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Oil prices fall around $1 to near 2-month lows as supply concerns ease

Gold hovers around $1,750, copper muted as hawkish Fed fears persist

Crude oil lower; OPEC cuts 2022 demand growth forecast

Big Utilities See Inflation Reduction Act Helping Reduce Customers’ Energy Bills

Oil settles up 5% as further interest rate hikes loom

OPEC expected to stick to view of long-term oil demand rise
OPEC's view that world oil demand will keep rising for longer than many other forecasters predict is not expected to change much in its forthcoming major report, despite the growing role of renewables and electric cars, two OPEC sources said.

The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries is scheduled to update its long-term oil demand forecasts in its 2022 World Oil Outlook on Oct. 31. The 2021 version sees oil demand plateauing after 2035.

Another decade or more of oil demand growth would be a boost for producers and OPEC, whose 13 members depend on oil income, and would highlight the need for continued investment in new oil supplies. Consumers and governments urging efforts to curb oil use to combat climate change would be less happy.

OPEC made a shift in 2020 as the pandemic hit demand by saying it will eventually plateau, after having predicted years of ever-rising demand. The latest update is likely to keep OPEC among the more optimistic forecasters of oil demand.
Last year, OPEC saw oil demand reaching 108.2 million barrels per day in 2045, up from 90.6 million bpd in 2020.

The group has been lowering the 2045 projection for the last few years citing changes to consumer behaviour brought about by the pandemic and competition from electric cars.

Two former OPEC officials cited longer-term trends that will weigh on demand.

"Even oil-producing countries are interested in electrification because of pollution," said Hasan Qabazard, OPEC's head of research from 2006 to 2013, and a Kuwaiti. "In Kuwait, people are starting to buy electric cars."

Qabazard last year said demand could peak within a decade but maybe later and hasn't since changed his view.

A former OPEC minister said the longer-term implications of the Ukraine war could encourage the shift towards renewables.

"The war in Ukraine has changed Europe and the United States' reliance on Russia's oil and gas," said Chakib Khelil, a former Algerian oil minister and OPEC president. "Europe will rely more and more on renewable energy in the future and less on oil and gas from Russia."

He added that it was "highly probable" demand could plateau earlier than expected in the current OPEC forecast.

By Laura Sanicola and Yuka Obayashi

TOKYO (Reuters) -Oil prices rose on Thursday, extending a more than 3% rally in the previous session, boosted by record U.S. crude exports and a weaker U.S. dollar, though gains were capped in Asia due to lingering fears over slack demand in China.

Brent crude futures gained 20 cents, or 0.2%, to $95.89 a barrel by 0332 GMT. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude climbed 19 cents, or 0.2%, to $88.10 a barrel.

U.S. crude stocks rose 2.6 million barrels last week, according to weekly government data on Wednesday, with crude exports rising to 5.1 million barrels a day, the most ever.

"Solid U.S. crude exports raised optimism over demand and prompted fresh buys, but concerns that China's muddled economic policies may continue under President Xi Jinping's growing power limited gains in Asia," said Hiroyuki Kikukawa, general manager of research at Nissan (OTC:NSANY) Securities.

Global investors dumped Chinese assets early this week on fears that ideology may increasingly trump growth under China's most powerful leader since Mao Zedong.

The World Bank on Wednesday said it expects energy prices to decline by 11% in 2023 after this year's 60% surge following Russia's invasion of Ukraine, although slower global growth and COVID restrictions in China could lead to a deeper fall. Moscow calls its actions in Ukraine "a special operation".

Meanwhile, the dollar's weakness added support, as the greenback's strength of late has been a notable factor inhibiting oil market gains. The dollar retreated on Thursday as market expectations mounted that the U.S. Federal Reserve will tone down its aggressive stance on interest rate hikes. [FRX/]

A weaker dollar makes greenback-denominated crude less expensive for other currency holders.

U.S. and Western officials are finalizing plans to impose a cap on Russian oil prices amid a warning from the World Bank that any plan will need active participation of emerging market economies to be effective.

Officials said no price range has been decided yet, however one person familiar with the process said the cap will be determined in line with the historical average of $63-64 a barrel - a level that could form a natural upper limit.

