1. Asia: Stocks in Asia Pacific traded mixed Friday morning as investors react to developments from the U.S. Federal Reserve. In Japan, the Nikkei 225 rose 0.27 percent in early trade while the Topix index added 0.71 percent. South Korea’s Kospi gained 0.41 percent. Shares in Australia declined, as the S&P/ASX 200 shed 0.54 percent. Overall, the MSCI Asia ex-Japan index traded little changed, reported CNBC International. (Image: Reuters)
2. US: Futures tied to major U.S. equity benchmarks climbed slightly in overnight trading on Thursday as Wall Street attempts to build on its record-breaking rally. The Dow Jones Industrial Average futures gained about 60 points. The S&P 500 futures and the Nasdaq 100 futures were up 0.1 percent each, reported CNBC International. (Image: Reuters)
3. Market At Close On Thursday: Indian shares pared morning gains but ended in the green for a fifth straight session on Thursday, on the expiry day of derivative contracts for August. Gains in financials and realty stocks were capped by losses in index heavyweights RIL, Kotak Bank, HDFC Bank, and Infosys. The Sensex ended 39 points higher at 39,113 while the Nifty added 9 points to end at 11,559. Broader markets were also in the green for the day with the midcap and smallcap indices up 0.2 percent and 0.4 percent, respectively. (Image: Reuters)
4. Crude Oil: Oil prices fell on Thursday as a massive hurricane in the Gulf of Mexico made landfall in the heart of the U.S. oil industry, forcing oil rigs and refineries to shut down. Brent crude futures for October, which expire on Friday, fell 57 cents, or 1.3 percent, to $45.10 a barrel. West Texas Intermediate crude futures settled 35 cents, or 0.8 percent, lower at $43.04 per barrel, reported CNBC International.. (Image: Reuters)
5. Rupee: The Indian rupee ends to over 5-month high on Thursday given strong domestic market. The rupee ended at 73.81 against the US dollar. Meanwhile, the dollar index, which gauges the greenback's strength against a basket of six currencies, fell 0.15 percent to 92.87. (Image: Reuters)
6. FM Sitharaman At GST Council Meeting: Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman chaired the 41st meeting of the GST council on Thursday via video conferencing. The meeting is coming amid the outbreak of the novel coronavirus pandemic in India and lockdown measures causing major revenue shortfall to centre and state coffers. She said, "We will facilitate states for borrowing from the RBI. Both options are for this year only. The rate of interest will be the same for all states." We may have to do another brief GST Council meet to discuss the view of the states. Already two bi-monthly instalments are delayed so an early resolution will help in clearing the dues, added FM. (Image: PTI)
7. PM Modi On Defence Sector: Prime Minister Narendra Modi has once again clarified that the intent of Atmanirbhar Bharat is not to look inwards instead the motive is to contribute more to global supply chains. Speaking at a Defence Industry Outreach Programme, PM said, "We are reducing red tape, rolling out red carpet." Government plans to import embargo for 101 items. DRDO has made a list of 108 items that will be made in India, said General Bipin Rawat. (Image: PTI)
8. RBI Governor To Banks On Frauds: Reserve Bank Governor Shaktikanta Das on Thursday asked banks to avoid extreme risk-aversion, terming it self-defeating , and also advised them to smell vulnerabilities in businesses early to avoid frauds, which have been growing lately. He said the banking system continues to be sound and stable, but acknowledged that the COVID-19 crisis will lead to an erosion of capital for banks.The risk management systems (of banks) should be sophisticated enough to smell vulnerabilities brewing within various businesses well in advance and should be dynamic enough to capture the looming risks in sync with changes in the external environment, Das said. (Image: Reuters)
9. Indian Farmers Driven To Debt: Amid India's worst economic slowdown in decades due to the novel coronavirus pandemic, millions of farmers are being shunned by banks as lenders turn cautious due to rising bad loans. That is forcing them to turn to illegal-moneylenders who are charging increasingly exorbitant rates, according to over a dozen farmers and bankers that Reuters spoke to. Agriculture accounts for near 15 percent of India's USD 2.8 trillion economy and is a source of livelihood for more than half of its 1.3 billion people. Higher interest rates will reduce farm earnings, impacting overall rural incomes which are key to reviving the economy. (Image: Reuters)
10. SBI On Debt Recast: State Bank of India Chairman Rajnish Kumar on Thursday said he hopes for lessser number of requests for one-time restructuring of loans from corporates. Earlier this month, RBI allowed one-time restructuring of both corporate and retail loans that are being affected by the COVID-19 related stress. "Currently, for corporates, I can say that because of a lot of deleveraging and resolution, clean up has already happened and a lot of accounts got dealt with under the existing June 7 framework of RBI. As of now, there are not many requests (restructuring) and I hope that there are not many requests coming forward," Kumar said. (Photo: IANS)