KOLKATA: Aashirvaad atta, Sunfeast cookies, and Bingo snacks are helping cement ITC’s credentials on the Indian packaged foods leaderboard, helping the segment log about half the annual sales of the conglomerate’s traditional mainstay — cigarettes.

At the tobacco products-FMCG-hotels major, which just published its annual report, the branded packaged food business made up 22.1% of the net turnover in FY18, compared with the 46% contribution from cigarettes, which also had a far higher base.

The rupee collapsed to a lifetime low of 69.10 against the US dollar by plunging 49 paise in early trade today as rising crude oil prices deepened concerns about the country's current account deficit and inflation dynamics.

Consistent dollar demand from banks and importers, mainly oil refiners, following higher crude oil prices kept the rupee under pressure.

State Bank of India (SBI) has closed six foreign branches and is in the process of closing down another nine branches as part of rationalisation of overseas operations, said Managing Director Pravin K Gupta.

SBI, country's largest lender, has operations in about 36 countries with nearly 190 branches.

Shares of Infosys hit a new high of Rs 1,298 per share, up 2% on the BSE in early morning trade in an otherwise flat market. With Rs 2.83-trillion market capitalisation, Infosys is 6% or Rs 164 billion away to touch Rs 3-trillion mark.

Thus far in the calendar year 2018 (CY18), Infosys has outperformed the market by gaining 25% as compared to 3.3% rise in the S&P BSE Sensex.

China’s Baidu continues to make inroads in the automotive space after it inked an agreement with Ford China that will see the two companies work together to make the driving experience smarter in China.

The two companies have collaborated before, most notably by jointly investing $150 million into LiDAR sensors startup Velodyne, and this China initiative will bring help technologies like connectivity, artificial intelligence and digital marketing into the car.

Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd’s (BHEL’s) stock price has fallen by almost a fifth since January. Weak revenue growth, high receivables (customer dues) and low customer advances have taken the sparkle off this state-owned Maharatna. At the current market price, its price-earnings multiple has tumbled to around 14 times estimated FY19 earnings, from 20 times until a few months ago. Strangely, even the 74% spike in its FY18 order flows failed to enthuse the Street, due to concerns on sustainability.

Mumbai: Shares of information technology companies, including Tata Consultancy Services Ltd and Infosys Ltd, gained on Wednesday as the Indian rupee weakened to a 19-month low against the US dollar. NSE’s Nifty IT Index gained 1.11% at 10.57 am. The Nifty 50Index was down 0.20%.

The BSE Sensex advanced nearly 54 points in opening trade today, spurred by a fresh spell of buying in select blue-chip stocks like Infosys, TCS and Sun Pharma amid mixed global cues.

Sustained buying by domestic institutional investors (DIIs) and short-covering of outstanding positions by speculators ahead of tomorrow’s June series expiry in the derivatives segment also supported the uptrend, brokers said.

Facebook said on Tuesday that it is taking steps to ease a January policy banning financial products and services associated with cryptocurrency. Rob Leathern, Product Management Director at Facebook, said in an official blog post that the world’s largest social media network has “looked at the best way to refine this policy — to allow some ads while also working to ensure that they’re safe.”

Life Insurance Corporation (LIC), the largest investor in state-owned lenders, continues to trim its exposure in most of them. On a quarter on quarter basis, the insurer has pared its investments in all state-run lenders, except Punjab & Sind Bank and Indian Bank.

While its holding in Indian Bank remained unchanged at 1.32% from the beginning of October 2017 to March 2018, LIC made a fresh investment in Punjab & Sind Bank, taking a 7.44% stake in the lender, data sourced from Capitaline revealed.

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