S&P Dow Jones Indices launches three new climate change index series

The S&P Global 1200 Carbon Efficient Index Series is designed to measure the performance of the constituents of the S&P Global 1200, overweighting those that have lower levels of carbon emissions and underweighting those with higher levels, in their respective GICS sectors.

S&P Dow Jones Indices (S&P DJI), one of the world’s leading providers of financial market indices, has today announced the launch of three new climate change index series: S&P Global 1200 Carbon Efficient Index Series, S&P Global 1200 Carbon Efficient Select Index Series and S&P Global 1200 Fossil Fuel Free Index Series. All three index series are derived from the constituents of the S&P Global 1200.
 
The S&P Global 1200 Carbon Efficient Index Series is designed to measure the performance of the constituents of the S&P Global 1200, overweighting those that have lower levels of carbon emissions and underweighting those with higher levels, in their respective GICS sectors.
 
The S&P Global 1200 Carbon Efficient Select Index Series is also designed to measure performance of companies in the S&P Global 1200 that have a reduced carbon footprint. The methodology excludes those companies that have the largest relative carbon footprints rather than reweighting the constituents.
 
The Carbon Footprint for both of the Carbon Efficient and Select Index Series is defined as the company’s annual greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and is calculated by Trucost Plc.
 
The S&P Global 1200 Fossil Fuel Free Index Series is designed to measure the performance of companies in the S&P Global 1200 that do not own fossil fuel reserves. The exclusion rules are based on any use of fossil fuels, including third party and in-house power generation. With respect to coal, the exclusion relates to thermal coal only and does not cover companies which are exclusively engaged in the extraction of metallurgical or coking coal. RobecoSAM conducted the research for ownership of fossil fuel reserves.
 
“Climate change and its impact present a challenge from an investment perspective,” says Julia Kochetygova, Head of Sustainability Indices at S&P Dow Jones Indices. “Many investors are trying to facilitate the transition to a low carbon economy by financing projects in the renewable energy sector, avoiding high-carbon producing companies or minimizing their exposure to fossil fuel companies. The three new S&P DJI index series are designed to provide alternative performance narratives to standard benchmarks, being comprised of those companies meeting the strict fossil fuel and carbon efficient standards set within each index series.”
 
“Trucost continues to be the gold standard for comprehensive and rigorously verified carbon data,” states Neil McIndoe, Head of Environmental Finance at Trucost Plc. “Taking account of companies’ operational and often more significant supply chain’s carbon exposure ensures a robust approach to risk reduction. We are delighted to continue our long-standing collaboration with S&P Dow Jones Indices by providing the data to create new indices which offer investors significantly lower carbon exposure and benchmark financial performance.”
 
“Climate change is a large and complex issue, and it is inextricably linked to many other sustainability challenges,” says Guido Giese, Head of Indices at RobecoSAM. “Many investors understand that exposure to fossil fuels might create a new type of valuation risk in their portfolios. The S&P Global 1200 Fossil Fuel Free Index Series was developed for investors who want to address exactly this new risk.”

Rupee strengthens after Fed’s status quo stance

The Indian rupee is currently trading at 66.01, stronger by 44 paise from its previous close of paise from 66.45 on Wednesday

Indian rupee, in-line with most of the emerging market currency appreciated on Friday after the US Federal Reserve kept benchmark rate unchanged at the end of its two-day policy review that concluded on Thursday night. This move which diminished the appeal of safe haven currency, dollar worked in the favour of all emerging markets’ assets. On the global front, dollar depreciated in Asian trading on Friday after skidding to three-week lows against the euro and a basket of currencies following the Federal Reserve's decision to hold interest rates steady and cut its long-term U.S. growth outlook.

The Indian rupee is currently trading at 66.01, stronger by 44 paise from its previous close of paise from 66.45 on Wednesday. The currency touched a high and low of 65.98 and 66.22 respectively. The Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) reference rate for the dollar stood at 66.50 and for Euro stood at 75.02 on September 16, 2015. While, the RBI’s reference rate for the Yen stood at 55.34, the reference rate for the Great Britain Pound (GBP) stood at 101.9977.

CAD to be ~1.5% of GDP in FY16: RBI Dy chief

“This year, our current account deficit (CAD) would be in the region of 1.5% of GDP,” he said at an event in New Delhi organised by industry body FICCI.

