welcome to our special business segment. Let's stop business. The market spared some gains to close higher and rising over 1% intra day. But on a weekly basis, it was the second consecutive week of ending in red now. Pharma, metal and media sectors led advances as nifty closed above 19,600 level and sex ended up upwards of 65,800 mark. Now Alex Matthew, with the wrap on all the market action equity markets, had a volatile end to the trading week. But the 50 50 ended with gains of about 0.6%. There was a range of about 175 points from the low point to the high point of the day, and you saw quite a bit of a cool off towards the end of the session, around 100 points from the high point of the day in just the last one hour of trade. Now the broader markets outperformed the mid cap index, gaining about a percent and the small cap index gaining close to 0.7% and the Nifty Farmer index was by far and away the best performer getting about 2.7% as a whole, Glen Mark outperforming there and the metal index was the other outperformer, gaining close to 2%. The key underperformer sector was the IT index. It lost ground because overnight you had Accenture, which missed estimates on the earnings front and also guided to a lower growth in the financial year ending August. Um, for the week as a whole, you had the nifty 50 that ended with cuts of just about 0.2%. The nifty bank also pretty much flat. The key out performers were in fact the auto index as well as the IT index, the auto index gaining close to 4% it close to 3%. And then pharma. Because of that run towards the end of the week, it gained about 2% or so for the week as a whole. The top gainers On Friday, I'll read off the list. You have Hindalco from the metal pack gaining over 5% ntpc. Dr. Reddy's laboratory is Hiro Motor Corp as well as Tata Motors. And among the losers, there were few and far between on the Nifty 50 but there were Adani Enterprises as well as LTR Mine Tree in Etc. Tech and Nestle India. So the key underperformers like I said were the IT index. Now a few points to watch out for going forward later today, there will be some key inflation data that will be released in the US and back home next week. We're heading towards the Monetary Policy Committee's meeting on monetary policy. We'll have to see what the course of policy is going forward and finally just keep an eye on oil prices. They have cooled off towards the end of the week, but they still remain elevated and that could have a sentimental impact. That's it for this week, though. And remember, next week is going to be a curtailed session. So let's see how things panned out now. How will the current global trends affect the Indian economy? Will the rising crude prices affect the Indian economy? BQ Prime spoke to DBS groups on how the crude prices will affect India and how RBI is placed in the fight against inflation. Given the supply demand make up around the world in terms of refining capacity in terms of storage, looks like we're at a bullish part of the cycle as far as oil is concerned. But I would make two important points. One is we shouldn't worry that much. And second is the cycle itself may well be short lived, so why we shouldn't worry about it? Well, we have lived with 101 110 $140 oil in the past and not in recent past, going all the way back to 2008. So the world in the last 15 years has seen $40 oil, $100 oil, 100 and $40 oil. That has not been the spoiler, if you will, for the global economic cycle, there are many other things going on. Of course, energy related inflation is a concern. Of course. That leads to some pressure on the current account on the currency. But that is not going to be the maker or the breaker of the economic cycle in India or globally. In my view, in real terms, oil today is even at $100 substantially lower than anything we saw during the previous bull runs of oil in the uh, end of 2008 as well as 2009 and as well as in recent years. So first and foremost, I think it's important to understand that we have seen this before. We've taken this in our strides. We have the absorptive capacity to deal with $100 oil. It's OK. The RB A is in a good position where they can convey some degree of inflation fighting credential and perhaps signal that it will have to take a closer look at what's happening with the overall price dynamic before entertaining me at some point next year. So I think that, unfortunately, is a given, uh, given the domestic drivers now the external drivers, whether it is oil or the Fed, the Fed is a very big source of headache. Uh, I think the Fed tightening, uh, over the last year or so, uh, we haven't felt it entirely yet. It's about to come, um, in terms of real interest