Singapore Airlines (SIA) is engaged in confidential talks with Tata Sons for merging Vistara with Air India, the flagship carrier of the Republic of Singapore informed the stock exchange in the Southeast Asian nation on Thursday in a first acknowledgement of a possible integration of the two airlines. "In line with its multi-hub strategy, SIA is currently in confidential discussions with the Tatas to explore a potential transaction in relation to the securities of Vistara and Air India. "The discussions seek to deepen the existing partnership between SIA and Tatas and may include a potential integration of Vistara and Air India," SIA said in a notification to the Singapore stock exchange. SIA owns 49 per cent stake in Vistara and is among the four airlines run by Tata Group.
Two Reliance group firms - Reliance Consumer Products Ltd (RCPL) and Reliance Retail Ventures Ltd (RRVL) - have announced an open offer to acquire a 26 per cent additional stake in Lotus Chocolate. The firms will together acquire 33.38 lakh shares of Lotus Chocolate from the open market at a fixed price of Rs 115.50 per share, said a notice by DAM Capital, which is managing the offer. The offer will aggregate to a total consideration of Rs 38.56 crore over the full acceptance, said an open offer-detailed public statement shared by the company with stock exchanges on Thursday.
It is pouring heavily not only in North India, but at Dalal Street too. However, the latter is seeing a flurry of initial public offers (IPOs). After a busy fortnight that ended on July 7 with seven IPOs - IdeaForge Technology, Cyient DLM, PKH Ventures, Pentagon Rubber, Global Pet Industries, Tridhya Tech, and Synoptics Technologies -- four more IPOs will hit the Street this week, including one mainboard IPO of Utkarsh Small Finance Bank. That apart, India's largest securities' depository National Securities Depository Limited (NSDL) has filed its draft red herring prospectus (DRHP) with the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) for an IPO.
Over the past year, the National Stock Exchange Nifty FMCG Index, which tracks the market capitalisation of the top 15 companies in the fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) sector, has surged by 17.3 per cent. In contrast, the Nifty50, a broader market index, has witnessed an 8.8 per cent increase during the same period. The FMCG stocks have also been rally leaders in the current calendar year.
The National Stock Exchange (NSE) and the BSE has announced that three Adani group companies -- Adani Enterprises, Adani Power and Adani Wilmar -- will move out of the short-term additional surveillance measure (ASM). The stocks will be excluded from the short-term ASM framework with effect from March 17, according to separate circulars available on the exchanges. The NSE and the BSE had put the three Adani group firms, including the flagship firm Adani Enterprises, under the ASM framework on March 8.
Millions of people in Pakistan were left without electricity when a major power outage occured on January 23.
The National Stock Exchange (NSE) will shift the expiry of Bank Nifty derivatives contracts from Thursday to Friday, after smaller rival BSE did so earlier. The change, effective July 7, will apply to both weekly and monthly futures and options (F&O) contracts of the widely traded banking sector index. The first Friday expiry will be on July 14, 2023. NSE dominates the derivatives segment.
Jio Financial Services, a unit of Mukesh Ambani's Reliance Industries (RIL), got valued at Rs 1.66 trillion ($20 billion) following an hour-long special trading session conducted by stock exchanges on Thursday. Shares of RIL's unit got priced at Rs 261.85 apiece - higher than analysts' expectations of Rs 134-224 per share. The price was arrived at after calculating the difference between RIL's Wednesday (July 19) close of Rs 2,840 and Rs 2,580, the price discovered during the first-of-its-kind pre-trade session.
The equity cult has grown at a rapid pace in India in the last few years, with retail investors latching on to the stock markets like never before. At 126.6 million, the number of dematerialised (demat) accounts, where investors hold their securities in electronic form for trading purposes, are at record high levels. The growth rate, on an annualised basis, stood at 27 per cent in 2022-2023, up from barely 6 per cent a decade ago.
