Business
Fonterra FY26 interim slides: $3.9B shareholder payout, margins expand
The state-run company had announced earlier last week that its board of directors will hold a meeting to consider and recommend its first-ever bonus issue of shares.
Bonus issue consists of free shares distributed by a company from its reserves and is often seen as a sign of strong financial health and growth prospects. While the issue of bonus shares increases the total number of outstanding shares, it does not change the company’s market capitalisation. However, it can improve liquidity and affordability, allowing more investors to add shares of the company to their portfolio.
Only those shareholders who own the shares of the company as on the record date will be eligible to receive the bonus shares. The record date for LIC’s prospective bonus issue is yet to be determined.
If declared, this will mark the first bonus issue announced by the PSU company. LIC has so far announced five interim dividends since its debut on the stock markets in May 2022.
LIC share price
LIC currently has a market capitalisation of more than Rs 5 lakh crore. The shares of the company have jumped 46% in three years, although they are down around 6% in 2026 so far. The shares of the insurance behemoth closed at Rs 798 apiece on Friday. Notably, the government holds 96.5% stake in the company, while only 3.5% is held by the public.
LIC in February reported a 17% YoY rise in its December quarter consolidated net profit at Rs 12,930 crore compared to Rs 11,008 crore reported in the year-ago period. The company’s net premium income stood at Rs 1.26 lakh crore in Q3FY26, up 17% over Rs 1.07 lakh crore posted in the corresponding period of the last financial year. The PSU is yet to announce when it will release its results for the January-March quarter of FY26.
(Disclaimer: Recommendations, suggestions, views and opinions given by the experts are their own. These do not represent the views of The Economic Times)
Business
FIIs sell Indian equities worth Rs 1.6 lakh cr since outbreak of Iran-US war. Where are they going and when will they come back?
Foreign investors net sold Indian equities worth Rs 1.6 lakh crore for 25 consecutive sessions between March 2 to April 9. In fact, the selling streak overall continued for 27 consecutive sessions, starting from the end of February. The sustained selloff was one of the major factors behind the massive bear attack on Dalal Street that wiped off massive sums of investor wealth in March, as Sensex and Nifty crashed over 11% during the month while oil prices soared following the effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz.
April began with new hopes as ceasefire talks uplifted sentiment on Dalal Street. Sensex and Nifty have gained over 6% each over the last week. Yet, foreign investors were cautious. In the first two sessions of April, they net sold Indian shares worth more than Rs 18,260 crore. Last week, they sold Indian equities worth over Rs 21,380 crore between Monday and Thursday.
However, foreign investors remained net buyers of Indian equities on Friday, breaking a 27-session-long selling streak and bringing much-needed relief. FII net bought Indian shares worth Rs 672 crore on April 10, according to data on NSE. Only time will now tell whether this reflects a long-term change in FII’s behavior or a brief U-turn.
Meanwhile, analysts have advised caution. “After the record Rs 1,22,182 crore selling in March, FPIs continued selling in April, too. Up to 11th April, total FPI selling through the exchanges stood at Rs 48,905 crores, taking the total FPI selling for 2026, till now, to Rs 1,90,046 crore,” said VK Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist at Geojit Investments.
South Korea and Taiwan looking more attractive than Indian markets
The energy crisis triggered by the conflict in West Asia, the potential impact of the crisis on Indian economy and sustained depreciation of the rupee kept the FPIs on sell mode, the analysts noted. “Other markets like South Korea and Taiwan are considered more attractive from the FPI perspective since these markets are expected to deliver much superior earnings growth when compared to the modest earnings growth expected in India in FY27,” he added.The sharp correction in the market after the war began has made the valuations fair, but not compelling buys, yet, according to Vijayakumar.
“The surge in equity mutual flows to Rs 40450 crores and monthly SIP inflows to Rs 32087 crores in March bode well for the market. With such strong mutual fund flows into the market, FPI selling will not impact the market significantly,” he however noted.
What will turn foreign investors buyers again?
However, FPIs turning buyers in the market will depend on the situation in West Asia and crude prices, according to him. “If there is de-escalation in the conflict and crude declines significantly, India’s macros will not be impacted materially. If the conflict prolongs India’s macros will be impacted. It would be unrealistic to expect FPIs to turn buyers in such a scenario,” he concluded.
JM Financial noted that foreign investors were net sellers of Indian equities worth $13.6 billion in March. Over the last 12 months, Indian primary markets saw FII net inflows of Rs 70,800 crore whereas secondary markets logged FII net outflows of Rs 2,66,400 crore, it further said, adding that BFSI, auto, telecom, FMCG, realty, pharma and oil & gas saw the biggest FII outflows, while capital goods was the only sector that saw inflows in March.
(Disclaimer: Recommendations, suggestions, views and opinions given by the experts are their own. These do not represent the views of The Economic Times)
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Last week, the BSE benchmark Sensex jumped 4,230.7 points or 5.77 per cent, and the NSE Nifty surged 1,337.5 points or 5.88 per cent.
“Sentiment remained buoyant amid optimism surrounding a temporary US-Iran ceasefire, although lingering geopolitical uncertainties capped the pace of gains as the week progressed,” Ajit Mishra, SVP, Research, Religare Broking Ltd, said.
A sharp decline in crude oil prices below the USD 100 mark eased domestic concerns and triggered a strong rebound across markets, he added.
From the top-10 pack, HDFC Bank, Bharti Airtel, State Bank of India, ICICI Bank, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), Bajaj Finance, Larsen & Toubro and Hindustan Unilever were the winners, while Reliance Industries and Infosys faced erosion from their valuation.
HDFC Bank added Rs 91,282.67 crore, taking its market valuation to Rs 12,47,478.57 crore.
The valuation of ICICI Bank jumped Rs 76,036.36 crore to Rs 9,46,741.85 crore, and that of Bajaj Finance surged by Rs 60,980.35 crore to Rs 5,75,206.47 crore.The market capitalisation (mcap) of Larsen & Toubro zoomed by Rs 47,624.97 crore to Rs 5,44,736.59 crore, and that of Bharti Airtel climbed Rs 45,873.43 crore to Rs 10,66,293.69 crore.
State Bank of India’s mcap soared Rs 43,614.67 crore to Rs 9,84,629.98 crore, and that of TCS edged higher by Rs 26,303.49 crore to Rs 9,13,331.92 crore.
The market valuation of Hindustan Unilever rallied Rs 21,287.29 crore to Rs 5,06,477.89 crore.
However, the mcap of Infosys declined by Rs 3,285.03 crore to Rs 5,24,124.40 crore.
The valuation of Reliance Industries diminished by Rs 947.28 crore to Rs 18,27,086.79 crore.
Reliance Industries remained the most valued domestic firm, followed by HDFC Bank, Bharti Airtel, State Bank of India, ICICI Bank, TCS, Bajaj Finance, Larsen & Toubro, Infosys and Hindustan Unilever.
Despite sharp market volatility in FY26, select PMS portfolios delivered strong returns up to 43%. Strategies across small-cap, multi-cap, and multi-asset categories outperformed, showcasing resilience and long-term wealth creation potential even amid geopolitical tensions and fluctuating market conditions.
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