The rise of the NSE, meanwhile, mirrors the explosion of retail investing in India, as millions of mom-and-pop investors entered the stock market during the pandemic. Fuelled by cheap mobile data and rising smartphone use, the number of online trading accounts surged from about 30 million to more than 200 million.

Its listing, long delayed by a host of governance issues, signals the “maturing” of India’s market infrastructure and the broad-basing of its investor base, Feroze Azeez, of Anand Rathi Wealth Limited, a wealth management firm, told the BBC.

The exchange is the backbone of India’s $4.85tn stock market, now the world’s fourth largest by market capitalisation. Every trade executed on its platform generates revenue for the NSE, and trading volumes have grown rapidly.

It also earns exceptionally high profits, even though its revenues are directly affected by trading volumes which can swing quite sharply.

As it readies for a listing, Jio is now positioning itself as more than just a telecom company.

It wants to be seen as a homegrown digital and AI infrastructure behemoth through partnerships with Nvidia and Meta to develop data centres and large language models trained on Indian languages.

It is also moving from a phase of “market share acquisition to monetisation” driven by tariff increases, higher data use, and upgrades to postpaid plans according to Elara Securities – a signal that the country’s consumer market is becoming more sophisticated.

“Together, Jio and NSE represent the twin pillars of India’s new economy,” Azeez said.

Their simultaneous offerings could help draw global capital, as these companies “broaden the investable universe” and provide foreign money with opportunities to invest in sectors that are central to India’s growth story going ahead.

HOUSTON — Neymar will not start for Brazil in Monday’s Round of 32 match against Japan at the 2026 World Cup, with head coach Carlo Ancelotti once again opting to bring the 34-year-old forward off the bench as he continues working his way back from a serious muscle injury.

Brazil faces Japan at Houston Stadium in a win-or-go-home knockout clash, with kickoff set for early afternoon Eastern time. The Selecao enter the match having topped Group C with seven points, following a 1-1 draw against Morocco, a 3-0 win over Haiti and a 3-0 victory over Scotland in their final group game. Japan, by contrast, finished second in Group F and remains unbeaten through the group stage.

Neymar’s path back to the field has been a closely watched storyline throughout the tournament. The Santos forward suffered what was initially described as a minor issue, with his club downplaying the injury as oedema that would not threaten his place at the World Cup. However, when Neymar reported to the Brazilian national team camp on May 27, scans ordered by the Brazilian Football Confederation revealed a more serious muscle injury than first believed, sidelining him for Brazil’s opening two group matches against Morocco and Haiti.

He finally made his tournament debut against Scotland on June 24, entering as a substitute for the match’s final stretch and ending what had been a 980-day absence from the national team dating back to October 2023. In that limited cameo, lasting roughly 14 to 15 minutes, Neymar still managed to record a shot on target, two touches inside the opposition box and several created chances, a productive showing that fueled speculation he might be ready for a larger role against Japan.

Ahead of Monday’s match, Ancelotti addressed Neymar’s fitness directly at his pre-match press conference, striking a cautiously optimistic tone about his recovery without committing to a starting role.

“Neymar is progressing very well. Over the last week he has improved a lot,” Ancelotti said.

That measured assessment ultimately translated into Brazil’s confirmed approach for the Japan match: Neymar will once again begin the game on the bench, with Ancelotti planning to introduce him later if the flow of the match calls for his particular brand of creativity and experience in the attacking third. According to reporting around the squad, medical staff have indicated that while Neymar has recovered well, he is not yet considered fit enough to handle a full 90 minutes, reinforcing the coaching staff’s cautious, step-by-step approach to reintegrating him.

Brazil’s projected and largely confirmed starting lineup for the match features a 4-3-3 formation: Alisson in goal; Danilo, Marquinhos, Gabriel Magalhães and Douglas Santos across the back line; Casemiro, Bruno Guimarães and Lucas Paquetá in midfield; and Rayan, Matheus Cunha and Vinícius Júnior leading the attack. Neymar’s potential entry off the bench would most likely come at the expense of Cunha, with reports suggesting Ancelotti has used Neymar in a more central, advanced role resembling a false nine when he has come on previously, rather than deploying him in his more traditional wide or playmaking positions.

