Indian stock markets are likely to open higher on Friday — the last trading day of 2017 — as most of the Asian shares inched up in the early session today following the uptick on Wall Street overnight. The early indicator of NSE Nifty was trading little changed, up 0.09% at 10,517.5 on the Singapore Stock Exchange. “Asian markets were ending 2017 in a party mood on Friday after a year in which a concerted pick-up in global growth boosted corporate profits and commodity prices, while benign inflation kept central banks from taking away the monetary punch bowl, Reuters said in a report.
These stocks will be in focus today
Reliance Communications & Reliance Industries: Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Jio has finally sealed the deal with younger brother Anil Ambani to purchase troubled RCom’s towers and fibre after the company announced asset monetisation plan on Tuesday. RCom on Thursday said that it has signed a definitive agreement with Reliance Jio for sale of towers, MCNs and fibre. The company will sell 4G services and 43,000 towers to Jio. On the 85th birth anniversary of father Dhirubhai Ambani, Mukesh Ambani, India’s richest businessman today stepped in to bail out younger brother Anil Ambani’s debt-ridden Reliance Communications by acquiring spectrum, tower, optical fiber network and other wireless assets in a deal. The announcement comes just two days after Reliance Communications disclosed a new deal with the lenders under which nearly Rs 40,000 crore will be raised through sale of assets, averting an imminent takeover by the 35 local and foreign banks.
Bank of Baroda: State-owned Bank of Baroda will fully acquire its mutual fund and trustee business and buy the entire 51 per cent stake held by the joint-venture partner UniCredit.
Lupin: Lupin Ltd said it has received final approval from the US health regulator for its generic version of Dovonex scalp solution used in treatment of psoriasis of scalp.
Tata Global Beverages: Tata Global Beverages (TGBL) has sold its stake in joint venture firm Estate Management
Services Private Limited (EMSPL) for a consideration of Rs 120 crore.
Indian rupee on Thursday: The rupee today made an impressive recovery after an early jolt and closed 7 paise higher at 64.08 against the US currency
Indian stock markets on Thursday
Indian stock markets dipped slightly on Thursday to close lower as the December series of Future & Options contracts expired today. BSE Sensex dropped 63.78 or 0.19% to finish at 33,848.03 while NSE Nifty slid 12.85 points or 0.12% to conclude at 10,477.9. Shares of Tata Steel, Dr Reddy’s, HDFC Bank, Wipro, ICICI Bank emerged as the only notable gainers on BSE Sensex. During the day, the benchmark Sensex shuttled between the range of 33,928.86 and 33,752.03 while NSE Nifty hovered between 10,534.55 and 10,460.45. The key equity indices Sensex and Nifty have returned around 30% in the last 12-months period. Earlier on 27 December 2017, BSE Sensex made an all-time high of 34137.97 while NSE Nifty marked it a high of 10,552.4. The heavyweight stocks of SBI, HDFC, Axis Bank, Sun Pharma, Kotak Mahindra Bank contributed the most to the Sensex decline. Collectively these five stocks alone washed off about 77 points from the index.
US stock markets on Thursday
US stocks edged higher in light trading on Thursday, buoyed by gains in financial stocks and as technology stocks continued to slowly recover from a losing skid, Reuters reported. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 63.21 points, or 0.26 percent, to 24,837.51, the S&P 500 gained 4.92 points, or 0.18 percent, to 2,687.54 and the Nasdaq Composite added 10.82 points, or 0.16 percent, to 6,950.16.