Country Financial News

Q2 Result: Shree Cement likely benefitted from the strong demand during the July-September quarter, as has been the case with its peers. The cement demand from the infrastructure sector remained strong and with monsoon activity remaining weaker than expected, the construction activities overall did not see much slowdown as has been the case historically in the monsoon impacted September quarter. The company will release its quarterly earnings today.

semiconductor industry has been in the limelight in recent years due to its soaring demand and the persistent global shortage of chips, making it a favoured investment sector for investors looking for high growth. Adding to this excitement, Qualcomm Inc., a global semiconductor giant, has announced plans to outsource the manufacturing of semiconductor chips in India. The company aims to capitalise on its substantial scale and the need for high chip volumes by collaborating with key industry players to introduce state-of-the-art technology in the country.

China is owed more than a trillion dollars through its Belt and Road project, making it the biggest debt collector in the world, a report said this week, with an estimated 80 percent of the loans supporting countries in financial distress. Beijing says upwards of 150 countries stretching from Uruguay to Sri Lanka have signed up to the BRI, a vast global infrastructure push unveiled by President Xi Jinping a decade ago. The first decade of the initiative saw China distribute huge loans to fund the construction of bridges, ports and highways in low and middle-income countries. But much more than half of those loans have now entered their principal repayment period, said a report released Monday by AidData, a research institute tracking development finance at Virginia's College of William and Mary. That figure is set to hit 75 percent by the end of the decade, it added. Crunching data compiled on Chinese financing of almost 21,000 projects across 165 countries, AidData said Beijing had now committed aid and credit «hovering around $80 billion a year» to low and middle-income nations. The United States, in contrast, has provided $60 billion to such countries a year. «Beijing is navigating an unfamiliar and uncomfortable role — as the world's largest official debt collector,» the report said.

Biofuel Alliance (GBA) can aim for success, Gauri Singh, Deputy Director General, International Renewable Energy Agency, said India has a big role to play in the important initiative. “Innovation in business models coming from India will have a huge impact on how many other countries in the developing world can take up this entire initiative and move forward with it,” she said on November 3 while speaking at an event co-hosted by the Global Energy Alliance for People and Planet (GEAPP) and the Observer Research Foundation (ORF) in the capital. The event was held from November 1-3.

China's exports fell at a faster pace than predicted in October, data showed Tuesday, as the world's second-largest economy is buffeted by faltering global demand and a sluggish domestic recovery. Beijing has sought to boost business activity in a country grappling with a major property crisis and weaker consumption since officials abolished their strict zero-Covid policy at the end of last year. Exports — long a key driver of the growth — sank 6.4 percent year-on-year last month, according to the General Administration of Customs. The reading was much worse than the 3.5 percent drop forecast in a Bloomberg survey of economists and slightly heavier than September. Apart from a brief rebound in March and April, exports have been in constant decline since last October. «Export growth remained sluggish as the economic momentum in the United States and Europe slowed,» said Zhang Zhiwei of Pinpoint Asset Management, adding that external demand was likely to remain weak in coming months. Imports, however, rose 3.0 percent, bucking a forecast drop of 5.0 percent and notching the first month of on-year growth since late last year. The rise in imports could be a signal that domestic demand in China is recovering from months of weakness. But Zhang told AFP that the October «positive surprise» in imports alone is not sufficient to determine whether domestic demand is improving, pointing to other indicators such as retail sales. «Nonetheless as fiscal policy has turned more proactive, a recovery in domestic demand is likely in coming months,» said Zhang. China recorded moderate growth in the third quarter as Beijing looks to achieve its official goal of «around five percent» expansion for 2023 — one of its lowest targets

By Selena Li

Investing.com-- Most Asian currencies fell on Tuesday as a warning from Federal Reserve officials and signs of more economic headwinds for China dented sentiment, while the Australian dollar tumbled after the Reserve Bank struck a seemingly dovish tone.

By Yuka Obayashi and Trixie Yap

By Francesco Guarascio

Shein is touting its hopes for a valuation of as much as $90 billion as it lays the groundwork for an eventual US initial public offering, a level that far exceeds how the fast-fashion giant is valued in private trades, according to people familiar with the matter. The company has told prospective investors that it’s aiming to fetch a valuation of $80 billion to $90 billion in a listing, the people said. The timing of the share sale remains uncertain given the market volatility, according to the people. In private trades, Shein’s valuation has dropped below the $66 billion it got in a funding round in May, the people said.

Denso Wave Inc. engineer who invented the two-dimensional barcode known as quick response, or QR, had never imagined that his system of labelling automotive parts would one day become a crucial pillar of monetary exchange.

Investing.com-- Oil prices fell in Asian trade on Tuesday as a rebound in the dollar weighed, while weaker-than-expected trade data from China also raised concerns over sluggish demand in the world's largest oil importer. 

Investing.com-- Asian stocks retreated on Tuesday after four straight days of gains as investors awaited more economic cues from China and Australia, while South Korean shares saw a heavy dose of profit taking. 

Walmart Pays $3.5 Billion to Hike Stake in Flipkart The 40-year-old billionaire, who co-founded e-commerce major Flipkart and made a profit selling his stake to Walmart Inc., is looking to tap the country's large English-speaking young population to train more experts for new AI services. The focus will be on “training talent and offering services" from smaller cities in India, the report said. Bansal did not respond to queries, the report added.

Credit Suisse began compiling estimates of wealth inequality across the globe after the 2008 global financial crash. Its 2023 report combines data from surveys, financial accounts, regulatory information and rich lists to rank countries based on wealth inequality. As in other years, India stands out as a country with an exceptionally high concentration of wealth.

By Ankur Banerjee

Also Read: Earthquake today: Strong tremors felt in Delhi as 5.2 magnitude quake hits Nepal An earthquake of magnitude 5.6 on the Richter scale jolted Pithoragarh district of Uttarakhand on Monday, but there was no damage to life or property, reported PTI. Earlier, an earthquake of magnitude 5.2 had struck Nepal at 04.16 p.m.

Honasa Consumer: Analysts predict that the stock of Honasa Consumer, the parent company of Mamaearth, is likely to debut with a flat to marginally positive listing on November 7. Mamaearth's recent IPO faced significant market challenges, although it was well-received by qualified institutional bidders (QIB), who oversubscribed the offering by 11.5 times. In contrast, retail investors demonstrated caution, subscribing only 1.4 times the allotted quota.

BEIJING — Most consumers in China are planning to keep a lid on spending during this year's Singles Day shopping festival, which ends Nov. 11.

India is pulling out all the stops to get Elon Musk's Tesla to the country with government departments working to provide all the required approvals by January 2024. The Prime Minister's Office Monday held a meeting with top officials to take stock of the next phase of electric vehicle (EV) manufacturing in the country, including Tesla's investment proposal, people with knowledge of the matter told ET. «Though the agenda of the meeting was centred on general policy matters, fast-tracking approvals by January 2024 to Tesla's proposed investment in the country was spelt out,» a top official said.

By Nelson Acosta