Latest from Economic Times


Economic Times
18 minutes ago
- Business
- Economic Times
Rupee rises 13 paise to 86.60 against US dollar in early trade
Rupee rose 13 paise to 86.60 against the US dollar in early trade on Friday over a decline in global crude oil prices and a weakening greenback. ADVERTISEMENT The rupee had lost 30 paise to close at an over two-month low of 86.73 against the US dollar on Thursday, logging a combined loss of 69 paise during the past three sessions. At the interbank foreign exchange, the rupee opened at 86.65 against the US dollar before rising to 86.60, up 13 paise from its previous close. "The uncertainty of Iran-Israel war remains, and US President Donald Trump has only postponed the US entry by 2 weeks... the rupee is expected to move between 86.35/95. Exporters are getting a good chance to sell dollars as when the fighting ends we may see the rupee back to 85.50/75 levels, which could happen in July," Anil Kumar Bhansali, Head of Treasury and Executive Director, Finrex Treasury Advisors LLP, said. "Importers need to wait for hedging, while exporters can keep selling at 86.85/90 levels. FPIs have been small buyers of equity in the last three days, and the selling has mostly happened in mid-cap and small caps as indices have not fallen much despite the war in the Middle East," he said. Meanwhile, the dollar index, which gauges the greenback's strength against a basket of six currencies, was trading 0.31 per cent lower at 98.59. ADVERTISEMENT In the domestic equity market, the 30-share BSE Sensex climbed 289.43 points to 81,651.30 while Nifty was up 88.25 points to 24,881.50. Brent crude, the global oil benchmark, declined 2.46 per cent to USD 76.91 per barrel in futures trade. ADVERTISEMENT "As the White House release said that Trump will decide in two weeks whether to attack Iran or not, there was some relief in various asset classes with Brent oil down to USD 77.16 per barrel with prices having jumped by almost 3 per cent overnight," Bhansali said. Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) purchased equities worth Rs 934.62 crore on a net basis on Thursday, according to exchange data. (You can now subscribe to our ETMarkets WhatsApp channel)


Economic Times
19 minutes ago
- Politics
- Economic Times
Operation Sindoor: Pakistan's Dy PM Ishaq Dar finally admits they asked for ceasefire after India struck Nur Khan & other key airbases
Synopsis Pakistan's Deputy Prime Minister Ishaq Dar confirmed that Islamabad requested a ceasefire after India struck key airbases during Operation Sindoor—a response to the Pahalgam terror attack. India's swift action caught Pakistan off guard. Dar's admission contradicts earlier claims of a strong Pakistani response. Saudi mediation followed within 45 minutes, highlighting the urgency Islamabad showed to halt further Indian strikes. Pakistan's Deputy Prime Minister Ishaq Dar has confirmed that Islamabad requested a ceasefire from New Delhi after India targeted the Nur Khan and other key air bases during Operation Sindoor, a retaliatory strike following the Pahalgam terror attack that killed 26 civilians. ADVERTISEMENT India attacked the Nur Khan and Shorkot airbases on the intervening night of May 6 and 7. Dar disclosed that the strikes took place while Pakistan was still getting ready to respond, suggesting that India moved first and took them by surprise. Within 45 minutes of the strike, Saudi Prince Faisal offered to speak to the External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on behalf of Pakistan's deputy PM, seeking to halt further action against Pakistan. ALSO READ: Shehbaz Sharif admits Pakistan caught unawares by Brahmos missile Dar's remarks suggest that Pakistan urgently sought support to convince India to stop its limited and targeted military operation, which was described as 'precise, measured and non-escalatory.'His confession stands in contrast to earlier statements by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and other senior Pakistani officials, who had asserted that Pakistan had delivered a strong response to India. ADVERTISEMENT Prime Minister Sharif himself had also recently acknowledged that India conducted BrahMos missile strikes on multiple locations, including the Rawalpindi air force Base Nur Khan, situated in Chaklala, Rawalpindi is around 10km from Islamabad, Pakistan capital. It is an active airbase that encompasses the former Benazir Bhutto International Airport within its grounds. ADVERTISEMENT ALSO READ: Pakistan's AWACS destroyed in India's BrahMos strikes, admits ex-Air Marshal: 'missiles kept on coming' The facility, originally established as RAF Station Chaklala and later known as PAF Base Chaklala, continues to serve as a vital military installation in Pakistan. ADVERTISEMENT The base is also home to PAF College Chaklala, which trains Aviation Cadets, and Fazaia Inter College Nur Khan, providing additional educational facilities on the Gul, a defence analyst, claimed that the strategically important Nur Khan airbase in Rawalpindi is 'under American control.'Pakistan air force base Rafiqui, situated near Shorkot in Jhang District, is a major military installation located 337 kilometers south of Islamabad. The base features a 10,000-foot runway with a parallel taxiway that serves as an emergency landing strip. ADVERTISEMENT The airbase was previously known as PAF Base Shorkot before being renamed after Sarfaraz Ahmed Rafiqui, a fighter pilot from the