Indian markets expected to open higher, Adani Group firms sell stake to US PE firm, PVR capex plans.

Opening Bell:

SGX Nifty is up by 105.5 points in the early morning trade, indicating a positive opening for Indian stock market.

Asia-Pacific markets rose on Friday, following Wall Street’s gains overnight after Atlanta Fed president Raphael Bostic said he’s “firmly” in favour of sticking with quarter-point hikes. The Japanese Nikkei is up by 1.31 percent. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng is up by 0.77 percent and South Korea’s Kospi is down by 0.04 percent in early morning deals.

US stocks rallied on Thursday, as Treasury yields pulled back from earlier highs following comments from Atlanta Federal Reserve President Raphael Bostic about his favoured path of interest rate hikes for the central bank. The S&P 500 gained 0.76 percent and Nasdaq Composite dropped by 0.73s percent respectively.

Stocks News:

?Adani group companies have cumulatively sold shares worth Rs 15,446 crore in secondary equity transaction to US PE firm GQG Partners through block trades on March 2. The block trade transactions happened in four of the company’s subsidiaries–Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone Limited, Adani Green Energy Limited, Adani Transmission Limited and Adani Enterprises Limited.

?State Bank of India may look to lower its stake in Yes Bank after a lock-in period ends on March 13, which was put in place by the central bank as a part of the lender’s restructuring.

?Happiest Minds Technologies board has approved raising funds of up to Rs 125 crore through issue of non-convertible debentures (NCDs) on private placement basis in three tranches.

?Leading multiplex chain operator PVR to spend about Rs 450-500 crore of capex on new screens and the company, post the merger with Inox, is now looking to add 200 screens every year, and tap the potential of smaller markets.

?Foreign institutional investors (FII) bought shares worth Rs 12,770.81 crore, while domestic institutional investors (DII) purchased shares worth Rs 2,128.80 crore on March 2, the National Stock Exchange’s provisional data showed.

Domestic and International Events

• Oil prices rose on Thursday, boosted by signs of a strong economic rebound in top crude importer China and easing worries of aggressive US rate hikes.
• The number of Americans filing new claims for unemployment fell again last week, pointing to sustained labour market strength and adding to financial market fears that the Federal Reserve could keep hiking interest rates for longer.
• Japan’s services sector activity grew at the fastest pace in eight months in February, a private sector survey showed on Friday, as the economic impact of the coronavirus pandemic receded globally.
• Japan’s jobless rate fell to 2.4 percent in January, while the availability of jobs fell for the first time in nearly 2-1/2 years, government data showed on Friday.

Key Equity Indices