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Business Economy

As the year ends, Rupee expects A Positive Trend

Consistent foreign fund inflows along with a Brexit trade deal will lead further appreciation in Indian Rupee as the currency ends 2020 on a high note.

However, rupee has been a laggard in 2020, as the currency did not appreciate much despite record inflows.

On the other hand, India’s forex reserves continued to rise, indicating, an active Reserve Bank which has kept rupee in a check, to make exports competitive.

The RBI is known to enter the markets via intermediaries to either sell or buy US dollars to keep the rupee in a stable orbit.

India’s foreign exchange reserves rose by $2.563 billion during the week ended December 18 to $581.131 billion.

Besides, lesser intervention from the Reserve Bank is expected after it was called out by the US Treasury Department to curtail its market activities.

These factors along with a continued supply of foreign funds will lead to an appreciation move in rupee.

Indian rupee closed flat for the week close of 73.54 a dollar.

“Rupee appreciated is in line with continued foreign equity flows though the pace has slowed down,” said Sajal Gupta, Head, Forex and Rates, Edelweiss Securities.

“Expect some more rupee appreciation in last week of the year as successful Brexit deal would aid in the risk-on sentiment.”

Lately, FIIs inflows have powered a rally in equities and gave an appreciation push to the rupee.

The FIIs have so far this month invested over $6 billion in the equities and $594 million in the debt segment.

“Incessant foreign fund inflows are helping rupee bulls,” HDFC Securities’ Deputy Head of Retail Research Devarsh Vakil said.

“Spot USDINR is having resistance at 73.90 and support at 73.45 for this week.”

According to Emkay Global Financial Services’ Head of Research- Currency Rahul Gupta, Brexit deal along with the rollout of an effective coronavirus vaccine will continue to support the risk sentiments.

“An effective coronavirus vaccine will continue to support the risk sentiments and keep USDINR bears active,” Gupta said.

“Until the global economy is capable of recovering at a rapid pace once Covid-19 is defeated, the upside risk to the USDINR spot will remain intact. So even in 2021, as long as the USDINR spot is trading above 72.75-73, the trend will be bullish with 74.50 being the key resistance.”

“A break of 74.50 will open doors for 75.25 and then 76.30. While a break of 72.75 will push the spot price to 71.50-72.00 zone.”

Also Read: Investment Into India Touches $22 Billion During Pandemic

Also Read: WHO Urges Nations To Ramp Up Healthcare Investments

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Business Economy India News

Investment Into India Touches $22 Billion During Pandemic

The Covid-19 virus not only triggered a worldwide pandemic, but also opened the floodgates for investments in the country’s equity market.

All in all, not only did the overall capitalisation of India’s domestic market increased, the country’s key indices emerged among the best performing emerging markets (EMs).

Initially, the lockdown induced crash led to attractive valuations along with a global flood of liquidity and near zero interest rates in foreign markets. As a result, return on investment from several asset classes except equities vaporised.

Investors jumped from one assets class to the other, till the time even the US dollar became unviable due to the massive stimulus package. Accordingly, the funnelling of such funds into the emerging markets led to a net investment of over $22 billion into India’s market till now in CY2020.

Besides foreign funds, the domestic lockdown, the biggest in the world, flooded the stock markets with over 60 lakh new retail investors.

Additionally, a considerable number enrolled through various schemes via the MF segment. Market watchers contend that these newbie investors saw the value in stocks beyond the pandemic induced slowdown and became the real beneficiaries of the up move.

Till now in 2020, Indian markets witnessed FPI inflows of $22,281 million, which is 55 per cent higher than the flows in the entire 2019 in USD terms.

However, the domestic MF houses pulled out over Rs 33,000 crore till November 2020.

“Valuations are at 2SD (standard deviation) over the 10 year average, hence there is some caution on this front. However as long as interest rates continue to be zero or near zero across the globe, P/E ratios could keep expanding to levels not seen in the past,” said Deepak Jasani, Head of Retail Research at HDFC Securities.

In terms of purchase, FPIs initially preferred large cap stocks till October. Later on, they enlarged their purchases to include the mid and small cap segments.

Sectorally, IT, pharma, banks, FMCG, metals, realty and oil & gas stocks were bought the most by FPIs in this year.

Apart from very high FPI inflows in 2020, large number of new investor registrations due to the Covid-19 pandemic has also contributed to the uprun in the market.

