Opening Bell:
Gift Nifty is up by 6.5 points in the early morning trade, indicating a positive opening for Indian stock market
Asian markets gained following an overnight rally on Wall Street. Japan’s Nikkei 225 rose 0.73%, while the Topix gained 0.79%. South Korea’s Kospi added 0.48% and the Kosdaq inched 0.1% higher. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index futures indicated a weak opening.
On Tuesday, US stocks saw significant gains, with the S&P 500 achieving a historic high as Oracle’s stock soared and concerns over consumer price data didn’t deter investor optimism for potential interest rate cuts in the near future. The Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed by 235.74 points, or 0.61 percent, reaching 39,005.4. Meanwhile, the S&P 500 surged by 57.3 points, or 1.12 percent, closing at 5,175.24, and the Nasdaq Composite experienced a notable uptick of 246.36 points, or 1.54 percent, ending the day at 16,265.64.
Stocks News:
👉 ITC: Global tobacco company British American Tobacco has launched a block deal to sell a 3.5 percent equity stake in India’s ITC to institutional investors for as much as Rs 16,775 crore. It plans to sell up to 43.69 crore ITC shares via accelerated bookbuilding at Rs 384–400.25 per share, reported CNBC Awaaz, citing sources. At the lower end of the price band, the share sale is at a 5 percent discount to Tuesday’s closing price.
👉 Vedanta: On Tuesday the Securities and Exchange Board of India directed Vedanta India, formerly known as Cairn India Ltd (CIL), to remit ₹77.62 crore along with an annual simple interest of 18% to Cairn UK Holdings Ltd (CUHL) due to a delay in dividend payments. Furthermore, SEBI has instructed Navin Agarwal, the Chairman and Managing Director, Tarun Jain, a Whole-time Director, Thomas Albanese, a Whole-time Director and Chief Executive Officer, and G.R. Arun Kumar, a Whole-time Director and Chief Financial Officer, to abstain from participating in the securities market for a period of two months.
👉 Glenmark Pharmaceuticals: Detergent soap maker Nirma has completed the acquisition of a 75 percent stake in Glenmark Life Sciences. After selling 6,73,89,944 equity shares (equivalent to 55 percent of paid-up equity share capital) of Glenmark Life Sciences to Nirma, Glenmark Pharma further transferred the remaining 2,45,05,435 equity shares (equivalent to 20 percent of paid-up equity) of Glenmark Life Sciences to Nirma, and with this, the transaction as the share purchase agreement is now complete.
👉 SBI: On March 12, the State Bank of India complied with the Supreme Court’s order from March 11 and submitted data on electoral bonds to the Election Commission of India (ECI). The Supreme Court has instructed the ECI to make all this data available to the public on its website by March 15, 2024. The ECI has confirmed the receipt of this data from SBI.
👉 Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) net bought shares worth Rs 4,212.76 crore, while domestic institutional investors (DIIs) purchased Rs 3,238.39 crore worth of stocks on March 11, provisional data from the NSE showed.
Domestic and International Events
- India’s consumer price index (CPI) – based inflation eased to a four-month low of 5.9% in February 2024, according to government data. The headline inflation in January was at 5.1%.
- According to data released on March 12 by the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation, the growth rate of India’s industrial output slowed down to 3.8% in January. The most recent figure, based on the Index of Industrial Production (IIP), remains unchanged from the December 2023 figure of 3.8%. However, on March 12, the statistics ministry revised this number upward to 4.2%, following the upward revision of core sector growth for December by the commerce ministry from 3.8% to 4.9%.
- In February, US inflation exceeded expectations, driven by increased costs for gasoline and shelter. The Consumer Price Index (CPI) rose by 0.4% last month, compared to a 0.3% increase in January. Over the 12 months through February, US inflation grew by 3.2%, up from 3.1% in January. Economists polled by Reuters had predicted a 0.4% monthly increase in CPI and a 3.1% year-on-year increase.
- Crude oil prices experienced an upswing on Wednesday, fueled by expectations of robust global demand, particularly in the United States. Brent futures for May delivery rose by 0.44% to $82.28 per barrel, while the April US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude contract increased by 0.49% to $77.94.
| EMERGING | LATEST | % 1D |
| Hang Seng | 17,094 | 3.1 % |
| Shanghai Composite | 3,056 | (0.4) % |
| DEVELOPED | LATEST | % 1D |
| Dow Jones | 39,005 | 0.6 % |
| DAX | 17,965 | 1.2 % |
| FTSE 100 | 7,748 | 1.0 % |
| Nikkei | 38,798 | (0.1) % |
| Straits Times | 3,141 | 0.1 % |
