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India's Budget: Corporate winners and losers
Nirmala Sitharaman, India's finance minister, unveiled her annual budget on Sunday. The budget focused on increasing the purchasing power of the middle class, encouraging inclusive growth and private investment in order to boost the country's economic growth. Stock markets in general, however, reacted differently to the policies proposed under the budget 2025-26. Here are some key stock movements from the session. CONSUMER GOODS The fast-moving goods index rose 3%, its best day since eight months. The Indian government has raised the threshold for tax-free income to 1,28 million rupees (14,791.53), up from 700,000. This move, according to executives from consumer and automobile firms, will increase the amount of disposable income available for the citizens and encourage them to spend more. Nestle, Dabur and Hindustan Unilever gained between 1.5% and 2%. As there was no increase in taxes on tobacco products, shares of ITC and Godfrey Phillips India rose by 3.4% and respectively 10.3%. AUTOMAKERS Analysts attribute the rise to the budgetary measures that lower taxes will allow consumers to have more disposable income. Maruti Suzuki, Hyundai Motor India and other major automakers also increased their sales by 5% and 4,4% respectively. REALTY Phoenix Mills, the top gainer at 7.5%, posted a 3.4% increase in the real estate index. This is its best day since 6th June 2024. Footwear, Fishing Stocks The leather industry is being supported by policy measures that have led to a 6.2% and 7.3% increase in the footwear makers Bata India (Bata India) and Liberty Shoes (Liberty Shoes). The stocks of fisheries-related stocks have also increased after the Finance Minister said that the government would focus on sustainable harnessing, particularly in the Andaman Islands and Nicobar Islands as well as Lakshwadeep. Apex Frozen, Zeal Aqua and other major stocks each jumped 5%. INFRASTRUCTURE Infrastructure-related stocks slumped, with the index down 1.1%, following 'modest' hike in capital spending announced in the budget. L&T shares led the losses on the index with a drop of 3.4%, their biggest one-day decline since October 25, 2024. UltraTech, by capacity the largest cement producer in the country, closed 2% lower after falling as much as 6%. Ircon International, which fell 9.3%, was the worst-hit stock on the Nifty 500 Index. Insurers HDFC Life, SBI Life, and ICICI Prudential Life all fell between 1 to 3% due to the increase in tax slabs that tends reduce incentives for tax-saving products. $1 = 86.53 Indian Rupees
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INDIA BUDGET - India to provide $647 Million to support strategic reserves oil purchases in 2025 and 26
The budget document released on Saturday revealed that India will spend $646.88 million to purchase oil for its Strategic Petroleum Reserves (SPRs). Indian Strategic Petroleum Reserve Ltd. (ISPRL), the company that manages federal oil stocks, operates three SPRs with a combined production capacity of approximately 5 million tons in southern India. Abu Dhabi National Oil Co. (ADNOC) and other companies use a portion of this capacity for commercial operations. Budget proposals include allocations of about 1.8 billion rupies for the operation and maintenance SPRs, and approximately 3.35 billion rupies for land purchase and construction of caverns. India, which is the third largest oil consumer and importer in the world, imports more than 80% of its oil requirements and is increasing its SPR capability to protect itself against any disruptions in global oil supply. ISPRL is seeking private interest in building and operating a 2.5 million ton storage facility for petroleum reserves near Padur, Karnataka. India also plans to build a SPR of 4 million tons at Chandikhol, in the eastern state Odisha.
