Bitcoin slipped near $87,000 as crypto retreated from October highs, while gold, silver and equities rose. Analysts cite year-end thin liquidity, geopolitical risks and macro uncertainty, with Bitcoin consolidating above key averages and awaiting clearer directional cues from global markets.

Silver prices surged over 150% in 2025 as supply deficits, falling inventories and strong industrial demand tightened the physical market, pushing prices above $75 and decoupling paper contracts from actual availability, with China export risks adding further pressure globally ahead.

Mutual funds launched a record 222 NFOs in 2025 till November, raising Rs 63,631 crore. Index funds dominated launches, while sectoral and thematic schemes attracted the highest inflows, highlighting investor preference for targeted and passive strategies.

Markets stayed rangebound in a holiday-shortened week as Nifty inched higher amid low volumes. India VIX fell to record lows, signalling complacency. Momentum weakened, breadth lagged and volatility compression warned of vulnerability until a decisive breakout emerges in coming sessions.

While the Sensex edged up modestly last week, select BSE 500 stocks delivered strong momentum. Thirteen stocks gained across all five sessions, posting cumulative returns of 10–37%, highlighting stock-specific strength amid a sideways broader market.

Prabhudas Lilladher has initiated coverage on Waaree Energies, Premiere Energies and Vikram Solar, citing strong policy support, rising power demand and capacity expansion, with upside potential of up to 33% despite recent stock underperformance.

India and New Zealand have finalized a free trade pact with an investment arrangement allowing New Zealand dairy firms to process raw materials in India for re-export. This initiative aims to boost India's exports and includes a fast-track mechanism for New Zealand products. India also committed to future consultations on dairy access for comparable economies.

India and New Zealand have concluded a free trade agreement, granting 100% zero-duty access for Indian exports to New Zealand. This pact is set to benefit Indian farmers, MSMEs, artisans, youth, and women-led enterprises, fostering significant trade growth and investment opportunities.

Axis Bank chief economist Neelkanth Mishra projects India's real GDP to grow 7.5% in the next fiscal, driven by reforms and supportive policies. Headline inflation is expected to remain within the RBI's comfort zone around 4%, with the central bank likely maintaining a softer monetary stance.

The Reserve Bank of India is injecting Rs 1.5 lakh crore into the financial system. This move aims to prevent any cash crunch as advance tax and GST payments are due. The central bank is conducting a dollar-rupee buy-sell swap to add more liquidity. This action will help keep overnight interest rates stable.

India and France are nearing a revised tax treaty that will reduce dividend taxes for French parent companies holding over 10% stakes to 5%, while increasing it to 15% for minority shareholders. The agreement also proposes allowing India to tax share sales by any French entity, shifting to a source-based capital gains framework.

India and Oman are set to sign a free trade agreement. The pact will be signed during Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to Oman from December 17-18. This Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement aims to boost trade and investment between the two nations. Oman is a significant export market for India in the Gulf region.

Anita Nariani Schulze is part of the Sindhi minority. Her complaint alleges that her senior and direct managers, both male, consistently excluded her from meetings while inviting her male counterparts, criticised her, micromanaged her work and deprived her of bonuses, despite positive performance evaluations and significant team contributions.

But two senior envoys who attended said there was no direct response from the ministers gathered in Brussels when Blinken said: "We must push back on China together and show strength in unity."

This comes as the San-Francisco based firm is at the receiving end of the Indian government over an issue of blocking and unblocking certain handles tweeting about farmer protests.

Foreign companies looking for incentives under the scheme may have to invest Rs 500 crore over four years, while the threshold for domestic firms is likely to be around Rs 20 crore for five years, the source who did not wish to be named said.

Growth More than in MetrosAccording to companies like Aisle and Truly Madly, which have millions of users and position themselves as “serious” dating apps, and bespoke high-end dating services like Sirf Coffee, a lot more users from such places are not only keen on using these apps, but also willing to pay for it.

“Indian companies need to re-skill, train, and acquire more relevant talent, if they are to successfully integrate AI technologies. Most importantly, they should be willing to make the continued investment. It is an uphill race in which there will be winners and losers,” said Deloitte India CEO N Venkatram.

America is restarting its graphite mines after decades. Demand for this key battery material is soaring, driven by electric cars and electronics. Companies like Titan Mining in New York are developing new sites. This move aims to secure domestic supply chains and lessen dependence on China. Future production could meet significant US needs.

Tarique Rahman, acting chairman of the BNP, has returned to Bangladesh after 17 years in exile, ahead of the February 12 parliamentary elections. His arrival reshapes the political landscape following Sheikh Hasina's ouster and amid ongoing political violence. India is closely monitoring these developments due to regional implications.

