1.07 lakh non-convertible debentures have been issued by Biocon

Opening Bell:

SGX Nifty is down by 73.5 points in the early morning trade, indicating a negative opening for Indian stock market.

Asia-Pacific markets were lower on Wednesday ahead of key economic data across the region. The Japanese Nikkei is down by 1.55 percent. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng is down by 0.81 percent and South Korea’s Kospi is up by 1.50 percent in early morning deals.

Wall Street posted its worst performance of the year so far on Tuesday, with the main benchmarks ending down as investors interpreted a rebound in US business activity in February to indicate that interest rates need to stay higher for longer to control inflation. The S&P 500 lost 2 percent and Nasdaq Composite dropped by 2.5 percent respectively

Stocks News:

?Bharat Electronics a defence company has signed an MoU with Aeronautical Development Agency (ADA), DRDO, for an advanced medium combat aircraft (AMCA) programme. The Advanced Medium Combat Aircraft is a 5th generation, multi-role, all-weather fighter aircraft designed with high survivability and stealth capability.

?Biocon company has raised Rs 1,070 crore by issuing 1.07 lakh non-convertible debentures of face value of Rs 1 lakh each on private placement basis in 3 Series. The tenure of the NCDs is five years from the deemed date of allotment.

?Hindustan Zinc meeting of equity shareholders of the company is scheduled to be held on March 29, in the matter of Scheme of Arrangement between the company and its shareholders. The National Company Law Tribunal on February 6 has passed the order in the said matter of Scheme of Arrangement.

?ICICI Prudential Mutual Fund has acquired an additional 2.03% stake in the housing finance company through open market transactions. With this, the mutual fund house shareholding in the company increased to 7.07%, up from 5.04% earlier.

?Foreign institutional investors (FII) bought shares worth Rs 525.80 crore, whereas domestic institutional investors (DII) sold shares worth Rs 235.23 crore on February 21, NSE’s provisional data showed.

Domestic and International Events

• The Indian economy is likely to grow at 5.9 percent in FY24, much below the RBI estimate of 6.4 percent, hindered by emerging faultlines in stagnating exports, subdued manufacturing and sluggish consumption demand, India Ratings and Research said on Tuesday.
• The trading hours for interest rate derivatives have been extended till 5 pm by the National Stock Exchange (NSE), according to a circular. The change in timing will come into effect from February 23 onwards.
• Brent crude oil slipped more than 1 percent in a volatile session on Tuesday as persistent concerns about global economic growth outweighed supply curbs and prompted investors to take profits on the previous day’s gains.
• US business activity unexpectedly rebounded in February, reaching its highest level in eight months, according to a survey on Tuesday, which also showed inflation subsiding. S&P Global said its flash US Composite PMI Output Index, which tracks the manufacturing and services sectors, increased to 50.2 this month from a final reading of 46.8 in January.

Key Equity Indices