RBI Deputy Governor Urjit Patel on Thursday said that the central bank expects India's current account deficit (CAD) around 1.5% of GDP in the current fiscal year.

“This year, our current account deficit (CAD) would be in the region of 1.5% of GDP,” he said at an event in New Delhi organised by industry body FICCI.

For the first quarter ended June, CAD narrowed to 1.2% of GDP at US$6.2bn.

On interest rates, Patel said that low inflation over medium-to-long term will help bring down the cost of capital.

Retail inflation slipped to a record low of 3.66% in August while WPI inflation fell to a historic low of (-) 4.95%.

Patel also said that fiscal deficits of both, the central and state governments also play an important role in the cost of capital as they are the largest borrowers.

The monetary policy review by the RBI is on 29th September.

US growth uncertainty may have propelled US Fed to hold rates: Raghuram Rajan

India can be more successful & Influential than it is today, added Rajan.

At the CII conference on Friday, Governor Raghuram Rajan reportedly said that the growth has to be obtained in the right way in difficult situation. 

India can be more successful & Influential than it is today, added Rajan.

Raghuram Rajan also said that Industrial Nations is still struggling.  US Growth Uncertainty may have propelled US Fed to hold rates.

17 Stocks in focus today

Check out the companies which will be in focus during trade today based on recent and latest news developments.

8K Miles Software Services: The company has entered into a Stock Purchase Agreement with NexAge Technologies USA, Inc.

PTC India Financial Services: The company approved Rs. 1,000 Cr loan for Renewable Energy projects.

UltraTech Cement: The company has got Environment Ministry's clearance to expand capacity at its Awarpur plant in Maharasthra, which would entail an investment of Rs. 248 crore.

Suzlon Energy: The company has approved the allotment of 3.53 crore equity shares worth Rs. 54.58 crore to its bond holders.

Maruti Suzuki: The auto company plans to kickstart an investor roadshow next month to explain its move for letting parent Suzuki Motor Corp own upcoming plant in Gujarat.

HCL Technologies: HCL Technologies announced that it is collaborating with IBM to jointly develop Internet of Things (IoT) solutions to help customers on their IoT journey.

Jet Airways: The company  has raised USD80mn through a joint mop-up exercise with its partner Etihad. The funds are a part of the $500 million that Etihad raised along with its equity partners Etihad Airways, Etihad Airport Services, airberlin, Air Serbia, Air Seychelles, Alitalia and Jet Airways.

ARSS Infrastructure Projects Ltd: The company has decided to transfer its 51% holding in ARSS BUS Terminal Pvt Ltd to Welspun Enterprise Ltd, for setting a long standing dispute and litigation, said media reports.

Essar Oil Ltd: The company will shut its refinery in Gujarat for 30 days for maintenance, the plant's first major break in four years, as per media reports.

Jindal Stainless: The company said it will temporarily shut down operations of the ferro alloys unit in Vizianagaram (Andhra Pradesh) due to differences between the management and workers.

National Buildings Construction Corporation Ltd (NBCC) said it is developing an e-commerce portal and will come up with it in next two months.

Dewan Housing Finance: The company has allotted 14,58,56,530 bonus equity shares in the ratio of 1:1. Earlier in July, the board of directors of DHFL had approved to issue of bonus shares in the 1:1 ratio.

Novartis India: Novartis India said that Elanco India has informed the company that the FIPB has approved its proposal to acquire Novartis India's animal health division.

GMR Energy: The company said its two gas- based plants in Andhra Pradesh having a capacity of 1,138 MW will get government subsidy on use of re-gasified liquefied natural gas for six months from October to March.

Indiabulls Housing Finance Ltd: Copthall Mauritius Investment Ltd has acquired over 5 per cent stake in Indiabulls Housing Finance LtdBSE -2.54 % (IBHFL). Copthall Mauritius has acquired 19,324,503 shares equivalent to 5.334 per cent in Indiabulls Housing Finance.

RIL: Fueled by rumours of accidental death of one of the labourers, two worker groups clashed within the labour colony near Reliance Industries Limited (RIL)'s Jamnagar refinery site.

Power Grid: The company said its shareholders have approved a proposal to raise up to Rs140bn through issuance of bonds from domestic and external sources in 2016-17.