“The huge stimulus rolled out by central banks across the developed world to tackle the pandemic in 2020 has certainly led to abundant liquidity. While it was expected that EMs would see strong FPI flows in 2020, the fact remains that only few emerging economies have seen such flows and India is one such country, especially given the slew of reforms undertaken in 2020,” said LKP Securities’ Head of Research, S. Ranganathan.

“Having said that, it cannot be denied that lakhs of young first time equity investors have opened DEMAT accounts during 2020 and have invested into direct equities which is also a reflection of financialisation of savings,” Ranganathan added.

According to Gaurav Garg, Head of Research at CapitalVia Global Research: “Moving forward, FPIs may continue to concentrate in the Indian market for another 1-2 quarters.

“The factors like low Covid-19 case count, expected vaccine in the first half of 2021, fear of valuations may go even higher and economic return to the growth trajectory are expected to potentially fuel more development in the emerging markets such as India.”

Also Read: WHO Urges Nations To Ramp Up Healthcare Investments

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Abu Dhabi UAE News

Abu Dhabi’s EAD Wins Award For ‘Outstanding Contribution’

EAD’s most notable achievement is the world’s largest mammal reintroduction programme of the Arabian Oryx, which was on the brink of extinction. Today, the population in Abu Dhabi has reached 5,000 heads – making it the largest herd in the world…reports Asian Lite News

The Environment Agency – Abu Dhabi (EAD) has won the “Outstanding Contribution to Biodiversity Global 2020 Award,” by Capital Finance International (CFI.co).

EAD, the region’s largest environmental regulator, was recognised for the role it has played in championing the conservation of biodiversity in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi.

Examples of EAD’s efforts in preserving biodiversity include continuing the legacy of the late Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, the UAE Founding Father. Known as the First Environmentalist, Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan expanded the network of protected areas to 19 areas, 13 of which are terrestrial, representing 16.9 percent and six marine areas representing 13.9 percent of the terrestrial and marine ecosystems, respectively.

EAD’s most notable achievement is the world’s largest mammal reintroduction programme of the Arabian Oryx, which was on the brink of extinction. Today, the population in Abu Dhabi has reached 5,000 heads – making it the largest herd in the world.

Consequently, EAD – with joint initiatives – succeeded in the resettlement of Scimitar horned Oryx in its native country, Chad. This species had been completely extinct in the wild and now the total number of Scimitar horned Oryx in Chad has reached to be more than 200.

The authority signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Jordanian Royal Society for the Conservation of Nature to release 60 Arabian Oryx in the Shumari Wildlife Reserve over the next two years.

Today, the population of Dugongs in the capital city is the world’s second largest, amounting to 3,000, which is the highest density per square metre in the Arabian Gulf.

Additionally, more than 700 dolphins, most of which live in marine protected areas in Abu Dhabi, have been registered, including the largest group in the world of the Indian Ocean, Humpback dolphin, and 37 endangered finless Porpoises and 268 Indo-Pacific Bottlenose dolphins.

Dr. Shaikha Salem Al Dhaheri, Secretary-General of EAD, said, “One of our main strategic priorities and mandates is the conservation of biodiversity in Abu Dhabi and we have worked laboriously since the inception of EAD 25 years ago, towards achieving this goal. We have been more than successful in protecting biodiversity and we are honoured to be recognised by an international publication such as Capital Finance International for all the hard work that has been done by the EAD team.”

EAD succeeded in the registration of Al Wathba Wetland Reserve as the first protected area in the GCC to make the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Green list. It is also one of the 40 sites in the world that has been considered for the Convention of Biological Diversity as Ecologically or Biologically Significant Area.

Also, Abu Dhabi has approximately 3,800 recorded species and less than two percent are classified as “threatened” on the Red List categories of the IUCN.

Furthermore, Jebel Hafit National Park in Abu Dhabi is the only location where the Dwarf Palm can be found. The Arabian Caracal was recently sighted in the area for the first time in 35 years. The park also hosts globally threatened species, and the only concentration of the globally threatened Egyptian Vulture in the UAE.

Capital Finance International (CFI.co) is a print journal and online resource reporting on business, economics and finance.

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Arab News Dubai UAE News

Dubai Real Estate Back on Track

 The real estate and properties transactions were valued at AED4.6 billion in total during the week ending 24 December 2020, according to the Department of Land and Property in Dubai.

