Indian Rupee Gains 8 Paise At 67.10 Against Us Dollar In Early Trade

Indian rupee gains 8 paise at 67.10 against US dollar in early trade
Indian rupee gained 8 paise at 67.10 in early trade (9.34 am) against the US dollar at at the Interbank Foreign Exchange (forex) market on Tuesday following selling of the American currency by banks and exporters amid firm domestic and global cues.
By: FE Online | Updated: August 30, 2016 10:02 AM  

Indian rupee vs US dollar Indian rupee gained 8 paise at 67.10 in early trade (9.34 am) against the US dollar at at the Interbank Foreign Exchange (forex) market on Tuesday following selling of the American currency by banks and exporters amid firm domestic and global cues. (Photo: Reuters)

Indian rupee gained 8 paise at 67.10 in early trade (9.34 am) against the US dollar at at the Interbank Foreign Exchange (forex) market on Tuesday following selling of the American currency by banks and exporters amid firm domestic and global cues. The local currency had opened at 67.11 and closed on Monday at 67.18 level against the US dollar. Domestic equity firm opening also supported the rupee. The BSE Sensex was trading 172.49 points up at 28,075.15, while NSE Nifty was trading 53.60 points up at 8,661.05 following firm global cues amid RBI’s latest report that said near-term growth outlook for India seems brighter than last fiscal and the economy is likely to expand at 7.6 percent in 2016-17.

Dollar weakness against other emerging market currencies also contributedto the rally. The American currency gave up gains after doubts were raised on weather US Federal Reserve really would hike interest rates as soon as September.

The rupee on Monday depreciated by 12 paise to close at 67.18 a dollar on account of strong demand for the US currency amid expectations of rate hike by the US Federal Reserve before the end of the year.

The Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) reference rate for the dollar stood at 67.18 and for Euro stood at 75.18 on August 29, 2016. While the RBI’s reference rate for the Yen stood at 65.62, the reference rate for the Great Britain Pound (GBP) stood at 88.01.

 

Sources:financialexpress.com
 

Further Drop In Steel Imports To Help Domestic Mills Regain Lost Market Share

The twin impact of anti-dumping duty and minimum import price is likely to help steel players overcome market challenges led by domestic weak demand. While imposition of provisional anti-dumping duty (ADD) on hot-rolled and cold-rolled coils for six months will help domestic flat steel producers overcome challenges in the market caused by weak domestic demand, extension of minimum import price (MIP) on a truncated list of steel products for two months will benefit the industry, ratings agency ICRABSE 1.39 % has said in its latest sector report.

The latter will particularly benefit producers of long steel products which do not attract ADD as of now.

"India's steel imports, which fell by around 29% year-on-year (YoY) in April-June quarter of the current fiscal largely due to MIP and Safeguard Duty (SGD), are expected to reduce further in the coming months, thus helping domestic mills regain lost market share," Jayanta Roy, senior vice-president, ICRA said.

Domestic hot-rolled coil (HRC) prices witnessed a drop in July 2016 on account of weak demand and subdued Chinese export prices. However, after the imposition of ADD in August 2016, HRC prices have increased by Rs. 1,500/tonne and are expected to remain buoyant in the near term as domestic HRC prices are still cheaper than landed cost of Chinese import offers by about 13%.

However, steel prices are unlikely to increase significantly from the current levels unless demand growth strengthens, ICRA said given a marginal demand growth of 0.4% in Q1 FY2017 and concern linked to overcapacity in the domestic market. Given the scenario, an expected revival in rural demand following a normal monsoon after two years, and a likely rise in discretionary consumption after the 7th Pay Commission payouts, remain critical for an improvement in domestic steel consumption in the second half of FY2017, the report added.

 

Sources:economictimes.indiatimes.com

Businessline Twenty Years Ago Today: Sugar Export To Be Decanalised

 The United Front Government has decided to decanalise sugar exports, breaking the monopoly of the Indian Sugar and General Industries Export Import Corporation (ISIGEC) which was the sole canalising agency until now Parliament’s approval will be sought shortly to amend the Sugar Export Promotion Act (1958) The decision to allow several players to export sugar by amending the SEPA Act has been taken by the Union Cabinet. The Food Ministry, which piloted the proposal for decanalisation, will forward a draft amendment to the SEPA to the Law Ministry for clearance.

Hind Lever pays 60% interim

Hindustan Lever Ltd (HLL) has announced an interim dividend of 60 per cent. It had declared an interim dividend of 50 per cent in the previous year. The company has recorded a 37 per cent jump in net sales at Rs 2,207.27 crores for the half year ended June 30, 1996 compared with Rs. 1,610 crores in the corresponding period of the previous year. According to a press release, the company has recorded a profit after tax (before extraordinary items) of Rs 147 89 crores, an increase of 40.1 per cent Profit before tax for the period was Rs. 23853 crores.

