News Wrap: Sensex & Nifty Close Lower; Jio Financial Explores Insurance Entry; Paytm Shares Surge

Good evening, and welcome to Business Hook’s daily news podcast, where we bring you a roundup of the day’s top business stories. I’m Avni Raja, and today is the 23rd of October, 2024.

Let’s start with Asian equity markets. After a tepid Tuesday, Asian equities had a better session on Wednesday. In the absence of any major news triggers, China’s Shanghai Composite gained half a percent, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng and Korea’s KOSPI were up over one percent each. However, Japan’s Nikkei ended the day in the red. On the bright side, Tokyo Metro made a stellar debut in the Japanese stock market, generating almost a 45 percent return over its issue price on day one. Tokyo Metro’s public issue, the biggest in Japan since 2018, was oversubscribed fifteen times.

Back home, the Sensex and the Nifty once again gave up opening gains and ended the day in the red. The Sensex closed just above 80,000, while the Nifty remained below 24,500. Of the fifty stocks on the Nifty, 32 declined and only 18 advanced. Bajaj Finance was the star of the day following its second quarter results. The stock gained nearly five percent, closing at 7,000 rupees apiece. Brokerage firm Sharekhan has issued a bullish call on the company, raising its target price to 9,500 rupees.

In the M&A space, a major deal is brewing in the insurance sector. According to a Bloomberg report, Mukesh Ambani-led Jio Financial Services is in talks with Germany’s Allianz SE for its insurance foray. The report, quoting unidentified sources, indicates that Allianz and Jio Financial are exploring options to set up both a life insurance and a general insurance company. This comes a day after news that Allianz is actively considering an exit from the joint ventures it has with Bajaj Finserv in India.

In stock-specific action, shares of Paytm ended the day up seven and a half percent at 738 rupees. This follows the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) allowing the fintech major to resume onboarding UPI users after a nine-month pause. The NPCI had suspended new user registrations for Paytm after the RBI raised regulatory concerns. The current approval from NPCI comes with certain riders, which include adherence to all NPCI guidelines.

Now, the big economy headline: the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has retained its growth projections for India. The multilateral lender expects India to grow at 7 percent during the current fiscal year and 6.5 percent in the next fiscal year. In its latest World Economic Outlook, the IMF also highlighted a global manufacturing shift towards emerging economies, such as China and India, as advanced economies lose competitiveness.

With that, it’s a wrap on this edition of the Business Hook News Wrap podcast. We will be back tomorrow with the next edition of our podcast. Have a great weekend and check out our YouTube channel Business Hook for the top business developments of the day.