rates being high in terms of dollar liquidity becoming tighter progressively, uh, in terms of emerging market currencies, including the rupe feeling pressure of the mighty dollar sort of, you know, pulling itself up because of the high interest rate differential between the US and the rest of the world, The Mercedes Benz EQE 500 is quite luxury at its finest. It's electric after all. While staying true to the tenants of German engineering, BQ Prime's Tua Deep Singh reviews the stealth wealth on wheels. The EQE 500 won't get a notice on the highway in the traffic or even the parking lot. And that's a good thing. Welcome to STT wealth Done the Mercedes Way, The EQE 500 is quintessentially a Mercedes Benz in the way it's solidly built and delivers effortless power with a smooth yet firm right. It's essentially an E class on stilts, an electric GE or G coupe. If you may, it can drive a CEO in Mumbai or an entrepreneur in Bangalore to work in utmost comfort. They won't mind taking the wheel over the weekend, either. The ride is that involving. Right now the design language of electric vehicles ranges from the eccentric, the Hyundai and Kia to the unexciting, the Teslas, the EQE looks as exciting, like a bar of soap, depending on who you're talking to. Some find it futuristic, others well as sexy as a bar of soap. Personally, the design is hard to fault. It's not shouty. It's not over the top. It's the kind the royal clan of succession would like to be driven around in, say, for a large three pointed star on the drill and a smiling, illuminated face here, the the front is largely clean. The rear with a wrap around strips spell out the model's bare essentials. The colours, ranging from metallic blues to pastel bra, simply underscore the understated charm. The inside is anything but understated. A 56 inch edge to edge hyper screen adores the dash. The steering wheel is wrapped in leather with enough tractors, which is to navigate the hyper screen without taking your eyes off the road. And if you do take your eyes off the road or hands of the steering wheel, the A as nanny kicks in immediately with the warning. If ignored, the nanny will slow you down until you heed the warning. This entire feature can be disabled, though using the hyper screen. The entertainment system is top of the class in terms of clarity and speed. And once you're over the learning curve, as is the case with any new car today, it's easy to flip through the menus and find what you need. Passengers will appreciate the room area. The sloping roof line does not come in the way unless they are well over 6 ft tall. The panoramic sunroof adds to the roominess in the tight switchbacks around Ulmar, where we test drove this car. The EQE rode smoothly and calmly, delivering a bit of body roll and a dash of under stair on sharper turns stomp on the gas, and this car lunges at the not so perfect tarmac with 580 NMF torque on tap, Mercedes claims is 0 204.9 seconds. I'm not going to debate that, given the supercar rivalling acceleration. Still, the overall sense of calmness isn't compromised. The car at no given time feels out of control, and that's saying something. For a 400 BHP near three tonne car, the EQE has four driving modes. The eco mode lets you sip on the battery. The comfort mode keeps things engaging without losing any of the plushness. The sport mode is a spirited driving, darting around town at what feels like warp speed. The mode is for the adventures. It raises suspension to handle the drugs with a lamp. Just keep in mind. This is not a Jeep Wrangler. Most owners would plug the car in comfort mode and forget about it. That's not a bad thing, Honestly, for the suspension and the ground clearance are more than adequate for the daily grind. One of the biggest positives is the driving range. I mean, the suffix 500 EQE 500 is there for a reason. The SUV are packed with 90 kilowatts of batteries capable of travelling 550 kilometres on a full charge. On our drive, the 50 kilometre loop around guar, the battery dropped to 91% with enough untapped to go all the way to about 420 kilometres away. A day's worth of driving, we were told, drops the battery 50%. At the most, a top up is a breeze. The car charges to 80% from zero in a mere 32 minutes range. Anxiety, not here at least. The EQE 500 gives you the impression that it won't be out of place outside a daily discotheque or a Bandra joint. It won't be out of place in the snows of Kashmir or the beaches of Kerala. At 1.39 C rupees, you get an expensive electric SUV that does it all without streaming for attention. That, to me, is wealth at its finest. That's all we have for you today on Let's Talk Business Now a short break.
