According to the World Health Organization, there are as many as 79,331 confirmed cases of Novel Coronavirus globally and on February 24 alone, 715 new cases were reported. Listen to this episode as Mint's Disha Sanghvi answers some pertinent questions that you might have about your travel insurance as Coronavirus casts a shadow on those traveling to China and neighboring countries.

Mark to Market

23: Where is the market headed- Analysing Coronavirus impact

The consumption demand slowdown in the country is biting hard and companies are finding it increasingly difficult to get the cost-conscious Indian consumer to spend more. But it is turning out to be a rough road. Take December quarter results of FMCG companies for instance. According to Kotak Institutional Equities, the aggregate revenue growth for 11 consumer staples’ companies has dropped to 3.4% last quarter, the lowest in the last ten quarters.

22: How did FMCG companies fare in Q3FY20

Dewan Housing Finance Ltd, a large housing finance company is undergoing insolvency proceedings. Its resolution is key as DHFL owes not just banks but also retail bondholders and depositors. A painless resolution would ensure retail lenders keep their faith in the system, and banks are able to limit a hit on their books through another bad loan. It would also show that IBC is a law that works for financial companies' resolution too.

21: Resolving DHFL

The concerns surrounding coronavirus outbreak and global economic growth have put pressure on the Indian rupee. But the biggest factor in rupee weakness is the RBI's intervention which remains strong. The exchange rate has dropped 3.2% since July despite good dollar inflows as the RBI incessantly bought dollars. This grip is unlkely to loosen in the coming months, according to currency dealers. .

20: RBI's grip on rupee

The lender Q3 results beat the net profit analysts' net profits estimates despite a slowdown in loan growth.

19: Why Bajaj Finance is doing well?

Air India's disinvestment process has been kick-started once again with lower debt. Government has sweetened the deal for Air India's disinvestment process this time. The condition of the government retaining a 24% stake in the airline has been foregone.

18: Air India's market valuation explained

Shares of the country’s largest infrastructure conglomerate, Larsen and Toubro Ltd (L&T) increased 3.5% on Thursday morning even though the company’s December quarter results, which came after market hours on Wednesday disappointed on some counts. The firm’s last quarter performance mirrors the challenges in the Indian economy primarily of consumption slowdown, weak capex cycle and the prolonged liquidity crunch. Revenue from L&T’s core infrastructure segment declined by 5% year-on-year despite its huge order book worth Rs3.1 trillion. What explains the slow pace of execution?

17: Why are L&T shares up despite muted Q3

Results of two private sector banks HDFC Bank and Kotak Mahindra Bank were not too well received by the markets. Both the banks reported slower loan growth and asset quality slippages in Q3. Considering that their asset quality worries are persisting, valuations could get affected. Listen to the details in Mark to market.

16: Are private banks at their moment of truth

Ever since Reliance Jio launched services in September 2016, there has been a huge spike in data usage and voice traffic and a sharp decline in consumer spends on telecom. Data volumes have risen as much as 4160%, on the back of increased usage per customer as well as a rise in the number of data subscribers. Voice traffic too has doubled. All of this has been aided by a 41% drop in average tariffs paid by customers. In turn, telcos have reported a sharp drop in revenues and profits.

15: How Reliance Jio transformed India's telecom industry

The CSO pegs FY20's economic growth rate at 5% which is one of the lowest in a long time. Analysts expect that the GDP growth rate could be revised downwards to about 4.5% later. Among the reasons to doubt the growth rate is the slow credit growth and muted festive cheer.

14: Decoding CSO's GDP growth estimates

Bajaj Finance investors now seem to be taking note of the consumption slowdown and the adverse impact that it can have on the lender’s financial performance. Bajaj Finance has said its assets under management increased by 35% for the December quarter, the slowest growth in last two years. What's worse, is that growth in new loans has dropped sharply to 13% from 23% in the September quarter. Bajaj Finance’s management had warned about the slowdown in AUM growth in the September quarter. However, the slowdown seems to be deeper than what the lender had anticipated.

13: Bajaj Finance feels the pangs of deeper slowdown in Q3FY20

After a double-digit decline in auto sales, festive season sales have been improving.

12: Maruti’s increase in auto sales explained

Mid- and small-cap space continues to languish in 2019 as earnings growth has been low.

11: Will small- and mid-caps revive in 2020?

The domestic Indian pharma market has seen a pickup in sales growth in November over last year, although stock market cheer is muted.

10: The pharma sector sales growth explained.

In the latest episode of Mark to Market, we take a look at why Reliance Jio is the biggest gainer post the tariff hikes. Jio revised tariffs are at a meaning discounts to the tariffs announced by Vodafone Idea and Bharti Airtel. Post the tariff hikes, Vodafone Idea and Airtel shares have given up more than half their gains for the week. Some analysts are also beginning to worry about the possibility of downtrading among some customers. Vodafone Idea remains vulnerable given its relatively weaker network.

9: Why Jio is the biggest gainer post tariff hikes?

A show which covers comments and analysis which look at market moving news and trends. This is a livemint production, brought to you by HT smartcast.

hubhopper

Mark to Market

hubhopper