Lenders and shareholders of Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) will meet on May 2 to demerge the firm's financial services business. This is expected to create a big player in segments including the NBFC (non-banking financial company) space with net worth of Rs 25,851 crore as of March 2022. According to the plan, RIL shareholders will get a share in the demerged entity for each one held in the company.
The CBI on Friday questioned former CEO of National Stock Exchange (NSE) Chitra Ramkrishna in view of fresh facts emerging in connection with its ongoing probe into the alleged abuse of co-location facility in the NSE, officials said. The agency has also opened look out circulars against Ramkrishna, another former CEO Ravi Narain and former COO Anand Subramanian to prevent them from leaving the country. The central probe agency had booked a owner and promoter of Delhi-based OPG Securities Pvt. Ltd, Sanjay Gupta and other in connection with alleged abuse of NSE co-location facility to make gains by getting early access to the stock market, they said.
Equity benchmarks Sensex and Nifty settled on a positive note on Thursday, helped by buying in metal and realty stocks amid mixed global market trends. The 30-share BSE benchmark climbed 212.88 points or 0.36 per cent to settle at 59,756.84. During the day, it jumped 415.98 points or 0.69 per cent to 59,959.94. On similar lines, the broader NSE Nifty advanced 80.60 points or 0.46 per cent to end at 17,736.95.
The special privileges granted to private equity (PE) investors by listed companies are set to go through shareholders' test. Under new rules introduced by the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi), all such arrangements will require shareholders' nod by way of special resolutions. Legal experts say arrangements that are unfair to other public shareholders may not pass the muster.
Within six months, outlets carrying Vicks jumped from 60,000 pharmacies to 750,000 general stores. The trade boycott collapsed. Consumers were happy, finding Vicks now at every street corner. A fascinating excerpt from Gurcharan Das's Another Sort of Freedom.
Gift Nifty will provide Indian investors cues on how domestic markets could react to global events.
Equity benchmark Sensex and Nifty ended marginally down on Tuesday tracking losses in metal, banking and financial stocks. Investors also remained concerned over persistent foreign fund outflows, traders said. Falling for the fifth consecutive session, the 30-share BSE index ended 37.70 points or 0.07 per cent lower at 57,107.52. Similarly, the NSE Nifty shed 8.90 points or 0.05 per cent to close at 17,007.40.
The country's oldest stock exchange BSE has also embarked on a search for a chief executive and managing director as the incumbent Ashish Kumar Chauhan's term has ended. The move comes at a time when its bigger rival NSE, which controls a large part of trade volumes in the country, has also initiated a similar process for its chief. Interestingly, some reports mention that Chauhan is in the race to take over the corner office at NSE.
Automotive (auto) and auto ancillary stocks have been in the fast lane thus far in 2023-24 (FY24), with the National Stock Exchange Nifty Auto Index surging nearly 27 per cent, outperforming the Nifty50, which has gained roughly 11 per cent during this period. The top-gear performance of auto stocks at the bourses, according to A K Prabhakar, head of research at IDBI Capital, has been triggered by the premiumisation of products across vehicle manufacturers, which has seen vehicle sales remaining relatively stable. "It is not about higher sales figures now, but about premiumisation.
Mining magnate Anil Agarwal's conglomerate on Friday announced a major business shake-up, with flagship Vedanta Ltd approving a spin-off of its metals, power, aluminium and oil and gas businesses into separate listed entities and an overhaul of lucrative zinc unit planned as part of value creation and reducing debt load. Vedanta will issue one share of the five demerged businesses for every share held in the company, the firm said in a statement. The entire exercise, which would require shareholder and lender approval as well as a nod from the stock exchanges and courts, is expected to be completed in 12-15 months, its president for finance Ajay Agarwal said.
The decline of over 5 per cent in PB Fintech's shares (the parent company of PolicyBazaar) in the past two days presents an opportunity for long-term investors to consider buying the stock, suggest analysts. By comparison, the benchmark S&P BSE Sensex has remained flat during the same period with a negligible gain of 40 points, or 0.06 per cent. Analysts believe that the recent selling is "overdone", as the company behind the online insurance portal remains committed to achieving profitability, and the potential threat from the government's online insurance portal, Bima Sugam, might be embellished.