Gold up 1% on Week, Regaining Shine on Dovish Fed’s Wings

Gold settled up for the week despite a price drop on Friday as a Federal Reserve standing resolute against any immediate talk of stimulus tapering or rate hike restored some shine to the yellow metal.

Front-month gold on New York’s Comex settled down $18.60, or 1%, at $1,817.20 an ounce. For the week though, it rose 1%.

“Gold’s great week is ending on a down note, but bullion bulls are probably feeling pretty optimistic,” said Ed Moya, head of research for the Americas at New York’s OANDA. “Gold appears to be close to triggering technical buying following the aftermath of the Fed, persistent delta variant concerns, and depressed global bond yields.”

After two weeks of anemic action, gold longs got a break on Wednesday when Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said the central bank wasn’t ready to even think of raising U.S. interest rates as it was still focused on buying assets to support an economy recovering from the coronavirus pandemic.

Powell also refused to go near any talk of when the Fed might consider tapering the combined $120 billion the Fed was plonking each month into Treasury bonds and agency mortgage‑backed securities. His mantra: It isn’t time.

Getting toward the Fed’s twin mandates of maximum employment for Americans and sustainable inflation were the goals, he reasoned.

U.S. jobless claims stood at 400,000 and above for a second week in a row, according to Labor Department data on Thursday that suggested a continued challenge for the fragile labor market recovery amid the coronavirus pandemic.

The Personal Consumption Expenditure Index, the Fed’s preferred gauge for inflation, rose by 3.5% year-on-year in June — its most in 30 years — when stripped of volatile food and energy prices.

Since January, gold has been on a tough ride that began in August last year — when it came off record highs above $2,000 and meandered for a few months before stumbling into a systemic decay from November, when the first breakthroughs in Covid-19 vaccine efficiencies were announced. At one point, gold raked a near 11-month bottom at under $1,674.

After appearing to break that dark spell with a bounce back to $1,905 in May, gold saw a new round of short-selling that took it back and forth between $1,700 and $1,800.

Gold is currently consolidating between the 50- and -100 day simple moving averages. If it clears $1,850 next week, it might be able to make a run toward $1,900.

The risk, however, is U.S. jobs showing a bigger-than-expected gain for July in the Labor Department’s monthly nonfarm payroll report due next week. If that overshoots forecasts, it could complicate the Fed’s aim of keeping the stimulus on for the foreseeable future and rates lower for longer. Gold might be caught in treacherous waters again if the job numbers surprise.

Global Brokerages Mixed on TVS Motors After Q1 Results

TVS Motor Company Ltd. (NS: TVSM) reported its numbers for Q1 FY22. It reported a consolidated net loss of Rs 15 crore for the June 2021 quarter compared t a net loss of Rs 183 crore in the June 2020 quarter. Total income went up to Rs 4,692 crore compared to Rs 1,946.35 in the June 2020 quarter.

Its two-and-three wheeler sales including exports stood at Rs 6.58 lakh units in the June 2021 quarter compared to 2.67 lakh units in the corresponding quarter last fiscal.

Two foreign brokerages have mixed views over the stock. Citi has maintained a sell rating on the stock despite being positively surprised by the results. It said that the company’s Q1 realizations resulted in a higher EBITDA while higher costs resulted in the company missing PAT estimates. It has given a target price of Rs 530 for the share.

Jefferies on the other hand has given a buy call on the stock with a target price of Rs 800. It said that the company’s exports were doing very well and the company also reported its highest-ever gross profit per vehicle. It said that the Indian two-wheeler market should recover quickly from an abnormal cyclical trough.

The stock is trading at Rs 589.7 as of this report.

2 Mid-Tier IT Firms Whose Net Profit has Increased For 4 Quarters

Profit is one of the most popular words in business. Investors get happy when a company posts a profit. When a company does so for four consecutive quarters during a pandemic and increases its profit after tax (PAT) every quarter, investors are over the moon. Two mid-sized IT companies have done that in the last four quarters: Cyient Ltd-B (NS: CYIE): This company has reported increasing PAT for its last four quarters.