The decision to ease Neymar back into action gradually reflects broader caution from Ancelotti’s coaching staff, given the stakes of the tournament and the risk of a setback. Rushing a player who has already missed extensive time back into a 90-minute knockout match, particularly one as physically demanding as a World Cup last-32 fixture, carries real risk of triggering a fresh injury that could end his tournament for good. With Vinícius Júnior having scored in each of Brazil’s matches so far and Cunha delivering three goals across his last two appearances after being surprisingly left out of the opening match, Ancelotti has not felt pressure to rush Neymar into the starting XI given the form of the players currently ahead of him.

Beyond the Neymar storyline, Ancelotti has also pushed back against suggestions that Brazil should be considered the outright favorite heading into the knockout stage, a stance he reiterated in comments to reporters covering the buildup to the Japan match.

“I don’t agree with the talk of favorites,” Ancelotti said.

That caution may be warranted given Japan’s form so far. The Samurai Blue have scored seven goals already this tournament and remain unbeaten, presenting a side capable of testing Brazil defensively, particularly through left wing-back Keito Nakamura, who has been instrumental in Japan’s attacking thrust, and striker Ayase Ueda, the 2025-26 Eredivisie’s top scorer for Feyenoord, who has already scored twice for Japan in the tournament.

The two nations have met only once before at a World Cup, in the 2006 group stage in Dortmund, when Brazil defeated a Japan side managed by Brazilian football legend Zico by a score of 4-1. That match remains the lone prior meeting between the countries on football’s biggest stage, adding a layer of historical symmetry to Monday’s much higher-stakes knockout encounter.

For Brazil, advancing past Japan would keep alive the team’s pursuit of a record-extending sixth World Cup title and set up a Round of 16 matchup against the winner of the bracket’s other side. For Neymar personally, continued limited minutes off the bench against Japan would represent another step in what increasingly looks like a carefully managed, gradual return to full match fitness, one that Ancelotti and his medical staff appear determined not to rush, even with the most important knockout stretch of the tournament now underway.

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SYDNEY — Australia’s benchmark S&P/ASX 200 index closed essentially unchanged Monday, slipping just 3.3 points, or 0.04%, to settle at 8,820.1, after a session that swung between gains and losses before ultimately finishing close to where it started.

The muted overall result masked considerable movement beneath the surface, with the index briefly testing red territory during the session before investors regained their footing, building on momentum from the prior week. Closing figures from Monday put the index at slightly different levels depending on the data provider, with some pegging the final close at 8,823.4, a gain of roughly 0.68% on the day, reflecting the kind of cross-source discrepancies common when index data is sourced from different real-time feeds.

The day’s standout performer, by a wide margin, was Neuren Pharmaceuticals, which rocketed 36.07% to close at $16.60 after the company announced a major regulatory breakthrough in Europe tied to its Rett syndrome treatment. The healthcare sector overall benefited from that surge, with the S&P/ASX 200 Healthcare Index trading comfortably above its 50-day moving average for the first time since last August and sitting up roughly 16.6% since early June, underscoring just how much of the sector’s recent strength has been concentrated in a handful of major biotech announcements.

Beyond healthcare, gains were broad-based across most major sectors. Financial stocks climbed between 0.75% and 0.9% to 1.4%, with all four of Australia’s major banks posting advances on the day. Energy shares added roughly 0.69%, recovering some ground after a rough finish to the prior week driven by falling oil prices. Consumer staples rose about 0.65%, communications stocks gained 1.11%, consumer discretionary names jumped 1.02%, and mining and materials stocks lifted 0.85%, with strong iron ore prices helping push heavyweight names like BHP Group and Fortescue Metals Group higher. Among individual movers, Computershare added 2.6%, Pro Medicus gained 1.9%, and Ramelius Resources climbed 2.3% after agreeing to sell its Edna May Gold Hub. Not every major name participated in the rally, however; telecommunications giant Telstra slipped around 1.4% on the day.

The relatively calm finish to Monday’s trading came against a more encouraging geopolitical backdrop than markets had faced through much of the prior week. Washington and Tehran reached an agreement over the weekend to halt direct attacks on one another, easing a fragile period of tit-for-tat strikes that had rattled global markets and pushed oil prices higher in recent days. The clashes had begun the previous Thursday when Iran struck a container ship, prompting retaliatory U.S. strikes, with further exchanges over the weekend after Iran targeted a vessel carrying Qatari oil and launched missiles and drones at military installations in Kuwait and Bahrain. According to U.S. officials, both sides agreed to stand down for the time being while allowing commercial vessels to continue moving freely through affected waterways, with fresh negotiations between the two countries scheduled to resume in Doha later in the week, focusing particularly on reopening shipping routes through the Strait of Hormuz, a passage through which roughly a fifth of the world’s oil and gas supply flows.