A total of 92 plots were sold for AED482.59 million; 808 apartments and villas were sold for AED1.32 billion.

The top three transactions were a plot of land in Palm Jumeirah sold for AED 60 million; followed by another sold for AED 54.85 million in Saih Shuaib 4; and another one sold for AED60 million in Palm Jumeirah in the third place.

Nad Al Shiba First recorded the most transactions for this week by 18 sales transactions worth AED43.08 million, followed by Al Thanyah Fifth with 13 sales transactions worth AED23.55 million, and Nad Al Shiba Third with 11 sales transactions worth AED27 million in third place.

The top three transfers for apartments and villas were an apartment sold for AED 230 million in Marsa Dubai; another sold for AED105 million in Business Bay; while the third was sold for AED94 million in Burj Khalifa.

The sum of the amount of mortgaged properties for the week was AED3 billion, with the highest being a land in Al Yelayiss 2, mortgaged for AED1 billion.

A total of 43 properties were granted between first-degree relatives worth AED194 million.

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Categories
London News UK News

London Traveller Is Sweden’s First Mutant Virus Case

A person who travelled from London to Sweden to celebrate Christmas has been confirmed sick with the new and more infectious variant of the coronavirus that has been rapidly spreading in the UK recently.

Sara Byfors of Sweden’s Public Health Agency told a news conference on Saturday that the person has been self-isolating since arriving in the southwestern province of Sormland and that no one else in the household has tested positive for Covid-19. However, Byfors added that there are likely more cases in Sweden that have yet to be detected, Xinhua news agency reported.

The person started feeling ill after arriving in Sweden, testing positive for Covid-19 on December 21 after experiencing extreme fatigue and body ache. On Saturday, it was confirmed that the person was infected with the mutated strain of the coronavirus.

Byfors said that the Public Health Agency has increased its efforts to monitor the new coronavirus strain and is now aiming to collect tests from everyone who has arrived in Sweden from the UK since October.

“On Monday, we issued a new recommendation urging everyone who has been in the UK to get tested so that we can conduct contact tracing and ensure this virus strain does not spread in Sweden. Those who do not show any symptoms should also get tested,” said Byfors.

The Public Health Agency has also urged anyone who has travelled to Sweden from the UK and those in their households to self-isolate.

Asked how Sweden’s vaccination program would be affected by a potential spread of the new coronavirus strain in the country, Byfors said it would likely not have a significant impact. However, Sweden’s healthcare system is already under great strain, with 536 out of 684 ICU beds with respirators already occupied, newspaper Aftonbladet reported on Saturday.

The Agency’s latest figures released on December 23 showed that a total 8,279 people have died in Sweden since the start of the pandemic, and the country has confirmed 396,048 cases. The figures are expected to go up when they are updated on December 29.


According to the website of the World Health Organization, as of December 22, there were 233 Covid-19 candidate vaccines being developed worldwide, and 61 of them were in clinical trials.

A couple of vaccines developed by pharmaceutical companies from the United States, Germany, Russia and China have so far been authorized by several countries and regions for emergency use.

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-Top News World News

WHO Urges Nations To Ramp Up Healthcare Investments

World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus (WHO/Handout via Xinhua/IANS)

The first ever International Day of Epidemic Preparedness was called by the United Nations General Assembly to advocate the importance of the prevention of, preparedness for, and partnership against epidemics…reports Asian Lite News

World Health Organisation Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus on Sunday called on countries to make greater investment in their public health systems to make the world better prepared for future epidemics and pandemics.

“History tells us that this will not be the last pandemic, and epidemics are a fact of life,” Ghebreyesus said in his message as the world marks the first ever International Day of Epidemic Preparedness on Sunday.

“But with investments in public health, supported by an all-of-government, all-of-society, one health approach, we can ensure that our children and their children inherit a safer, more resilient and more sustainable world,” the WHO chief said.

World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus (WHO/Handout via Xinhua/IANS)

The Covid-19 pandemic has underscored the need for investing in systems to prevent, detect and respond to infectious disease outbreaks.

The first ever International Day of Epidemic Preparedness was called by the United Nations General Assembly to advocate the importance of the prevention of, preparedness for, and partnership against epidemics.

“With Covid-19 having now killed more than 1.7 million people, devastated economies, upended societies and exposed the world’s vulnerabilities in the starkest ways, the value of health emergency preparedness has hit home like never before,” said UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres.