March 2020: Rs 45.2 crore
June 2020: Rs 81.4 crore
September 2020: Rs 83.9 crore
December 2020: Rs 95.4 crore
March 2021: Rs 103.1 crore
Brokerage firm Edelweiss has given the stock a target of Rs 925. The stock closed May 24 on Rs 803.9. That’s a potential upside of 15%.

Persistent Systems (NS: PERS): Persistently increased revenues and controlled expenses for the last four quarters resulting in a net profit increase every quarter.

March 2020: Rs 83.8 crore
June 2020: Rs 90 crore
September 2020: Rs 102 crore
December 2020: Rs 120.9 crore
March 2021: Rs 137.8 crore

Brokerage firm Sharekhan said, “We believe Persistent is well-positioned to capture opportunities in transformational initiatives, given its strong capabilities in the product engineering space, strong relationship with large enterprises, strengthening of its leadership team, and focus on large long-term engagements.”

Why Anupam Rasayan Stock is Up 39% Since its IPO on March 24

Anupam Rasayan India Ltd (NS:ANY) is a specialty chemicals company that started out in 1984. Almost 37 years later, it listed on the stock markets on March 24, 2021. Its issue price was Rs 555. Its closing price on May 21 was Rs 769.4. That’s a gain of 39% in less than two months. Below are four major reasons why the stock has given such good returns in such a short period of time:

Rs 1,100 crore order: On April 28, news broke that Anupam Rasayan “…has received and signed Letter of Intent (LoI) amounting to Rs 1,100 crore from one of the top 10 multinational life sciences company for supplying life sciences related speciality chemicals.”

FII buying: On May 5, Plutus Wealth Management purchased 1 million shares or 1% of Anupam Rasayan for Rs 647.3 per share. This vote of confidence by a foreign institutional investor (FII) sent the company’s shares up 13%.

Renewable energy bet: On May 8, Anupam Rasayan announced its foray into the renewable energy sector when it said it would set up a 12.5 MW solar power plant for Rs 43 crore. Managing Director Anand Desai said that this will help the company control energy costs and save it around Rs 10 crore a year for 25 years.

Rs 540 crore order: On May 19, Anupam Rasayan announced it had “…received and signed contracts amounting to Rs 540 crore from two renowned multinational companies dealing in the fields of life sciences chemicals."

China PVC Exports to India Zoom; How did Indian Companies Fare?

An S&P Global Inc (NYSE: SPGI) Insights report said that China’s PVC (polyvinyl chloride) exports to India in February 2021 soared 52.9% from January 2021 to 27,225 mt, according to the latest data available.

According to the report, “Market sources said China's PVC exports would likely increase for the next few months amid a global supply crunch…. monthly prices would likely continue rising in the coming months as PVC production in the US remained disrupted.”

Investing.com took a look at four Indian stocks operating in this space to see how they have fared in 2021.

Prince Pipes And Fittings Ltd (NS:PRICE)
Closing price on December 31, 2020: Rs 298.2

Closing price on April 7, 2021: Rs 449.55

Percentage gain: 50.75%

Apollo Pipes Ltd (BO: AOLL)
Closing price on December 31, 2020: Rs 709.8

Closing price on April 7, 2021: Rs 1,003.55

Percentage gain: 41.3%

Supreme Industries Ltd. (NS: SUPI)
Closing price on December 31, 2020: Rs 1,629.9

Closing price on April 7, 2021: Rs 1,974.6

Percentage gain: 21.14%

Astral Poly Technik Ltd (NS:ASPT)
Closing price on December 31, 2020: Rs 1,337.14

Closing price on April 7, 2021: Rs 1,581.4

Percentage gain: 18.26%

It was expected that Q4 FY21 would see a reining in on PVC prices but that hasn’t happened and the S&P report says the party for China’s exports will continue.

Should You Subscribe to Macrotech (Lodha Group) IPO?

Microtech Developers Ltd (NS: LODV), real estate a company that operates in the MMR (Mumbai Metropolitan Region) under the Lodha Group brand, is coming out with a Rs 2,500 crore IPO today. The IPO has a price band range of Rs 483 – Rs 486, and proceeds will largely go to reduce debt by 24% to Rs 12,700 crore from Rs 16,700 crore. Is this an IPO worth investing in?