Indo-Pakistani War of 1965. ALSO READ: Operation Sindoor: How BrahMos strikes and precision airstrikes became turning points in the standoff The base's infrastructure includes a primary runway and an emergency taxiway system that allows for aircraft recovery operations when Sindoor was India's swift, calculated tri‑service cross-border assault on the dead night of May 6 and 7, targeting nine terror camps deep inside Pakistan and Pakistan‑occupied Kashmir in retaliation for the brutal April 22 Pahalgam massacre that claimed 26 innocent 25 minutes, India's Army, Navy and Air Force deployed SCALP cruise missiles, HAMMER smart bombs, loitering munitions and ground-to-ground weaponry, killing around 70 to 100 militants and crippling key Lashkar‑e‑Taiba, JeM and Hizbul Mujahideen infrastructure at Bahalwalpur and Muridke in terrorists thought they were sending a message when they murdered husbands in front of their wives, after selecting victims by their religion. Via the name Operation Sindoor, the government sent an immeasurably bigger message back as India avenged the loss suffered by those vermillion, is a symbol of marriage in Hindu custom. Pakistan's military-intelligence-jihadi complex would have been among the first to note the image put out by Indian Army right after government's confirmation of the strikes - Operation Sindoor in block letters, with the first 'O' represented by a bowl of vermillion. (With TOI inputs) (You can now subscribe to our Economic Times WhatsApp channel) Disclaimer Statement: This content is authored by a 3rd party. The views expressed here are that of the respective authors/ entities and do not represent the views of Economic Times (ET). ET does not guarantee, vouch for or endorse any of its contents nor is responsible for them in any manner whatsoever. Please take all steps necessary to ascertain that any information and content provided is correct, updated, and verified. ET hereby disclaims any and all warranties, express or implied, relating to the report and any content therein. NEXT STORY


Economic Times
28 minutes ago
- Business
- Economic Times
Most expensive Nifty stock ever? Eternal at 455 PE dares you to doubt the hype
Live Events (You can now subscribe to our (You can now subscribe to our ETMarkets WhatsApp channel If something is good enough, it would probably be expensive. But at 455 times earnings, Eternal isn't just expensive but in a valuation galaxy of its own. The Nifty 50's newest entrant is also its most richly valued stock, wearing a PE multiple that makes seasoned value investors squirm and growth investors think blame only Eternal. Two other Nifty constituents, Trent (132x PE) and Jio Financial (113x PE), are also sitting pretty above the 100x valuation mark, signaling a shift in investor appetite towards long-term growth over current the opposite end of the spectrum? Coal India , the public sector behemoth, trades at a humble PE of 6.8x, giving Nifty watchers a vivid picture of the valuation extremes in India's top 50 listed companies.A trailing 12-month (TTM) PE of 455 means investors are paying today for profits the company may earn over the next four and a half centuries, if earnings stood still. But theory rarely captures the speed at which some Indian digital-first companies are expanding. Eternal, formerly known as Zomato, is thriving in two of India's hottest consumer tech battlegrounds: food delivery and quick investor worries and growing competitive heat, the stock is anything but funds have been lining up for a bite of Eternal. In May alone, they pumped in ₹5,300 crore, making it the third-most bought stock that month, according to estimates by Prime this month, Morgan Stanley reiterated Eternal as its top India internet pick, citing its market leadership in both food delivery and quick commerce, a superior cost structure, and a balance sheet stronger than its peers. The firm has a target price of ₹320 on the Eternal shares are down 10% year-to-date, the Street isn't writing it off. Concerns loom large. Rapido's entry into food delivery, intensifying competition from Zepto, BigBasket, Swiggy Instamart, Amazon Now, and Flipkart Minutes in the quick-commerce race but believers say the company's edge lies in Securities' Sachin Salgaonkar returned from a recent internet tour upbeat on Eternal's quick commerce arm Blinkit:'Traction in Tier 2 cities surprised industry experts… some stores hit 1,000 orders per day within 6–9 weeks. Amongst the top platforms, only Zomato continues to add more dark stores while others like Swiggy/Zepto/BigBasket have started to slow down store adds.'That expansion drive, Salgaonkar believes, gives Blinkit a competitive edge, especially as rivals slow store additions. Interestingly, the real kicker isn't convenience or discounts but better product selection, especially in smaller Securities, too, maintains a Buy rating, valuing Eternal at ₹310 via a three-stage DCF model. The brokerage sees signs of softening pricing wars, noting that Instamart and Zepto have reduced the pricing gap with Blinkit. The end of the discount era may be in sight—a potential profitability Jefferies, Eternal is a long-term bet on the digitization of food services. 