ICICI tells nominees to police corporates

The ICICI has told its nominees on company boards to act against managements which do not perform and adhere to ‘best’ corporate practices. In what signals an attempt to raise the standards of corporate governance in India, where the financial institutions have large equity holdings, ICICI has told its nominees to closely monitor the working of the company and also ensure that promoters follow the mandatory procedures at board meetings.

 

Sources;thehindubusinessline.com

Indian Oil Corp Raises Oil Import From Iran To 5 Mt For Fy'17

 Indian Oil Corp, the nation's biggest oil firm, has raised crude oil import from Iran to four fold and has cleared most of the past payments as sanctions against the Persian Gulf nation were eased.

"We have contracted to import 5 million tonnes (MT)of crude oil from Iran in 2016-17, up from 1.2 MT,"  IOC Director (Finance) A K Sharma said here.

India has steadily raised crude oil imports from Iran after US sanctions were lifted in January this year. Iran today is India's fourth biggest crude oil supplier.

Iran, which was India's second biggest supplier of crude oil after Saudi Arabia till 2010-11, had been relegated to 7th place in 2013-14 and 2014-15 out of the 50-odd nations India sources its crude oil from.

But with the lifting of sanctions in January this year, crude oil imports have steadily climbed. India imported 12.7 MT of crude oil in 2015-16, up from 11 MT in the previous two fiscals.

That made it 6th largest supplier of oil to India.

In April-June this year, India bought 5 MT of crude oil from Iran, making it the fourth largest supplier just a shade behind Venezuela which exported 5.2 MT.

Iran had in 2009-10 supplied 21.2 MT which came down to 18.5 MT in 2010-11 and to 18.1 MT in the year after.

Sharma said imports from Iran were going exactly in line with the plans. "Month-wise lifting is in line with the 5 MT contracted volume," he said.

IOC Director (Refineries) Sanjiv Singh said the company had paid $510 million out of the total outstanding of $621 million due to Iran in past oil dues.

Sanctions had blocked payment routes and dues had accumulated over the past couple of years.

After accounting for the exchange variations, the total outstanding due is only $55 million now, he said.

Iraq this year has overtaken Saudi Arabia as India's top oil exporter. It sold 11 MT of crude oil to India during April-June, higher than 10 MT sourced from Saudi Arabia.

Saudi Arabia has been India's top supplier of crude oil — selling 35 MT of oil in 2014-15 and 40.04 MT in 2015-16.

During the first three months of current fiscal, India imported 53.2 MT of crude oil, 65 per cent of which came from the volatile Middle East region.

India imports about 80 per cent of its oil needs.

 

Sources;business-standard.com

Cai Projects 33.60 Million Bales Cotton Production For 2016-17

 A favourable monsoon across the country has resulted in an increase in productivity of cotton despite a 10% fall in area under cultivation for the year 2016-17. However, according to the first projection report by Cotton Association of India (CAI), cotton production is being estimated at 33.60 million bales (A bale of 170 kg) for the year 2016-17, marginally lower from 33.77 million bales production in 2015-16.

The projected balance sheet drawn by the association has estimated total cotton supply for the cotton year 2016-17 at 40 million bales as against 42 million bales last year. Cotton year starts from October and end in September every year in India.

"Area under cotton crop is expected to be lower by 10 per cent in 2016-17. However, productivity is likely to be higher during the 2016-17 season due to the better weather conditions across all cotton growing regions in India. Therefore, the crop for the next cotton season is expected to be similar to the cotton crop for the current season," said Dhiren Sheth, president of CAI.

As per the agriculture department of India, cotton sowing has been done on an area of around 10.15 million hectares as on August 19, 2016, down by 8 per cent from 11.02 million hectares in corresponding period of 2015.

CAI in the projection report has estimated domestic consumption at 30.80 million bales same as in current year.

However, despite no significant change in domestic production and consumption of cotton, the association has predicted higher import of two million bales in next cotton year as against 1.5 million bales in this year.

Cotton production in the central zone of India which includes Gujarat, Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh has been estimated at 19.50 million bales as against 18.47 million bales. On the other hand, production estimates for north and south zone stand at 4.2 million bales and 9.3 million bales, respectively. Last year, while north zone had seen production of around four million bales, south zone had seen around 10.75 million bales.

According to CAI, as on July 31, 2016, 33.40 million bales of cotton have been arrived in the markets in current season.

 

Sources;.business-standard.com