Power Grid plans to raise Rs.14,000 crore

The funds will be used for capital expenditure of Power Grid, says report.

Power Grid reportedly said that its shareholders have approved a proposal to raise up to Rs.14,000 crore through issuance of bonds from domestic and external sources in 2016-17.

Report says that the company will raise the funds in up to eight tranches/offers.

The funds will be used for capital expenditure of Power Grid, says report.

The company has planned to raise up to Rs.12,000 crore through domestic bonds during the current fiscal year. 

8K Miles Software Services to acquire NexAge Technologies

The total consideration for the deal is $3,000,000 in combination of cash and stock and includes the existing NexAge’s debt of $800,000.

8K Miles Software Services, Ltd, the leading provider of secure Cloud solutions today announced that its US subsidiary 8K Miles Software Services, Inc. has entered into a Stock Purchase Agreement  with NexAge Technologies USA, Inc. , one of the principal regulatory compliance and technology solutions company in the U.S. with more than 15 years of experience in Computer Systems Validation, Quality Review, Vendor Audits, Data Analysis and Migration, Analytics, Change Management, as well as Governance for the Life Science and Pharmaceutical industry. The agreement includes acquisition of Intellectual Property, technical solutions, client contracts, and employees. The total consideration for the deal is $3,000,000 in combination of cash and stock and includes the existing NexAge’s debt of $800,000.

The Life Sciences Industry in the US is currently facing tough IT challenges driven by a need to create more innovative solutions within shrinking IT budgets which makes it even more important to design agile cloud centric solutions and business models that are rapidly scalable. 8K Miles CloudEzRx framework enables customers run critical workloads securely on the cloud and is designed to meet security, analytical and operational needs while addressing the unique regulatory compliance requirements faced by Pharmaceutical and Life Sciences companies. The domain expertise of NexAge and proprietary IT solutions in data migration and analytics will enhance and further improve the overall portfolio of 8K Miles solutions targeted to the Life Sciences industry. Through this acquisition, 8K Miles gains access to the network of Enterprise customers and strategic partners acquired by NexAge during the last decade.

Suresh Venkatachari, Chairman & CEO of 8K Miles said, “With the acquisition of NexAge we will further boost our world class CloudEzRx solution that has been designed with an ultimate goal to address qualification and validation compliance for applications running on the cloud securely with the larger purpose of empowering Pharmaceutical and Life Sciences enterprises to utilize cloud services across value and supply chains”.

Dr. Suresh U. Kumar, Founder and Executive Chairman of NexAge Technologies USA, Inc. said “As a boutique firm with a niche expertise and experience in the US Life Sciences industry, I believe that becoming part of 8K Miles will help us take our service offerings to an entirely new level. Take the deep industry knowledge, strong relationships, and high levels of integrity and trust with employees and clients that NexAge has built and combine that with the secure cloud technology expertise that 8K Miles brings to the table – and we have a win-win partnership for all the stakeholders involved”. “I am very excited to welcome NexAge’s strong management team and employees to be an essential part of the 8K Miles growth story”, summarized TV. Ravichandran, Senior Vice President, Professional Services of 8K Miles who facilitated the acquisition.

Tata Steel to sell Rs. 1250 crore worth shares of Tata Motors

The shares are being offered in an indicative range of 324.50 rupees to 338.05 rupees each, with the deal worth up to 12.5 billion Indian rupees, said a Reuters news report.

Indian steel conglomerate Tata Steel Ltd is reportedly selling its shares in automaker Tata Motors Ltd of worth nearly Rs. 1250 crore.

As per media reports, the shares are being offered in an indicative range of 324.50 rupees to 338.05 rupees each, with the deal worth up to 12.5 billion Indian rupees.

Stock Price 

Tata Steel Ltd is currently trading at Rs. 234, up by 3.5 points or 1.52% from its previous closing of Rs. 230.5 on the BSE.

The scrip opened at Rs. 234 and has touched a high and low of Rs. 234 and Rs. 234 respectively. So far 10237 shares were traded on the counter. The current market cap of the company is Rs. 22386.52 crore.

