Choppiness doubles Nifty option prices… The cost of buying Nifty options that expire in the first week of November has doubled as market participants are betting on a surge in volatility ahead of the outcome of the US presidential elections. Analysts said investors and traders are buying put weekly options to hedge their share portfolios or creating a trading strategy involving combinations of options that will benefit from wild swings on either side of the market.

Online retail spending may be back with a bang, but credit card companies have bad news on business travel spending, which could cast a pall of gloom for travel, hospitality and entertainment businesses. American Express on Friday projected that business travel spending may not pick up before early 2022. Credit card companies have been hit hard as the pandemic-induced recession has forced them to lay off workers as consumers stay home. The only bright spot, if any, for the card issuer was a 32% jump in consumer retail spending in September quarter over last year.

Q2 earnings show demand recovery… After a drop in sales and profits in the June quarter, India Inc was able to report a year-on-year growth in the September quarter helped by a gradual demand recovery, supply chain restoration and higher cost efficiencies, result trends so far show. Companies in the banking, consumers goods, IT, and pharma sectors added to profit growth while automobiles, realty, and textiles reported a fall in profit.

MNCs plan major India investments… Large MNCs and Indian consumer companies including Nestle, HUL, PepsiCo and Britannia are stepping up investments in anticipation of rising demand after witnessing a gradual revival in the September quarter as the country emerges from lockdown. Nestle India committed fresh investments of Rs 2,600 crore over the next three to four years, PepsiCo said it will raise its earlier investment target at its new snacks plant in Uttar Pradesh from Rs 500 crore to Rs 814 crore, Britannia said it would invest in three facilities — in Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh and Bihar.

More PSUs to be put up for strategic sale… NITI Aayog has begun the groundwork for selecting the next set of PSUs for strategic sale and disinvestment. A preliminary meeting will be held at the Aayog on Monday to identify more state-owned companies across sectors that can be put up for sale. The Aayog has asked different ministries to recommend the names of PSUs that can be considered for strategic sale, where both ownership and control will be transferred.

RIL rolls back pay cut in hydrocarbon unit… RIL is rolling back salary cuts and paying performance bonuses that had been deferred to those employed in its hydrocarbon business. And, in a first for the business house, the hydrocarbon segment will also offer an advance 30% of the variable pay from next year’s payouts to its employees as a goodwill gesture for working during the pandemic.

IndusInd denies talks with Kotak for a sellout… IndusInd Bank denied having any exploratory takeover talks with Kotak Mahindra Bank and said the lender has unstinted support from its promoters, the Hinduja family. Over the weekend, Bloomberg reported that Uday Kotak and the Hinduja family had held initial talks for an all-stock acquisition of the midcap lender through a deal, under which the founders of IndusInd Bank could retain a stake in the lender after a deal.

Singapore court blocks RIL-Future deal… The Singapore International Arbitration Centre has passed an interim order asking Future Group to put its plans of selling its retail business to Reliance Group on hold and wait for the final judgment on the plea filed by Amazon. Future Group is likely to move Delhi High Court in the next few days challenging the interim order. However, a person aware of the development said SIAC order cannot be enforced in India until ratified by an Indian court.

FT plans to move SC after HC bar… Franklin Templeton Mutual Fund may appeal in the Supreme Court against ‘aspects’ of the Karnataka High Court’s order that directed the fund house to obtain the consent of unitholders of the six debt mutual fund schemes before winding them up. Franklin’s India head Sanjay Sapre said the fund will seek SC directions regarding return of cash of over Rs 5,200 crore that four of the six schemes have received from issuers.

Independent market experts  say the bigger trend that emerged in the market last week was from the midcap space, which saw some very good comeback. “This could probably be an indication that the benchmark indices are going into a mode of consolidation, but the midcap end of the market is where there could be a lot of trading opportunities. The good part is that it is not just a single day price recovery where you see these stocks move up 5-10% and then there is no follow through. Every time the market moves up, you see new sectors and new stocks participating.” say experts.