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On Wednesday, Indian share markets traded on a positive note throughout the day and ended higher.
The BSE Sensex closed higher by 350 points to end the day at 41,566. HUL and Kotak Mahindra Bank were among the top gainers.
While the broader NSE Nifty ended up by 93 points to end at 12,201.
Among BSE sectoral indices, FMCG stocks gained the most, followed by IT stocks and banking stocks.
Godrej Properties share price will be in focus today as the company has acquired 20% issued and paid-up share capital of Vivrut Developers (VDPL). Consequent to the acquisition, VDPL has become an associate of the company.
Bharti Airtel share price will also be in focus today as its wholly owned subsidiary - Network i2i is planning to raise funds worth up to US$ 250 million through perpetual bonds. This amount will be in addition to existing securities of US$ 750 million that the company raised recently.
Market participants will also track Atul Auto share price, Gillette share price, and Nestle share price as these companies are scheduled to announce their December quarter results later today.
Bharat Heavy Electricals (BHEL) has reported a fall of 17.3% in its net profit at Rs 1,588.2 million for third quarter ended December 31, 2019 as compared to Rs 1,919.5 million for the same quarter in the previous year.
Coal India has reported a fall of 14.1% in its net profit at Rs 39.2 billion for the quarter under review as compared to Rs 45.7 billion for the same quarter in the previous year.
Total income of the company decreased by 6.1% at Rs 246 billion for Q3FY20 as compared to Rs 262.1 billion for the corresponding quarter previous year.
IDBI Bank has reported a net loss of Rs 57.6 billion for the quarter under review against net loss of Rs 41.9 billion for the same quarter in the previous year.
However, the bank's total income increased marginally at Rs 62.2 billion for Q3FY20 as compared Rs 61.9 billion for the corresponding quarter previous year.
City Union Bank has reported 8% rise in its net profit at Rs 1,924.3 million for the quarter under review as compared to Rs 1,781.1 million for the same quarter in the previous year.
HEG has reported consolidated loss of Rs 12.3 million for the quarter under review against Rs 4,446 million profit registered in the year-ago period.
Total revenue declined 78% year-on-year (YoY) to Rs 4,209.7 million.
Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) fell 99.6% to Rs 47 million while margin stood at 1.2% against 70.4% in the year-ago period.
The markets regulator has given its approval for the initial public offer (IPO) of SBI Cards and Payment Services, the cards unit of the State Bank of India (SBI).
As per a leading financial daily, the IPO is likely to hit the market towards the end of this month. The company may raise Rs 90 billion to Rs 100 billion.
According to the DRHP filed last year, the company will offer up to 130,526,798 equity shares via offer for sale (OFS) route.
This will include up to 37,293,371 share sale by SBI and up to 93,233,427 shares by Carlyle Group. In addition, the company will also issue fresh equity shares of Rs 5 billion.
SBI holds 76% in SBI Cards and the rest is held by the Carlyle Group.
In other news, the markets regulator has asked the National Stock Exchange (NSE) to divest its complete stake in associate company Computer Age Management Systems (CAMS).
In a letter dated February 4, the regulator observed that NSE failed to obtain prior regulatory approval while buying a stake in CAMS during FY13-14 and hence the investment is in violation of the rules for market intermediary institutions (MIIs).
NSE currently owns 37% stake in CAMS through one of its subsidiaries, NSE Investments Limited (NSEIL).
As per reports, this could impact the upcoming IPO plans of CAMS which filed the draft prospectus with regulator last month, looking to offload 12.16 million shares.
Of this, 4 million shares are being sold by Warburg Pincus and over 5 million shares by NSE.
CAMS is the largest share registrar and transfer agent in the Indian markets with a market share of more than 60% in several segments.
How the above developments pan out in the coming days remains to be seen. Meanwhile, we will keep you updated on all the news from this space.
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Crude oil prices extended gains on Wednesday as China reported its lowest daily number of new coronavirus cases since late January, stoking investor hopes that fuel demand in the world's second-largest oil consumer may begin to recover from the epidemic.
The growth rate of new coronavirus cases in China has slowed to the lowest since January 30.
Earlier this week, demand concerns from the outbreak had pushed crude oil prices to their lowest in 13 months.
The US Energy Information Administration (EIA) on Tuesday cut its global oil demand growth forecast for this year by 310,000 bpd as the virus outbreak crimps oil consumption in China.
On the supply side, the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and its allies including Russia, known as OPEC+, recommended a further cut of 600,000 bpd last week to stem the oil price fall.
However, Russia has been hesitant to commit to the additional cut, while Saudi Arabia wanted global major oil producers to agree a quick oil supply cut.
US crude inventories rose by 6 million barrels in the week to February 7 to 438.9 million barrels, beating analysts' expectations for an increase of 3 million barrels, data from industry group the American Petroleum Institute showed.
We will keep you updated on the latest developments from this space. Stay tuned.
As per the economic schedule released by Vijay Bhambwani, editor of Weekly Cash Alerts, here are the important events due later today:
To know what's moving the Indian stock markets today, check out the most recent share market updates here.
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