While they have been in work for quite some time, yesterday, RBI released the guidelines for small finance banks to turn themselves into universal banks. While most of the guidelines are not something these banks cannot follow, but one where some of them would face issues but only for short term would be the NPA, as per guidelines, the gross NPA should be less than 3 % and Net NPA should be less than 1 % for the last two years. Now some of them are already meeting this criteria. So, they would like to become a universal bank and move into new areas. The winner would be one, who would be able to ensure that net interest margins are not hit that badly as they are bound when new business gets added. But surely this space would see some action sooner than later, in terms of some of them getting re-rated.

9 equity mutual fund categories that delivered over 20% return in last five years, let's take a look.

While they have been in work for quite some time, yesterday, RBI released the guidelines for small finance banks to turn themselves into universal banks. While most of the guidelines are not something these banks cannot follow, but one where some of them would face issues but only for short term would be the NPA, as per guidelines, the gross NPA should be less than 3 % and Net NPA should be less than 1 % for the last two years. Now some of them are already meeting this criteria. So, they would like to become a universal bank and move into new areas. The winner would be one, who would be able to ensure that net interest margins are not hit that badly as they are bound when new business gets added. But surely this space would see some action sooner than later, in terms of some of them getting re-rated.

In March and February, FPIs were net buyers at Rs 35,098 crore and Rs 1,539 crore after selling shares worth Rs 25,744 crore in January. On the net basis, they are still buyers at Rs 4,589 crore, so far in this year.

Once again everything is looking green, the way things have panned out in the last four weeks, it appears that in March bulls were on short term break due to tight liquidity conditions. While the local liquidity condition might improve, one thing which needs to be taken into account is that with every rise the issue of high valuation will come. It is still a time to be cautious in terms of not going overboard with taking exposure to a certain stock, selective about what one is buying. The reason, if the street becomes selective and gets into correction mode once again, it is stocks where there has been improvements in the business operating matrix will be able to weather the storm better. These selected stocks depict a strong upward trajectory in their overall average score which is based on five key pillars i.e. earnings, fundamentals, relative valuation, risk and price momentum. This implies that there has been a significant improvement in their market outlook in the given time frame.

The persistence of mispricing opportunities in the stock markets challenges the notion that they are entirely rational and efficiently priced in all material information.

Recent weeks have been dominated by news of strife and armed conflicts. This has led to jitters in foreign flows into Asian equities, impacting India as well. Approximately Rs 25,000 crore has been pulled out by foreign institutional investors from Indian equity markets in April so far.

Investing success, according to Carl Icahn, hinges on several key attributes: patience, intelligence, determination, and the ability to craft sharp strategies tailored to navigate the highs and lows of the investment landscape.

In the large cap segment, 15 companies witnessed significant block deals on the screen which were worth Rs 6,046 crore led by Kotak Mahindra Bank with 29 block counts, totalling to Rs 1,310 crore.

Notwithstanding high volatility over the week, the BSE 500 index outperformed the headline BSE S&P Sensex with the latter gaining 0.90% (642 points) on a weekly basis.

Following each bull run, the index retraces back to its moving average line before initiating another upward trend. This observation underscores the significance of moving averages in determining market trends and mean levels.

Here is a look at stocks that will trade ex-dividend next week between April 29 and May 3. (Source: Stockedge)

Strong reports from Microsoft and Google parent Alphabet on Thursday helped propel the S&P 500 to its biggest weekly gain since early November following its first 5% pullback of the year. The S&P 500 is up about 7% in 2024 and some 24% since late October.

S&P 500 year-over-year earnings growth for the first quarter of 2024 is now seen at 5.6%, according to LSEG data on Friday. That is up from 4.3% the day before.

The report from the Commerce Department on Friday, which also showed strong consumer spending last month, offered some relief to financial markets spooked by worries of stagflation after data on Thursday showed inflation surging and economic growth slowing in the first quarter.

The jump was slower than a 10.2% rise in the first two months, National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) data showed.

With inflation up, economic growth down and two-year Treasury yields testing 5%, Bill Gross sensed the music in markets was fading, and said it was time to get over the likes of the Magnificent Seven.

Strong reports from Microsoft and Google parent Alphabet on Thursday helped propel the S&P 500 to its biggest weekly gain since early November following its first 5% pullback of the year. The S&P 500 is up about 7% in 2024 and some 24% since late October.

Investors cheered Alphabet's first-ever dividend, its $70 billion stock buyback program, and better-than-expected first-quarter results. Its shares jumped 10% and reached a record high, lifting the Google-parent's market value above $2 trillion.

The National Financial Reporting Authority (NFRA) has barred auditors of M/s Brightcom Group for up to ten years and imposed heavy monetary penalties on them, citing professional misconduct in auditing the company between FY20 and FY22.

These companies have the autonomy to invest up to ₹1,000 crore. IREDA is a Non-Banking Financial Institution engaged in promoting, developing and extending financial assistance for setting up projects relating to new and renewable sources of energy and energy efficiency/conservation.

RBI said that listed and profitable small finance banks with gross non-performing assets ratio less than 3% for last two fiscals can apply for universal banking license. Additionally, they need to have a net non-performing assets ratio less than 1% for the last two financial years. They also need to be profitable for the last two fiscals.

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) is considering new rules for digital lending, aiming to enhance transparency. The proposed guidelines would require lending service providers (LSPs) to digitally share all available loan offers from willing lenders with borrowers. This move aims to empower borrowers by providing a clear view of their loan options, including details like lender names, loan amounts, interest rates, and key terms. The RBI also emphasizes the need for unbiased content, prohibiting LSPs from favoring any particular lender.

