West Asia tensions give Dalal Street a headache

The Nifty fell 246.9 points, or 1.1%, to 22,272.50. The Sensex declined 845.12 points, or 1.14%, to 73,399.78 in a volatile trading session that saw mixed responses across the Asia-Pacific to this weekend’s Iranian drone attacks on Israel. China advanced 1.26%, Hong Kong fell 0.73%, South Korea declined 0.42%, and Taiwan dropped 1.38%.

Pharma, healthcare top bets of fund managers in March

​​T​hey also purchased insurance stocks like SBI Life, HDFC Life, and ICICI Prudential Life Insurance after favourable guidelines on the surrender value of policies were announced by the insurance regulator IRDAI. Also, the recent removal of the age limit on availing of health insurance is seen as boosting the prospects of life insurance companies.

Jio Financial forms joint venture with BlackRock

In a release to stock exchanges on Monday, Jio said it has signed a 50:50 joint venture with BlackRock for incorporating wealth management and brokerage companies in India. Both companies have a similar partnership for the asset management venture.

Fairfax arm infuses Rs 500 crore into IIFL Finance

Fairfax’s Odyssey Reinsurance offers Rs 500 crore debt to IIFL Finance for gold loans. Prem Watsa’s subsidiary provides secured, rated bonds at 9.5% coupon. ET’s comment requests to IIFL Finance and Fairfax go unanswered.