Stock market live updates: As of 7:40 am, the SGX Nifty quoted at 18,066 levels, up 43-odd points

The judge presiding over the bankruptcy of cryptocurrency exchange FTX has denied a request by the U.S. bankruptcy trustee to appoint an independent examiner in the case.
The trustee, who serves as a government watchdog in Chapter 11 reorganizations, argued that the company’s financial affairs and business operations, including allegations of unprecedented fraud leading to its collapse, should be reviewed by a disinterested person, not left to an internal investigation.
But Judge John Dorsey rejected the request on Wednesday. He agreed with FTX and its official committee of unsecured creditors that an examiner’s work would be too costly and would duplicate investigations already under way by FTX’s new leadership, the creditors committee and several federal agencies.
“There is no question that if an examiner is appointed, the cost of the examination, given the scope suggested by the trustee at the hearing, would be in the tens of millions of dollars and would likely exceed 100 millio

Since taking over in October, Musk has said that he plans to step aside at some point, but had never specified a timeline

Microfinance players have already come out of the massive hit they took during the pandemic and are likely to report lower credit cost by the end of this fiscal, as growth momentum is on an upswing, says a report.
India Ratings has revised the outlook on the microfinance sector to ‘improving’ from ‘neutral’ and has also maintained the ‘stable’ rating outlook for FY24.
It expects the sector to notch up high double-digit growth of 20-30 per cent, on improved collections and disbursals. It sees the credit cost to improve to 1-3 per cent from 1.5-5 per cent this fiscal.
Microfinance institutions have already absorbed the impact of the pandemic by the December quarter, India Ratings said in a note on Wednesday.
It expects the growth momentum to continue in FY24, as disbursements are picking up, which in turn will lead to higher growth.
According to India Ratings, there are two key risks for the microfinance sector over the next 12-18 months — inflation and elections. These may impact