Indian stock markets are likely to open higher on Monday following the optimism over better-than-expected third-quarter corporate earnings and US markets finishing at record closing highs on Friday last week. The early indicator of NSE Nifty, SGX Nifty Futures was trading little changed, up 0.24% at 10,940 on Singapore Stock Exchange. Shares of India’s largest housing financier HDFC and the IT major Tech Mahindra will be in close watch ahead of their respective Q3 results which are due later today. Other major companies which are also scheduled to announce third-quarter results are Century Textiles, IDFC, Reliance Communications, Wockhardt, Astra Microwave Products, Astron Paper, Emami, Emkay Global, Himadri Speciality Chemical, Inox Leisure, Laurus Labs, Nava Bharat Ventures, and Sun Pharma Advanced Research.
These shares will be in focus today
JSW Steel: In a bid to give tough competition to competitors, JSW Steel is expected to double its bid value for debt-laden Bhushan Steel, PTI reported citing an unidentified source.
Indiabulls Real Estate: Indiabulls Real Estate expects its annual rental income from commercial properties to jump over two-fold to Rs 1,513 crore by 2020-21 on the back of acquisition as well as the development of new assets.
LIC Housing Finance: Leading home mortgage player LIC Housing Finance reported a 2 per cent decline in net profit at Rs 491.07 crore for the three months to December as its asset quality worsened and the key net interest income slipped on a rise in cost of funds.
Jindal Steel and Power: Jindal Steel and Power said its consolidated net loss narrowed by 39 per cent to Rs 276.99 crore in the third quarter ended December 31.
PVR: Multiplex operator PVR and its managing director and chairperson Ajay Bijli have settled the case with markets regulator Sebi over alleged violation of listing norms after paying over Rs 23 lakh.
Avenue Supermarts: Avenue Supermarts, which runs the D-Mart supermarkets chain, posted a 65.77 per cent jump in its net profit on account of overall increase in margin mix and improved operating costs.
UPL: Agro-chemical major UPL Ltd posted 25.32 per cent jump in its consolidated net profit at Rs 579 crore in the third quarter of the 2017-18 fiscal.
Maruti Suzuki: The country’s largest carmaker Maruti Suzuki India reported 2.96 per cent increase in net profit at Rs 1,799 crore for the third quarter ended December 31.
Reliance Industries: Reliance Jio on Thursday announced the lowest rental plan of Rs 49 in which it will offer unlimited voice and data for 28 days for JioPhone subscribers, effective January 26. “JioPhone users will enjoy free voice calls and unlimited data (1GB at high speed) for 28 days at a price of only Rs 49. Jio is also introducing affordable data add-ons at Rs 11, 21, 51 and 101,” the company said in a statement.
The government has approved Reliance Industries and British energy giant BP plc acquiring their cash-strapped partner Niko Resources’ 10 per cent stake in gas discovery block NEC-25 in the Bay of Bengal. “Assignment of Niko’s participating interest (10 per cent) to RIL and BP approved by Government of India,” RIL said in an analyst presentation on third-quarter earnings.
Idea Cellular: Telecom operator Idea Cellular has approached the government for raising foreign direct investment (FDI) level in the company to 100 per cent. “Application made to DIPP (Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion) for 100 per cent FDI in Idea,” the company said in an investor presentation filed late on Friday evening.
The rupee on Thursday: The rupee jumped by 14 paise to end at a fresh one-week high of 63.55.
Indian stock markets on Thursday
Indian stock markets closed lower after falling heavily in the afternoon trades on Thursday with Sensex and Nifty finishing the week above their respective psychological levels of 36,000 and 11,000 achieved this week. In the intraday trading, the benchmark Sensex tumbled 338.29 points or 0.93% to hit a day’s low of 35,823.35 while the broader Nifty index washed off as much as 76.8 points to hit the day’s low of 11,009.2. A decline in the shares of heavyweight companies such as State Bank of India, Infosys, Tata Consultancy Sevices, Maruti Suzuki, ITC, HDFC and Reliance Industries steered the headline indices to lose the shine in Thursday’s session. Shares of India’s largest bank State Bank of India emerged as the biggest losers among the Sensex stocks diving as much as 5% followed by Adani Ports, Dr Reddy’s Laboratories, Hero MotoCorp, TCS and Maruti Suzuki.
US stock markets on Thursday
The latest round of strong earnings reports, including from Intel and AbbVie, along with continued weakness in the dollar lifted each of the major Wall Street indexes to closing records on Friday, Reuters said in a report. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 223.92 points, or 0.85 percent, to 26,616.71, the S&P 500 gained 33.62 points, or 1.18 percent, to 2,872.87 and the Nasdaq Composite added 94.61 points, or 1.28 percent, to 7,505.77.
