News Wrap | Sensex, Nifty Plunge; More Apple Stores in India Soon, Meta CEO becomes Rich no. 2 | 04.10.24

Good evening and welcome to Business Hook’s daily news podcast, where we get you a roundup of the day’s top business stories. I’m Avni Raja and today is the 4th of October 2024.

Let’s start with a quick wrap of the day’s market action. It was another day of red on Dalal Street with both Nifty and Sensex down about a percent each. This comes amid of fears Israel planning a significant retaliation following Iran's missile attacks, widening the scope of the Middle East war, as well as fears that FIIs are selling off India and moving back to China after the recent stimulus measures announced by Chinese authorities. On the NSE, M&M, Bajaj Finance, Nestle India, BPCL, Asian Paints were among the top losers with cuts of 2.5% to 3.5%. While the gainers included Infosys, ONGC, Tata Motors, HDFC Life which were up between 1 and 1.5%.

Not just the stock markets, the Rupee too ended Friday to cap its worst weekly performance in four months. This amid surging outflows and rising crude oil prices rose due to an escalating Middle East conflict. The rupee closed at 83.97 against the U.S. dollar, down 0.3% week-on-week.

Meanwhile, the government is committed to its target of reducing the fiscal deficit to 4.9 percent of GDP in FY25 on the back of robust revenue generation and stronger economic activity, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said on October 4th. FM said that reducing the fiscal deficit from 5.6 percent to 4.9 percent will "not only keep the bond yields in check but also manage borrowing costs”.

Big news for all Apple fans in India! Apple, the tech giant behind the iPhone, has just announced plans to open four brand-new stores across India! After launching two stores last year, one in Mumbai's BKC and another in Delhi's Saket, Apple is doubling down on its Indian expansion. The new stores will be located in Pune, Bengaluru, Delhi-NCR, and Mumbai

Meanwhile, there’s been a change in the Bloomberg Billionaires rankings. Mark Zuckerberg, the CEO of Meta, has just skyrocketed to become the second richest person in the world with a staggering net worth of $206 billion. He's just $50 billion behind Elon Musk now, according to the latest Bloomberg Billionaires Index 2024. With a 13% stake in Meta, Zuckerberg’s net worth has surged by a whopping $78 billion in 2024 alone

That’s a wrap for this edition of the Business Hook News Wrap podcast. We’ll be back tomorrow on Monday with the latest updates. In the meantime, check out the Business Hook YouTube channel for the top business developments of the day.