Stock Market LIVE: Indices to open on stable footing; SGX Nifty in green

Elon Musk Nears World’s Richest Title Again

Elon Musk is closing in on recapturing his title as the world’s richest person since falling behind Bernard Arnault in December, thanks to Tesla Inc.’s 74% rise this year.

It may take a bit longer for Musk to overtake the French luxury-goods titan, though, after disclosing this week he gave 11.6 million Tesla shares to unnamed charitable causes between August and December. The stock was worth about $1.9 billion, based on closing prices on the days Musk donated the securities.

The disclosure comes as Musk, 51, has narrowed the gap to Arnault to less than $1 billion amid signs of growing demand for Tesla’s electric vehicles.

He now has a fortune of about $191.3 billion after his latest donation, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. That’s down from a peak of more than $300 billion in late 2021 before he decided to buy Twitter in a leveraged buyout near the peak of the tech market, but up more than $54 billion this year. (Bloomberg)

Adani Power’s deal to acquire DB Power expires

Billionaire Gautam Adani-Adani Power’s planned ₹7,017-crore acquisition of thermal power assets of DB Power Ltd has collapsed as the deadline to complete the transaction expired. The agreement to acquire the company was announced in August 2022.

“We wish to inform that the long stop date under the memorandum of understanding dated August 18, 2022, has expired,” Adani Power said in an exchange filing on Wednesday, without providing any information about the extension of dates or agreement renegotiation.

By announcing the expiry of the long stop date, the power sector arm of the Adani Group has virtually called off the acquisition deal. (Read More)

Buy or sell: Vaishali Parekh recommends 3 stocks to buy today

Vaishali Parekh of Prabhudas Lilladher recommended three stocks to buy today and those three stocks are REC, Tata Consumer and McDowell or United Spirits Ltd.

1] REC: Buy at ₹115.50, target ₹120, stop loss ₹113;

2] Tata Consumer: Buy at ₹728, target ₹750, stop loss ₹718; and

3] United Spirits or McDowell: Buy at ₹787, target ₹815, stop loss ₹777. (Read More)

MSCI postpones implementation of updates for two Adani Group firms

Index provider MSCI said it will postpone implementation of updates to the Foreign Inclusion Factors for two of Adani Group companies–Adani Total Gas and Adani Transmission, to the May index review.

It said that the reversal of the updates to Adani Total Gas and Adani Transmission in the February Index Review will be reflected in the MSCI Index Product files starting today (16 Feb).

MSCI will also apply a special treatment for all Adani Group’s associated securities in the MSCI Equity Indexes starting from February 2023. (Read More)

IndiGo co-founder Rakesh Gangwal’s wife to sell stake worth $350 mn in block deal

Shobha Gangwal, wife of IndiGo co-founder Rakesh Gangwal, is set to sell a 4% stake in India’s largest airline, worth $353 million, through a block deal scheduled for Thursday, according to deal terms reviewed by Mint.

This is the second instance of a share sale by the Gangwal family in InterGlobe Aviation Ltd, which operates IndiGo, after selling a 2.8% stake in the airline for approximately $250 million in September. Gangwal family owned a 33.78% stake in the airline as of 31 December, stock exchange data showed. (Read More)

Wall St closed higher on Wednesday while the dollar gained after strong economic data

Wall Street’s three major indexes closed higher on Wednesday and the dollar rose along with U.S. Treasury yields after U.S. retail sales data for January rose by the most in nearly two years, suggesting a resilient economy while fueling concerns about further interest rate hikes.

After two straight monthly declines, the Commerce Department said retail sales surged 3.0% last month, the largest increase since March 2021, after declining by an unrevised 1.1% in December.

Paired with Tuesday’s data showing a monthly inflation pick-up in January, evidence of an increase in consumer spending fed worries the U.S. Federal Reserve would keep increasing rates for longer than some investors had hoped.

“It’s all about the Fed. As figures like retail sales come out quite strong, this is more food for the Fed to keep raising rates, maybe at reduced pace, but, at the very least, to keep them higher for longer,” said Bruce Zaro, managing director at Granite Wealth Management.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 38.78 points, or 0.11%, to 34,128.05, the S&P 500 gained 11.47 points, or 0.28%, to 4,147.6 and the Nasdaq Composite added 110.45 points, or 0.92%, to 12,070.59.

MSCI’s gauge of stocks across the globe gained 0.04% but has risen almost 8% so far this year. (Reuters)