Economy Financial News

State Bank of India (SBI)'s Research 'Ecowrap' has raised India's FY24 gross domestic product (GDP) forecast to 7 percent from 6.7 percent earlier. This comes amid higher-than-expected Q2 GDP numbers. "The strong growth numbers for Q2 released today are a harbinger of interesting times ahead and can reinvigorate the interests of global corporations, policymakers, investment gurus, and fund managers across jurisdictions afresh along themes like investments, infrastructure, consumption, and markets by going Overweight," the research said.

BSE’s 30-share index Sensex was trading more than 300 points higher at 67,293, and was away over 600 points from its all-time high of 67,927.23 hit on September 15. Also Read: Day trading guide for stock market today: Six stocks to buy or sell on Friday — 1st December Stocks leading gains in Nifty 50 included Larsen & Toubro, NTPC, Asian Paints, ONGC and PowerGrid Corporation of India. In the past one month, the Nifty 50 index has jumped over 6.5%, while it is up more than 11.7% year-to-date (YTD).

RBI is now in talks with its counterparts in the US and Hong Kong, besides the Society for Worldwide InterBank Financial Communications (Swift), the global financial messaging system, on the prospects of launching digital cross-border settlements. The goal is to make global payments faster and cheaper for both individuals and companies. This is not just forward-looking move but a logical one, too, especially since India appears to have done the hard yards on launching a central bank digital currency or CBDC.

GDP print came above expectations on Thursday driven by robust growth in the manufacturing, mining and construction sectors. However, growth in the agriculture segment cooled due to an erratic monsoon. India's Q2 GDP grew 7.6 per cent, significantly exceeding the expectations.

Investing.com-- Chinese manufacturing activity unexpectedly rose back into expansion in November, a private survey showed on Friday, as  a mild increase in domestic demand helped offset a persistent decline in overseas orders.

By Laura Sanicola

Investing.com-- Most Asian stocks retreated on Friday, seeing a measure of profit taking after clocking strong gains through November, with focus now turning to an upcoming address from Fed Chair Jerome Powell for more cues on interest rates. 

India head of a destination-management multinational, his job used to be mostly about introducing global clients to exotic vacation spots in his own country. Nowadays, he spends nearly all of his time on taking rich compatriots abroad — for leisure, conferences, and, of course, big, fat, Indian weddings. No surprise, then, that Malaysia’s recent scrapping of visa requirements for Indians and Chinese citizens visiting for 30 days or less has made Yadav a happy man.

" Overall we expect a positive trend to continue in the market. Auto stocks will be in focus as OEMs will announce their monthly sales data on Friday," said Siddhartha Khemka, Head — Retail Research, Motilal Oswal. Here's breaking down the pre-market actions: STATE OF THE MARKETS GIFT Nifty (Earlier SGX Nifty) signals a muted start GIFT Nifty on the NSE IX traded lower by 12.5 points, or 0.06 per cent, at 20,326, signaling that Dalal Street was headed for muted start on Friday.

Economists had, in an ET poll, estimated a median 6.7% rise in gross domestic product (GDP) in the quarter. The second-quarter GDP growth is just shy of 7.8% clocked in the June quarter and significantly higher than the 6.2% recorded in the September quarter last year. Growth in the first half of FY24 was 7.7% compared with 9.5% a year earlier. «Manufacturing sustained expansion, endorsed by IIP (Index of Industrial Production) and core infra sector growth,» said chief economic advisor V Anantha Nageswaran. The higher-than-expected growth triggered a raft of upgrades in full FY24 growth estimates. «The latest numbers indicate that the economic recovery is on track despite the adverse geopolitical situation,» said Sunil Kumar Sinha, principal economist, India Ratings.

Bank of India (RBI). Economists now say that with the Q2 GDP growth rate coming in well beyond expectations, the RBI may opt for a hawkish stance in its coming monetary policy committee (MPC) announcement on December 8. The economic growth would give space to the central bank, which held its rates for the fourth consecutive time in October, to focus on food inflation, which it believes is ‘uncomfortably high’.

Client Associates, which represents family offices and is a wealth manager for HNIs, expects overseas investors would double their allocation to India to generate higher returns from their equity portfolios. «India will outperform all major economies for the next 10 years. Given this, global investors should double allocation to India,» says Rohit Sareen, co-founder, Client Associates. He believes many global investors allocate based on the MSCI World Index and have an allocation between 0.5% to 3% to India.

JSW Group and SAIC Motor announced an India joint venture aimed at expanding the operations of MG Motor, owned by the Chinese company, in the country. JSW will hold a 35% stake in the joint venture, they announced on Thursday. «Our strategic collaboration with SAIC Motor aims to grow and transform the MG Motor operations in India with a focus on green mobility solutions,» the JSW Group's Parth Jindal said in a media release.

By Takaya Yamaguchi and Leika Kihara

Stocks ended mostly higher on Wall Street and closed out November with big gains

An official survey of Chinese manufacturers shows that factory activity contracted for a second straight month in November

Slightly more Americans filed for jobless claims last week, but the overall number of people in the U.S. collecting unemployment benefits rose to its highest level in two years

Europeans are again seeing some relief as inflation dropped to 2.4% in November, the lowest in more than two years

The Federal Reserve’s preferred inflation measure cooled last month, the latest sign that price pressures are waning in the face of high interest rates and moderating economic growth

The Middle East plays host to its second straight U.N. climate conference over the next two weeks, with countries hoping to agree on new ways to keep the planet from catastrophic heating by the end of the century

The OPEC oil cartel and allied producers have made another big swipe at propping up lagging crude prices