LIC has bought additional 2.27 percent stake in IRCTC

Opening Bell:

SGX Nifty is down by 21.0 points in the early morning trade, indicating a negative opening for Indian stock market.

Asian share markets were trading mostly in negative territory on Tuesday, as investors anticipated a somewhat rocky road for China’s unwinding of COVID restrictions and the prospect that U.S interest rates will rise higher than expected in 2023. The Japanese Nikkei is up by 0.21 percent. South Korea’s Kospi is down by 0.12 percent. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng is down by 0.81 percent in the early morning trades.

Wall Street closed lower on Monday for a fourth straight session with Nasdaq leading declines as investors shied away from riskier bets, worried the Federal Reserve’s tightening campaign could push the U.S. economy into a recession. S&P 500 was down 0.90 percent whereas Nasdaq composite declined by 1.49 percent.

Stocks News:

?Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) has bought additional 2.27 percent stake in IRCTC, during October 17 and December 16 this year, via open market transactions. With this, LIC’s shareholding in IRCTC increased to 7.278 percent, from 5.005 percent earlier.

?Ipca Laboratories has acquired further 6.53 percent stake in Trophic Wellness (TWPL). TWPL is engaged in manufacturing and marketing several SKUs of neutraceuticals under the brand name “Nutricharge”. With the above shares, the company now holds 58.88 percent shareholding in TWPL.

?NBCC has received contract for construction of new multi-storied quarter complex from Odisha Power Transmission Corporation. NBCC India will construct 100 numbers of quarters by demolishing the existing 224 numbers quarters at Bhoinager, Bhubaneswar. The order value is Rs 69.3 crore.

?Khurshed Yazdi Daruvala will be selling up to 20.28 lakh shares (1.07 percent stake) in the company on December 20-21 via offer for sale. It also has an an option to additionally sell up to 9.71 lakh shares (0.51 percent) in case of oversubscription of OFS issue. Another promoter Shapoorji Pallonji and Company will also sell 47.33 lakh shares (2.50 percent) in Sterling on same days, with an option to additionally sell up to 22.66 lakh shares (1.19 percent) via OFS.

?Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) have net-sold shares worth Rs 538.10 crore, while domestic institutional investors (DIIs) net-purchased shares worth Rs 687.38 crore on December 19, as per provisional data available on the NSE.

Domestic and International Events

• Oil prices rose on Monday, as optimism around China relaxing its COVID-19 restrictions outweighed fears of a global recession that would weigh on energy demand.
• South Korea’s central bank said on Tuesday the country’s consumer inflation would remain around 5 percent for some time and then gradually ease, but cautioned that domestic and global factors are raising uncertainty about how fast prices will slow.
• The People’s Bank of China kept its one-year and five-year loan prime rates unchanged in December, according to an announcement. The central bank maintained its one-year loan prime rate at 3.65 percent and its five-year loan prime rate at 4.30 percent, in line with expectations in a Reuters poll
• The Bank of Japan (BOJ) is set to maintain ultra-low interest rates on Tuesday and reassure markets it will be in no rush to withdraw stimulus, even as rising inflation prods investors to price in the chance of a policy tweak next year.

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