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Mumbai: India is expected to be the second-biggest draw for global investments after the US during Donald Trump's second term as the president, a top Wall Street banker said.Investors, who are sitting on more than $3 trillion to deploy, would be choosy and there would be a divergence of flows between the public and private markets, driven by the returns outlook, said Viswas Raghavan, executive vice-chairman at Citigroup Inc."We have spent quite some time looking at and assessing these flows... The biggest market of inward investment is the US and the second biggest market is India," he said.As Trump pushes for the US to become a manufacturing hub again, multinational companies are redrawing their investment plans. While policy changes could unsettle the global business order, they are expected to boost jobs in the US.India-being a market by itself and on the right side of Trump-could be a beneficiary, said Raghavan, who grew up in Mumbai.Energy, infrastructure and consumer will be the dominant themes for international investors here even as there is a need to shift to environmental-friendly sources and address the needs of the huge population, he said."The beauty of something like India is whatever you can produce, you can also consume," Raghavan said. "Whereas if you take a United Kingdom or other country, you need to ship it around." Rising incomes and unmet demand of the population make India the best market for goods and services, he said. 'Question Really Around Valuations' With the government's thrust on manufacturing, the rise of a new wealthy class, and the economy projected to grow at a compound annual rate of 7% - highest among major markets - the investment flows are set to increase, Raghavan said. "The question really is around valuations," he said. "In almost three to four years, we are seeing that earnings are not supporting.''Indian stock markets have provided the best returns among emerging markets over the past two decades in US dollar terms, as earnings grew. But that seems to have hit a wall, with portfolio investors selling a record $13 billion in the past two months, as valuations at more than 22 times forward year earnings appear expensive, with faltering profit growth.Booming wealth and banking reforms have also made Indian corporates deleverage, and they are at the forefront of the global stage, providing opportunities for Citigroup to rebuild its business, Raghavan said. His presence at the top could help accelerate it."Now we have companies who are absolutely best in class, who can do a phenomenal job in putting India on the world stage," Raghavan said. "If somebody comes to me, gives me an Indian name, saying they want to do so-and-so, I don't need to go and find out what the company does. I've grown up with many of these names. There's no discovery process."Pushing Advisory BusinessCitigroup, as part of its global restructuring to improve its profitability, sold off its retail business in Asia, including in India. It remains a corporate bank in most parts of the world.Raghavan, who spent decades in JPMorgan, driving its European business, was hired by Citigroup chief executive Jane Frazer to rebuild its corporate banking.One of his main agendas is to drive the fee income and regain market share in its advisory business. Citi has been a laggard among Wall Street firms in this space. Raghavan is putting building blocks to regain the lost glory."I have three verticals (corporate, commercial, investment banking). The drive, very much, is to get ourselves organised, and effectively bring those three businesses and thread them very, very closely together," he said.After the global financial crisis, all full-fledged Wall Street banks were restricted by regulation from taking disproportionate risks. While peers JPMorgan and Bank of America came back, Citi remained risk averse in funding clients in risky bets such as takeovers, especially by buyout firms. As a result, Citi's share of leveraged loans has fallen to less than 4%, from more than 12% prior to the crisis.Raghavan has taken the first step to reverse the trend by partnering with Apollo Management for a $25-billion credit fund that would help it stitch takeovers with funding as well. "The thing with leveraged finance is not the availability of liquidity. You can get infinite private credit funds all crying for paper. The problem is the supply side, which is why we tied up with Apollo, with Mubadala and Athene in it," he said.

Mumbai: Investors' risk appetite for Indian stocks is the lowest in eight months. The Advance Decline Ratio (ADR), a widely watched indicator of investor sentiment, is at a daily average of 32% in November. Though similar to the readings in October, the ratio is lower compared to 47% in September and 51% in August.A declining ADR means more stocks are falling against the gainers and points to a weakening market."The declining ADR ratio points to the loss of risk appetite of investors as they cut bets in the broader market, turn conservative and gravitate towards low volatility and quality stocks," said Naveen Kulkarni, CIO, Axis Securities.Benchmark indices - Sensex and Nifty - are almost 10% down from their peaks made on September 27, led by a sell-off by foreign investors sparked by a rebound in Chinese equities and disappointing earnings in the September quarter. The Midcap 150 index declined 10.9%, SmallCap 250 index dropped 9.1% and the Microcap 250 fell 8.3% in this period. 115397389The latest sell-off in the broader market has been on account of the rich valuations in mid-cap and small-cap stocks. Even after the declines, their valuations are still elevated compared to large-caps."NSE Midcap 100 index is trading at almost 30% premium to Nifty 50, which is a multi-year high as a lot of retail liquidity has found its way into mid-cap stocks, driving valuations up, said Nikhil Ranka, CIO equity alternatives at Nuvama Asset Management."When markets fall, the volume in midcap typically dries up and the impact cost of selling gets magnified," said Ranka.“Due to correction driven by the foreign sell-off, most investors have witnessed around 20% erosion in their portfolios and are likely to shift to large-cap stocks until uncertainty subsides.” So far in November, overseas investors sold `24,269 crore of Indian equities after the record selling of `1 lakh crore in October. “We are shifting from a buyers’ market in the past couple of months to a sellers’ market now, amid the IPOs, QIPs and foreign selling,” said Kulkarni. “Since supply is high, investors are in no hurry and waiting for the right price.” At the end of September, FPIs held 18.5% in NSE 500 stocks amounting to $650 billion. Taking into consideration $17 billion outflows in October and November, their holdings have come down to less than 16%, which is a 12-year low, said Ranka. The Nifty is expected to make a durable bottom at around 23,000 to 23,500 level, he said. “Foreign selling should abate in December as FII activity is typically subdued towards the year-ends, investors can therefore look to deploy the excess liquidity over the next 15 days as December is anticipated to be better for the markets,” said Ranka. Extreme ADR readings are also considered to be contrarian indicators. When the ADR falls too much, it is considered a sign of the market being oversold and vice versa. Since the ADR reading is still not at the year’s lowest level. which was 21,9% in March, investors are wondering whether the worst is over. “It is not a raging bull market that we are in but over the next 6 months to one year Nifty could deliver a 13% to 14% return, which is not bearish at all,” said Kulkarni. “The pace of rebound in the markets is however expected to be sluggish.”

