Wipro’s Collaboration with RSA, Mankind Pharma’s Share Transactions, & Axis Bank Block Deal Plans

Opening Bell:

Gift Nifty is up by 1.0 points in the early morning trade, indicating a positive opening for Indian stock market.

Asian markets were experiencing mixed trading on Wednesday. Investors were analysing Japan’s quarterly Tankan survey findings and preparing for the impending interest rate decision by the US Federal Reserve. Japan’s Nikkei index rose by 0.7%, showing positive movement, while South Korea’s Kospi experienced a decline of 0.4% during trading.

Tuesday marked a milestone as US stocks hit their highest points of the year. Despite minimal impact from inflation data on Federal Reserve rate cut expectations, investors were eagerly anticipating the central bank’s final policy decision for the year on Wednesday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average surged by 0.48%. Meanwhile, the S&P 500 saw an increase of 0.46%, and the Nasdaq Composite jumped by 0.70%.

Stocks News:

👉 Wipro: The information technology major announced its collaboration with RSA, a general insurance provider. Wipro will assist RSA in its cloud migration efforts. The partnership, set for a three-year duration, aims to create a compliant, secure, and scalable IT infrastructure for RSA.

👉 Force Motors: The manufacturer of commercial vehicles said it has acquired a 12.21% share in TP Surya Ltd for ₹2.68 crore, marking its entry into the into the renewable energy sector. TP Surya Ltd, a fully-owned subsidiary of Tata Power Renewable Energy Ltd, operates as a special purpose vehicle (SPV) dedicated to developing ground-mounted solar photovoltaic power projects in Maharashtra.

👉 Mankind Pharma: Chrys Capital arm Beige sold 1.79 crore shares in the pharmaceutical firm through open market transactions, amounting to ₹3,282 crore. Hema CIPEF disposed of 56,26,167 shares at an average rate of ₹1,832.8 each, and Cairnhill CIPEF sold 69,62,233 shares at an average price of ₹1,832.3. Meanwhile, Kotak Funds India Midcap Fund acquired 20,29,246 shares at ₹1,832.30.

👉 Axis Bank: Bain Capital, a leading private equity firm, is likely to offload an additional share in Axis Bank through a new block deal valued at $444 million, according to Moneycontrol. Affiliates of Bain Capital are planning to divest a 1.1% stake in the private sector bank through this block deal, with the proposed starting price set at ₹1,109 per share.

👉 Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) net bought shares worth Rs 76.86 crore, while domestic institutional investors (DIIs) purchased Rs 1,923.32 crore worth of stocks on December 12, provisional data from the National Stock Exchange (NSE) showed.         

Domestic and International Events

• India’s headline retail inflation rate surged to 5.55% in November, according to data released by the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation on December 12, thanks to the combination of an unfavourable base effect and rise in prices of key food items. The Consumer Price Index (CPI) inflation print in October was 4.87%. At 5.55%, the latest CPI inflation figure is below expectations, with economists having predicted prices likely rose 5.8% year-on-year in November.

• India’s industrial output grew by 11.7% in October, according to data released by the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation on December 12, as a favourable base effect propelled manufacturing output 10.4% higher. At 11.7%, the latest industrial growth figure as per the Index of Industrial Production (IIP) is the highest in 16 months. IIP growth had come in at a three-month low of 5.8% in September. This number now stands revised at 6.2%. In October 2022, India’s industrial output had contracted by 4.1%. For the seven months of 2023-24, India’s industrial output is up 6.9% year-on-year as against 5.3% in April-October 2023.

• Oil prices dropped over 3% to a six-month low on Tuesday due to oversupply concerns and unexpected US consumer price increases. Brent crude futures for February settled at $73.24 a barrel, down 3.7%, while US West Texas Intermediate crude futures for January slipped to $68.61, a 3.8% decrease.

• Gold prices initially rose about 0.5% but steadied at $1,978.68 per ounce after unexpected U.S. consumer price increases in November. US gold futures settled nearly unchanged at $1,993.20 amid focus on central bank meetings for policy cues.

Key Equity Indices

EMERGING	LATEST	% 1D
Hang Seng	16,375	1.1 %
Shanghai Composite	3,003	0.4 %

DEVELOPED	LATEST	% 1D
Dow Jones	36,578	0.5 %
DAX	16,792	(0.0) %
FTSE 100	7,543	(0.0) %
Nikkei	32,844	0.2 %
Straits Times	3,102	0.4 %