VENTURE CAPITAL POST

The micro venture capital (VC) funding space in India is witnessing a robust activity. A rising new breed of venture capital investors is keen on early-stage investment in startups. About 12 micro venture capital funds are operational in India.

BDC Capital, a subsidiary of Business Development Bank of Canada, has launched IT Venture Fund II with corpus of C$150 million. With an objective of bridging gap in the mid-stage funding, the new fund will support new generation of IT entrepreneurs in Canada.

Indian Rupee further fell in a narrow range and was nearing its record low. On the other hand, stocks on the Indian bourses staged a recovery. The S&P BSE Sensex was up 0.8 percent paring intraday loss of 1.2 percent. Overseas investors continued to offload in the Indian stock markets.

The volume of maturities of US investment-grade companies during 2016 and 2020 will be $864 billion. This is record high for the US investment-grade companies. However, they can easily access financial markets for refinancing their debt, observes global rating agency Moody's Investors Service.

A research conducted by JP Morgan analysts revealed that global investment banks would suffer a fall in profits this year. The fall could differ between regions, but average earnings are estimated to be down by 20 percent and revenues by 21 percent. Challenging economic environment is believed to negatively affect the global investment markets.

Hedge funds in Asia witnessed losses the most in January 2016. The financial markets sell-off in the month made hedge funds suffer losses over 10 percent. Asia-focused hedge funds recorded losses of 3.1 percent indicating the worst beginning since 2008.

Brazilian steelmaker Usiminas Siderurgicas de Minas Gerais SA, a Brazilian steel producer, is in the process of offloading its manufacturing unit. Usiminas has already hired Credit Suisse SA as its financial advisor for the unit sale. The sluggish global economy and China's economy slowdown are impacting the Brazilian steel industry in more negative way.

The market volatility, rising dollar and sluggish global economy are forcing foreign investors towards the US small business credit market for growth opportunities. Foreign investors generally prefer to invest in US treasury bonds. But the prevailing global conditions are propelling them to park their funds in small business credit market.

R-Square Macro Management is increasing its exposure to Russian currency Ruble. It's hoping on rebound in Ruble as it fell 37 percent from the recent high in 2015. Some asset managers scaled back their wagers on Ruble amid high volatility in the Russian currency.

The recent market crash in Indian stock markets is driving funds from equities to mutual funds (MFs). As a result, fixed income mutual funds are witnessing increased inflows of funds amid ongoing bear market.

The London property market is witnessing soaring buying activity for rental apartments ahead of new tax on home coming into effect from April 2016. The latest rush for buying is also pushing prices up.

The UK stocks, after suffering losses for three sessions in a row, rebounded. Barclays and other financial companies led the gains. After suspension of trading for a day, the trading in Barclays stock resume on Monday. The FTSE 100 index dropped 9.2 percent in 2016 so far.

Reeling under pressure, the hedge fund segment is facing talent crunch to render its services more qualitatively. Considering the need of the hour, billionaire Steve Cohen-owned hedge fund Point72 Asset Management is investing in grooming the talent pool. It's offering two programs to train young graduates.

The bonds are gaining momentum amid sluggish financial markets and uncertainty about the global economy. Majority of hedge funds are betting on the $4.5 trillion market as the safest for US corporate debt. Some hedge funds forecast the concerns may go beyond energy and junk bonds.

Contrary to earlier bullish predictions for 2016, several Wall Street strategists have started lowering their forecasts on S&P 500 stocks. The Chinese economy slowdown, volatile oil prices and interest rates are the major reasons for drop in forecast. The gap between highest and lowest forecast has been widening.