The BSE group 'A' stock of face value Rs. 10 has touched a 52 week high of Rs. 512.9 on 19-Sep-2014 and a 52 week low of Rs. 200.1 on 25-Aug-2015. Last one week high and low of the scrip stood at Rs. 243.85 and Rs. 227.1 respectively.

The promoters holding in the company stood at 31.35 % while Institutions and Non-Institutions held 41.11 % and 25.56 % respectively.

The stock is currently trading above its 200 DMA.

Asian Shares Slip, Dollar Soft as Fed Stands pat and Eyes China

Tokyo: Asian shares fell on Friday after the Federal Reserve held off on raising interest rates, reviving concerns about weakness in both the U.S. and global economies.

The dollar was on the defensive, having fallen more than 1 per cent after the Fed's decision, while U.S. bond yields plunged, erasing their sharp rises in the past couple of days.

The Nikkei average fell nearly 2 per cent and MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan dropped 0.2 per cent.

Major Wall Street indexes gave up a 1 per cent rally to end lower, with the S&P 500 index losing 0.3 per cent. S&P futures dipped 0.2 per cent in the Asian morning.

Fed Chair Janet Yellen said the outlook abroad has appeared to become less certain, adding that recent falls in U.S. stock prices and a rise in the value of the dollar already were tightening U.S. financial market conditions.

Yellen said she wanted to see more improvement in the U.S. labour market and expressed concern over weak inflation.

Referring to the global outlook, Yellen explicitly said the central bank was focusing on the slowdown in China and emerging markets, saying one key issue is whether there might be a risk of a more abrupt slowdown in China.

"I think today's decision will prove positive for markets in the end. But volatility is likely to remain high as markets, like the Fed, will still have to confirm the U.S. economy is withstanding the adverse impact from the global economy," said Yoshinori Shigemi, global market strategist at JPMorgan Asset Management.

Analysts and traders had been nearly evenly split on whether the Fed would raise rates for the first time in nearly a decade, though markets had priced in only a one-in-four chance of a hike.

The Fed's fresh economic projections showed 13 of 17 policymakers still foresee raising rates at least once in 2015, down from 15 at the last forecast made in June.

Financial markets, which have constantly forecast a far slower pace of policy tightening than the Fed's projections, were less convinced.

Instruments such as federal fund futures and overnight indexed swap are pricing in only about one in two chance of a rate hike by the end of year.

The Fed's decision to keep rates at zero could give some relief to emerging markets, which have long suffered capital outflows on expectation of higher U.S. rates.

The Malaysian ringgit, one of the worst hit currencies this year because of low oil prices as well as Malaysia's relatively small foreign currency reserves, rose about 0.5 per cent in early trade.

But trade-reliant Asian economies are likely to remain under pressure as China's economy slows.

As the prospects of higher interest rates down the road had been a major attraction for the dollar, the U.S. currency was wobbly against many other currencies.

The dollar index against a basket of major currencies was little changed at 94.559 on Friday, having fallen to three-week low of 94.360 on Thursday.

The euro jumped to a three-week high of $1.14415 while the British pound also hit a three-week high of $1.5628. The yen also edged up 120.12 to the dollar from Thursday's low at 120.995.

Longer-dated U.S. debt yields plunged, with the two-year notes yield dropping to 0.686 per cent, returning to its familiar range only a day after it hit a 4 1/2-year high of 0.819 per cent.

The 10-year notes yield slipped to 2.192 per cent from Wednesday's 1 1/2-month high of 2.303 per cent.

Commodity prices were relatively well-supported with U.S. crude futures last trading at $46.83 per barrel, down slightly from Thursday's high of $47.71 but still up almost 5 per cent on the week.

Wall Street Ends Down after Choppy Session; Fed Holds Rates

Major Wall Street indexes gave up a 1-per cent rally to end lower on Thursday after the Federal Reserve cited concerns about global economic growth in its decision to hold off on raising interest rates.

The U.S. central bank held rates steady in a bow to worries about the global economy, financial market volatility and sluggish inflation at home, but it left open the possibility of a modest policy tightening later this year.

The S&P financial index led the decline after being among the top performers throughout the prior five sessions.

The decline in financial stocks, which benefit from higher rates, alongside the rise in utility stocks suggest that investors now believe interest rates will remain low for longer than previously expected.

