Ambani raises stake in Reliance Industries to 48.87%

Reliance Services and Holdings Ltd, controlled by promoter group firm Petroleum Trust, acquired ₹17.18 crore or 2.71% stake in Reliance on September 13.

Billionaire Mukesh Ambani has raised promoter stake in flagship Reliance Industries by 2.71% to 48.87%, according to regulatory filing by the company.

Reliance Services and Holdings Ltd, controlled by promoter group firm Petroleum Trust, acquired ₹17.18 crore or 2.71% stake in Reliance on September 13, it said.

The acquisition was pursuant to a scheme of arrangement not directly involving Reliance, the filing said without giving details. Mr. Ambani and his private firms held 47.29% stake as on June 30, 2019 in India’s second-most valuable company.

As on June 30, FIIs held 24.4% stake in the firm, mutual funds had 4.56% and insurance companies 7.1%. The remaining share was with public.

Earlier in July, Reliance had announced a composite scheme of amalgamation by merging Reliance Holding USA into Reliance Energy Generation and Distribution and the latter with the company itself.

Liberal Democrats conference: Party to cancel Brexit if elected

New leader of UK’s Liberal Democrats says party faces fight of its life to stop Brexit.

The new leader of the United Kingdom’s Liberal Democrats says her party faces the fight of its life to stop the country leaving the European Union.

Speaking at her party’s annual conference in Bournemouth, Jo Swinson says she will cancel Brexit entirely if chosen as prime minister.

Swinson has said she will not go into coalition with either Boris Johnson or Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn. She is in this to win.

Al Jazeera’s Rory Challands reports.

Hong Kong Protests: Annual moon festival subdued celebrations

Festival brings families together to celebrate, however, this year they are singing about resistance and their fight for personal liberties.

The moon festival is one of the most important celebrations in the Chinese calendar.

But this year, the mid-autumn event is taking place against a backdrop of months of protests in Hong Kong.

Al Jazeera’s Jamela Alindogan reports.

Ukraine says supports EU's Sefcovic position at trilateral gas talks

KIEV, Sept 18 (Reuters) – Ukraine will support the position of European Commission’s Maros Sefcovic at trilateral talks to discuss Russian gas supplies to Ukraine set for Sept. 19, Ukraine’s new Energy Minister Oleksiy Orzhel said on Wednesday.

Ukrainian energy officials have said the proposal provides for a transit of 60 billion cubic meters of gas annually for 10 years. (Reporting by Pavel Polityuk; Editing by Jon Boyle)

Gundlach says Fed took baby step toward QE with repo operation

Bond investor Jeffrey Gundlach said the Federal Reserve will take the disruption in short-term money markets as a warning sign.

Gundlach, the chief executive of DoubleLine, on his webcast to investors talked about the disruption that led to the New York Fed to announcing it will carry a second overnight repo operation on Wednesday ($75 billion in repos), after Tuesday’s $53 billion funding.

“The freeze-up can only be viewed as a negative,” Gundlach said, according to CNBC. “They are baby-stepping their way to doing QE.”

The Fed only recently wound up its quantitative tightening program. The central bank is expected on Wednesday to cut interest rates by another quarter point.

Bond yields fell ahead of the decision, with the benchmark 10-year yield TMUBMUSD10Y, -1.89%  falling 4 basis points, and the 30-year yield TMUBMUSD30Y, -1.45%  also falling 4 basis points.

Also read: Wall Street raises questions about Fed’s action on funding squeeze

Brazil's Banrisul shrinks secondary offering

SAO PAULO, Sept 18 (Reuters) – Brazilian state-controlled lender Banco do Estado do Rio Grande do Sul (Banrisul) has reduced the number of common shares offered in a secondary share offering to 71,350,686 from 96,323,426, it said in a securities filing on Wednesday, in a sign that demand may be lower than expected.

Banrisul also decided to postpone the follow-on pricing for today. Previously, the bank had said it would price the shares on Tuesday.

UN General Assembly: New president gives maiden address

Two main topics to be discussed will be a plan to tackle climate change and tensions between US and Iran.

Tensions between the United States and Iran as well as climate change will be at top of the agenda in the world’s biggest annual diplomatic gathering.

The 74th United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) has officially opened in New York, one week before world leaders arrive.

Al Jazeera’s James Bays reports.

Pendragon shares slump as U.K. car dealer warns on Brexit impact

Shares of Pendragon PDG, -10.26% slumped 9% in London trade as the U.K. car dealer reported a "challenging" first half as revenue dropped 0.8% to £2.46 billion pounds and a £32.2 million underlying loss before tax. Saying the heightened political and Brexit uncertainty are weighing on consumer confidence, Pendragon said it expects a loss before tax at the bottom of its expectations.

Govt bans E-cigarettes

Citing a study in the United States, the FM said there had been 900 per cent growth in e-cigarettes between 2011 and 2015-16.

The Union Cabinet on Wednesday approved an ordinance to ban production, import, distribution and sale of electronic cigarettes, finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman said.

Sitharaman, who had headed a Group of Ministers on the issue, said the Cabinet decided to ban e-cigarettes and similar products as they pose health risk to people, especially the youth.

Citing a study in the United States, she said there had been 900 per cent growth in e-cigarettes between 2011 and 2015-16.

The Prohibition of Electronic Cigarettes Ordinance 2019 has as penal provisions including imprisonment for first and repeat offence.

Information and broadcasting minister Prakash Javadekar, who was also present at the briefing, said it was a timely step and the proposal had come to the cabinet after due deliberation.

“This is a welcome step. Prevention is always better,” he said.

With inputs from ANI