Good evening, and welcome to Business Hook’s daily news podcast, where we bring you a roundup of the day’s top business stories. I’m Avni Raja, and today is Wednesday, the sixth of November, 2024.
Starting with the top global story—the 2024 United States presidential election has concluded, with Donald Trump projected to return to the White House as the country’s 47th president. Trump, who has primarily made his mark as a real estate tycoon, previously served as the 45th President of the United States from 2017 to 2021. In his victory speech, Trump reiterated his commitment to ‘Make America Great Again’. Joining him in celebration, his running mate, JD Vance, pledged to lead "the greatest economic comeback in American history."
Staying with the U.S. elections—billionaire businessman Elon Musk, one of Donald Trump's most vocal supporters, expressed joy over Trump’s potential return as US President. In one of his posts on social media platform X, Musk stated that the American people had given Trump a clear mandate for change. Musk also shared his confidence that, under Trump's leadership, the future would be "fantastic."
Shifting focus to equities—It was a mixed session in Asia as investors awaited the U.S. election results. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng dropped over two percent, while China’s CSI 300 slipped half a percent. In contrast, Japan’s Nikkei rose two and a half percent. Minutes from the September monetary policy meeting of the Bank of Japan showed that its members agreed to consider rate hike if growth and inflation metrics meet expectations.
Back home—the Sensex and the Nifty soared over a percent each, rallying on the back of Trump’s projected victory. The Sensex added 900 points to reach 80,400, while the Nifty gained nearly 300 points to close just below 24,500. Of the fifty Nifty constituents, forty-one advanced while nine declined in Wednesday’s trade. Public sector defence company Bharat Electronics led the gains, jumping over five percent, closely followed by Adani Enterprises. Major Indian IT firms were also among the top performers, with TCS, Wipro, HCL Technologies, and Infosys all rising around four percent each.
In the cryptocurrency space, Bitcoin surged past the 75,000 dollars mark to reach new all-time highs before pulling back slightly, driven by Donald Trump's potential victory in the U.S. presidential election. Trump is seen as a pro-cryptocurrency leader compared to the Democrats, who have historically had a cautious approach to the asset class. With Trump likely to return to the White House, some experts predict Bitcoin could surpass the 80,000 dollars level.
With that, it’s a wrap on this edition of the Business Hook News Wrap podcast. We will be back tomorrow with the next edition of our podcast. You can also check out the Business Hook YouTube channel for the top business developments of the day.