The amount of debt that the company carries is very high but demand for housing has experienced an uptick during the COVID-19 pandemic, and Lodha is focusing on reducing the debt. Angel Broking has said that the company hasn’t been able to generate positive cash flow in the last three years, and this trend is likely to continue in the future.

Macrotech is also too focused on one region in the country and a change in rules and regulation might hurt the construction giant.

Another key factor to consider is that the GMP (grey market premium) for the IPO has completely dried up according to a report in The Economic Times. The GMP for Macrotech was at Rs 25-Rs 30 shares some days back but came down to Rs 2-Rs 4 last night.

If this continues, listing gains might be very limited or even non-existent in the Macrotech Developers IPO.

What's Behind BSE Sensex's Astonishing 68% Gains In Fiscal 2021?

FY21 was a year of many firsts. The Indian economy went into a recession for the first time on record. It was the first time that Indian financial markets were hit by a pandemic. The BSE Sensex rose 68% in this period, the highest it has risen in a decade, and FPIs (foreign portfolio investors) bought shares worth Rs 2.74 lakh crore, the highest FPI flow since markets were opened up to foreign investment in 1993.

The previous record for FPI inflow was Rs 1.4 lakh crore in FY13. The Sensex closed at 49,509.15, down 627.43 points on March 31. However, during the year it rose 20,040.66 points. Nifty rose 6,092.95 points in FY21 or 70.86%.

What makes this year-long rally remarkable is that India’s GDP (gross domestic product) contracted by 23.9% in the June quarter but the rally sustained itself.

Market experts feel that the rally will continue, albeit at a slower pace, even though COVID-19 cases are surging again in India. The Reserve Bank of India has predicted a 10.4% GDP growth in 2021-22. In a report released on March 30, the World Bank said that it expects GDP to grow between 7.5%-12.5% in FY22.

Will Mrs. Bector’s Share Price Double From its All-Time Low?

Mrs. Bectors Food Specialities Ltd (NS: MRSB) had a blockbuster IPO. On its debut, December 24, 2020, its shares closed at Rs 594.2, a premium of 0ver 106% to its issue price of Rs 288. However, it’s been all downhill from there for the company.

As of this report, the stock is trading at Rs 329.25, after hitting its all-time low of Rs 328.4 today. Clearly, the markets don’t think the company’s numbers validated such a high stock price. However, that seems to be changing according to brokerage firm LKP Securities. The firm, in its March 17 report, had assigned a buy rating to the stock with a target price of Rs 627, an upside of 91% from its current levels.

The firm’s rationale for Mrs. Bector’s is:

One of the largest players in the biscuits and bakery segment in North India with a market share of around 4.5%.
A market leader in the branded bread segment. The bakery brand ‘English Oven’ commands
It has an extensive distribution network in India along with a global presence in 64 countries
It is one of the leading exporters of biscuits in India with “a strong foothold in the exports market with around 12% share of the total exports of biscuits from India in CY19”.
The company has improved its EBIDTA margins from around 12% in FY18 to around 17% in 9MFY21 with an overall improvement in the gross margins by 400bps over the same period.
Shares of Mrs. Bector’s closed at Rs 363 on March 17 when this report came out. It has fallen over 9% since then.

UPDATE 3-Oil falls on hopes that Suez Canal blockage might end soon

Oil fell on Monday as a container ship blocking Suez Canal for nearly a week was partially refloated raising hopes the busy waterway would soon be reopened and as fuel demand in Europe stayed weak.

Brent oil LCOc1 was down 29 cents, or 0.5%, at $64.28 a barrel by 0854 GMT. U.S. crude CLc1 fell 55 cents, or 1%, to $60.42 a barrel.

"Now that the Suez mini crisis is being resolved the oil market is left to its own fundamental devices again," said PVM Oil Associates analyst Tamas Varga.

"Attention will shift back to the stuttering inoculation programmes, the seemingly unstoppable rise in infection rates in several parts of the world and the upcoming OPEC meeting on April 1," he added.

