Indian markets expected to open higher, LIC and Adani Group meeting, Mahanagar Gas acquisition

Opening Bell:

SGX Nifty is up by 67.5 points in the early morning trade, indicating a positive opening for Indian stock market.

Asian shares edged up on Monday while bond markets held their breath ahead of an update on the US rate outlook from the world’s most powerful central banker, and a jobs report that could decide if the next hike needs to be super-sized. The Japanese Nikkei is up by 1.24 percent. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng is down by 0.46 percent and South Korea’s Kospi is up by 0.53 percent in early morning deals.

Wall Street rallied on Friday to end a volatile week, as US Treasury yields eased and economic data helped investors look past the growing likelihood that the Federal Reserve will have to keep its restrictive policy in place until late in the year. The S&P 500 gained 1.61 percent and Nasdaq Composite added 1.97 percent respectively.

Stocks News:

?Kensai Nerolac has acquired 40% stake in Nerofix from Polygel, for Rs 37 crore. Now Nerofix will become a wholly owned subsidiary of Kansai. The acquisition is expected to be completed by March 31, 2023. Nerofix was a joint venture between Polygel Industries and Kansai Nerolac Paints. Kansai Nerolac acquired 60% stake of Nerofix in January 2020.

?Mahanagar Gas is going to acquire a 100% stake in Unison Enviro, a city gas distribution company and a subsidiary of Ashoka Buildcon, for Rs 531 crore. The acquisition of shareholding in Unison is subject to PNGRB approval. Unison is authorised by PNGRB to implement the city gas distribution network in the geographical areas of Ratnagiri, Latur & Osmanabad in Maharashtra and Chitradurga & Devengere in Karnataka.

?Force Motors has announced the production of 2,259 vehicles for February 2023, down 6.4% compared to 2,413 vehicles in previous month. Domestic sales grew by 9% MoM to 2,236 vehicles, but exports fell 45% to 221 vehicles in the same period. Company manufactures commercial vehicles, utility vehicles and tractors.

?The top management of LIC has held a meeting with the Adani Group and the insurer is more confident about the conglomerate’s business prospects, according to reports.

?Foreign institutional investors (FII) bought shares worth Rs 246.24 crore, while domestic institutional investors (DII) purchased shares worth Rs 2,089.92 crore on March 3, the National Stock Exchange’s provisional data showed.

Domestic and International Events

• The Centre, in the latest review, has hiked the windfall profit tax levied on crude petroleum to Rs 4,400 per tonne from Rs 4,350. The special additional excise duty on diesel has been reduced to Rs 0.5 a litre from Rs 2.5, while it has been slashed to nil on ATF (Aviation Turbine Fuel).
• China set a modest target for economic growth this year of around 5 percent on Sunday as it kicked off the annual session of its National People’s Congress (NPC), which is poised to implement the biggest government shake-up in a decade.
• European Central Bank is set to raise borrowing costs by another half point at its March decision, according to President Christine Lagarde.
• Oil prices rose by more than $1 a barrel on Friday, recovering from an early slump after Reuters reported that the United Arab Emirates is not planning an exit from the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC).

Key Equity Indices