Monday, March 16
Beijing: China on Monday denied US allegations it had conducted secret nuclear explosive tests, calling them "outright lies" and accusing Washington of making excuses to start up its own trials. At the UN Conference on Disarmament in Geneva on Friday, Thomas DiNanno, US under secretary of state for arms control accused China of conducting the tests, including one on 22 June 2020, and of preparing for more tests with massive yields."The US allegations are completely groundless and are outright lies. China firmly opposes the US attempt to fabricate excuses for its own restarting of nuclear tests," China's ministry of foreign affairs said in a statement to AFP on Monday. It also urged the United States to "immediately stop its irresponsible actions".US President Donald Trump said in October
Mumbai: The Reserve Bank of India's December rate cut was perhaps the last in the recent easing cycle, with economists expecting a pause, citing a slight uptick in inflationary pressures amid elevated commodity prices and a weaker rupee, and improving growth prospects. Eleven of 14 economists polled by ET expect no further reduction in the policy rate in the coming months. Proposed trade deals with the USA, the European Union and others have increased growth prospects, thus reducing pressure on the central bank to lower rates to push growth, economists said. The Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) of the RBI on Friday kept the policy rate unchanged at 5.25% after lowering it 125 basis points in the last one year. "The upward revision of inflation and GDP growth forecast gives a hawkish tilt to
ET Intelligence Group: Shares of seafood companies fell 3-7% on Friday after a sharp four-day rally that followed euphoria over the India-US trade deal announcement on February 2. Despite a better medium term outlook due to the deal, which is expected to boost marine exports from India, investors are observing caution given the near-term challenges including margin pressure amid intense competition. The sector's outlook will hinge on how the trade negotiations progress and the American tariff stance for other seafood-exporting nations. The trade deal between the two nations is crucial for the Indian marine exports since the US is India's largest market with 36.3% share in FY25, according to the data from the government's Niryat (exports) portal. In addition, frozen shrimp makes up nearly t