The stranded container ship Ever Given has been partially floated and straightened in the Canal, with further tug operations set to resume when the tide rises later on Monday. have swung wildly in the last few days as traders and investors tried to weigh the impact of the blockage of a key trade transit point and the broader effect of lockdowns to stop coronavirus infections.

Market volatility is set to continue, said Jeffrey Halley, senior market analyst at OANDA.

"Given the volatility last week, Brent looks set to move to the lower end of its $60.00 to $65.00 a barrel range," he said, while U.S. oil is "likely to drop to the lower side of its $57.50 to $62.50 a barrel weekly range."

The market is getting some support from expectations that the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies will maintain lower output levels when they meet this week. lockdowns in Europe to curb a wave of coronavirus infections and the weak fuel demand also pressured prices, although England's stay-at-home lockdown order ended on Monday.

RIL to Sell Den Networks, Hathway Cable Shares at Discount via OFS

Shares of Den Networks Ltd (NS: DENN) and Hathway Cable & Datacom Ltd (NS: HAWY) are trading down after promoter Reliance Industries Ltd (NS:RELI) said that it would offload 11.63% and 19.09% stakes in both companies respectively to comply with minimum public shareholding norms.

RIL will sell Den shares at a floor price of Rs 48.5, a discount of 10.8% to its closing price of Rs 54.4 on March 25. Shares of Den are trading down 2.67% at Rs 52.95 as of this report. Hathway Cable shares have been hit harder and are trading at Rs 26.55, down 7.17% from their closing price of Rs 28.6 on March 25. The floor price for Hathway has been set at Rs 25.25.

The OFS (offer for sale) is open to non-retail investors today. Retail investors can participate in the OFS on Tuesday since Monday is a holiday on account of the Holi festival. In both OFSes, 10% of shares are reserved for retail investors.

RIL had acquired both these companies in 2018 through its subsidiaries and paid a total of Rs 5,230 crore for the same. It merged Den Networks and Hathway Cable with Network18 Media and Investments and TV18 Broadcast (NS:TVEB) in February 2020. The shares being offloaded are sold by Jio Futuristic Digital Holdings, Jio Digital Distribution Holdings, and Jio Television Distribution Holdings.

Follow FIIs to Understand Where Indian Markets are Headed

The last three trading sessions have seen FIIs (foreign institutional investors) selling Indian equities to the tune of Rs 2,847.12 crore. The BSE Sensex has fallen 1.35% in these three days.

FII buying has been a crucial factor for the bull run in Indian markets. Since August 2020, FIIs have net bought Rs 1,85,933.1 crore. Apart from September 2020, where FIIs were net sellers of Rs 11,410.69 crore, they have generally bullish on Indian equities.

During this same period, DIIs (domestic institutional investors) have net sold Rs 1,52,204.14 crore. The only month where DIIs bought more than they sold was September 2020, where they net bought just Rs 110.3 crore.

The last three days have seen DIIs turn net buyers worth Rs 625.81 crore. From the pattern that has been observed, if FIIs decide to sell again today, DIIs buying won’t make up for it and India could be looking at another red day in the markets.

To give you an idea of how FII selling impacted Indian markets in March, take a look at the data on March 12. Indian markets were trading up (this was after Dow Jones index in the US closed up 475 points) in early trade and around noon, markets began to book profits. FIIs were net sellers to the tune of Rs 942.6 crore on March 12 and Rs 1,101.35 crore on March 15. NSE and the BSE Sensex ended significantly lower on both days.

Anupam Rasayan Lists at Discount to Issue Price

Is the IPO frenzy coming to an end? 2021 has seen a slew of companies launch IPOs and subscribers lap them up in the hope that they will make solid listing gains. However, the last two IPOs have seen bad debuts.

Specialty chemicals manufacturer Anupam Rasayan India Ltd (BO: ANUY) made its debut today and listed at Rs 520, a discount of 6.36% to its issue price of Rs 555. Investing.com had said yesterday that Anupam would have a subdued listing since the GMP (grey market premium) for its shares had fallen from over 60% to less than 12%. When this happens, it is a sign that a lot of retail investors have been caught in a trap and the only exit is to sell (at a loss) when the market opens.