From the Sensex pack, Bajaj Finance, Bajaj Finserv, Reliance Industries, Wipro, HDFC Bank, HDFC, ICICI Bank and Tata Steel were the major laggards. ITC was the lone winner in the Sensex pack.
Close on heels of the launch of Gift Nifty (earlier SGX Nifty), domestic exchanges are pushing for extension of trading hours for the onshore derivatives market, said sources. Bourses are waiting for a final approval from market regulator Sebi on the proposal to keep the derivatives market open for longer hours, they said. The move is aimed at attracting more trading members for onshore futures and options (F&O) contracts amid risk that global investors could prefer trading at Gift City given the tax benefits.
Sundararaman Ramamurthy has been an interesting choice for the publicly-listed BSE, which has seen its chief move to bigger rival -- the National Stock Exchange (NSE) -- in July. Having spent nearly two decades at the country's largest bourse, Ramamurthy is among the early architects of NSE and understands all the cogs of the exchange wheel like only a few others in the country. Just like NSE's core team, which includes its founder RH Patil, the 59-year-old Ramamurthy has worked at the Industrial Development Bank of India (IDBI) before moving to NSE in 1995.
The sharp rally in the broader markets has propelled India's market capitalisation (m-cap) to a new high. The combined m-cap of all BSE-listed firms rose to Rs 291.9 trillion in intraday trade on Thursday before settling lower at Rs 290.9 trillion. The previous record was on December 14, 2022, at Rs 291.3 trillion.
Benchmark indices continued their downtrend for the fifth session on the trot on Thursday, with the Sensex tumbling nearly 817 points in early trade, tracking weak global trends and selling in index majors Reliance Industries and HDFC Bank. Unabated selling by foreign institutional investors also weighed on the sentiment. The 30-share BSE Sensex was trading 816.78 points lower at 53,271.61. The NSE Nifty declined 234.05 points to 15,933.05.
Equity benchmark Sensex dropped over 430 points on Tuesday as investors booked profits in banking and financial stocks after sharp gains in the previous session. Investor focus returned to the Russia-Ukraine war and rising oil prices, traders said. The 30-share BSE gauge ended 435.24 points or 0.72 per cent lower at 60,176.50.
The Enforcement Directorate has recently recorded the statement of former NSE managing director and chief executive officer Chitra Ramkrishna, lodged inside Delhi's Tihar jail, as part of a money laundering investigation against her and others, officials said Tuesday. The proceedings for recording the statement were conducted on two occasions inside the jail. The statement has been recorded under the criminal sections of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), they said. Ramkrishna is lodged in the Tihar jail after she was arrested by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on March 6 in the alleged National Stock Exchange (NSE) co-location scam case and investigation linked to other governance irregularities at the bourse.
The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) on Tuesday imposed a penalty of Rs 26 crore on Coffee Day Enterprises (CDEL) for alleged violation of securities laws. The regulator also directed the company to initiate steps to recover dues of Rs 3,535 crore-the amount diverted from seven subsidiaries of CDEL to Mysore Amalgamated Coffee Estates (MACEL). Affirming the violations of the Sebi (Prevention of Fraudulent and Unfair Trade Practices) Regulations and Sebi (Listing Obligations and Disclosure Requirements) Regulations, whole-time member Ashwani Bhatia said the listed company was being run like a personal fiefdom with no checks and balances in place.
The Enforcement Directorate on Thursday arrested former NSE MD Chitra Ramakrishnan in a money laundering case connected with alleged illegal phone tapping and snooping of stock exchange employees after getting the nod from a Delhi court to probe the matter. Special Judge Sunaina Sharma allowed four-day custodial interrogation of Ramakrishnan. The former NSE MD was produced in the court from jail on order passed by the judge earlier.
'Earnings will be the catalyst for markets to march higher from here on out.'