“As we strive to control and recover from the current pandemic, we must think about the next. Unfortunately, it is easy to imagine a virus just as infectious but even more lethal.”

The International Day of Epidemic Preparedness falls on the birthdate of Louis Pasteur, the French biologist responsible for ground-breaking work on vaccinations.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres

“Preparedness is a sound investment, costing far less than emergency expenditures. Societies need stronger health systems, including universal health coverage. People and families need more social protection,” said the UN Secretary General.

“Communities on the frontlines need timely support. Countries need more effective technical cooperation. And we need to pay greater attention to the encroachment of people and livestock into animal habitats; 75 per cent of new and emerging human infectious diseases are zoonotic,” he said.

The UN Secretary-General had earlier expressed his happiness with the progress in global climate action, but was sad about the lack of international cooperation in dealing with the still raging coronavirus pandemic, according to his spokesman.

Answering an end-of-year question about the UN chief’s biggest pride and his biggest regret for 2020, Stephane Dujarric, Guterres’ spokesman, said on Thursday: “Look, he is not one to toot his own horn. But I guess that’s my job.”

One of the things he would deserve to be most proud of is seeing that needle move on climate, Xinhua news agency quoted Dujarric as saying.

“This is an issue he has spoken about to audiences in China, in Japan, in India with a strong message. And we have seen the needle move.”

During the Climate Ambition Summit on December 12, very important member states made pledges toward carbon neutrality and emissions reduction although more needs to be done, he noted.

“I think that’s a reflection of the intense work he has put in on this issue over the past year,” he added.

In terms of Guterres’ regret, Dujarric named the lack of real international cooperation on Covid-19 and all the offshoots of this pandemic.

There should have been much stronger coordination, cooperation from the first days the pandemic hit, he said.

Guterres is currently spending time with his family in Portugal for the holiday season and is expected to return to New York on January 4, Dujarric added.

Also Read: Covid vaccines not a silver bullet: WHO

Also Read: WHO to probe Covid-19 origins

Categories
-Top News UK News

Hundreds Shifted As heavy rains lash UK

Hundreds of Britons have been evacuated from their homes as Storm Bella was poised to pound the UK with gales and heavy rains.

Dozens of flood alerts and warnings were issued on Saturday across the UK as the country braces for Storm Bella, which will bring wind and rain in parts of England, Wales, Northern Ireland and southern Scotland, with coastal areas expected to be affected the most, Xinhua news agency quoted the Met Office as saying.

It comes as parts of the country are already struggling with recent wet weather and flooding.

On Christmas Day, more than 1,300 households in properties along the River Great Ouse in Bedfordshire, England, were advised to evacuate their homes as water levels rose.

Local evacuation centres have been set up to help those affected by flooding, said Bedfordshire Fire Service, adding that the volume of water made the situation “very, very difficult”.

Some residents there spent Christmas night building trenches in a bid to hold off the flood water, reported the BBC.

The Bedford Borough Council said people who had been contacted and asked to evacuate were “permitted to go to other people’s homes”.

Bedfordshire is currently under Tier Four coronavirus restrictions, the highest level, which bans household mixing, while local police said the flooding situation overrides the current Covid-19 regulations.

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Categories
-Top News COVID-19 World News

Global COVID19 Cases Touch 80 Million

In yet another grim milestone, the overall number of global coronavirus cases has surpassed the 80 million mark, while the deaths have surged to more than 1.75 million, according to the Johns Hopkins University.

In its latest update on Sunday morning, the University’s Center for Systems Science and Engineering (CSSE) revealed that the current global caseload and death toll stood at 80,282,523 and 1,756,584, respectively.

The US is the worst-hit country with the world’s highest number of cases and deaths at 18,943,541 and 331,754, respectively, according to the CSSE.

India comes in second place in terms of cases at 1,01,69,118, while the country’s death toll soared to 1,47,343.

The other countries with more than a million confirmed cases are Brazil (74,48,560), Russia (29,92,123), France (26,07,688), the UK (22,62,735), Turkey (21,33,373), Italy (20,38,759), Spain (18,54,951), Germany (16,46,240), Colombia (1,584,903), Argentina (1,578,267), Mexico (1,372,243), Poland (12,53,957), Iran (11,94,963), Ukraine (10,49,717) and Peru (10,05,546), the CSSE figures showed.