Investors' focus turned to the next Fed meeting on Oct. 27-28 as they were still left to figure out the timing for the Fed's first benchmark rate increase since 2006.

Trading was extremely choppy after the Fed's 2 p.m. statement, with major U.S. indexes swinging between session highs and lows. The three major U.S. indexes all rose more than 1 per cent for a while during Fed Chair Janet Yellen's 2.30 p.m. press conference, but then retreated.

"All the uncertainty that was in the market leading up to this meeting is still in place. There was very little clarity given," said John Culbertson, chief investment officer of Context Asset Management in Philadelphia.

"You're going to hear the same conversation in the markets for the next 30 days that you heard in the last 90 days," he said, citing difficulties making "high-conviction trades."

Questions about when the Fed will shift gears have dogged Wall Street for months - a situation complicated in recent weeks by market turbulence linked to slowing growth in China and worries about the health of the global economy.

"In our minds it was the correct decision. The inflation data does not support a rate hike at this time. You throw in some of the global turbulence and (that) supports the decision to leave rates unchanged," said Brian Rehling, co-head of global fixed income at Wells Fargo in St. Louis.

The Dow Jones industrial average fell 65.21 points, or 0.39 per cent, to 16,674.74, the S&P 500 lost 5.11 points, or 0.26 per cent, to 1,990.2 and the Nasdaq Composite added 4.71 points, or 0.1 per cent, to 4,893.95.

Ahead of the news, U.S. interest rates futures had indicated only a 25-per cent chance the central bank would raise rates on Thursday, and 35 of 80 economists polled by Reuters earlier this week expected an increase.

Only four of the 10 major S&P sectors ended higher, with the utility index, up 1.3 per cent, having the best day. The financial services index turned negative during Yellen's comments and ended down 1.3 per cent while the telecommunications index dropped 1.1 per cent.

Trading was heavy with almost 8 billion shares changing hands on U.S. exchanges on Wednesday, in line with the 8.1 billion daily average for the previous 20 trading days, which saw a spike in volume according to Thomson Reuters data.

Advancing issues outnumbered decliners on the NYSE 1,866 to 1,201, for a 1.55-to-1 ratio on the upside; on the Nasdaq, 1,546 issues rose and 1,244 fell for a 1.24-to-1 ratio favouring advancers.

The S&P 500 posted 15 new 52-week highs and 2 lows; the Nasdaq recorded 59 new highs and 31 lows.

Sensex Likely to Open Higher as Fed Keeps Rates Steady, Rupee Rallies

The Sensex and Nifty are likely to open higher after the US Federal Reserve kept interest rates unchanged. The SGX CNX Nifty was trading 0.37 per cent higher at 7,970, indicating a positive start for Indian stock markets. The rupee rallied 32 paise to inch up to 66.14/dollar in early trade today.

Here are top 10 developments

1) The gains in the Indian markets are likely to be capped with some Asian markets struggling today amid worries over global growth. Overnight, the Wall Street also gave up gains to end lower.

2) US Federal Reserve kept interest rates unchanged on Thursday, acknowledging the worries about the global economy, financial market volatility and sluggish inflation at home, but left open the possibility of a modest policy tightening later this year.

3) Referring to the global outlook, Fed chairperson Janet Yellen explicitly said the central bank was focusing on the slowdown in China and emerging markets, saying one key issue is whether there might be a risk of a more abrupt slowdown in China.

4) The Fed chairperson's cautious commentary on emerging countries is also likely to foreign investors cautious on Indian markets, analysts say.

5) Analysts would be closely watching how fund flows from foreign investors, who sold a record Rs 16,877 crore (net) worth of domestic stocks in August, leading to the recent selloff in Indian markets. On top of that, they sold nearly Rs 7,000 crore so far this month.

6) Analysts say the next trigger for markets would be the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) policy review on September 29. Most analysts say the RBI may cut rates by at least 25 bps.

7) RBI chief Raghuram Rajan had earlier indicated the central bank may take a mid-policy rate action if needed.

8) The value of the rupee will also be closely watched. A Fed rate hike could have hurt the Indian currency.

9) Despite the uncertainty over Fed move out of the way for now, analysts don't see meaningful upside to India markets (Nifty) beyond 8,100 in the short term.

10) They say with the forthcoming earnings season beginning next month and Bihar elections would keep markets cautious.