That de-escalation helped lift sentiment across global markets overnight and into Monday’s Asia-Pacific session, with U.S. futures strengthening as investors grew more confident that the worst of the regional conflict risk had passed, at least for now. The improved mood also coincided with fresh economic data out of China, Australia’s largest trading partner, showing industrial profits surged 18.8% year-over-year across the January-to-May period, a figure analysts attributed in part to continued strength in artificial intelligence-driven investment and ongoing policy support for advanced manufacturing sectors in China.

Despite that encouraging trade-partner data, some caution lingered heading into the back half of the week. Investors remained wary ahead of China’s official June purchasing managers’ index data, due for release in the coming days, which is expected to offer further insight into the health of demand from Australia’s largest export market. Closer to home, attention has also turned to the Reserve Bank of Australia’s minutes from its most recent June policy meeting, with some market watchers flagging the possibility that the central bank could maintain a hawkish tilt aimed at containing inflation, particularly following stronger-than-expected employment figures released earlier in the month.

Monday’s session also fell during a period in which a sizable group of ASX-listed names traded ex-dividend, a technical factor that typically weighs modestly on individual share prices without reflecting any underlying change in company fundamentals. Stocks affected included infrastructure and property names such as APA Group, Transurban Group, Goodman Group, Dexus, Mirvac Group, Charter Hall Group and Centuria Industrial REIT, with Transurban set to pay shareholders a 35-cent-per-share final dividend in mid-August.

Zooming out, Monday’s near-flat finish capped what has otherwise been a solid stretch for Australian equities. The ASX 200 has risen approximately 1% so far in June, putting it on track for a third consecutive monthly gain, supported by resilient consumer spending and a rebound in domestic employment figures. On a quarterly basis, the index is tracking its first quarterly rise in three quarters, up roughly 4% so far, while the benchmark remains up about 3.3% over the trailing 12 months, with a 52-week trading range spanning from 8,262.40 to 9,202.90.

For now, Monday’s session reflects a market in a holding pattern of sorts: broadly supported by easing geopolitical risk, encouraging trade-partner economic data and a standout, headline-grabbing biotech rally, but still keeping a close eye on upcoming Chinese manufacturing data and the Reserve Bank’s policy commentary for clearer signals on where the index heads from here.

A Hollywood director convicted of defrauding Netflix of $11m (£8.3m) last year has been sentenced to two and a half years in prison.

Carl Erik Rinsch was accused of using Netflix funds intended to complete a science fiction series to buy cars, cryptocurrency and other luxuries for himself.

The 48-year-old, best known for the 2013 film 47 Ronin, was convicted of federal fraud and money laundering for misusing funds.

Rinsch faced up to 90 years in prison, but was expected to receive a lighter sentence.

Judge Jay Rakoff also sentenced Rinsch to three years of supervised release, $11m in forfeitures, and a $700 fine.

Speaking to the court before the judge issued his sentence, Rinsch apologised and said he accepted responsibility for his crimes.

“Today’s sentence sends a deterrent message: Fraud will not be tolerated,” US Attorney Jay Clayton said in a statement.

Prosecutors said Netflix gave Rinsch roughly $55m for the unfinished sci-fi show, initially named White Horse, including $11m he told them he needed to complete production.

Instead, prosecutors said, he put the money in a personal account where he invested it and lost half within a couple of months.

He put funds into cryptocurrency, and spent money on lavish purchases such as Rolls Royce cars and mattresses costing hundreds of thousands of dollars, according to prosecutors.

During his one-week trial in New York, several Netflix executives were called to testify, saying they only agreed to one season of the show, which Rinsch failed to deliver.

Rinsch took the stand as well – a rare move for a defendant in a criminal case – claiming the situation was a misunderstanding and he believed the money was meant to keep the show going during the pandemic.

The New York Times reported, external that friends and colleagues described Rinsch as growing increasingly erratic shortly after he signed the Netflix deal.

The outlet reported that he believed he could predict lightning strikes and volcanic eruptions and knew about a “secret transmission mechanism” for Covid-19.