Domestic equity benchmarks stare at a positive start with SGX Nifty trading higher with gains of over 30 points. Sensex and Nifty come into the last trading session of the week on the back of a two-day losing spree. While Sensex ended flat, down by 27 points at 34,842 the 50-stock NSE Nifty ended at 10,288 mark. “Given the sharp rally over the last few days, the market seems to be taking pause at this juncture. As the concerns continue to linger over the fast rising coronavirus cases globally along with the geo-political tensions, we would advise investors to stay cautious and focus more on stock-specific action,” said Siddhartha Khemka, Head – Retail Research, Motilal Oswal Financial Services.
Reliance Industries Ltd: Mukesh Ambani led Reliance Industries’ rating has been upgraded by rating agency Fitch to BBB+ from BBB. RIL has managed to improve its balance sheet with a spree of investments coming in from global investors for a 25% equity stake in RIL’s digital telecommunications arm Jio Platforms. Fitch has affirmed RIL’s long-term foreign current IDR rating at BBB- with a stable outlook.
Vedanta: Anil Agarwal’s Vedanta told the market regulator on Thursday that the company has received a green light from shareholders to take the company off the stock exchanges. Earlier last month, Anil Agarwal had proposed a Rs 16,200 crore plan to buy 49% public stake in the mining major. The company offered Rs 87.5 crore per share to purchase 185 crore shares, the offer price now stands at a significant discount to the current market price.
TTK Prestige: TTK Prestige reported weak March quarter results, where numbers were below street estimates across all parameters. Disruptions caused due to store closures resulted in substantial contraction in revenues for TTK in the quarter. The company reported revenue de-growth of 13.8% on a year basis. The de-growth was broad based across all segments, with cookers, cookware, and appliances declining.
Ashok Leyland: The automobile manufacturer saw volumes decline by 57% on-year in the March quarter as the company reported a net loss in the quarter. EBITDA margins for the Hinduja family-owned business dropped 630 basis points from the previous year.
Results today: Among companies due to announce results today are IRCTC, ITC Ltd., Oil India, Glenmark Pharmaceuticals, Coal India, APL Apollo Tubes, EIH, Emami Ltd, and UCO Bank among others.