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A Volatile Day of Trading
Wed, 14 Sep Closing

The Indian markets had a rather volatile trading session today as the indices oscillated to either side of the dotted line. At the closing bell, the BSE Sensex stood higher by 19 points, while the NSE Nifty finished up by 11 points. The S&P BSE Mid Cap & the S&P BSE Small Cap finished up by 1.3% and 1.2% respectively. Gains were largely seen in consumer durables & banking stocks.

Markets in Asia mostly fell on Wednesday, tracking losses in US equities. Japan's Nikkei 225 index closed down by 0.69%. The Shanghai Composite and Hang Seng lost 0.7% and 0.12% respectively. European shares rose in early trade, breaking a four-day losing streak with shares in London leading the region.

The rupee was trading at 66.96 against the US$ in the afternoon session. Oil prices were trading at US$ 45.18 at the time of writing.

According to a leading financial daily, the US$1 billion joint venture of state-owned Steel Authority of India (SAIL) and ArcelorMittal is likely to be a private company with both partners holding equal stakes. The unit would come up in Gujarat or Maharashtra. Since the unit will manufacture automotive steel, the Pune-Chakan belt in Maharashtra and Sanand in Gujarat are among the sites being considered.

The venture will sign a long-term purchase agreement with SAIL's Rourkela plant for sourcing hot rolled steel strips. SAIL's 3 million tonne Rourkela hot strip plant is under construction. ArcelorMittal and SAIL had signed a memorandum of understanding in May 2015 to explore the possibility of setting up an automotive steel manufacturing facility.

As per the reports, the number of automobiles in India is expected to grow from 3.5 million to 7 million in 10 years. India is forecast to become the world's third-largest automobile manufacturing nation by 2026.

ArcelorMittal is the world's largest steel producer, shipping over 13 million tonnes to automotive customers in 2014. The automotive industry accounts for 16% of European steel consumption.

Meanwhile, SAIL's revenue declined by 2.7% from a year ago to Rs 92.38 billion, while its operating profit improved to Rs 2.34 billion compared with Rs 890 million in the same quarter of the previous quarter.

The scenario for steel companies had improved with the imposition of anti-dumping duty and minimum price on steel imports. In April-August, steel consumption rose by only 1.3% over a year ago. SAIL finished the day up by 0.3% on the BSE.

According to an article in the Moneycontrol, businesses in Asia are confident that initial public offering (IPO) activity will see an upsurge in the coming year. A survey of senior executives expect IPO markets to return to last years' highs within a year.

The report assesses the recent volatility in the capital markets, how companies are preparing themselves to launch IPOs when markets become receptive to new issues, and the post-IPO challenges companies may face.

Global IPO volume has fallen 38% to just 339 in the first six months of 2016, from the first half of 2015 with a total of 544.

A slowdown in China, Britain's vote to leave the European Union and the US presidential campaign have led to much market volatility. Now, with members of the US Federal Reserve's Open Market Committee divided over monetary policy, volatility is set to continue.

Meanwhile, ICICI Bank plans to raise Rs 60 billion by selling a stake in subsidiary ICICI Prudential Life Insurance Company, valuing the insurer at Rs 480 billion. It will be the first initial public offering in India's insurance sector.

The offering opens on September 19. It will also be the largest IPO since Coal India's stake sale in 2010. Over 181.3 million shares will be available through an offer for sale, of which 10% is reserved for shareholders of ICICI Bank.

To help you approach the big IPOs as an enterprising investor would, we are preparing a special handbook for IPO Investing. Watch this space to know how you could access it.

For information on how to pick stocks that have the potential to deliver big returns, download our special report now!

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