News Wrap | Nifty Above 25,000, RBI Guv Announces ULI, PhonePe Reports Profit | August 26, 2024

(Asian Markets: A Mixed Session)
Let's start with the latest from the markets. It was a mixed session for most Asian equity markets amid rising tensions in the Middle East, with Israel and Hezbollah trading strikes. Investors also assessed the rate cut comments from US Fed Chief Jerome Powell’s speech at the Jackson Hole symposium of central bankers. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng gained one percent, and China’s Shanghai Composite closed unchanged. Japan’s Nikkei and Korea’s KOSPI ended the day in the red.

(Indian Markets: Strong Gains)
Back home, Indian equities started the week on a strong note. The Sensex and the Nifty gained three-fourths of a percent each, with the Nifty closing above the crucial 25,000 mark. Thirty-three out of fifty shares on the benchmark index gained in Monday’s trade, while seventeen declined. Tech major HCL Tech surged more than four percent, hitting an intraday high of 1,734 rupees and closing just below that level.

(ULI)
In the fintech space, RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das announced that the central bank has decided to name its new technology platform for lending the Unified Lending Interface, or ULI. The new platform will make the consent-based flow of information about borrowers, from data providers to lenders, seamless. The RBI Governor expressed confidence that the new platform will enable quicker credit appraisals, resulting in faster loan disbursals.

(PhonePe Group Reports Profit)
In the startup space, Walmart-backed PhonePe Group has reported a consolidated net profit, excluding ESOP costs, of 197 crore rupees for the fiscal year 2023-24. That’s a significant turnaround for the company, which had incurred a loss of 738 crore rupees in the previous fiscal. PhonePe Group’s revenue also surged almost 74 percent year-on-year to over 5,000 crore rupees. During FY24, the group expanded into financial services as well as new consumer tech businesses such as Pincode and the Indus App Store.

(Housing Prices In Micro Markets)
Latest from the real estate sector: Housing prices in Bengaluru's Bagaluru rose the highest since 2020, according to a study of India’s micro markets by real estate consultant Anarock. The analysis of price trends in the top three micro-markets of the seven major cities showed that Bagaluru recorded the highest price appreciation of 90 percent between the end of 2019 and June this year. Hyderabad's Kokapet ranked second with 89 percent price appreciation, while Bengaluru's Whitefield ranked third, with an 80 percent rise in residential prices during the period.