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Stocks of Indian infrastructure fall after a'modest increase' in capital expenditure in the budget
Indian infrastructure stocks fell in a special session on Saturday. Sector leader Larsen & Toubro led the losses, as investors were disappointed with the'modest" increase in capital expenditure announced in the budget. Infrastructure index reversed its gains after the budget presentation and was down by 1.1% at last. L&T shares dropped nearly 5% in one day, their biggest drop in over 3 months. The Indian government announced that it would spend a record 11,21 trillion rupees (129.54 billion dollars) on infrastructure during the next financial year, which begins April 1. Amit Anwani is a research analyst with Prabhudas. IRB Infrastructure Developers (which builds highways) fell by as much as 4%. "With corporate balance sheet fairly strong, the government wants private sector (to) step up on capital expenditure," said Chairman Virendra Mhaiskar of the company. The shares of cement companies, which are a major beneficiary of government expenditures, fell as well on concerns about a slow recovery in demand. UltraTech shares, the largest cement producer in the country by capacity, dropped as much as 6 percent before recovering some of their losses. They were last down 2 percent. Ambuja Cements, owned by Adani Group, fell 2%. ACC recovered nearly all of its losses and ended up with a 0.5% decline. Shree Cement, Dalmia Bharat and other companies declined by about 2%. Cement executives have recently stated that government spending is not up significantly since the 2024 elections. Volumes grew slowly in the third quarter almost everywhere. Data from the ratings agency Crisil revealed that India was the second largest cement producer in the world. The domestic industry will grow at a slower rate in fiscal 2025 than in the years 2022 and 2023. (Reporting by Hritam Mukherjee in Bengaluru; Additional reporting by Yagnoseni Das; Editing by Varun H K)
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Cadeler Takes Delivery of Its Sixth Wind Turbine Installation Vessel
Danish offshore wind installation firm Cadeler has taken delivery its new wind turbine installation vessel (WTIV) Wind Maker, the first of the two planned M-class vessels to join its growing fleet.Wind Maker was officially named at a naming ceremony at the Hanwha Ocean Shipyard in Korea, where the vessel was built.The ceremony, attended by Cadeler executives and key stakeholders, honored the collaborative efforts behind the making of the great vessel. The Godmother of Wind Maker is Sharon Ainslie – the wife of Seajacks’ founder, Blair Ainslie, which merged with Cadeler.Wind Maker will be the first of two M-class wind installation vessels in the Cadeler fleet.Its sister vessel, Wind Mover, is scheduled for delivery in the fourth quarter of 2025."Today marks a significant achievement in our strategic fleet expansion and the successful culmination of years of planning and innovative engineering. Wind Maker is already contracted for deployment immediately after its delivery and she and her sister vessel have secured a pipeline of exciting wind farm projects," said Mikkel Gleerup, CEO of Cadeler.The vessel was ordered in 2021 by Eneti, which was acquired by Cadeler in 2023, under the purchase price of $330 million.Wind Maker will operate with the capacity 2600 t main crane which will revolve around the SB aft leg, allowing the installation and maintenance of heavy foundations and the components relating to offshore wind turbines.Wind Maker has been designed to operate in water depths of up to 65 meters and at significant wave heights of 2 meters whilst the vessel itself will be above sea level installing and maintaining offshore structures.The self-propelled jack-up vessel will be equipped with DP2 capability which will cost-efficient transit and positioning between locations, facilitating efficient installation and maintenance of offshore wind farms.
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Islanders win seventh consecutive game vs. Lightning
The New York Islanders are the best NHL team right now. They will be looking to win their seventh consecutive game when they face the Tampa Bay Lightning this Saturday. New York has the longest winning streak in the league and is now atop the Eastern Conference after a 9-3-0 finish to January. The Islanders were three spots and four points back of Columbus in the race for the last wild-card position on Friday. The Rangers have climbed past Pittsburgh, Philadelphia and Montreal on their way up from the bottom of the East standings. Ilya Sorokin, the New York goalkeeper, recorded his third shutout in Philadelphia on Thursday night. He made 23 saves to help his team earn two points with a 3-0 win. Kyle Palmieri's third Islanders goal was scored with about 10 minutes left to seal the victory. The right-winger of the second line scored his first goal in over 15 games, dating back to Dec. 23, when he lost 7-1 at home to the Buffalo Sabres. New York was also able to enjoy a goal by Marc Gatcomb. He scored for the first-time in his seventh NHL match on Thursday. Palmieri stated during the broadcast on Thursday that "we've got an excellent thing going right now." "Guys believe (in) one another, and we will try to keep the thing going." "We've been on an uphill climb for the past two years." The Islanders and Florida Panthers will finish their two-game back-to-back series on Sunday, in Sunrise, Fla. The Lightning blanked Los Angeles Kings, the visitors on