The Food Corporation of India (FCI) has been able to buy half of its wheat procurement target of 40.7 million tonne by Wednesday despite a delayed start this year as Punjab has exceeded expectation by purchasing nearly 75% of its target in only 22 days.

Share Market News Today | Sensex, Nifty, Share Prices Highlights: ONGC was the top laggard on BSE Sensex, with a fall of 4.54 per cent. NTPC, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Bharti Airtel and Titan were other losers on the Sensex pack

Most of the sectoral indices were trading in deep sea of red. Nifty FMCG index dropped 1.33 per cent weighed by Godrej Consumer Properties, Britannia, Dabur India and Marico.

Gold prices have gained over 18 per cent from their recent low of Rs 38,400 per 10 grams hit on March 16, 2020. While silver futures surged 25 per cent from its low of Rs 33,580 per kg touched in March.

The March mayhem that saw domestic benchmark indices tank 24% in not behind investors despite a decent recovery in the month of April. However, the coming few months could be crucial for investors.

The broader markets outperformed the headline indices. S&P BSE MidCap index fell 0.53 per cent or 61 points at 11,420. While BSE SmallCap index declined 0.14 per cent or 15 points to end at 10,687

Franklin Templeton shifted part of the blame for the recent winding down of six of its debt mutual funds on to capital markets regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India.

Among one of the companies that ended up in Rakesh Jhunjhunwala’s shopping cart during the January-March quarter was another Tata Group company -- Rallis India.

In the wake of Franklin Templeton wounding up six of its debt mutual fund schemes, India’s largest mutual fund distributors body has urged the Reserve Bank of India to set up a SPV to buy portfolios from troubled fund houses and pay off investors.

HCL Technologies posted strong March quarter numbers with revenue increasing by 16% on-year basis and PAT jumping 22.7% in the same time period. The stock has surged 27% from recent lows and is now down just 10% year-to-date.

Hindustan Unilever share price jumped 4% on Friday to trade at Rs 2,070 per share on the NSE Nifty-50 after a bulk deal that saw French multinational investment bank and financial services company, Societe Generale buy 1,29,00,000 shares.

Fears of deepening global slowdown due to the COVID-19 outbreak and subsequent lockdowns have spooked the markets globally, including in India.  Almost all the equity-oriented mutual fund categories registered net inflows last month.

Various news flows viz., stake sale by Reliance Industries in its subsidiary Jio Platforms, block deal in HUL, government’s decision to increase the tax on retail fuel etc., influenced the market movements.

There’s absence of catalysts to narrow holdco and conglomerate discount that has risen of late; ‘Hold’ retained with TP of Rs 550.

Margins expected to fall in CY20e; downgraded to ‘Add’ with reduced TP of Rs 330

The lockdown has stalled the rollout of the latest handsets. On the brighter side, popular brands will witness pent-up demand once the lockdown is lifted. Here are some of the smartphones slated to hit the market soon.

What does the new encryption algorithm mean for you, and what other security functionality should users be aware of?

A sharp slowdown in the motor business and lower interest rates will put pressure on ICICI Lombard’s FY21E performance.

Small cardamom exports to Saudi Arabia are likely to increase during the current Ramadan season with the Saudi authorities agreeing to accept the globally accepted Codex Food Standards of the United Nations.

Amazon on Monday said the company is seeing demand for various kinds of smart devices and other products like electrical appliances, clothes and work from home enablers in the orange and green zones.

Consumer goods major Marico posted a 3% year-on-year (y-o-y) decline in net profit to Rs 204 crore for the quarter ended March 31, while the revenue from operations, at Rs 1,496 crore, declined 7% y-o-y.

The decision was taken after the state agriculture department approached the Central Institute of Cotton Research (CICR), Nagpur, seeking advice against the backdrop of the Covid-19 pandemic affecting the country.

The Tamil Nadu government has announced relaxations allowing industries, particularly export units, to resume operations with standard operating procedure as suggested by the Union government.