Before resigning as an auditor of an Adani Group firm, Deloitte had sought an independent external examination of allegations made by a US short-seller but the company said the allegations had no effect on financial statements and the reasons cited for quitting were not convincing to warrant such a move. In a 163-page filing with stock exchanges relating to Deloitte Haskins & Sells LLP's resignation, Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone (APSEZ) said that in meetings with its leadership, Deloitte indicated concern over a lack of a wider audit role as auditors of other listed Adani companies. However, the firm conveyed to the auditor that it was not within its remit to recommend such appointments as other entities are "completely independent".
Hyderabad police on Thursday arrested two senior executives of scam-hit Karvy Stock Broking Pvt Ltd for allegedly involving in diverting funds raised from banks by pledging clients' securities as collaterals. According to a police press release, Rajiv Ranjan Singh, chief executive officer and G. Krishna Hari chief financial officer of Karvy were arrested basing on a complaint by IndusInd bank.
The Nifty IT Index, the gauge for the performance of information technology (IT) stocks, was the worst performer on the stock exchanges on July 29, a day after Infosys posted lower-than-expected earnings growth for the June quarter and sharply cut its revenue growth guidance for 2023-24 (FY24). The IT index was down 4.1 per cent, its biggest one-day fall in three months. The decline was led by Infosys, with its shares plunging nearly 8 per cent, followed by HCLTech (-3.2 per cent), Wipro (-3.0 per cent), and TCS (-2.7 per cent).
Adani group firms Ambuja Cement Ltd and ACC Ltd on Thursday said no shares of the companies have been pledged by the promoters, who have only provided a "non-disposal undertaking". In a joint statement to stock exchanges, Ambuja Cement Ltd and ACC Ltd termed as "misleading" reports of pledging of shares by the promoters as part of financing their acquisition. "Consequently, there are market rumours that amid market volatility, there is a requirement to meet the top-up triggers where in there is selling pressure," the statement said.
Shares of asset management companies (AMCs) have rallied in the last 3-4 sessions due to clarity on regulatory changes in total expense ratios (TER) and expectations that it won't upset profits much in the long run. HDFC AMC has gained over 12 per cent in the last four sessions, while Nippon AMC and UTI AMC are up around 5 per cent. Aditya Birla Sun Life (ABSL), the only other listed AMCs, has risen more than 2.3 per cent in the last four sessions.
Whether earnings growth sustains will be crucial to determining how Indian equity markets fare in the days to come.
Indian equity markets had a good run in the first half of calendar year 2023 (CY23), with the S&P BSE Sensex and the National Stock Exchange Nifty50 hitting fresh 52-week highs. While the Sensex scaled up to a peak 64,718, the Nifty50 hit Mt 19,189. As the markets now prepare to enter the second half (H2) of CY23, all eyes are on global central banks, especially the US Federal Reserve, as to when they will pause and pivot as regards their interest-rate cycle.
US e-commerce giant Amazon has written to Ajay Tyagi, chairman of market regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi), to take action as is necessary to comply with the Supreme Court Judgment, related to the $3.4-billion merger deal between Future Group and Reliance. Amazon has requested Sebi to direct the Indian stock exchanges to withdraw the Observation Letters related to this deal with immediate effect. In January this year, Sebi had given a go-ahead onto Future Group's scheme of arrangement and sale of assets to Reliance, based on which the Bombay Stock Exchange also granted its "no adverse observation" report to the Rs 24,713-crore ($3.4 billion) deal.
The Supreme Court on Monday refused to interfere with the Delhi high court verdict granting bail to former Mumbai Police Commissioner Sanjay Pandey in a money laundering case related to alleged illegal phone tapping and snooping of National Stock Exchange (NSE) employees.
Among Sensex stocks, SBI, IndusInd Bank, HDFC Bank, Axis Bank, HDFC, Tech Mahindra, ICICI Bank, Ultratech Cement, L&T, Bajaj Finserv, Reliance, HCL Tech, Asian Paints, Wipro and M&M were the major losers. On the other hand, HUL advanced the most by 1.14 per cent. Maruti, Tata Steel, NTPC and Sun Pharma also posted gains.