Global markets drop, oil at 7 year high.

Top of the Morning

In this episode, find out why IDFC Bank’s V Vaidyanathan has gifted 9 lakh shares to his staff, also find out why Bharti Airtel is looking to raise Rs 5000 crore through rupee bonds.

Business Term of the Day: Dollar rupee swap

Bharti Airtel is likely to raise up to ₹5,000 crore soon through rupee-denominated bonds from the domestic market as the Sunil Mittal-led company seeks to refinance high-cost debt and fortify its balance sheet ahead of the 5G spectrum auction. This will be part of the ₹7,500 crore fundraising plan announced by the company earlier this month.

 

Vedanta: Announced that it has made an oil discovery in its exploratory well in Rajasthan’s Barmer district. In a regulatory filing, Vedanta said it has notified the Directorate General of Hydrocarbons and the petroleum ministry about the oil discovery in a block that was awarded to it under the Open Acreage Licensing Policy (OALP). This is the third hydrocarbon discovery notified by the company under the OALP portfolio.

 

 The Supreme Court has agreed to hear in open court a review plea filed by Cyrus Investments Ltd. against its order setting aside an appellate tribunal order which had restored Cyrus Mistry as the executive chairman of the Tata group. The petitions will be heard in open court on 9 March.

 

Rbi will enter into sell-buy swaps worth $5 billion with banks to elongate the maturity profile of its forward dollar book. The 2-year USD/INR sell-buy swap auction will be held on March 8. This will enable access to a wider set of market participants and smoothen receivables relating to forward assets

IDFC First Bank: Managing Director and CEO V. Vaidyanathan has gifted 900,000 equity shares to five persons including his trainer, househelp, driver and office support staff.

Moving on to markets

Global equities slumped today while oil jumped to a seven-year high to $97.35 after Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered troops into breakaway regions of eastern Ukraine.

Among the Asian markets, Japan’s Nikkei and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index were down over 2% each.

The key benchmark indices are likely to start Tuesday’s session on a highly negative note.  SGX Nifty March Futures were quoting 17,062 levels, nearly 200 points lower than Nifty March futures spot close the previous day.

 

Business term of the day

Dollar – Rupee Swap – is a useful addition to the RBI’s policy toolkit as it offers the central bank a chance to directly influence both the value of the rupee and the amount of liquidity in the economy at the same time using a single tool. the central bank provides either dollar liquidity or rupee liquidity by accepting the opposite currency. This is inturn returned at the end of the swap period.