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JERUSALEM: An aide to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu confirmed on Sunday that Israel had accepted a framework deal for winding down the Gaza war now being advanced by U.S. President Joe Biden, though he described it as flawed and in need of much more work.In an interview with Britain's Sunday Times, Ophir Falk, chief foreign policy advisor to Netanyahu, said Biden's proposal was "a deal we agreed to — it's not a good deal but we dearly want the hostages released, all of them"."There are a lot of details to be worked out," he said, adding that Israeli conditions, including "the release of the hostages and the destruction of Hamas as a genocidal terrorist organisation" have not changed.Biden, whose initial lockstep support for Israel's offensive has given way to open censure of the operation's high civilian death toll, on Friday aired what he described as a three-phase plan submitted by the Netanyahu government to end the war.The first phase entails a truce and the return of some hostages held by Hamas, after which the sides would negotiate on an open-ended cessation of hostilities for a second phase in which remaining live captives would go free, Biden said.That sequencing appears to imply that Hamas would continue to play a role in incremental arrangements mediated by Egypt and Qatar - a potential clash with Israel's determination to resume the campaign to eliminate the Iranian-backed Islamist group.Biden has hailed several ceasefire proposals over the past several months, each with similar frameworks to the one he outlined on Friday, all of which collapsed. In February he said Israel had agreed to halt fighting by Ramadan, the Muslim holy month that began on March 10. No such truce materialised.The primary sticking point has been Israel's insistence that it would discuss only temporary pauses to fighting until Hamas is destroyed. Hamas, which shows no sign of stepping aside, says it will free hostages only under a path to a permanent end to the war.In his speech, Biden said his latest proposal "creates a better 'day after' in Gaza without Hamas in power". He did not elaborate on how this would be achieved, and acknowledged that "there are a number of details to negotiate to move from phase one to phase two".Falk reiterated Netanyahu's position that "there will not be a permanent ceasefire until all our objectives are met".Netanyahu is under pressure to keep his coalition government intact. Two far-right partners have threatened to bolt in protest at any deal they deem to spare Hamas. A centrist partner, ex-general Benny Gantz, wants the deal considered.Hamas has provisionally welcomed the Biden initiative, though a senior official from the group, Sami Abu Zuhri, said on Sunday that "Hamas is too big to be bypassed or sidelined by Netanyahu or Biden."A day earlier another Hamas official, Osama Hamdan, told Al Jazeera: "Biden's speech included positive ideas, but we want this to materialise within the framework of a comprehensive agreement that meets our demands."Hamas wants a guaranteed end to the Gaza offensive, withdrawal of all invading forces, free movement for Palestinians and reconstruction aid.Israeli officials have rejected that as an effective return to the situation in place before Oct. 7, when Hamas, committed to Israel's destruction, ruled Gaza. Its fighters precipitated the war by storming across the border fence into Israel, killing 1,200 people and taking more than 250 hostages, according to Israeli tallies.In the ensuing Israeli assault that has laid waste to much of the impoverished and besieged coastal enclave, more than 36,000 Palestinians have been killed, Gaza medical officials say. Israel says 290 of its troops have died in the fighting.

The Maldivian government on Sunday decided to amend laws to ban Israeli passport holders from entering the Indian Ocean archipelago, amid mounting public anger in the country over the devastating attacks by Israeli forces on Gaza. The decision was announced by Home Minister Ali Ihusan at an emergency press briefing at the President's Office, news portal Sun.mv reported. "The cabinet decided today to make the legal amendments necessary to ban entry into the Maldives on Israeli passports as soon as possible," he said. The cabinet has set up a special committee of ministers to expedite the process, the news portal added. Maldives receives more than one million tourists each year. This includes around 15,000 tourists from Israel. The cabinet also decided to appoint a special presidential envoy to identify the areas in which Palestine requires support from Maldives and organise fundraising events to assist Palestinians through the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA). While the cabinet decided to ban Israeli passports, the actual implementation of the decision will require legal reforms, the news portal reported. The Gaza conflict began on October 7 after Hamas initiated an attack on Israel, killing over 800 and capturing 240 hostages, according to Israeli authorities. Israel launched a massive counter-offensive against the Palestinian militant group that has ruled Gaza since 2007. More than 36,000 people, including women and children, have been killed in Gaza in Israeli action, according to the Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza.

