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Emkay Global Financial Services, said, “With index setting at long-term mean valuations, we expect 11% return for the Nifty in 2024. The current composition of the Nifty is predominantly defensive. The India story is largely a capex-driven, industrials-led earnings bounce-back.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has issued a significant warning about the impact of Artificial Intelligence (AI) on the global job market. In a recent report, the IMF projected that nearly 40% of jobs worldwide could be affected by AI, with this figure rising to 60% in advanced economies like the UK​​​​​​.

Mihir Vora, veteran fund manager and the Chief Investment Officer (CIO) of TRUST Mutual Fund believes the Interim Budget 2024 will unlikely have big-bang announcements but the government may announce the continuation of the current initiatives and schemes. He expects capital expenditure for infrastructure like roads, railways, water, power and defence to increase and there may be some tweaking of the slabs for income tax to boost consumption. In an interview with Mint, Vora also shared his views on the markets and sectors to watch.

Following a challenging 2022, 2023 proved to be a year of recovery, NIFTY with strong growth of about 20% in CY2023 compared to a meagre 3% in CY2022. Globally, except for a 15% decline in the Chinese and Hong Kong markets, the markets recovered between ~14% and ~25%. Notably, the NASDAQ jumped 45% while the S&P 500 increased by 25%. Healthy returns of CY2023 were on back of negative returns in the range of negative ~8 to ~34% in CY2022 with NASDAQ falling the most at 34% and an exception of Indian markets (positive 3%) being stronger than the world. The year 2023 was not without difficulties, though, as interest rates reached previously unheard-of levels, sparking fears about future economic growth and recessionary expectations in the developed world. Despite challenges, Indian markets and a number of sectors saw outstanding performance, with real estate (up 78%), PSE (up78%), and Autos (up 45%) showing particularly strong returns. The outstanding returns were delivered for the BSE SME IPO index delivering 91%. Abundant liquidity fuelled the IPO markets with astounding oversubscriptions. Moreover, the shift in ownership dynamics, marked by higher domestic ownership and strong inflows, added strength to the market. Global Economic Scenario

Investing.com-- Gold prices rose slightly on Thursday, steadying from a sharp tumble this week as strong U.S. data spurred increasing doubts over early interest rate cuts by the Federal Reserve.

₹3,070.55 apiece on the BSE. On January 17, Asian Paints shares fell 1.66% after the company reported its Q3 results. Asian Paints posted a net profit of ₹1,475.16 crore for the quarter ended December 2023, registering a growth of 34.4% from ₹1,097.06 crore in the year-ago period.

Investing.com-- Most Asian currencies moved little on Thursday after clocking steep losses in the prior session, while the dollar fell slightly from a one-month high as strong U.S. retail sales data spurred more doubts over early rate cuts by the Federal Reserve.

By Farah Master

Investing.com-- Most Asian stocks kept to a tight range on Thursday as strong U.S. data further dented bets on early interest rate cuts by the Federal Reserve, while a rout in Chinese shares worsened in the wake of disappointing GDP readings.

Zomato on Wednesday announced goals for 2030, to protect and ensure, "sustainable growth of the platform economy and all its stakeholders". The food aggregator's sustainability goals have been crafted around eight themes, such as ‘climate-conscious deliveries’, a ''waste-free world', ‘zero hunger’, ‘customer centricity’, ‘governance’, ‘inclusive growth’, ‘health, safety’, and ‘diversity and equity’. Zomato has pledged to facilitate 100% deliveries through EVs.

Mint, Andrade, shares his perspective on the firm’s upcoming new fund offer (NFO)—the Old Bridge Focused Equity Fund—and provides valuable insights into his investment approach and strategy. With 27 years of experience in Indian capital markets, including a decade as chief information officer (CIO) at IDFC Asset Management, he now serves as CIO at Old Bridge Asset Management Company. Andrade, who recently established his own asset management company, says the firm concentrates on identifying businesses early into a cycle.

Day Two of the annual meeting of the World Economic Forum in Davos was about Ukraine’s Zelenskyy and Chinese Premier Li, Day Three was a mixed treat, with Argentina’s new President Javier Milei getting more mileage at the event. European Central Bank president Christine Lagarde, IMF’s Kristalina Georgieva, and an address by French President Emmanuel Macron were also in focus for their star power.

For an economy already caught in a slowdown, Wednesday’s release of China’s population data made it a double whammy. The official headcount fell for the second straight year in 2023. The decline of 2.08 million, though small for a country of more than 1.4 billion, was twice the fall in 2022, its first in six decades.

China and expectations the global rate easing cycle may not come as early as some had initially thought. U.S.

Gold prices edged higher on Thursday, helped by a softer U.S. dollar and lower Treasury yields, but hovered near five-week lows as investors tempered rate-cut optimism after hawkish comments from central bank officials and robust data.

Colliers International Group Inc., which says prime office values tumbled about 30% from their pre-Covid high in some of the nation’s major cities. “Given how deep prices have corrected, there are lots of bargain-hunting opportunities," said Jimmy Gu, a deputy managing director and co-head of capital markets and investment services at Colliers. “It all depends on buyers’ outlook for the economy." Grade-A offices in Shanghai and Beijing used to be sought after by global real estate funds, making them more attractive than those in New York and London.

Ruchira Kamboj said that she is honoured to share India's development journey at the United Nations Development Programme high-level policy dialogue for the Asia-Pacific. She stated that India is committed to fostering development for all with the support of all. Kamboj noted that India is on track to surpass the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) target 1.2 before 2030.

Monetary policy in India must remain actively disinflationary despite the recent sharp fall in core inflation, Reserve Bank of India Governor Shaktikanta Das said at the World Economic Forum in Davos. «When inflation is still above 5.5%, rather close to 6%, our monetary policy has to remain actively disinflationary and it would be too premature to talk in terms of a pivot in our monetary policy,» Das said in an interview with Reuters. He however acknowledged the recent fall in core inflation, which strips out volatile food and fuel prices, and said it gives them the satisfaction that monetary policy is working but the target for the monetary policy committee remains the headline number. The apex bank chief said the global geo-political situation remains volatile and could impact economies around the world with food inflation particularly vulnerable to spikes on the back of disruption in global supply chains and other risks. Das said he expects January inflation to moderate and the trend has been moderating but unless inflation reaches 4% on a durable basis, the bank cannot get lulled into a complacency or think of changing its policy focus. Annual retail inflation rose 5.69% in December, the fastest pace in four months but core inflation dropped to a four-year low of 3.8% from around 4.1% in November. Das, whose term is ends in December, would be the longest serving RBI governor since the 1991 liberalisation. He has led the world's fifth largest economy since 2018, keeping inflation and the currency relatively stable through successive shocks including the failure of a large non-bank lender, Covid-19 and the Ukraine war. He reiterated that the RBI intervenes in the exchange rate market only to prevent undue

The sharp drop in the New York Federal Reserve’s Empire State business-conditions index in January triggered a wave of warnings.

By Ketki Saxena

Investing.com — The Dow closed lower Wednesday for the third-straight session as Treasury yields continued to advance to put the squeeze on tech after stronger-than-expected economic data muddied investor expectations for a Federal Reserve March rate cut.