Country Financial News

The recent surge in gold price is emblematic of its enduring status as a safe-haven asset, consistently bolstered by investor confidence. The catalyst behind this surge is the ongoing conflict in the Gaza Strip, which has escalated into a ground invasion by Israeli forces.

Preethi, who goes by a single name, as is common in the region, is among the 70 workers hired in Agara and neighboring villages by a startup called Karya to gather text, voice and image data in India’s vernacular languages. She is part of a vast, unseen global workforce — operating in countries like India, Kenya and the Philippines — who collect and label the data that AI chatbots and virtual assistants rely on to generate relevant responses. Unlike many other data contractors, however, Preethi gets paid well for her efforts, at least by local standards.

Israel's ground troops advanced toward Gaza City on Thursday, as the US and Arab countries intensified diplomatic efforts to ease the siege of the Hamas-ruled enclave and bring about at least a brief stop to the fighting to help civilians. More than 9,000 Palestinians have been killed since the war broke out, health officials said. President Joe Biden suggested a humanitarian «pause» the day before, as an apparent agreement among the US, Egypt, Israel and Qatar, which mediates with Hamas, allowed hundreds of Palestinians with foreign passports and dozens of wounded to leave Gaza for the first time.

Gaza said on Thursday that more than 9,000 Palestinians have been killed since war broke out more than three weeks ago. Dr. Ashraf al-Qudra, a ministry spokesperson, said 9,061 people have been killed in Gaza, including 3,760 who are under 18.

Vanguard Group Inc. is taking its last steps to exit China and shut down its office in the 29 trillion yuan ($4 trillion) mutual fund market.

₹ 2,000 currency notes at the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) counter in Bhubaneswar were reportedly quizzed by the Economic Offence Wing (EOW) of the Odisha Police on Wednesday. Their Aadhar cards were verified and they were questioned about their occupation in a bid to find out if they were acting as agents for others, a PTI report said. The move came after several reports claimed that a few people were engaged to exchange ₹ 2,000 currency notes on a wage basis.

Telangana Assembly elections. The announcement came mere hours after the party's Central Election Committee meeting in Delhi to finalise the names of its remaining candidates for the Rajasthan and Telangana polls. The party has now declared candidates for 88 seats in the 119-member Telangana assembly.

PRNewswire. The event will take place in Paris in association with GIFEN, the French Nuclear Industry Association. It will witness over 650 exhibitors and around 20,000 participants from over 76 countries, reported PRNewswire.

Elon Musk who alone owns around 13% of Tesla’s equity (source: Nasdaq), Apple’s insiders hold only 0.07% of its pie (source: Yahoo Finance), so Apple’s ownership is less concentrated. This also means Apple’s senior managers have less of an incentive to make decisions in their own interest, making the company better disposed to shareholder-value maximization. Shareholder diversity helps align decision-making with the interests of all shareholders, which could also explain why its shares are highly valued.

General elections in Pakistan will be held on February 11, the election commission informed the Supreme Court on Thursday, putting an end to months-long uncertainty over the polls. The Election Commission of Pakistan's counsel, Sajeel Swati, said the process of drawing constituencies would be completed by January 29, paving the way for the polls.

‘State of India Gaming’ report, released Thursday and the result of a collaboration between Lumikai and Google, highlights concerns that the increased tax, along with changes in tax deducted at source (TDS), will impact gaming frequency. Lumikai is a gaming & interactive entertainment venture fund. In September, the finance ministry's revenue department revised the tax rate on online gaming, marking a significant increase from the previous 18%.

YES BANK has entered into a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Accelerated Computing Enterprise Pvt. Ltd. (trading as “Cloud Ace India”), a leading provider of cloud solutions. The agreement signifies a pivotal step in YES BANK’s commitment at facilitating tech innovation and global digital transformation. It also emphasises the Bank’s endeavour of using advanced cloud tech and financial expertise to assist businesses, startups, and entrepreneurs. 

In light of the recent terrorist attack in Israel orchestrated by Hamas, Chainalysis, a blockchain analysis company, addresses the misconceptions surrounding cryptocurrency's role in terrorism financing in a blog post dated October 18, 2023. The analysis reveals that terrorism financing represents a minuscule portion of the already marginal illicit cryptocurrency transaction volume. While terrorist groups do utilize cryptocurrencies, they predominantly rely on traditional fiat-based financing channels like financial institutions, hawalas, and shell companies.

The Depository Trust and Clearing Corporation (DTCC) has solidified its position in the digital asset sphere by confirming its intention to acquire Securrency, a firm renowned for its expertise in digital asset infrastructure development. This acquisition aligns with DTCC's strategic vision of seamlessly integrating digital assets with its pre-existing products and services. The specifics of the deal remain confidential, but indications suggest a closure «in the coming weeks.»

Elon Musk. The founder of Tesla and SpaceX is expected to attend the entire summit before his discussion with Sunak, which is set to be live-streamed, to contemplate the advancements and dangers of AI technology. Sunak, in an interview with POLITICO, has defended his choice to involve Musk, given the latter's long-standing emphasis on the need for AI regulation.

₹24,548 crore from Indian equities, on the back of spiking US Treasury yields and a rise in crude oil prices. FPIs turned net sellers in September, selling equities worth ₹14,768 crore. This shift occurred following a period of sustained buying that commenced in March and continued till August.

MOSCOW (Reuters) — Russia's dominant lender Sberbank reported on Thursday 411.4 billion roubles ($4.41 billion) in net profit in the third quarter and a return on equity (ROE) of 27.6% as it recovers from a difficult 2022.

₹) app named ‘Digital Rupee by ICICI Bank’. The Bank has made it possible by making its digital rupee app UPI (Unified Payments Interface) interoperable. This integration empowers customers to scan existing UPI QR codes at merchant outlets and pay via the digital rupee app.

MCX share price continued its upward trend for the fourth consecutive session on Thursday and hit a 52-week high led by strong buying interest in the stock. MCX shares have rallied over 7% in the past one week. On Thursday, MCX shares gained as much as 2.43% to a record high of ₹2,447.40 apiece on the BSE.

Maneesh Dangi, Founder, Macro Mosaic Investing, says “it is very unlikely that the US would have a 2008 play out because the US balance sheets are pretty clean in terms of household balance sheets and corporate balance sheets are not levered. But that cannot be said for Europe, cannot be said for China, it cannot be said for many other emerging markets. So I do not know and I do not think a GFC kind of liquidation or credit events are going to play out in the US but then it is more likely that it could pay out in some other places. Thankfully, Indian balance sheets look as clean as they were in 2007. So India is out of the picture as far as that sort of balance sheet stress is concerned.” Do you think everything is moving on expected lines? The Fed was not supposed to increase rates, they have not increased rates. The Fed was supposed to say that they are keeping the interest rate window open, which is what they said. The Fed was supposed to increase their outlook for the US economy, which they did. So, the Fed is becoming rather easy to call now. Yes, it is a sensible Fed because having taken the rates higher by about 550 basis point, Fed is deeply aware as we all are, that interest rates work with a lot of lag and incidentally I was reading a research report today early that perhaps today's interest rates operating in US could be of last Diwali.

NiedlFree Technologies, a company affiliated with Transgene Biotek, has made significant progress in the field of diabetes treatment. They claim to have developed a painless and needle-free oral insulin spray called Ozulin, which can be used by both animals and humans. This breakthrough could potentially make controlling blood sugar levels as simple as spraying insulin into the mouth, a TOI report stated.