Indian equity markets might witness some cool-off on Friday as ahead of the final trading session of the week, SGX Nifty was up 205 points, hinting at some pullback after Thursday’s bearish movement. Benchmark index crashed badly yesterday after Russia announced military action against Ukraine. The Nifty 50 index plunged more than 4.5% to close at 16247.95 levels. “The market panic selling is triggered by the latest developments in Ukraine Russia tensions. The selling may continue for a more correction of 8-10% in the benchmark indices. Nifty may touch the level of 15500 in this scenario. It is advisable that all investors should follow a wait and watch strategy and avoid any fresh entry at the current juncture,” said Ravi Singh, Vice- President and Head of Research- Shareindia.
Stocks to watch on Friday, 25 February
Infosys: Infosys on Thursday launched Infosys metaverse foundry to ease and fasttrack enterprises’ exploration of the metaverse, including virtual and augmented environments, for their customers, workplace, products and operations. Infosys metaverse foundry converges the power of domain and design expertise, platforms and digital accelerators, with strong relationships in a rich creator-partner economy. Enterprises can harness this confluence of capabilities as services on-tap, with the flexibility to ramp up and down their explorations at will.
Apollo Hospitals: Apollo Hospitals Enterprise Ltd. will replace Indian Oil Corporation Ltd. in the benchmark Nifty 50 from March 31, 2022, as part of the semi-annual index review. The changes will be applicable to Nifty 50 Equal Weight Index. Apollo Hospitals Group announced on Thursday also announced collaboration with ‘8chili Inc’ to enable engagement in metaverse, the virtual reality platform, to increase patient engagement and skill mastery for hands-on training.
Indian Oil: Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) Ltd will be removed from National Stock Exchange’s benchmark index Nifty 50, and it will be replaced by Apollo Hospitals from March 31. Meanwhile, the country’s top refiner bought Russian Urals crude for the first time in two years, after spot differentials slumped, reported Reuters. The opportunity for India to buy more of the Russian flagship grade, that typically heads to Europe, arose after its discount to global benchmark Brent fell to the widest since 2005, hit by rising tensions between Russia and the West over Ukraine.
Wipro: Wipro announced that it will be hiring more than 500 new professionals over the next fiscal year to support its growth in delivering cloud solutions to clients. The IT company will be hiring throughout Brazil, especially in the Northeast region mainly the capitals Recife, Fortalezaas well as in Natal – Curitiba, Brasia, and cities in the countryside of S Paulo and Rio de Janeiro states, among other locations, for a range of roles from IT and engineering to consulting, business development and operations.
IndiGo, Spicejet: Airline stocks will be in focus after reports surfaced that government might resume international flight operations soon. After remaining suspended for almost two years, India may resume regular international flights around March 15-20. Aviation Ministry is likely to issue an order on the resumption of commercial international passenger flights, which remained suspended from March 2020, reported CNBC-TV18 citing sources privy to the developments.