It was a similar situation with Easy Trip Planners Pvt Ltd (BO: EASM). The GMP for Easy Trip was over 85% but had fallen to less than 20% before its listing. On March 19, Easy Trip listed at a premium of 13% to its stock price and is now trading at Rs 181, below its issue price of Rs 187.

At the time of this report, Anupam Rasayan shares have fallen further and are now trading at Rs 513.25, down 7.5% from its issue price.

Paper Stocks Zoom as Govt May Ban Single-Use Plastic

The Indian government has come up with a draft regulation that can ban single-use plastic for products like cigarette packets, candy wrappers, ice-cream sticks, and film wraps across sweet boxes among others.

This caused share prices of paper stocks like Emami (NS: EMAM) Paper Mills Ltd (BO: EMAP), West Coast Paper Mills Ltd (NS: WSTC), and Orient Paper and Industries Ltd (NS: ORPP) to shoot up on March 16. Emami Paper ended 20% higher as it was locked in an upper circuit and closed the day at Rs 116.55. Astron Paper & Board Mill Ltd (NS: ASTO) closed 15% up at Rs 49.5 while West Coast Paper was up 8% at Rs 269. Tamil Nadu Newsprint And Papers Ltd (NS: TNNP) closed up 5% at Rs 150 while Orient Paper also gained 4.22% to close at Rs 29.65.

A Financial Express report said that the government has proposed to ban single-use plastics such as plastic sticks in ear-buds, balloons, candy-and-ice cream sticks, and plastic flags to be banned from January 1, 2022, while disposable plates, cups, glasses, cutlery, straw, trays, plastic wrapping around sweet-boxes, invitation cards, cigarette packets, etc, and plastic/PVC banners less than 100 microns thick be banned from July 1, 2022.

This is good news for paper stocks that have seen massive declines in demand from the newsprint industry as people’s reading habits changed during the pandemic, leading to closures of several editions across the country.

Metal Stocks Pulled Back Nifty; Dow Futures Point to a Green Opening Tomorrow

Indian markets had a volatile day today with the BSE Sensex falling almost 1,000 points before metal stocks helped a pullback. However, it wasn’t enough as Nifty ended down 0.67% (101.45 points) and Sensex ended down 0.78% (397 points).

With the US Treasury bond yields at a 13-month peak and rising COVID-1 cases in India, it seemed like investors didn’t have confidence in Indian markets today. The rising cases have led to another round of lockdowns in several regions in India that is causing business disruptions again.

Major NSE losers were Divi's Laboratories Ltd. (NS: DIVI), down 2.91%, and Bajaj Finserv Ltd (NS: BJFS), down 2.71%. GAIL Ltd (NS:GAIL), Bajaj Finance Ltd (NS:BJFN) and Hero MotoCorp Ltd (NS:HROM) lost 2.55%, 2.48% and 2.43% respectively. JSW Steel Ltd (NS: JSTL) gained 2.44% today followed by Tech Mahindra Ltd (NS: TEML) at 2.37%. Tata Steel Ltd (NS: TISC) and Hindalco Industries Ltd. (NS:HALC) lost 2.26% and 1.65% respectively.

Nifty Bank bore the brunt of the damage in the first half of the trading session and was down over 1,000 points before recovering to close in the red by 314 points or 0.88%.

Asian stocks ended mixed with Nikkei 225up 0.17% and KOSPI 50 and the Shanghai Composite falling 0.28% and 0.96% respectively.

Europe has opened positive on recovery hopes led by the vaccine with FTSE 100 up 0.33%, CAC 40 up 0.32%, and DAX up 0.21%. US futures are trading positive with Dow Jones 30 Futures, S&P 500 Futures and Nasdaq 100 Futures up 0.37%, 0.2% and 0.18% respectively.

Why AurionPro Has Gained 44% in Two Days

Technology products company Aurionpro Solutions Ltd (NS: APSL) shares have hit the upper circuit for two straight trading sessions after the organization announced that it signed a strategic partnership with Future-Tech, UK, for data center design and consultancy projects in India & South Asia.

The stock closed on March 10 at Rs 120.65 after trading at Rs 83.8 on March 8. Aurion believes that the Indian data center market is likely to reach $4 billion. It added, “COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated the pace of digitization and as the world is gearing up for the 5G technology, the requirement for the world-class Data Centres will increase multifold.” The company believes it is entering this market at precisely the right moment.