Thursday 3-0 to end a two-game losing streak and win their second game in six (2-4-0) games. The victory on Thursday was crucial, given the future of Tampa Bay. The Lightning will play two games against the Ottawa Senators after Saturday. Ottawa recently surpassed Tampa Bay to take third place in Atlantic Division. The victory also saved the team of coach Jon Cooper from a second poor month in this season. The Lightning finished January 8-1-1 after going 5-6-2 in November. Tampa Bay's Andrei Vasilevskiy recorded his 37th career shutout on Thursday. It was his third this season. The star goaltender, who was a questionable player due to illness, needed to be protected by keeping the puck away from the defensive zone. Cooper stated that the concern was that he had not skated for four days. "I just wanted to be sure that we weren't stuck at our end the whole night." ... You can win by defending yourself. "I've been giving the same press conference the last few weeks: I really like the way our team is playing." The Lightning called up Matt Tomkins to replace Jonas Johansson, who was ill and had a lower body injury. Tomkins is 6-5-1 in net with a 3.24 goal-against-average and a.892 saving percentage. Nikita Kucherov, who assisted Tampa Bay's goal on Thursday, now has 75 points in the NHL season. He is third behind Colorado's Nathan MacKinnon (88) and Edmonton's Leon Draisaitl (76) Field Level Media
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Maze Therapeutics debuts on Nasdaq with a lukewarm $690.4 Million valuation
Maze Therapeutics was the latest drug-developer to list on the New York Stock Exchange. Its shares rose nearly 1% during their debut and gave the company a value of $690.37 millions. The market's muted reaction indicates that investors are still cautious, as the demand for new listings is slowly recovering after a dry spell of nearly three years. The opening price for the company's shares was $16.12, compared to an initial public offering of $16. Maze increased its IPO size to 8.75 million shares in the range of $15-$17 each, to raise $140 millions. It originally planned to sell 7.8 million share. Maze develops drugs to treat chronic renal diseases. Two of the leading experimental candidates are MZE829 in a midstage study and MZE782 in an early stage study. Initial data is expected in 2025's second half. Last month, Maze raised $115 million through a Series-D round led by Frazier and Deep Track Capital. HEALTHCARE IPO PIPELINE Many healthcare companies are eager to test out the IPO market. Medline is at the top of the list, having filed confidentially for an IPO which could value it up to $50 billion. According to an EY report, healthcare companies will dominate IPO listings by 2024, accounting for 43% of the volume and 26% in value of deals exceeding $50 million. Despite their stellar debuts, the market response has been tepid. Weight-loss drug developers BioAge and MBX Biosciences are both trading well below their IPO price, according to LSEG data. The recent healthcare IPO performance was subdued due to post-election uncertainties. This may eventually resolve, but it is clearly affecting investor confidence for the time being," said Dr. Lukas Mühlbauer from IPOX Schuster.
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Trump expects Canada to pay less duty on oil after Feb. 18,
Donald Trump, the U.S. president, said that he expected his administration to implement tariffs on oil and gas by February 18th. It could also reduce the planned tax on some Canadian crude. Refiners in the Midwest of the United States process about 70% of this oil imported by the U.S. Analysts and companies have warned that a tariff on oil imports may lead to a decrease in fuel production at these facilities, and increase costs for consumers. Trump didn't specify a country that would be affected by the new tariffs or give any further details. Trump told reporters at the Oval Office of the White House that he would impose tariffs on gas and oil. "That will happen pretty soon, around the 18th February," Trump told reporters in the Oval Office of the White House. When asked if the tariffs for tomorrow would also include Canadian crude oil, Trump replied: "I will probably reduce the tariff on that a little bit." We're thinking of bringing it down to 10% on the oil." This would be in place of the 25% that Trump previously spoke about. Most U.S. refiners, particularly those in the Midwest rely on imported crude, as their facilities are designed to handle heavier crude grades such as those coming from Mexico and Canada. While awaiting clarification, they are preparing to face the new tariffs for Canadian and Mexican crude oil imports. Imports of Canadian crude oil to the United States began earlier this month Record levels of activity Phillips 66, a U.S. refiner, expects to cut production in the Midwest and Rocky Mountain regions where there are few alternative crude oil supplies if tariffs go into effect. TD Cowen data shows that Phillips 66 and HF Sinclair, as well as Par Pacific Holdings, have a high exposure to Canadian crude. Gary Simmons, Valero's chief operating officer, told analysts during a call on Thursday that his commercial and optimization teams had been hard at work to come up with every possible scenario and determine how they would respond to Trump's tariffs. Valero, the second largest refinery in the United States by capacity. Trevor Hunnicutt reported from Washington and Nicole Jao from New York. Kanishka Singh contributed additional reporting in Washington. Chris Reese edited the story.
