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Sensex Falls 350 Points on Weak Global Cues; Metal and Banking Stocks Bleed
Fri, 20 Aug 09:30 am

Asian share markets extended losses today from the 2021 low set a day earlier.

Yesterday, Asian and European stock markets fell sharply after the prospect of the Federal Reserve cutting back bond purchases spooked investors.

The Hang Seng is down 2.6% while the Shanghai Composite is trading lower by 1.7%. Japan's Nikkei is trading down by 0.7%.

In US stock markets, Wall Street indices ended on a mixed note overnight as investors took the pulse of the economic rebound and gauged when the Federal Reserve might temper its monetary stimulus.

Also, the number of Americans filing new claims for unemployment benefits fell to a 17-month low last week, pointing to another month of robust job growth, though surging Covid-19 infections pose a risk to the labour market recovery.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 67 points, or 0.2%, while the Nasdaq Composite added 16 points, or 0.1%.

Back home, Indian share markets have opened on a negative note, following the trend on SGX Nifty.

CarTrade Tech shares are all set to debut on the bourses today. The multi-channel auto platform's Rs 30 bn IPO was an offer for sale, which received a decent response from the investing community, with subscription figures of 20.3 times.

The BSE Sensex is trading down by 358 points. Meanwhile, the NSE Nifty is trading lower by 116 points.

Asian Paints is among the top gainers today. Hindalco and Tata Steel, on the other hand, are among the top losers today.

The BSE Mid Cap index has opened down by 0.7%. The BSE Small Cap index is trading lower by 0.6%.

Barring IT, all sectoral indices are trading on a negative note with stocks in the metal sector and banking sector witnessing most of the selling pressure.

The BSE metal index fell 3.5% in intraday trade.

Shares of Kajaria Ceramics and Alkem Labs hit their 52-week high today.

The rupee is trading at 74.40 against the US$.

Gold prices are trading up by 0.1% at Rs 47,190 per 10 grams.

Speaking of the current stock market scenario, Richa Agarwal talks about why there is more juice left to this smallcap rally, in her latest video.

Smallcaps have witnessed a great run in the post Covid market rally. But what next? When is the next peak due?

Richa answers these questions in the video below. Tune in to find out more...

In news from the chemical sector, Aarti Industries is among the top buzzing stocks today.

The board of directors of the company has approved the demerger of Aarti Industries, carving out Aarti Pharmalabs, which will house its pharma business along with specialty chemicals related to the pharma sector.

The company on Thursday said the demerger will also result in Aarti Industries and Aarti Pharmalabs achieving operational efficiencies by streamlining of the relevant businesses.

Shareholders of Aarti Industries will get one share of Aarti Pharmalabs for every four shares they hold.

The record date for this is yet to be announced.

Reportedly, this demerger will enable the Aarti Pharmalabs to expand its presence in the fast moving pharma business in India and abroad.

It will result into two dedicated and focused business segments i.e. speciality chemical and pharma without any risk or overlap of one business over the other.

For financial year ending March 2021, Aarti Pharmalabs contributed 19.8% of total revenue for Aarti Industries. In the June quarter, the share stood at 18.4%.

The part of the specialty chemical business that is going to its pharma unit accounts for less than 3% of the revenues of the speciality chemical business.

The public and promoter shareholding for both companies will remain the same. Currently promoters hold 44.9% in Aarti Industries and public shareholders hold 55.1%.

Aarti Industries share price has opened the day up by 0.8%.

Moving on to news from the automobile sector, Siddhartha Lal's re-appointment as managing director of Eicher Motors has been voted down by shareholders.

As per an article in The Economic Times, shareholders were against a proposal to increase his salary by 10% as it outpaced the company's revenue and profit growth last year amid the Covid-19 pandemic.

This proposal failed to pass at the company's 39th annual general meeting (AGM) on 17 August as most public institutional shareholders voted against.

Shareholders questioned the company's rationale of increasing Lal's salary by 10% in fiscal 2021, even as the median employee salary had increased by only 1%.

The above development comes just days after Vinod Dasari quit as the CEO of Royal Enfield.

The company has yet to take a call on approaching shareholders again with a revised proposal.

Siddhartha Lal is credited with turning around Eicher Motors' fortunes through his razor-sharp focus on building the Royal Enfield brand and striking a joint venture deal with Swedish truck and bus maker Volvo.

When Siddhartha Lal entered the family business in the year 2000, Eicher's management was examining a sale or shutdown of the Royal Enfield business.

This was because at that time, Royal Enfield's motorcycle sales totaled 2,000 units per month.

From 2,000 units in the year 2000, Royal Enfield sells 70,000 units a month on an average at present.

The sales for few months in the past year were impacted due to the impact of nationwide lockdown.

It remains to be seen whether shareholder approve the revised proposal as previously, they rejected salary hike proposals of Guenter Butschek, the former MD of Tata Motors, as well as Neeraj Kanwar, the MD of Apollo Tyres.

Eicher Motors share price has opened the day up by 0.1%.

To know what's moving the Indian stock markets today, check out the most recent share market updates here.

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