Brazil currently accounts for the second highest number of fatalities at 190,795.

The countries with a death toll above 20,000 are Mexico (1,21,837), Italy (71,620), the UK (70,513), France (62,694), Iran (54,574), Russia (53,539), Spain (49,824), Argentina (42,501), Colombia (41,943), Peru (37,368), Germany (29,666), Poland (27,061), South Africa (26,521) and Indonesia (20,994).

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Categories
-Top News USA

Asian Lite Daily Digital USA – December 24, 2020 – Prez Trump on Pardon Spree?

Prez Trump on Pardon Spree?; Putin Expects No Change to US Ties Under Biden; US CDC Urges Public to Avoid Holiday Travel; China interferes in Nepal’s political crisis – All in Asian Lite Daily Digital USA – please click here to read.

Categories
Sport

A Confident Aussies Expects Gain From Kohli, Shami Absence

Australian Coach Justin Langer

The Aussies were on the back-foot for the first two days in last week’s first Test at the Adelaide Oval as they conceded a 53-run first innings lead. The lead brought back memories of the first Test in Adelaide in the 2018-19 series when India had got an even lesser, a 15-run lead and then went on to win it. This time though, the Aussie bowling responded and dismissed India for just 36, their lowest-ever Test total…reports Asian Lite News

Absence of India skipper Virat Kohli and pace bowler Mohammed Shami will give advantage to Australia, who will look score over 400 in first innings to take charge of the Boxing Day Test at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, says Australia head coach Justin Langer.

The second Test, known as the Boxing Day Test, starts Saturday and India have fond memories from the last time when they won it on a flat batting wicket to go 1-0 up in the four-match series in 2018/19.

“Of course, no matter what sport you play, if you take two of your stars out,” said Langer on Thursday in reply to a question from media if Kohli and Shami’s absence gives the hosts advantage.

“Virat Kohli is one of the all-time great players. I think Shami is a real glue for the Indian bowling attack because he is so miserly. He is very skillful. Of course, it gives us an advantage…But we need to keep working hard and follow the processes that we have been following for some time. We know we have to start strongly on Day 1. We know we have to keep the pressure on (Ajinkya) Rahane if he is the new captain for India. So the processes don’t change. Whenever you take the best players out of any cricket team, of course that weakens them. That is the reality. Of course, it gives us an advantage,” he added.

India’s Virat Kohli and Mohammed Shami

The Aussies were on the back-foot for the first two days in last week’s first Test at the Adelaide Oval as they conceded a 53-run first innings lead. The lead brought back memories of the first Test in Adelaide in the 2018-19 series when India had got an even lesser, a 15-run lead and then went on to win it. This time though, the Aussie bowling responded and dismissed India for just 36, their lowest-ever Test total.

The head coach acknowledged the bowling effort but said they are doing some work on their batting and fielding. “Bit of fielding work, bit of batting work,” he said on the work being done at practice ahead of the second Test.

“I said on the morning of Day 3 before that extraordinary bowling show, I said to the guys, let us not make mistakes. This is proper Test match cricket. India had the better of us on the first two days. We are in real arm-wrestle of a Test match. It was amazing how things turned around. We know how good team India is. We know how we have to keep improving. I said last year if we have to become a great team we need to keep winning after winning. Really good teams keep winning and winning. It is an area that we have addressed. We have start well on Boxing Day morning. We know India will start well as we saw in first two days in Adelaide,” Langer said.

In 2018, India batsmen had exhausted the Aussie bowlers by batting for 169.4 overs while scoring just 443/7 in the Boxing Day Test. But Langer said the hosts are a different team this time around.

“I think we are a very different team. We have come a long way in two years. We are now playing very good cricket. We’ve got confidence. I remember losing the toss at MCG on a very flat wicket (in 2018). That certainly took some of the wind out of our sails. That’s for sure. We are a very different team. We know that in first innings in Australia, we are looking to score 400 in first innings. There is no surprise there. That is what we have based our Test cricket on for years. I said we have got areas we can improve. We play our best cricket when we are scoring big first innings totals. That’s what we aspire to and that’s what we aspiring to in this game as well,” the 50-year-old said.

“I empathise with my opposition but it is none of my business…if India are feeling stressed I am glad they are and not us over Christmas,” he added.

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