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Subdued inflation forecast boosts Indian equities (Roundup)
Mumbai, April 5 (IANS) Key Indian equity indices on Thursday made healthy gains after the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) lowered its inflation forecast for the fiscal and projected a positive growth outlook.
The forecast led the two key indices — BSE Sensex and NSE Nifty50 — to their biggest intra-day gains since March 12. The BSE Sensex soared by over 500 points, while the NSE Nifty50 rose by almost 200 points.
Besides, positive global cues on the back of receding trade war concerns gave a boost to investors’ risk-taking appetite, said market observers.
In the process, the wider Nifty50 of the National Stock Exchange (NSE) reclaimed the 10,300-mark. The index surged by 196.75 points or 1.94 per cent to close at 10,325.15 points.
The barometer 30-scrip Sensitive index (Sensex) of the BSE closed at 33,596.80 points — up 577.73 points or 1.75 per cent from its previous session’s close.
The BSE market breadth was bullish with 2,083 advances and 627 declines.
In terms of the broader markets, the S&P BSE mid-cap index edged higher by 1.88 per cent and the small-cap index by 1.87 per cent.
“Markets witnessed a hefty rally on Thursday after correcting sharply in the previous trading session,” Deepak Jasani, Head – Retail Research, HDFC Securities, told IANS.
“Positive global cues also helped the market sentiments. Major Asian markets closed on a positive note. European indices like FTSE 100, DAX and CAC 40 traded in the green,” he added.
Vinod Nair, Head of Research, Geojit Financial Services, said: “Market rallied owing to ease in global trade anxiety and RBI’s stance on cut in inflation to 4.7-5.1 per cent in H1FY19 due to sharp moderation in food prices and expectation of normal monsoon.”
The central bank at the first bi-monthly monetary policy review of the new fiscal lowered its inflation forecast for the first-half of the current fiscal to between 4.7 per cent and 5.1 per cent, and 4.4 per cent for the second-half, “including the HRA impact for central government employees, with risks tilted to the upside”, according to the RBI monetary policy statement.
On the currency front, the Indian rupee strengthened by 18 paise to close at 64.97 against the US dollar from its previous close at 65.15.
In terms of investments, provisional data with the exchanges showed that foreign institutional investors sold scrips worth Rs 108.02 crore, while the domestic institutional investors purchased stocks worth Rs 615.28 crore.
All the 19 sub-indices of the BSE gained, led by the S&P BSE banking index, which augmented by 749.06 points, followed by metal index by 543.20 points and the auto index by 439.20 points.
Major Sensex gainers on Thursday were: State Bank of India, up 4.66 per cent at Rs 258.40; Tata Motors (DVR), up 3.95 per cent at Rs 206.75; Tata Steel, up 3.67 per cent at Rs 581; ICICI Bank, up 3.52 per cent at Rs 277.90; and Kotak Bank, up 3.38 per cent at Rs 1,114.60.
Bharti Airtel was the sole BSE loser with a decline of 0.14 per cent at Rs 393.95 per share.
–IANS
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International online casino Casino Days has published a report sharing their internal data on what types and brands of devices are used to play on the platform by users from the South Asian region.
Such aggregate data analyses allow the operator to optimise their website for the brands and models of devices people are actually using.
The insights gained through the research also help Casino Days tailor their services based on the better understanding of their clients and their needs.
Desktops and Tablets Lose the Battle vs Mobile
The primary data samples analysed by Casino Days reveal that mobile connections dominate the market in South Asia and are responsible for a whopping 96.6% of gaming sessions, while computers and tablets have negligible shares of 2.9% and 0.5% respectively.
The authors of the study point out that historically, playing online casino was exclusively done on computers, and attribute thе major shift to mobile that has unfolded over time to the wide spread of cheaper smartphones and mobile data plans in South Asia.
“Some of the reasons behind this massive difference in device type are affordability, technical advantages, as well as cheaper and more obtainable internet plans for mobiles than those for computers,” the researchers comment.
Xiaomi and Vivo Outperform Samsung, Apple Way Down in Rankings
Chinese brands Xiaomi and Vivo were used by 21.9% and 20.79% of Casino Days players from South Asia respectively, and together with the positioned in third place with a 18.1% share South Korean brand Samsung dominate the market among real money gamers in the region.
Cupertino, California-based Apple is way down in seventh with a user share of just 2.29%, overshadowed by Chinese brands Realme (11.43%), OPPO (11.23%), and OnePlus (4.07%).
Huawei is at the very bottom of the chart with a tiny share just below the single percent mark, trailing behind mobile devices by Motorola, Google, and Infinix.
The data on actual phone usage provided by Casino Days, even though limited to the gaming parts of the population of South Asia, paints a different picture from global statistics on smartphone shipments by vendors.
Apple and Samsung have been sharing the worldwide lead for over a decade, while current regional leader Xiaomi secured their third position globally just a couple of years ago.
Striking Android Dominance among South Asian Real Money Gaming Communities
The shifted market share patterns of the world’s top smartphone brands in South Asia observed by the Casino Days research paper reveal a striking dominance of Android devices at the expense of iOS-powered phones.
On the global level, Android enjoys a comfortable lead with a sizable 68.79% share which grows to nearly 79% when we look at the whole continent of Asia. The data on South Asian real money gaming communities suggests that Android’s dominance grows even higher and is north of the 90% mark.
Among the major factors behind these figures, the authors of the study point to the relative affordability of and greater availability of Android devices in the region, especially when manufactured locally in countries like India and Vietnam.
“And, with influencers and tech reviews putting emphasis on Android devices, the choice of mobile phone brand and OS becomes easy; Android has a much wider range of products and caters to the Asian online casino market in ways that Apple can’t due to technical limitations,” the researchers add.
The far better integration achieved by Google Pay compared to its counterpart Apple Pay has also played a crucial role in shaping the existing smartphone market trends.
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