President Joe Biden is using a historic trip to the Amazon on Sunday to highlight that US bilateral climate financing increased to $11 billion this year, meeting a pledge he made."The fight against climate change has been a defining cause of President Biden's leadership and presidency," the White House said in a statement ahead of Biden touching down in the Brazilian city of Manaus, in the Amazon.Biden is making his last swing through South America before handing over the presidency to Donald Trump -- a climate-change skeptic.The first sitting US president to make a trip to the vast tropical rainforest, Biden is to meet with Brazilian Indigenous leaders and sign a declaration making November 17 an International Conservation Day.The White House announcement of the $11 billion figure said that made "the United States the largest bilateral provider of climate finance in the world." It said the amount was six times what the US was providing at the start of Biden's term, in 2021.The European Union, however, remains the biggest global contributor to climate financing.Around half of all climate financing goes through multilateral funds that are co-managed by developing countries. That has spurred criticism of the US preference for bilateral funding.Rich nations raised $116 billion in 2022 in climate finance, according to the latest available data from the OECD.According to one study by British think tank ODI, the United States ranked second to last among 23 nations for progress toward providing a "fair share" of climate financing, based on their carbon footprint, population size and gross national income.Biden's Amazon stop is being squeezed between an APEC summit he attended in Peru, and a G20 summit in Rio de Janeiro he will take part in that starts Monday.Climate will be one of the topics on the G20 table, as negotiations taking place the same time at a UN climate summit in Azerbaijan appeared to stall.

Gold prices have experienced a significant decline of around 6% since Diwali, driven by a stronger dollar and concerns over US inflation data.The price of 24-carat gold per 10 grams, which was Rs 80,710 on November 1, fell to Rs 74,031 at the last closing. This sharp correction reflects the ongoing global economic pressures impacting commodity markets.The uptick in US inflation has sparked speculation about a potential shift in the Federal Reserve's monetary policy. While the Fed has been pursuing rate cuts as inflation approached its 2% target, the higher-than-expected CPI reading has raised concerns that further cuts may be paused. Additionally, the dollar index, which tracks the US dollar against six major world currencies, stood at 106.68.Markets now see a 62% chance of a 25 basis point rate cut in December, down from 83% a day earlier, according to the CME FedWatch Tool."Gold's weakness persisted with the price falling below $2,550 and near Rs 73,500 in MCX, as the dollar climbed above 106.50 and edged closer to 107. The US CPI data, which came in higher at 2.6% compared to the expected 2.4%, fueled the dollar's strength. While the Fed has been continuing with rate cuts as inflation approached its 2% target, the higher-than-expected CPI reading raises concerns that further cuts may be paused. This development added pressure on gold prices, which reacted negatively to the stronger dollar and the potential shift in Fed policy," said Jateen Trivedi, VP Research Analyst - Commodity and Currency, LKP Securities.MCX Gold and Silver Price UpdateGold futures for December delivery were up by 0.11%, trading at Rs 74,031 per 10 gm on the Multi Commodity Exchange at the time of writing. Meanwhile, silver futures for December delivery were also in the green, rising by 0.10% to Rs 88,505 per kg in early morning trade on Friday.Gold rates in physical markets:Gold Price today in DelhiStandard gold (22 carat) prices in Delhi stand at Rs 57,984/8 grams, while pure gold (24 carat) prices stand at Rs 61,848/8 grams.Gold Price today in MumbaiStandard gold (22 carat) prices in Mumbai stand at Rs 58,024/8 grams, while pure gold (24 carat) prices stand at Rs 61,832/8 grams.Gold Price today in KolkataStandard gold (22 carat) prices in Kolkata stand at Rs 57,280/8 grams, while pure gold (24 carat) prices stand at Rs 61,104/8 grams.Gold Price today in HyderabadStandard gold (22 carat) prices in Hyderabad stand at Rs 56,968/8 grams, while pure gold (24 carat) prices stand at Rs 60,760/8 grams.Gold Price today in ChennaiStandard gold (22 carat) prices in Chennai stand at Rs 56,808/8 grams, while pure gold (24 carat) prices stand at Rs 60,608/8 grams.(Disclaimer: Recommendations, suggestions, views, and opinions given by the experts are their own. These do not represent the views of Economic Times.)