Surge in crude oil prices, IRFC's Rs 1.05 interim dividend, & more - Groww Digest

Monday, 9 March 2026

Mar 10, 2026

Markets opened below Friday’s closing point.

Nifty 50 opened significantly lower today. The fall was mainly due to a sharp surge in crude oil price and weak global sentiments.

All sectors’ stocks fell today except for the IT stocks. Auto stocks and PSU bank stocks fell the most.

Global markets: US markets and Asian markets fell. European markets fell (as of 6 pm IST).

News

The Indian Rupee fell to a record low, weakening beyond Rs 92.35 against the US Dollar, due to rising tensions in West Asia and rising global crude oil prices.
The RBI has purchased government securities worth Rs 50,000 today to inject money into the economy and stabilize the financial system.
SEBI has introduced a debit freeze facility that allows mutual fund investors to temporarily lock their folios and block any withdrawals or debits.
China’s retail annual inflation rate rose to a 3-year high of 1.3% in Feb (vs 0.2% in Jan).

Stocks Updates

Reliance: company subsidiary, Reliance Retail, acquired beauty brand ‘Pahadi Local’ to expand its purpose-led beauty and wellness portfolio.
ABB India: will invest around $75 million in 2026 to expand manufacturing and R&D across key electrification and automation segments.
IRFC: board declared an interim dividend of Rs 1.05 per share with 13 March as the record date for FY26. It also approved a Rs 70,000 crore market borrowing plan for FY27.
GAIL: signed an MoU with RailTel to collaborate on telecom and digital infrastructure opportunities in India.
Solar Industries: company subsidiary, Solar Defence and Aerospace, held Bhoomi Pujan for its new robotics and UAV manufacturing facility at MIHAN SEZ, Nagpur.

Word of the Day

Treasury Bills (T-Bills)

They are short-term debt securities issued by the government to raise funds.

They are sold at a discount and then redeemed at face value on maturity. This difference between the purchase price and face value becomes the investor’s earnings.

The gains are treated as Short Term Capital Gains (STCG) and taxed under the income tax slabs.

Because they are backed by the government, they are low risk.

An individual investor needs a minimum investment of Rs 10,000 to purchase T-Bills from the RBI.

6 Day Course

Theme: crude oil price
Day 1: Monday

With the situation in the Middle East growing tense, talks about the price of petrol/diesel going up can be heard.

In this week’s course, we’ll discuss how crude oil prices work, how they affect the stock markets, and how local-level petrol, diesel, LPG, etc prices get determined.

Crude oil is found in many parts of the world. They are all of different grades/types.

Each different crude gets priced based on how good/bad it is compared to the benchmark or standard oil.

The benchmark prices are also not one. There are 3 main benchmarks.

Brent benchmark: this is the most popular benchmark used by around 75% to 80% of the world’s oil.

WTI benchmark: this is used mainly for oil produced in the US.

Dubai/Oman benchmark: this is used mainly for oil used in Asian countries.

These three crude oil price benchmarks can differ based on regional factors.

This is why there is no one single ‘price of crude’. We keep hearing about these 3 crude oil prices.