Ajanta Pharma buyback, Wipro selected by largest aviation company

Opening Bell:

SGX Nifty is up by 147 points in the early morning trade, indicating a negative opening for Indian stock market.

Stocks in the Asia-Pacific fell on Friday, as investors await the closely watched February non-farm payrolls report from the US that could further determine the direction on the Federal Reserve’s rate hikes ahead. The Japanese Nikkei is down by 1.22 percent. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng is down by 2.55 percent and South Korea’s Kospi is down by 1.19 percent in early morning deals.

Wall Street’s three major stock indices closed lower on Thursday, with bank stocks creating the biggest drag, while investors also worried that Friday’s jobs report could spur more aggressive interest rate hikes from the Federal Reserve. The S&P 500 lost 1.85 percent and Nasdaq Composite dropped 2.04 percent respectively.

Stocks News:

?Infosys has collaborated with mobility specialist ZF to revamp its multi-echelon supply chain with SAP Integrated Business Planning (SAP IBP) and Infosys Cobalt. Infosys leveraged its hybrid agile implementation methodology to replace multiple legacy demand planning tools at ZF Aftermarket, with a unified, global SAP platform.

?Zydus Lifesciences has received final approval from the United States Food and Drug Administration (USFDA) for Erythromycin tablets. These tablets are used to prevent and treat infections in many different parts of the body, including respiratory tract infections, skin infections, diphtheria, intestinal amebiasis, acute pelvic inflammatory disease, legionnaire’s disease, pertussis and syphilis.

?Shares of Ajanta Pharma will be in focus as the company’s board will consider a proposal to buyback shares.

?Wipro announced that it has been selected by Menzies Aviation, the world’s largest aviation services company, to transform its air cargo management services.

?Foreign institutional investors (FII) sold shares worth Rs 561.78 crore, whereas domestic institutional investors (DII) bought shares worth Rs 42.41 crore on March 9, the National Stock Exchange’s provisional data showed.

Domestic and International Events

• Oil prices slid about 1 percent to a two-week low on Thursday on increased worries the US Federal Reserve may go too far with its interest rate hikes to control inflation, which could cause a recession and reduce future oil demand.
• The number of Americans filing new claims for unemployment benefits increased by the most in five months last week, but the underlying trend remained consistent with a tight labour market.
• India’s fuel demand hit its highest level in at least 24 years in February, data showed on Thursday, with industrial activity in Asia’s third biggest economy boosted by cheap Russian oil.
• China’s annual consumer inflation slowed to the lowest rate in a year in February as consumers remained cautious despite the abandonment of strong pandemic controls late in 2022.

Key Equity Indices