Listen In: Crypto payments are not all about Bitcoin anymore | The Economic Times Podcast

– Tata Motors eyes 50k EV sales in FY23
– Xpressbees headed to unicorn club, in talks for $300 million
– Metro AG reviewing cash & carry biz in India

Now lemme give you a quick glance on the state of the markets.

Asian stocks opened mostly higher Monday as investors weighed worries over a tightening of monetary policy by the US Fed and awaited Chinese economic data due later in the day. MSCI’s index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was down by 0.33 per cent.

Elsewhere, the yield on 10-year Treasuries advanced eight basis points to 1.78% Friday. The dollar clung to a late week bounce on Monday as investors braced for January’s US Federal Reserve meeting and raised bets it will chart a year ahead holding several rate hikes, while China surprised analysts with a benchmark cut. Bitcoin was around $43,000.

That said, here’s what is making news.

Following last week’s gain of 2.5% in the Nifty, technical and derivative analysts expect the index to head towards 18,400- 18,500 in the coming days. The index is likely to find support around 17,900 followed by 17,700. Stocks of state-owned companies, metals and real estate companies are likely to outperform in the coming days, said analysts.

India’s stock indices are likely to head higher in the coming days as investors focus on corporate earnings and the upcoming Union Budget amid continued concerns around rising cases of Covid-19. Hindustan Unilever, Reliance Industries and Bajaj Finance are among those scheduled to announce their results for the quarter ended December this week.

Indian companies raised $6 billion selling offshore bonds during January 1-14, the most in the first fortnight of a year, showing the confidence of international investors in India’s economy despite looming uncertainties globally.

LASTLY,

Consumers and businesses are increasingly starting to use digital tokens other than Bitcoin for purchases, according to BitPay Inc., one of the biggest crypto payments processors in the world. Last year, Bitcoin’s use at merchants that use BitPay dropped to about 65% of processed payments, down from 92% in 2020, the company told Bloomberg. With Bitcoin’s price rising 60% last year, despite the fourth-quarter volatility, many investors may also have chosen to hold onto the world’s biggest cryptocurrency instead of spending it. Many remember Bitcoin’s first commercial transaction, in which a programmer spent Bitcoins now worth billions on two pizza pies.

NOW Before I go, here is a look at some of the stocks buzzing this morning…

Tata Motors is taking an early lead in the electric vehicles race with a plan to produce 50,000 EVs in the next fiscal year starting April.

UPL Corporation, international arm of agrochemicals company UPL Limited, has raised a $700-million sustainability loan from international banks such as Societe Generale, HSBC, and Italy’s Intesa.

Indian Oil Corp has bagged city gas licenses for 9 out of the 15 high-potential geographical areas (GAs) in the latest bidding round and plans to invest Rs 7,000 crore in developing infrastructure in these areas, the company said in a statement.

Footwear retail chain Metro Brands has reported a 54.63 per cent jump in consolidated net profit to Rs 100.85 crore for the third quarter ended December 2021.

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Do also check out over two dozen stock recommendations for today’s trade from top analysts on ETMarkets.com.

That’s it for now. Stay with us for all the market news through the day. Happy investing!