Aurionpro has also signed up with one of the customers and is providing consultancy and assistance for rolling out 100 MW data centers within the next few years.

This is the second big announcement coming out of the company within the last month. On February 12, Aurionpro announced that one of the largest public sector banks in India has selected iCashpro+ for their financial supply chain requirement. Financial supply chain management offers the bank’s customers technology-enabled Seller/ Buyer financing products to meet their working capital needs via cost-effective financing products. iCashpro+ enables a shorter time-to-market for the bank’s clients.

UPDATE 1-Miners, energy stocks lift UK shares on U.S. stimulus boost

(For a Reuters live blog on U.S., UK, and European stock markets, click LIVE/ or type LIVE/ in a new window)

* Miners top gainers on FTSE 100

* Housing market slowed in February

* IG Group jumps on strong results

* FTSE 100 up 0.1%, FTSE 250 adds 0.6% (Adds comment, updates prices)

March 11 (Reuters) - British shares rose on Thursday, as higher commodity prices boosted mining and energy stocks after the United States passed a massive stimulus bill, while online trading platform IG jumped on a surge in third-quarter revenue.

The blue-chip FTSE 100 index.FTSE rose 0.1%, with mining stocks, including Rio Tinto RIO.L, Anglo American AAL.L, and BHP Group BHPB.L, gaining between 1.2% and 2.6%. MET/L

Oil heavyweights BP BP.L and Royal Dutch Shell RDSa.L were also among the biggest boosts as oil prices rose. O/R

The U.S. House of Representatives gave final approval on Wednesday to one of the largest economic stimulus measures in American history, a sweeping $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief bill. the last few weeks, the markets are beginning to price in debt tightening for two to three years time," said James Smith, developed market economist at ING.

"The next thing for UK markets is BoE's (Bank of England's) meeting next week, whether or not the bank still pushes back against the recent rise in yields."

The FTSE 100 has rebounded more than 37% from a coronavirus-induced crash last year, but the pace of gains has slowed recently as investors fear a vaccine-led economic recovery could lead to higher inflation.

The slow start to 2021 for Britain's housing market stretched into February before Finance Minister Rishi Sunak announced new measures that could revive a property boom that began after the first lockdown last year, a survey showed. domestically focused mid-cap FTSE 250 index.FTMC rose 0.6%, led by industrials stocks.

IG Group IGG.L rose 3.8% on a jump in third-quarter revenue despite a tough comparison a year ago, driven by high trading during the period that saw a retail frenzy in financial markets. company Go-Ahead Group GOG.L rose 8.7% as it expected more people to use public transport for work and leisure in the spring as coronavirus-led restrictions ease.

BEML Stock Rises 134% on Govt Divestment Push

Between May 1, 2020, and October 30, 2020, shares of heavy equipment manufacturer BEML Ltd (NS: BEML) traded flat. They moved in a range of Rs 561-Rs 615. From November 2020, however, the stock began to attract attention and zoomed up almost 134%, and is currently trading at Rs 1,421.

Why? That’s because the government’s push for divesting a part of its 54.03% stake in the company began in earnest. A March 8 report in LiveMint said, “At least six companies, including Tata Motors (NS: TAMO) Ltd, Mahindra, and Mahindra Ltd and Ashok Leyland (NS: ASOK) Ltd, are looking to buy a 26% stake in state-run defense equipment maker BEML Ltd", two people aware of the developments said.

“Bharat Forge Ltd and Megha Engineering and Infrastructure Ltd may also submit expressions of interest for the government’s stake in BEML", the people said on condition of anonymity.

It helps that BEML’s reported stellar numbers for the third quarter of FY21, which ended December 2020. At the end of the December quarter, the company’s order book was Rs 11,620 crore, which was nearly 4x its FY20 revenue. The company saw an inflow of Rs 1,730 crore, up 49% from Q3 FY20, in Q3 FY21.

On February 8, 2021, BEML signed MoUs (memorandum of understanding) with 11 entities to explore businesses in the defense and aerospace sectors.