The military has framed the polls as a return to multi-party democracy, likely seeking to add a facade of legitimacy to its rule, which began after the army four years ago ousted the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi.

Saudi Arabia is set to implement a stringent new law targeting counterfeit pesticides, proposing jail terms of up to five years and SR10 million fines for serious violations. The regulation aims to protect public health and the environment, with authorities empowered to act decisively against offenders, including repeat violators.

Fatal road accidents, often involving buses or trucks, are common in Mexico. They are often caused by speeding or mechanical failure.

Faced with rising government bond yields and a weak ‌yen, the ‌Takaichi administration has stepped up efforts to reassure investors that the government will not ‌resort to irresponsible debt issuance or tax cuts.

The Election Commission's 'Special Intensive Revision' of Bihar's electoral rolls has ignited political debate, differing from past revisions. While intensive revisions aren't new, the timing of Bihar's SIR, months before assembly elections, is unusual. Unlike previous 'de novo' exercises, it builds upon the 2002-03 roll, incorporating new enumeration forms and document submission.

BJP has accused Arvind Kejriwal of orchestrating hoax calls to mislead voters, alleging that the AAP is claiming votes are being cut by the BJP to support AAP. They also allege distribution of money in slum areas and raised concerns about voter data confidentiality, demanding an investigation.

Lok Sabha election 2024: ​​The BJP-Shiv Sena won 41 of the 48 seats in the 2019 polls, but the Sena has split since and a vast majority of the Bal Thackeray-founded party is now allied with the BJP. The Nationalist Congress Party also split as well with Ajit Pawar joining the ruling alliance in the state, led by Eknath Shinde. In the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, the BJP emerged the top party with 23 seats, followed by the undivided Sena with 18.

Gujarat's upcoming Lok Sabha elections are influenced by PM Narendra Modi's charisma, anti-incumbency, unemployment, inflation, education, healthcare challenges, and BJP's endeavor to secure all 26 seats. ​​Lok Sabha polls in Gujarat will be held in a single phase on May 7. Counting of votes will be held on June 4. Anti-incumbency, unemployment, inflation, education and healthcare facilities are some of the other important issues in the election, where the ruling BJP in Gujarat will attempt to retain all the 26 Lok Sabha seats it won in 2019.

The BJP, riding high on its growing voter base in Telangana, is now aiming to win over 12 out of the total 17 seats and 35 per cent vote share, in the upcoming Lok Sabha polls. The party doubled its vote share to nearly 14 per cent resulting in eight seats in the assembly elections held on November 30, last year. BRS, which ruled the state for about a decade since its emergence, is low on morale following the defeat, even as its founder and former Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao's daughter K Kavitha was arrested on the eve of poll dates announcement, adding insult to the injury.

Kavitha's arrest before Lok Sabha elections may psychologically impact BRS party. Meanwhile, fomer minister Harish Rao announced protests in the state. Moreover, desertion of MPs and leaders who are not contesting polls adds to party's troubles. Nagesh Kumar predictsed that more desertions could happen due to Kavitha's arrest.

A trading combination involving Nifty options is gaining prominence among savvy trading desks of institutional investors.

As far as stock futures are concerned, we are very near to the highest-ever open interest with 195 crore shares in open interest.

An analysis of 300 Asian small-cap schemes shows DSP BlackRock Micro Cap Fund leading the charge, delivering an 82% return over the past year.

India has inflation and it reflects the fundamental growth, Christopher Wood, equity strategist, CLSA, said at ET Now Mkt Summit-2010.

Market may see range-bound trading this week in the absence of any major trigger.

Many experts believe that looking at PE ratio in isolation won’t help investors grasp realities of the mkt and higher valuation may not be the only deciding factor driving mkt.

Prabhudas Lilladher has a ‘reduce’ rating on Infosys Technologies as it feels that the outlook for the company and the software industry is quite weak in the near-term.

A crisis of $240 trillion cannot be stemmed with bailout packages of $1 to $10 trillion. 2008: Year of global financial crisis | Survive credit crisis | Ghosts of 1929

The falling rupee will severely affect the small companies, whereas the big ones will be impacted moderately. Get rid of Debt | Adopt correct investment strategies

At the recent low of 12514 points, the Sensex has tested the 12800-12000-pts support zone and has since then attempted a corrective rally.

BusinessWeek's 'The Infotech 100', has ranked Bharti Airtel at the 21st position followed by Reddington India (55th) and RCom (66th). Successful business formula

14 firms present in a new list of world's 500 most valued firms together seeing an erosion of about $150 billion in their market value in the first three months of this year.

Shares of Cipla inched up on heavy volumes on Friday, after the company’s first quarter earnings beat the consensus estimate.

