The private equity firm, which has $60 billion worth of assets under management, primarily invests in tech-based companies (its investments include Airbnb, Alibaba, and Twitter). Silver Lake believes that Reliance Retail's new e-commerce strategy—which aims to digitise small, unorganised merchants—could be the next retail disruption. The RIL stock gained 2.6% and was among the top gainers in the Nifty50 index.
AstraZeneca Pharma dips after parent firm halts Covid-19 vaccine trials
AstraZeneca Pharma's parent firm has abruptly paused global trials of its Covid-19 vaccine. The development came after a volunteer showed signs of a "potentially unexplained" illness. Today, AstraZeneca Pharma fell 3.8%. AstraZeneca Plc. is among the front-runners for last-stage trials of a potential Covid-19 vaccine. The news also dampened investor sentiments in the broader market given that there is global anticipation for a Covid-19 vaccine.
MCX registers a 12-year high in silver delivery
On Tuesday, the Multi-Commodity Exchange (MCX) said that it delivered around 140 tons of silver for contracts expiring in August/September, a 12-year high in silver delivery. A high amount of delivery indicates accumulation or distribution by large investors. This is the highest level of delivery since December 2008, when 141 tons of silver were delivered. Interestingly, silver prices were near their bottom in December 2008 (~$11/oz on Comex) and then hit a lifetime high in April 2011 (~$50/oz). That is a 4.5x jump in just over two years.
Closing bell
Based on the recommendations of the K V Kamath panel, a total of 1,027 listed firms are eligible for corporate debt restructuring. These companies have a combined gross debt of ₹30.1 trillion as of March 2020. The financial cost of restructuring is likely to fall largely on public sector banks, which are prime lenders to capital-intensive sectors. The Nifty PSU Bank index has fallen over 8% in September so far.