CP issuances are still not as high as 2018 levels when they touched ₹3.1 lakh crore in July-September, as NBFCs look for other funding avenues like securitisation, where volumes peaked in FY24 at ₹1.9 lakh crore. CPs are short-term, unsecured debt instruments issued by corporates.

Analysts said that the company's new CEO, Mohit Joshi, unveiled a 3-year turnaround plan to exceed industry-leading revenue growth by FY27. "We believe near-term monitorable for the company's progress towards this goal would be immediate margin improvement in FY25 and steady revenue growth improvement in subsequent years," said Nomura in a note.

The average analyst price targets on Bajaj Finance after the fourth quarter results stood at ₹8,477 implying an upside of 20.6% over Friday's closing.

ATC Telecom Infrastructure sold a 2.8% stake to Vodafone Idea, worth ₹1,840 crore, in an open market transaction. Citigroup Global bought shares worth ₹611 crore, with other buyers remaining unknown. Last month, ATC converted debentures allotted by Vodafone Idea into equity, and in January 2024, Canada's Brookfield acquired ATC's India unit in a $2.5 billion deal. Vi recently raised ₹18,000 crore through a follow-on public offer, priced at ₹10-11 per share.

Investors cheered the Google parent announcing its first-ever dividend and a $70 billion stock buyback. The $2 trillion milestone followed the company’s results, where revenue beat expectations on the strength of its cloud-computing unit. Cloud demand was fueled by growth in AI.

Alphabet jumped 10.1% to a record high after the Google-parent announced its first-ever dividend, a $70 billion stock buyback and beat estimates for first-quarter results. The share surge led to the search giant's market value briefly topping $2 trillion on an intraday basis.

Intel shares slumped more than 12% on Friday after a downbeat forecast signaled that the boom in AI was diverting enterprise spending away from its traditional data center chips.

Shares in Snap jumped nearly 25% in on Friday after targeted ads and new features helped the owner of the photo messaging app beat Wall Street expectations for first-quarter revenue and user growth.

Long unwinding refers to selling of positions or stocks owned for a longer period either to book profit or to exit it in anticipation of impending bearishness. In Friday's trading session, five stocks witnessed a top long unwinding. Here's the list:

Investors cheered the Google parent announcing its first-ever dividend and a $70 billion stock buyback.

Alphabet and Microsoft ignited a rally in technology stocks on Friday with earnings that showed big AI investments were driving growth, allaying doubts that their costly bets would take time to pay off after a soft forecast from Meta Platforms.

BSE in its filing to the exchanges on Friday stated that the regulator has also asked the company to pay differential regulatory fee for the past periods with applicable interest of 15% per annum on the amount remaining unpaid or belatedly paid or short paid for every month of delay.

The Reserve Bank on Friday said the limits for FPI investment in government securities, state development loans and corporate bonds will remain unchanged at 6 per cent, 2 per cent and 15 per cent, respectively, of outstanding stocks of securities for the current fiscal. As of now, all investments by eligible investors in the 'specified securities' will be reckoned under the fully accessible route (FAR), the RBI said in a notification.

Apart from the settlement amount, the Sebi's committee formulated other conditions to settle the case. These included disgorgement of 'unlawful gain' of Rs 85.12 lakh to be paid jointly and severally along with voluntary debarment for a period of six months from the securities market by each applicant.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 28.9 points, or 0.08%, at the open to 38,114.7.

Given reasonable valuations and the improvement in end-market demand outlook at Novelis, the new fair value for the stock has been determined at Rs 675, a 26.2% increase from earlier Rs 535.

Short covering refers to the buying of shares in order to close an existing short position or a position that has been sold. Short covering signals a shift in sentiment on a security from extreme bearishness to bullishness. In Friday's trading session, five stocks saw top short covering. Here's the list:

Nifty's short-term trend seems to have reversed down after a reasonable rise from the lows. Immediate support is placed at 22,300 and the weakness below this support could trigger more declines.

The board of pump and valve maker KSB on Friday approved splitting its shares in the ratio of 1 to 5.

With the Indian stock market breaking records, investors have been flocking in hordes. Let's look at the stocks that saw the highest additions of FPIs in the March-ended quarter. (Source: ETBureau | Capitaline)

The Nifty Bank fell nearly 300 points to close at 48,201 while the Nifty50 fell 150 points to close above 22,400 level.

In the last one month as the temperatures have been soring, the stocks related to air conditioner companies have been moving higher, with buy reports pouring in. There is another side of summer heat leading to higher sales. There are other consumer electrical goods companies which are not in air conditioners, but in other goods, like fans and goods like juicer mixers, whose demand is also strongly linked to intensity and duration of summer month. But these stocks have not seen the kind of run up, Probably because they have been facing headwinds of higher competition. The question is whether the push of summer sales, help them recover fast and if that was to happen, these stocks which were probably best performing stock till late 2021, may see getting back interest.

Motilal Oswal shares jumped 5% to Rs 2,566 on BSE in Friday's trade after the company board recommended the issuance of bonus shares to the eligible shareholders of the company in the 1:3 ratio. Subject to the shareholders' approval, the bonus shares will be credited to the eligible shareholders on or before June 25, 2024.

The 30-share BSE benchmark Sensex declined 609 points or 0.82% to settle at 73,730. The broader NSE Nifty dropped 150 points or 0.67% to end at 22,420. The market breadth was skewed in the favour of the bulls. About 1,996 stocks gained, 1,784 declined, and 133 remained unchanged on the BSE.

India's largest passenger today reported a standalone net profit of Rs 3,878 crore for the quarter ended March 31, 2024, which was up by 48% from Rs 2,623.60 crore reported in the year-ago period.

​April rollover for the Nifty Index futures were lower at 65.12%, significantly lower compared to the previous month's 69.77% and the three-month average of 71.40%, states a report by SBI Securities.