The Old Fox of Dalal Street has been on a dream run since the past couple of weeks. On Friday, most stocks that he had been steadily building up positions in figured among key gainers of the day.

The scrip, which was flat for most of the session, shot up in the final hour of trade on the Bombay Stock Exchange to settle with a net gain of 4.36 per cent at Rs 355.45.

In the late afternoon session, the scrip was being traded at 20.61 pounds, down by 5.50 per cent on the LSE. Vedanta opened on a positive note, but soon swung into the red.

In the past two days, the scrip recorded a gain of over 9 per cent on the BSE, making its investors richer by a whopping Rs 15,000 crore.

TT Ram Mohan has rightly suggested that the tax-GDP ratio measures structural improvement. The FM must rethink his medium-term debtto-GDP target.

Financial inclusion and financial literacy will be the paramount objective while implementing reforms along with UID project to protect the interests of poor.

This refers to your edit ‘A welcome quest’ (ET, Oct 8). It is imperative to have a strong database.

Apropos of ‘The climate conundrum’ (ET, Oct 9), Mukul Sanwal rightly suggests that developing countries should lead in setting the agenda for global technological cooperation.

Rupee#CAD#Economic crisis#Food Bill

The team behind The Artist will have spent the first day of the rest of their lives conforming to the grandest, and most lucrative, of Hollywood traditions.

It's the World Book fair, which comes around once every two years sprawling across the giant halls of Pragati Maidan. This is the fair's 20th edition.

An elephant figurine gifted by the then HM LK Advani to US Secretary of State Colin Powell in 2002, has made its way to the State Department hall.

Statistical models used by IMD will still be used for monsoon forecast, but the ministry of earth sciences is putting more emphasis on dynamic models.

Newly discovered documents have revealed the first telegraph messages and joy when England was linked for the first time with India on 23 June, 1870.

Hundreds of worried fans of ailing Bollywood megastar Amitabh Bachchan today performed a yagna here to pray for his speedy recovery.

"The fact that we are the world’s largest democracy and we are all aware that power and a role in global affairs for a nation comes from economic strength."

Ambassador Joao Cravinho, head of the EU delegation, led Ambassadors of various European countries to a quiet lunch with Modi at the capital last year.

"It is the collective wisdom of the marketplace that there is action and we will move with speed. That improves the confidence level of industry."

Directives from the Centre have to be executed at the state level. So, there are many things that are not in Modi’s hands, says Raamdeo Agrawal.

"Now there is a stage three and stage four of digitisation, we will take a call on this only after taking all things into account."

"There is a leadership vacuum in the company, because they made the wrong choice of CEO three years ago and that is playing out right now."

Kaynes has plunged 43.5% from its October peak, with Friday’s 12.5% drop marking the steepest single-day decline. Momentum indicators remain bearish, signaling a risk of further slide toward the year’s low of Rs 3,825. However, being nearly 26% below its 200-day SMA suggests potential mean-reversion, with a contrarian recovery target at Rs 4,541 and downside below Rs 4,300.

Warren Buffett and Michael Burry are taking opposing stances on the AI boom, highlighting investor uncertainty. Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway has added a major stake in Alphabet, signaling confidence in the AI-driven growth, while Burry shorts Palantir and Nvidia, criticizing Big Tech accounting practices. Their contrasting positions coincide with transitions in their careers and growing debate over whether AI hype is justified or a bubble.

SoftBank-backed digital-commerce ecosystem AceVector Ltd has filed updated draft papers with markets regulator Sebi for an initial public offering (IPO), which will include a fresh issue of shares worth Rs 300 crore.

The combined market valuation of five of the top-10 most valued firms surged by Rs 72,284.74 crore last week, with Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) and Infosys emerging as the biggest winners.

China has regained global investor confidence in a stellar year for stocks, with the MSCI China Index rising about 30%, adding $2.4 trillion in value and outperforming the S&P 500. Fund managers including Amundi, BNP Paribas, Fidelity and Man Group expect further gains in 2026, driven by AI innovation and market resilience, as both passive and active inflows fuel the rally.

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Alfa Laval (India) today said its parent firm has raised the delisting offer price to Rs 2,850 a share.

The stocks of DB Realty and Unitech rose after top executives of these companies were granted bail in the 2G scam case.

Fitch on Friday said it has withdrawn the ratings on Reliance Capital as the company has decided to stop participating.

The poor financial health of state electricity boards could pose significant business risks for power traders in the country, says Fitch.

Shares of cigarette companies have rallied over the past one month, with ITC, Godfrey Philips and VST Industries hitting record highs.

Lovable Lingerie is 3rd-best performing stock among companies listed this year, with it doubling in value, as traders bet it could repeat performance of Page Indus.