Just as enthusiasm over artificial intelligence and China’s stimulus fades, a familiar weakness has come back to haunt equity investors in emerging markets: sinking corporate profits.With 96% of companies in the MSCI Emerging Markets Index done with their quarterly results, the earnings season is almost over. And the picture isn’t pretty — Almost half of the companies have missed analyst estimates, average profits have slumped 10% compared with the prior-year period and for every dollar of predicted earnings, companies are bringing home only 86 cents. Two years ago an 18% rise in profits helped EM companies smash projections.That suggests EM stocks could struggle to sustain a $2.1 trillion rally that’s been driven by trends such as the rush into AI-related stocks and optimism about a quick, stimulus-driven economic recovery in China. Those wagers are waning as the world’s second-largest economy suffers from weak consumer demand and a price war among AI companies spooks money managers.110641632“The downside surprise in profit expectations is largely driven by weak earnings momentum in China,” said Nenad Dinic, an equity strategist at Bank Julius Baer in Zurich. Elsewhere, “the erosion in margins appears to come from rising operating expenses,” he said, pointing to wage increases in Brazil, Colombia, Mexico and India.The latest earnings season marks eight quarters of misses for the average emerging-market company, based on a comparison of trailing 12-month earnings per share for the MSCI index and earnings estimates compiled by Bloomberg. Companies’ results are trailing investor expectations so much that profits have to jump 24% over the next year just to catch up with current forecasts.“That’s definitely a risk for the EM stock rally,” said Marcus Weyerer, a senior investment strategist at Franklin Templeton Investment Management Ltd. “If we see disappointments in earnings continue, then at some point it’ll have an effect,” he said. Stocks could decline by 10% to 15% if companies continue to miss estimates, Weyerer said. The MSCI EM index advanced 15% since Jan. 17 through May 20, before weaker sentiment toward AI stocks triggered a 4.8% fall through May 31. Technology stocks from China and the AI hubs Taiwan and South Korea are leading the declines.Chinese mainland companies in the past quarter reported the weakest earnings since April 2018, soon after the trade war between the US and China began. Hong Kong-listed Chinese companies posted results that showed a marginal recovery after hitting the lowest level in at least a decade.Stingy ConsumersSluggish consumer spending is one cause for poor corporate performance not just in China, but across emerging markets. For instance, Unilever Plc’s Indian unit reported a 5.5% drop in net income for the first quarter, missing analyst estimates. Behind the decline was sluggish rural demand combined with high net-worth urban consumers pivoting to other brands. Similar trends can be seen elsewhere, with Chilean retailer Cencosud SA, restaurant chain operator Yum China Holdings Inc. and Swiss-South African jeweler Compagnie Financiere Richemont SA all delivering weaker-than-expected results.Chinese consumers “are looking to conserve wealth,” said James Johnstone, co-head of emerging and frontier markets at Redwheel in London. “The very exciting post-pandemic revenge spending is over and people are tightening their belts.”Unlike China, where deflation helps companies control their costs, other EM countries are struggling after three years of elevated inflation. But competitive pressures and price-sensitive consumers still reeling from the economic impact of Covid mean companies are unable to pass these costs on.Meanwhile, a price war in AI is putting corporate performance under pressure. Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. dropped prices of some of its services, spurring its rivals to do the same. Investors are balking at the extent of discounts that are being offered — as much as 97% for some services — and reconsidering further investments in that area. A gauge of Chinese tech stocks has slumped 11% in just nine trading days.110641655On average, the operating-profit margin at EM companies has fallen more than 3 percentage points in the past two years. The deterioration was worst for industrial companies, financial institutions, technology firms and real estate developers, Julius Baer’s research in Asia shows.Central-Bank Dilemma There’s one more thing hampering corporate profits: A deceleration in the pace of monetary easing. While some developing countries started cutting interest rates in mid-2023, progress has slowed as delays to the Federal Reserve’s policy pivot and the dollar’s resilience are putting pressure on local currencies.Policymakers, for now, are focusing on supporting their currencies. “Despite room for rate cuts, several EM central banks remain hawkish,” said Dinic. “Poor corporate performance appears to be a secondary concern compared to broader macroeconomic stability.”

India will hike road toll charges across the country by 3-5% from Monday, officials said, after putting the annual increase on hold in April due to the country's general elections. Toll charges in India are revised annually in line with inflation and highway operators put notices in local newspapers announcing hikes of 3% to 5% at nearly 1,100 toll plazas from Monday. "As the election process is over, the revision of user fee (toll) rates, which was put on hold during the elections, would become effective from June 3," a senior official at the National Highways Authority of India told Reuters. The official said hikes in toll charges and taxation on fuel products help pay for the expansion of national highways, but opposition parties and many motorists criticise the annual rise in charges, saying they increase transport costs of essential commodities and burden commuters. High operators like IRB Infrastructure Developers and Ashok Buildcon Ltd will benefit from the toll increases. India has invested billions of dollars over the last decade to expand the national highways, with a total length of about 146,000 kilometres, the second-largest global road network. Toll collections jumped to more than 540 billion rupees ($6.5 billion) in the 2022/23 fiscal year from 252 billion in 2018/19, helped by a rise in road traffic as well as by increases in the number of toll plazas and charges. India's general election concluded on Saturday with Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led alliance projected to win a big majority, TV exit polls showed.