'With only ~20 million monthly transacting users currently, there's a long runway for growth. Blinkit is already the market leader in quick commerce and is poised for sharp margin improvement.'Palak Shah, VP, PL Capital, adds perspective from the institutional front: 'Markets focus on the total addressable market and execution capability. Eternal has proven itself in food delivery. The belief is now that they can replicate that in quick commerce. Once the capex phase is over, operational efficiency will drive the narrative.'Yet, competition is getting bolder. Rapido's attempt to disrupt the food delivery space by lowering commission rates is leading to speculation that the Gross Order Value (GOV) may start shifting from Sonthalia, CIO at Emkay Investment Managers, argues that while the entry barriers are low, fixing unit economics is extremely difficult. 'Just entering and playing the pricing game doesn't guarantee success. Execution capability is crucial. Yes, competition is increasing, but the 'right to win' currently lies with only one dominant player. Others are still evolving. New entrants will have to work really hard.'Eternal may just be the poster child for investors who bet on the future, even when the present valuation feels like a cliffhanger. For now, the 455x question remains: Is the market's faith eternal or just euphoric?: Recommendations, suggestions, views and opinions given by the experts are their own. These do not represent the views of The Economic Times)


Economic Times
29 minutes ago
- Automotive
- Economic Times
BNP Paribas gives Outperform call on Tata Motors; target price Rs 830
ET Online For the quarter ended 31-03-2025, the company has reported a Consolidated Total Income of Rs 121,012.00 Crore, up 4.89 % from last quarter Total Income of Rs 115,365.00 Crore and down .36 % from last year same quarter Total Income of Rs 121,446.15 Crore. Company has reported net profit after tax of Rs 8,442.00 Crore in latest quarter. The company's top management includes Mr.N Chandrasekaran, Wagh, Ramji, Puri, Sorensen, V Chowdary, Prakash Bhatt, Sangwan, Bhandarkar, Mr.P B Balaji, Kumar Gupta. Company has BSR & Co. LLP as its auditors. As on 31-03-2025, the company has a total of 368.13 Crore shares outstanding. Investment Rationale Tata Motors has a diverse set of businesses that are at various stages of capex and have different accounting policies than peers. Hence, BNP Paribas thinks a blended valuation method taking the average of EV/sales, EV/EBITDA, EV/EBIT and P/E valuations normalises the impacts of these idiosyncrasies. Tata Motors' earnings are split into JLR, China JV, CV, PV, and India EV businesses. The brokerage's target valuation multiples for JLR are set by benchmarking to valuation multiples of BMW and Mercedes Benz. For the China JV, they use the valuation multiples of Brilliance China Automotive as the benchmark. Live Events (You can now subscribe to our (You can now subscribe to our ETMarkets WhatsApp channel BNP Paribas Securities has outperform call on Tata Motors Ltd. with a target price of Rs 830.0. The current market price of Tata Motors Ltd. is Rs 674.4. Tata Motors, incorporated in 1945, is a Large Cap company with a market cap of Rs 2,46,742.40 crore, operating in the Auto sector. Tata Motors' key products/revenue segments include Motor Vehicles, Spare Parts & Others, Miscellaneous Goods, Sale of services and Other Operating Revenue for the year ending the quarter ended 31-03-2025, the company has reported a Consolidated Total Income of Rs 121,012.00 Crore, up 4.89 % from last quarter Total Income of Rs 115,365.00 Crore and down .36 % from last year same quarter Total Income of Rs 121,446.15 Crore. Company has reported net profit after tax of Rs 8,442.00 Crore in latest company's top management includes Mr.N Chandrasekaran, Wagh, Ramji, Puri, Sorensen, V Chowdary, Prakash Bhatt, Sangwan, Bhandarkar, Mr.P B Balaji, Kumar Gupta. Company has BSR & Co. LLP as its auditors. As on 31-03-2025, the company has a total of 368.13 Crore shares Motors has a diverse set of businesses that are at various stages of capex and have different accounting policies than peers. Hence, BNP Paribas thinks a blended valuation method taking the average of EV/sales, EV/EBITDA, EV/EBIT and P/E valuations normalises the impacts of these idiosyncrasies. Tata Motors' earnings are split into JLR, China JV, CV, PV, and India EV businesses. The brokerage's target valuation multiples for JLR are set by benchmarking to valuation multiples of BMW and Mercedes Benz. For the China JV, they use the valuation multiples of Brilliance China Automotive as the Paribas' target multiples for CV are similar to those of AL and for PV, it is at a 50% discount to BNP Paribas target multiple for MSIL, as Tata Motors' PV business margins reach the industry average. The brokerage values Tata Motors India EV business at the average of the valuation range of the last funding round, taken with a 60% discount to factor in the correction in global EV peers' valuation since then, weak sales and increasing competition. The company also has various subsidiaries and investments, which they value at a 30% holding company discount to the latest market price, where available, or at multiples similar to those of listed peers. (Disclaimer: Recommendations given in this section or any reports attached herein are authored by an external party. Views expressed are that of the respective authors/entities. These do not represent the views of Economic Times (ET). ET does not guarantee, vouch for, endorse any of its contents and hereby disclaims all warranties, express or implied, relating to the same. Please consult your financial adviser and seek independent advice.


