Netflix's Earnings, SEBI Proposes Rs 250 SIP, TRAI Data | Rise With Profit

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This is the daily morning update from NDTV Profit. Over the next few minutes, I'll bring you up to speed with everything you need to know to start your day on the right note.

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There were gains once again on Wall Street. And this was despite a small uptick in the dollar and in long-term bond yields. This is because Donald Trump's focus on deregulation, and his tech-, and AI-friendly policies have excited traders and investors both. So, despite the uncertainty about the use of sanctions against major partners, the fervour that has resulted in tech stocks hitting all-time highs consistently over the last year has once again returned.

A strong earnings performance by Netflix was an added fillip to trade yesterday. The tech-heavy Nasdaq climbed 1.3%, while the S&P 500 and the Dow rose 0.6% and 0.3%, respectively.

By the way, the next major international event we're building towards is the policy decision by the Bank of Japan. That'll come through tomorrow. Currently, financial markets are building in a rise in the short-term policy rate by a quarter of a percentage point to 0.5%. That's a level that was last seen during the Global Financial Crisis. Some part of this is already baked into prices, but if it does come to pass, you can't rule out further selling by foreign institutional investors in risk assets globally, particularly in the emerging markets.

In the Asia Pacific region this morning, two of the three early risers have started with cuts.

By the way, oil prices edged lower after an industry report pointed to the first gain in US crude stockpiles since mid-November. As of this morning, Brent crude was trading at $78.84 per barrel.

In other international news, US President Donald Trump said on Wednesday that he would add new tariffs to his sanctions threat against Russia, if the country does not make a deal to end its war in Ukraine. He also said that these could also be applied to "other participating countries".

In a post on Truth Social, Trump modified comments he made on Tuesday that he would likely impose sanctions against Russia if President Vladimir Putin refused to negotiate an end to the nearly three-year conflict. That's a Reuters report.

In news back home, as banks recalibrate their credit card portfolio strategy to cope with the rise in bad debts, outstanding credit card loan growth has slowed in the system. The total number of cards in force stood at 10.81 crore as of December's end, up 10.4% year-over-year, according to Reserve Bank of India data. This growth figure was 21% last year. Total outstanding credit cards were 9.79 crore at the end of December 2023. Remember, in November 2023, RBI had introduced higher risk weights for retail unsecured loans extended by banks and non-bank finance companies.

In regulatory news, the Securities and Exchange Board of India has proposed a small-ticket systematic investment plan worth Rs 250. This would be half of the current minimum monthly investment base of Rs 500. A lot of asset management companies are already offering Rs 250 SIPs. If passed, the regulation would mandate it.

The regulator has also mentioned in its paper that such SIPs will only be offered under the growth option of the plan. This is being done to encourage more participation in mutual fund investments by making it more accessible for first-time investors, low-income group individuals, and people from remote areas of the country.

Telecom operators Bharti Airtel Ltd. and Vodafone Idea Ltd., as well as state-owned Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd., suffered subscriber losses in November 2024, according to the latest data released by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India. Airtel's subscriber numbers witnessed an erosion of 11.4 lakh wireless users that month. As a result, the mobile user base of India's second-largest telco slid to 38.4 crore in November 2024.

Vodafone Idea, too, suffered subscriber losses in November 2024, with its mobile user count shrinking by 15 lakh users to 20.8 crore customers. Reliance Jio Infocomm Ltd. added 12.1 lakh wireless subscribers in November 2024. As a result, the telecom service provider's total count touched 46.12 crore users that month.

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