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Big Oil's profits from refining are expected to decline in 2025
Oil executives are not optimistic about the refining industry in 2025 Exxon and Chevron Q4 profit hurt by weak refinery sector Fuel demand in the US and China is waning, posing challenges for independent refiners Sheila Dang & Shariq Khan HOUSTON, January 31 - Big Oil executives saw little hope for a near-term increase in refinery profits, after Chevron Exxon Mobil, and Shell reported earnings in the fourth quarter that were severely affected by a decline in margins. Refining margins have been hurt by a combination of sputtering growth in demand and an increase in global refinery capacity in 2024. Chevron shares fell 4% following its first loss in the refining sector since 2020. The No. 2 U.S. producer of oil missed Wall Street's profit forecast. In an interview, Chevron CEO Mike Wirth stated that the trend of softening margins through 2024 will continue and extend into 2025. He said, "There's no doubt that it was a poor fourth quarter," in an interview. "I won't call it a storm of the century, but I will say that it was a quarter where everything went in one direction and was negative." Wirth said Chevron will focus on what they can control to recover, including lighter maintenance schedules for refineries in the coming year. Exxon Mobil shares dropped 2.5% following a 75% drop in adjusted earnings for refining when compared to the third quarter. S&P 500 Energy Sector Index fell 2.8% on the Friday. Kathryn Mikells, Exxon's Chief Finance Officer, stated in an interview that the refining industry is still under pressure due to the additional fuel entering the market as a result of new refineries opening in countries all over the world. She said, "That is what we are watching as we look forward to 2025." The number one U.S. oil producer still beat profit estimates with higher production from the Permian basin, the top U.S. oilfield, and Guyana, which is the latest hotspot for oil. The No. Shell, a UK-based company, said Thursday that it has no plans to expand its refining business but also does not intend to leave it. In part due to lower refining margins, the company's earnings for the fourth quarter of 2008 nearly halved to $3.66 Billion. Shell sold its chemical and refining hub in Singapore in the past year, and it plans to close another plant in Wesseling in Germany. HIT TO INDEPENDENT RIFERS Oil majors were cushioned by higher production of oil and gas, but pure-play refiners suffered as the demand for fuel in the U.S., and China, two of the largest oil consumers, fell. Phillips 66s profit for the fourth quarter dropped to $8 million, down from $1.26 Billion in the previous quarter. Valero’s refining profits dropped by 73% in its fourth quarter. Valero CEO Lane Riggs said on Thursday that two U.S. refining plants are scheduled to close in this year, and limited capacity increases beyond 2025 should help sustain the margins of refineries over the long-term. Investors also worried about U.S. president Donald Trump's threat to impose tariffs for crude imports from Canada or Mexico on February 1, which could increase costs for U.S. refining companies. TotalEnergies, the French oil giant, will announce its fourth-quarter results on February 5, and British oil producer BP on February 11. BP warned that a decline in the refining margins, as well as the impact of maintenance and turnaround activities could result in a quarterly profit drop of up to $300,000,000. Sheila Dang reported from Houston, and Richard Valdmanis edited the story with Simon Webb and Margueritachoy.
INDIA BUDGET - India proposes to open the guarded Nuclear Sector to Private Firms
India proposed on Saturday to amend its Nuclear Liability Law to increase foreign and private investment in this highly-guarded industry, ahead of the visit by Prime Minister Narendra modi to the United States.
Nirmala Sitharaman, the Indian Finance Minister, announced it as part of her budget presentation on Saturday.
The strict liability under India's Civil Liability for Nuclear Damage Act of 2010, has hampered the implementation of India-U.S. Nuclear Deal that envisaged the participation of U.S. Power Plant Makers such as General Electric or Westinghouse.
Last week, the White House said that Modi had discussed his U.S. trip with U.S. president Donald Trump.
In her budget speech, Sitharaman did not provide any further details. "To achieve this goal, we will amend the Atomic Energy Act, and the Civil Liability for Nuclear Damage Act," she said.
The Atomic Energy Act of 1963 prohibits private investment in India's nuclear plants.
"This is definitely positive for meeting our climate goals," said Vikram V. Vice President and Co-Group Leader - Corporate Ratings at ICRA Ltd.
He said that "clarity would be needed on the timelines of amending the Atomic Energy Act, including the civil liability issue as well as the tariff and policy framework to award these projects to private sector."
Minister Sitharaman stated that India's efforts to transition its energy system must include the development of 100 gigawatts or more of nuclear power by 2047.
Arun Kumar is an energy expert at the Indian Institute of Technology in Roorkee. He said that adding 100 GW of new nuclear capacity within the next 20 year period was "doable" and not "very ambitious".
He said that unlike conventional nuclear plants, smaller reactors could be installed in factories and plants to which they could draw power.
India's nuclear power capacity is currently 8 gigawatts, but it aims to reach 20 GW in 2032.
Sitharaman proposed also to establish a Nuclear Energy Mission, with a budget of 200 billion rupees (2.31 billion dollars), and operate five small modules nuclear reactors developed in-house by 2033.
India, which pledged to reach a carbon-free target by 2070 in all its states, asked last year that those without coal resources consider building nuclear power plants.
In February last year, India proposed to work with private companies to develop small reactors that would boost electricity production without carbon dioxide emissions. $1 = 86.65360 Indian Rupees
(source: Reuters)