Ahead of the much-anticipated outcome of the Lok Sabha election results, the FII long-short ratio stands at a multi-year high of 87% shorts in the index futures, coupled with heavy selling in the cash market. On the other hand, retail investors are holding highly leveraged long positions."Both these factors are a bit scary. That means a slightly favourable election outcome might lead to a heavy unwinding of longs on margin calls, and the market might slip towards 22,000-21,500. On the other hand, a better-than-expected outcome might lead FIIs to go for aggressive short covering, which might take the Nifty to 23,000-23,500," says Rupak De, Senior Technical Analyst at LKP Securities.Edited excerpts from a chat:Nifty rollovers increased to 72% in the May series and on Friday the short positions exceeded 3 lakh contracts. What is the kind of inference that you can draw from the rollover data?The rollover into the June series was higher at 72% compared to the previous three-month average of 69%, with the Nifty closing the expiry more or less flat. However, the FII long-short ratio stands at a multi-year high of 87% shorts in the index futures, coupled with heavy selling in the cash market. On the other hand, retail investors are holding highly leveraged long positions. Both these factors are a bit scary. That means a slightly favourable election outcome might lead to a heavy unwinding of longs on margin calls, and the market might slip towards 22,000-21,500. On the other hand, a better-than-expected outcome might lead FIIs to go for aggressive short covering, which might take the Nifty to 23,000-23,500.Do you think 'Abki baar 24,000' is possible this week if BJP wins over 320 seats?A favorable outcome for BJP is likely to take the index on a wild ride towards 23,500. However, at this juncture, 24,000 appears slightly unlikely, at least in the 4-5 trading sessions.How should F&O traders position themselves for Monday's and Tuesday's trade as exit polls and actual results will heavily influence the market on both days?Given the high volatility, which has already led to a significant rise in option premiums, a long-only option strategy might not be advisable. Instead, a spread strategy, where the maximum risk is limited and offers a favorable risk-reward ratio, could prove to be beneficial around the pivotal event. Open-ended option short strategies like short straddles or short strangles should be avoided.What does the chart look like for the PSU index? Do you see a high risk-high reward trade in PSU stocks ahead of the election outcome?The charts of the PSU index have formed a bearish pattern on the weekly timeframe, indicating near-term weakness. However, the long-term chart remains favorable and offers a great opportunity for buy-on-dips investors. Therefore, investors might remain watchful in this space and add on dips. The defense, infrastructure, and housing PSUs continue to be good buy-on-dips opportunities.Give us your top ideas for the election weekStock Picks:1) Buy BHEL 300 TGT 320 SL 290RATIONALE: The stock has experienced a consolidation breakout on the daily chart, indicating a potential shift in momentum. Additionally, it is currently sustaining above the critical moving average, the 21 EMA, suggesting bullish sentiment. Moreover, the Relative Strength Index (RSI) is on the verge of entering a bullish crossover, further supporting the outlook for upward movement. Based on the technical chart, the stock looks good to rally towards 320 in the short term, while support is placed at 290.2) Buy IRCON 272 TGT 290 SL 262RATIONALE: The stock has undergone consolidation following a rally on the daily chart, suggesting a period of price stabilization. It is currently maintaining above the critical moving average, the 21 EMA, indicating potential bullish sentiment. Moreover, on the hourly chart, the Relative Strength Index (RSI) has entered a bullish crossover, further supporting the possibility of upward movement in the short term. Based on the technical chart, the stock looks good to rally towards 290 in the short term, while support is placed at 262.3) Buy GESHIP 1082 TGT 1170 SL 1039RATIONALE: The stock has undergone a two to three-day consolidation period and has maintained its position above the critical moving average, confirming a bullish trend. Additionally, the daily Relative Strength Index (RSI) is showing a bullish crossover, indicating increasing momentum and potential for further upward movement. Based on the technical chart, the stock looks good to rally towards 1170 in the short term, while support is placed at 1039.(Disclaimer: Recommendations, suggestions, views, and opinions given by the experts are their own. These do not represent the views of The Economic Times)