Stock Market Highlights: Indices end lower amid volatility; IT, Metal, Pharma gain; Ruchi Soya FPO subscribed 9%

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Financials a major drag on the market; ICICI, HDFC Bank & Kotak top losers

Market At Close

- Dr Reddy's Labs, up nearly 5 percent, was the top Nifty gainer followed by Coal India, Hindalco, Cipla, NTPC, JSW Steel, Tech M, and RIL

- Kotak Bank, HDFC Bank, Titan, ICICI Bank, HDFC, Maruti Suzuki, Divis Labs, BPCL, Tata Consumer Products, BPCL, and M&M slipped between 1-3 per cent

- BSE MidCap and SmallCap indices added up to 0.3 percent amid gains in Zee Entertainment, Mindtree, and Suven Pharma

- Zee Entertainment Enterprises surged 20 percent to Rs 307 on the BSE in Thursday's trade after the company's largest shareholder, Invesco, decided to withdraw its EGM requisition notice

- Suven Pharmaceuticals hit a record high of Rs 617, rallying 5 percent on the BSE

- Paytm soared over 13.5 percent on the back of heavy volumes

- Nifty Bank and Private Bank indices declined nearly 2 percent each

- Nifty Media and Metal indices rose 6 percent and 1.5 percent, respectively.

Market Watch | Aman Chowhan Fund Manager Abakkus Asset Management on Metals

“Metal sector still has legs to move on because in the last 3-6 months the kind of cash flows these companies have generated, that is going to dramatically change the balance sheet. So from hereon even if the earnings remains flat, just by the interest cost savings and better working capital management, these companies can still report positive earnings growth. So there is still steam left in these names to be invested.”

Closing Bell: Sensex closes lower by over 150 points, Nifty 50 closes flat below 17,250 levels

Ruchi Soya FPO: Public offering subscribed 8% on Day 1; retail portion booked 13%

Patanjali Ayurved Group-controlled Ruchi Soya Industries' follow-on public offering (FPO) saw a slow start on the first day of the bidding. As of 1 pm, the issue was subscribed close to 8 percent, with total applications coming in for 36.9 lakh equity shares against an offer size of 4.89 crore equity shares.

Edible oil maker Ruchi Soya Industries launched a follow-on public offer (FPO) worth up to Rs 4,300 crore on Thursday. The FPO will close for subscription on March 28. The portion set aside for retail investors was subscribed 13 percent. Qualified institutional buyers (QIBs) and non-institutional investors (NIIs) were yet to subscribe to the offer.

Zee Entertainment welcomes Invesco's decision to withdraw EGM notice

Zee on Thursday said that it welcomes the decision by Invesco Developing Markets Fund and OFI Global China Fund LLC (“Invesco”), for its belief in the potential of the proposed merger with Sony Pictures.

It remains focused on the completion of the proposed merger with Sony Pictures, which is in the best interest of all the stakeholders, said the company.

Shoppers Stop extends gain after promoters up stake; surges 45% in 1 month

On Monday, March 21, 2022, four promoter group companies had collectively purchased 74,000 equity shares worth Rs 3 crore of the company from the open market.

L&T board approves long-term borrowings up to Rs 10,000 crore

The board of directors of L&T at its meeting held today approved long term borrowings upto Rs 10,000 crore, including refinancing, through external commercial borrowings, term loans, non-convertible debentures or any other instrument as may be appropriate. Larsen & Toubro was quoting at Rs 1,766.90, down Rs 0.15, or 0.01 percent on the BSE.

HCC board appoints Jaspreet Singh Bhullar as CEO

The board of directors of Hindustan Construction Company at its meeting held on March 23, 2022, approved the re-appointment of Mr. Arjun Dhawan, whose term is expiring on March 31, 2022, as whole-time Director of the company for a period of 5 years w.e.f. April 1, 2022, subject to approval of the Members in the next General Meeting.

Also, approved the appointment of Arjun Dhawan as Vice Chairman of the board w.e.f. March 23, 2022.

Banks underperformed owing to FII selling, won't rush into buying banks: Andrew Holland

Andrew Holland, CEO, Avendus Capital Public Markets Alternate Strategies thinks the banking sector as a whole – HDFC Bank because of its weightage in the banking index – has suffered because of the FII outflows. The banking sector would be one of the larger holdings for them. So that is why pressure has been seen on the banking sector for the last two-three months, he said.

Read here to know more

IIFL Finance appoints Nirmal Jain as Managing Director for 5 years starting April 1, 2022

Crude may stay above $100/bbl until Russia-Ukraine ceasefire: KPMG

Oil and gas prices have witnessed a huge surge overnight. The crude oil prices are back above USD 120 per barrel and in this week itself, the prices are up by nearly 13 percent. Regina Mayor, Global Head of Energy at KPMG in an interview to CNBC-TV18 said that crude oil prices are being driven by a perfect storm of bullish fundamentals. She expects crude prices to stay above USD 100 per barrel until the Russia-Ukraine ceasefire.

Market Watch | Buy JSW Steel, Dr Reddy’s Lab: Jay Thakkar, Marwadi Shares & Finance

- Buy JSW Steel with a stop loss of Rs 695 and a target of Rs 750-770

- Buy Dr Reddy’s Laboratories with a stop loss of Rs 4,180 and a target of Rs 4,440

Paytm shares jump 13% after freefall, still at 72% discount to issue price

The stock of One97 Communications, Paytm’s parent firm, jumped almost 13 percent on Thursday, a day after the company issued a clarification to the stock exchanges on its shares hitting a series of lows in the recent past. 

At 12:52 pm, Paytm shares were trading at Rs 575.95, up 9.83 percent from their previous close, on the BSE. During the day, the stock surged to an intraday high of Rs 592.40. This is the biggest gain for Paytm in four months on the back of higher volumes. In the past month, the stock has wiped off more than 24 percent of investors’ wealth.

Click here to know why