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Yemen's Iran-backed Houthis said on Monday they launched attacks on three ships in the Indian Ocean and the Red Sea, and two U.S. destroyers in the Red Sea. The group, which describes its attacks as acts of solidarity with Palestinians in Israel's war in Gaza, said the ships were the Larego Desert and the MSC Mechela in the Indian Ocean, and the Minerva Lisa in the Red Sea. It did not name the destroyers. There was no immediate confirmation from shipping companies or the U.S. military of any attacks in those areas The Houthis' military spokesperson, Yahya Saree, did not specify when the attacks took place, but said in a televised speech the group had used missiles against the ships and drones against the U.S. destroyers. The group has launched repeated drone and missile strikes in the Red Sea region since November, later expanding to the Indian Ocean. It has said it will attack any ships sailing towards Israeli ports, even in the Mediterranean Sea. Its attacks have forced shippers to re-route cargo to longer and more expensive journeys around southern Africa and stoked fears of the Israel-Hamas war spreading and destabilising the Middle East. The United States and Britain have carried out strikes against Houthi targets in retaliation for their attacks on vessels.

Foreign promoters of Timken India are likely to sell 6.6% of stakes in the company through block deals on Tuesday, according to a term sheet issued by BofA Securities India. The term sheet indicates that the floor price has been set at Rs 3,550 per share, which is a 10.2% discount to Monday's closing price of Rs 3,956. The sale at the floor price could fetch Timken's parent company around Rs 1,775 crore or $213 million.The stock has rallied 47% in the last three months, compared to a 3.14% gain in the Sensex.In June last year, Timken Singapore sold about a 10.1% stake, or 76 lakh shares, in its Indian listed arm for Rs 2,362 crore through an open market transaction. As of March 31, 2023, Timken Singapore owned a 67.8% stake in the company, which was subsequently reduced to 57.70%.Timken then said the net proceeds from the sale were to be utilised to support its 2023 capital allocation priorities, with a specific focus on share repurchases. The company had earlier announced plans to set up a new manufacturing facility in Gujarat to produce Spherical Roller Bearings (SRB), Cylindrical Roller Bearings (CRB), and components.

Nifty on Monday ended 25 points lower to form a minor bearish candle on the daily chart. The up move was not supported by the momentum as on the hourly time frame there is a negative crossover, analysts say.“Thus, we shall expect more consolidation before the next leg of an uptrend resumes. Also, after a sharp run-up, the probability of a sideways consolidation is high and hence the Nifty can consolidate around 23,000 till the monthly expiry,” said Jatin Gedia of Sharekhan.An analysis of Nifty put options reveals a concentration of Open Interest (OI) at the 22,700 level, implying potential support at this level. On the call side, significant OI concentrations are observed at the 23,200 and 23,500 levels.What should traders do? Here’s what analysts said:Osho Krishan, Angel OneFrom a technical standpoint, the benchmark has reverted from the upper band of the ‘Rising Channel’, suggesting a potent resilience for Nifty in the near term. Also, the advance-decline ratio favoring the bears portrays the exhaustion among the bulls. At the current juncture, the upper band of the channel placed around 23,150-23,200 is likely to be seen as an intermediate hurdle. On the other hand, the neckline of the breakout around 22,800-22,750 is expected to provide a cushion to the benchmark. For now, the index is likely to hover within the aforementioned range with bullish biases, and one needs to act accordingly and use proper risk management.Tejas Shah, Technical Research, JM Financial & BlinkXNifty is facing stiff resistance around 23,000-100 levels on an immediate basis and there is a strong possibility of minor profit booking from this psychological resistance in the next couple of days since some of the technical indicators like RSI and Stochastics are in overbought territory on the short term charts that could lead to knee-jerk reactions from time to time. The broader set-up continues to be bullish and hence, post some consolidation/correction, we should see more upside. Support for Nifty is now seen at 22,750-800 and 22,500 levels. On the higher side, the psychological resistance is at 23,000 and the next resistance zone is at 23,150-200 levels. Overall, bulls should continue to have an upper hand going forward.Rupak De, LKP SecuritiesNifty remained mostly volatile during the day as India awaits the final phase of the general election. The near-term outlook remains positive, with the index staying above the crucial moving averages. Support lies at 22,900, below which the index might slip towards 22,800. On the higher end, bears are active around 23,000-23,050. A decisive move above 23,050 might trigger a stronger rally towards higher levels.(Disclaimer: Recommendations, suggestions, views, and opinions given by the experts are their own. These do not represent the views of The Economic Times)

A step-up in investments at Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC) will slow down its deleveraging over the next 12-24 months, eroding headroom for the state-owned firm's 'bbb+' standalone credit profile, S&P Global Ratings said on Monday. Stating that ONGC's financial results for the fiscal year ended on March 31, 2024, were in line with expectations, S&P said despite a decline of 2-3 per cent in the company's domestic oil and gas production volumes and lower realizations in fiscal 2024, EBITDA grew to Rs 1.1 lakh crore from Rs 93,600 crore in fiscal 2023. "We attribute the higher EBITDA to the strong performance of downstream subsidiaries - Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals Ltd (MRPL) and Hindustan Petroleum Corp Ltd (HPCL), which together accounted for about 30 per cent of the group's EBITDA during the year. We forecast ONGC's EBITDA will remain at about Rs 1 lakh crore over fiscal years 2025 and 2026," it said. ONGC's integrated operations will support earnings resilience. The firm's production volumes should rise gradually over fiscal years 2025 (April 2024 to March 2025) and FY2026 as the company scales up oil and gas production from its block in the Krishna Godavari (KG) basin in India. "We expect output from the group's international assets, held through ONGC Videsh Ltd (OVL), to grow by 2-5 per cent during this period," S&P said. The higher output should mitigate the impact of moderating oil prices based on S&P Global Ratings' Brent crude oil price assumption of USD 85 per barrel for the rest of 2024 and USD 80 per barrel for 2025 and 2026. "Our base case also assumes the average realization on the company's domestic gas production will be USD 9.5 per metric million British thermal unit (mmBtu) for the next two years. This is given the mix of output from nomination fields and difficult acreages, and India's administered gas price formula," the rating agency said. It forecast ONGC's annual capital expenditure will increase to Rs 57,000-58,000 crore annually over the next 12-24 months, from about Rs 52,000 crore in fiscal 2024 (April 2023 to March 2024). Of this, the company is likely to spend Rs 33,000-35,000 crore annually to primarily arrest declining output from its matured fields in India. The balance will be spent at its downstream subsidiaries, MRPL and HPCL, to enhance refining and petrochemical capacities. "ONGC's planned capital investments are likely to consume about 60 per cent of the company's operating cash flow. This, and ONGC's stated financial policy on shareholder distributions, will leave limited headroom for the company to undertake sizable additional investments, in our view. "We expect ONGC's ratio of funds from operations (FFO)-to-debt to remain at 45-55 per cent in fiscals 2025 and 2026, compared with about 55 per cent in fiscal 2024, assuming the acquisition of ONGC Petro additions Ltd (OPaL) will be completed in fiscal 2025. This leaves limited headroom to our downside trigger of 40 per cent FFO-to-debt for the 'bbb+' rating," it said. S&P said its rating on ONGC (BBB-/Stable) remains constrained by the sovereign credit rating on India (BBB-/Stable/A-3).