According to an official source, CCI had purchased more than 13 lakh bales in 2008 as that year too, cotton prices had nosedived due to the global recession.

Marico's Q4FY20 was expectedly weak on topline but margin beat (lower RM & A&P) drove a positive earning surprise.

A solid security and appreciating asset prices will augur well for Muthoot Finance’s stable asset quality performance during a period when most NBFCs have negligible visibility on their recoveries.

Wipro has signed a memorandum of understanding with the Maharashtra government under which it will repurpose one of its information technology campuses at Hinjewadi in Pune to a 450-bed intermediary care Covid-19 hospital in four weeks and hand it over to the state government by May 30.

Despite the Gujarat government’s order to pay salaries to workers during lockdown period, lakhs of diamond artisans in Surat have not been paid their wages by their employers, said Diamond Workers Union – Gujarat.

India Ratings and Research (Ind-Ra) on Monday placed Shriram Transport Finance Company’s long-term issuer rating of ‘IND AA+’ on Rating Watch Negative (RWN).

Consumer demand for non-essential products with e-commerce firms has increased manifold after the government last Friday lifted the ban on sale of such products by e-tailers.

Hobbled by a shortage of workers, companies are finding it hard to resume operations at an optimal scale and with migrants moving back home, it could be a while before factories hum with activity.

Indian cotton prices have come down by 12-15% due to the ongoing lockdown and fears that the country’s cotton consumption will reduce, resulting in more carry-forward stocks by September 2020, officials of the Cotton Association of India (CAI) said on Tuesday.

The rights issue offers an opportunity for existing shareholders to reap the benefits from RIL’s new and emerging businesses such as digital, telecom and retail business.

With BSNL facing hurdles in its 4G tender for deployment of 50,000 new sites, the state-run firm has decided to upgrade existing 2G/3G sites, so that 4G services can be offered to customers in the coming four-six months.

Significantly, this was the latest twist in the long battle over the will of Late Priyamvada Devi Birla being fought between the Birla family and the Lodhas.

The Covid-19 pandemic is expected to exert downward pressure on the credit quality of sugar mills by eroding operating profitability and shoring up debt in fiscal 2021.

The edible oils import declined by 34% to 7,90,377 tonne during April, mainly due to logistics related issues during the lockdown, industry body Solvent Extractors Association of India (SEA) said on Wednesday.

The Rs 75,000-crore paper industry, which has resumed production after relaxations were issued effective from April 15, may have a negative growth in the first quarter of this fiscal as demand lost in this lockdown cannot be compensated entirely.

A Barclays report estimates that the central government’s revenue benefit from the additional hikes in fuel taxes could be as much as Rs 1.4 lakh crore on an annual basis.

SBI’s focus on the insurance business during a challenging year and SBI Life’s technology push to improve digital agent and client engagements remain crucial.

The rating downgrade action took into account the increased stress in the wholesale portfolio, which could lead to a deterioration in the asset quality, and the consequent impact on the financial performance.

This effectively eliminates the role of middlemen and allows farmers to sell their produce directly to consumers and traders outside the mandi yard.

Nifty50 has seen a correction of 6.2% since the start of May after witnessing a strong pullback rally throughout March.

Suvarna Jagtap, chairperson, Lasalgaon Agriculture Produce Market Committee (APMC), told FE that three cases of coronavirus were reported at Lasalgaon at a distance of 3 km from the main market yard.

With the upcoming trends in technology, and with the advent of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, India can meaningfully leverage its demographic dividend only with sustained efforts to upskill its large workforce

And in this age of AL, ML and blockchain that are network-based technologies, networking has gained a lot of importance, says Siddarth Bharwani, VP, Brand & Marketing, Jetking Infotrain.

As a stock market is one of the key barometers that represent the health of any economy, the growth story of India coupled with the current low rate of penetration in the stock markets suggests that there will be increased demand for professionals in this sector.

Team-building and customer-connect are more effective than tall agendas

Threat trends show political and economic intentions of cybercriminals.

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