Indian stock markets are likely to open flat on Monday as Asian shares edged lower in the early trading session. The early indicator of NSE Nifty, SGX Nifty Futures was trading unchanged at 10,912.5, down 0.01%. US stock futures, Asian equities and the dollar pulled back slightly on Monday after the US government was forced to shut down amid a dispute between President Donald Trump and Democrats over immigration, Reuters said in a report. Shares of Asian Paints, Axis Bank, Dewan Housing Finance, Havells India, Rallis India, Vakrangee and Justdial will be in close watch ahead of their respective third-quarter earnings. Other major companies which are also scheduled to announce their Q3 results are GNFC, Sasken Technologies, V-Guard Industries, and Tinplate. Going ahead in a holiday-shortened week ahead, earnings of blue-chip companies such as Axis Bank and Maruti Suzuki as well as derivatives expiry will likely to steer the domestic equities. Companies which are scheduled to announce their results this week include Axis Bank, Maruti Suzuki India, Canara Bank, Idea Cellular, Coal India, and Dr Reddy’s Laboratories.
Airtel: Telecom major Bharti Airtel said the mobile tariff in the country is at unsustainable levels, but the battle in the industry at present is focused on market share, which continues to put pressure on business. “I would say pricing today is at a deeply compressed level that is why we have seen the kind of consolidation that has happened in last 12 months. This level of pricings are clearly unsustainable. Pricing (rates) will have to lift but, at this point of time there is fight for market share and that’s being driven by the new entrant and therefore pricing remains compressed,” Gopal Vittal, MD and CEO, India & South Asia, said during the earnings call.
Bharti Airtel will transfer its 25% stake in DTH arm Bharti Telemedia to wholly owned subsidiary Nettle Infrastructure Investments, as per a regulatory filing.
Reliance Industries: Oil-to-telecom conglomerate Reliance Industries reported its highest quarterly net profit of Rs 9,423 crore on record earnings from petrochemical business and telecom unit Jio logging its first-ever profit. Consolidated net profit of Rs 9,423 crore, or Rs 16 per share, in the October-December, was 25.1% higher than Rs 7,533 crore, or Rs 12.8 a share, in the same quarter of last fiscal, the company said in a statement.
Wipro: Wipro, India’s third-largest IT services firm, posted 8.4% fall in consolidated net profit to Rs 1,931.3 crore for the December quarter but said it has been witnessing an improving trajectory of growth.
HDFC Life: HDFC Life reported a 14.77% growth in profit after tax (PAT) at Rs 207.32 crore for the quarter ending December 31, compared to the same period last year.
Jaiprakash Associates: Jaiprakash Associates’ standalone net loss narrowed to Rs 148.10 crore in the third quarter of current fiscal on lower finance cost and other expenses. Its net loss stood at Rs 1,095.02 crore in the year-ago period, the debt-laden company said in a regulatory filing.
ONGC & HPCL: State-owned Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC) announced the acquisition of government’s entire 51.11% stake in oil refiner HPCL for Rs 36,915 crore, paying a premium of over 10%. ONGC will pay Rs 473.97 per share for 77.8 crore shares of the government in Hindustan Petroleum Corp Ltd (HPCL), the company said in a stock exchange filing. The price it is paying is 14% higher than Friday’s closing price of HPCL and over 10% of the 60 -day weighted average of the scrip. Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC) has increased its first ever debt-raising plans by 40% to as much as Rs 35,000 crore to fund its Rs 36,915-crore acquisition of Hindustan Petroleum (HPCL).
Adani Ports and SEZ: The Andhra Pradesh government has chosen lone bidder Adani Ports and SEZ Ltd as the developer of Bhavanapadu port project in Srikakulam district.
DCM Shriram: DCM Shriram has reported a 56% jump in its net profit at Rs 213 crore in the third quarter ending December 2017.
Future Retail: Kishore Biyani-led Future Retail said it will fully acquire Travel News Services India (TNSI) in a Rs 100 crore deal, a move which would help the company to the consolidation further its retail business.
NMDC: State-owned NMDC Ltd aims to produce about 45 million tonnes (MT) of iron ore during the next financial year as against the expected 35 million tonnes in the current fiscal, said a top official of the PSU, PTI reported.
The Indian rupee on Friday: The rupee surrendered most of its early gains but managed to end higher by a modest two paise at 63.84 against the US dollar in highly volatile trade.
Indian stock markets on Friday
The key equity index Nifty breached the psychological level of 10,900 for the first time on Friday led by an uptick in over a dozen heavyweight shares. The blue-chip stocks of ICICI Bank, Reliance Industries, Indian Oil Corporation, HDFC Bank, Adani Ports, Indiabulls Housing Finance, Bajaj Finance, Tata Consultancy Services, State Bank of India, Yes Bank, Vedanta, L&T, Kotak Mahindra Bank, ITC, Axis Bank, HDFC, Bharat Petroleum Corporation and Hindustan Petroleum Corporation contributed the most in the upsurge of the index. In the intraday trades, Nifty 50 amassed as many as 89.85 points to hit a fresh peak of 10,906.85 before settling up 77.7 points or 0.72% at 10,894.7 on Friday. In the last 5-day trading session, Nifty got appreciated by 213.45 points or 1.99% to conclude at 10,894.7. The 30-share BSE Sensex rallied 251.29 points or 0.71% to finish at 35,511.58.
US stock markets on Friday
Wall Street rose on Friday, led by gains in consumer stocks, even as a possible government shutdown loomed, Reuters reported. The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq hit record closing highs, while the Dow ended the day higher after trading in a narrow range, Reuters added. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 53.91 points, or 0.21 percent, to close at 26,071.72, the S&P 500 gained 12.27 points, or 0.44 percent, to 2,810.3 and the Nasdaq Composite added 40.33 points, or 0.55 percent, to 7,336.38.
