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India’s October car, motorbike sales skid as dealers caution over stock

The sales numbers, based on vehicles registered in the country, were higher than September as more people visited car showrooms, but the Federation of Automobile Dealers Association (FADA) warned that momentum is slow.

New cars fared better than older models, entry-level motorcycles saw poor demand and discounts offered by automakers in October 2019 were higher – all of which affected sales this year, FADA President Vinkesh Gulati said in a statement

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Investors bet vaccine sparks revival in beaten down stocks

As the market hype around the U.S. election ebbs, investors are now preparing for good vaccine news, which they believe is a matter of when, not if.

“It’s going to be absolutely massive,” said Stuart Oakley, head of cash currency trading at Nomura in London. “If we get a vaccine, we’re going to see all that pent up demand coming out.”

Of the roughly 45 vaccines undergoing human trials, those from Pfizer and Moderna are seen as possibly winning regulatory approval this year, with AstraZeneca not far behind.

Investors are looking beyond an expected “excitement rally” and at longer-term beneficiaries and short-selling opportunities.

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Nissan plots digital course for car sales in a post-pandemic world

The operating chief, Ashwani Gupta, told the board meeting in late July that Nissan was racing to create a “complete, end-to-end digital journey”, according to three people familiar with the discussions.

He said this would allow consumers to research cars online, have models delivered to their homes for test drives and make purchase plans without ever having to visit a dealership, if they chose not to do so, the sources told Reuters.

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Pfizer’s Covid vaccine prevents 90% of infections in large study

“Today is a great day for science and humanity,” Albert Bourla, Pfizer’s chairman and chief executive, said.

“We are reaching this critical milestone in our vaccine development program at a time when the world needs it most with infection rates setting new records, hospitals nearing over-capacity and economies struggling to reopen,”he said.

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Cinven and Singapore’s GIC to acquire specialist insurance broker Miller

Headquartered in London, it places  £2 billion worth of premiums annually.

Founded in 1902, Miller is a leading specialist insurance and (re)insurance broker operating in the UK, Lloyd’s and internationally. It employs more than 640 people through its offices in London, Ipswich, Brussels, Paris, Singapore and Geneva, covering the world’s major insurance hubs.

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Top $5 trillion investor group pushes firms to cut out thermal coal

In a report seen by Reuters ahead of its release on Monday, the alliance said all companies owned by the group needed to develop their own plans to transition away from thermal coal.

“If no long-term carbon footprint reduction can be produced the members will need to escalate and ultimately divest,” Günther Thallinger, Member of the Board of Management, Investment Management, Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) at Allianz, said.

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English judge blocks $6.6 billion Brazil lawsuit against BHP over burst dam

The case is the latest battle to establish whether multinationals can be held liable for the conduct of subsidiaries abroad.
The collapse of the Fundao dam, which is owned by the Samarco joint venture between BHP and Brazilian iron ore mining giant Vale VALE3.SA, killed 19 and sent a torrent of mining waste into communities, the Doce river, and the Atlantic Ocean, 650 kilometres (400 miles) away. It was Brazil’s worst environmental disaster.
The ruling comes about 18 months after the UK Supreme Court ruled that nearly 2,000 Zambian villagers could sue miner Vedanta in England for alleged pollution in Africa because substantial justice was not obtainable in Zambia.

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Automakers log dip in fleet sales in Sep qtr amid coronavirus pandemic

“There has been extreme aversion on the part of customers against shared mobility and public transport and they are obviously looking at personal transport. If we look at the figures in our portfolio, fleet sales which include shared mobility, in the second quarter there was a drop of 69 per cent,” Maruti Suzuki India Executive Director (Sales and Marketing) Shashank Srivastava said.

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