Economic Times
29 minutes ago
- Business
- Economic Times
Insider trading siblings used lockdown to make £1 million
Live Events Bloomberg 'Two Idiots' (You can now subscribe to our (You can now subscribe to our ETMarkets WhatsApp channel Before the market opened on Feb. 4, 2020, traders were watching Swiss testing company SGS SA, waiting for its shares to it had been announced that the Von Finck family were going to sell 2.3 billion francs ($2.8 billion) of their holding. That's a huge chunk of stock for buyers to absorb, and the price fell the most in nearly five years.'Stay ready,' Janus Henderson Group Plc analyst Redinel Korfuzi wrote in a message to his sister Oerta in their native Albanian, 55 seconds after the bell that minutes later, from the mutual fund giant's office in Bishopsgate, London, he messaged again: 'Stay ready because we have to close it if needed.'His sister was in the cramped living room of the flat they shared in Marylebone. The day before, she had opened two highly-leveraged short positions. With a little over £10,000 ($13,400) of equity, she had amassed a position with an initial notional volume of more than £150,000, wagering that SGS's stock would no answer from Oerta, her brother messaged again, and called her, finally getting through at 8:04 a.m.'Open the platform and stay ready,' he said on WhatsApp shortly after an eight-second call. Finally, his sister responded: 'Gati Ikam' or, in English, 'I have them ready.'The exchange is just one of several that the UK's Financial Conduct Authority argued at a London trial was clear evidence of trading on insider information. On Thursday, a jury at Southwark Crown Court agreed, finding the two guilty of insider dealing and money laundering. Two others, Redinel's personal trainer Rogerio de Aquino, 63, and his partner Dema Almeziad, 40, were acquitted of all its heart, Redinel's plan was little different to countless other insider trading scandals. As part of his job, he had access to advance information on companies, in this case upcoming large share sales that often lead to price declines when announced. That's what happened with the SGS placing, which Redinel was informed about not long before his sister shorted Korfuzis repeated this trick more than 10 times over the next year or so, continuing as the two worked from home during Covid lockdowns. With the SGS trade, Oerta and her brother made £7,747 in a little over 20 minutes. Before they were stopped by an FCA raid in March 2021, they had made almost £1 was a 'trading club to cheat the market,' according to the prosecution's lawyer, Tom the trial, 36-year-old Oerta said she made the trades based on her analysis, without knowing her brother had any insider knowledge. But the jury refused to believe that she was 'subconsciously' influenced by phone conversations across the living room, that she quickly analyzed charts and technical indicators for company names she overheard and placed profitable 38, denied involvement in the trades, at one point saying he was too busy saving what he called a 'dying fund' at Janus its case, the FCA presented evidence such as call records, data from phones and laptops, as well as a trove of WhatsApp and Telegram messages.'Check out the app urgently. Check out the other app,' one of Redinel's translated WhatsApps to his sister was sent less than a minute after he received market sensitive information about a proposed sale of £500 million worth of Hargreaves Lansdown Plc shares in February 2020. Redinel was at Janus Henderson's office at the time and referring to Telegram as the other app, according to the minute after he got the Hargreaves information, Redinel called Oerta for eight seconds — when the prosecutors say he could've passed on the company's name. Within 15 minutes, Oerta moved money between accounts and began shorting the companies traded included vehicle manufacturer Daimler Truck Holding AG, budget airline Jet2 Plc and pharmaceutical firm Dermapharm Holding SE. Janus Henderson wasn't accused of any wrongdoing.'He was in truth the king of stocks. She the enthusiastic apprentice,' Forster said during the to prosecutors, British national de Aquino and his Saudi fiance were 'secret proxies' for the trading syndicate and handled 'dirty cash.'Both had pleaded not guilty and maintained they didn't know Redinel had insider information. They didn't testify during the make the bets, Redinel helped de Aquino and Almeziad open trading accounts. De Aquino had told police that they were 'two idiots' who were hoodwinked by made about £430,000 from the trades, while de Aquino and his girlfriend raked in £135,000. Another trading account controlled by the siblings posted £408, siblings claimed to have never discussed the trading or the massive profits with each other. The prosecution saw it differently.'The truth is for the residents of Brunswick House there was never going to be enough money,' Forster said. 'Arrogance, pride, entitlement and greed drove them on – and it has ruined them.'