– Govt mulls ways to let telcos pay AGR dues over 20 years
– FM unveils Rs 6 lakh cr asset monetisation plan
– Pfizer-BioNTech Covid vaccine wins US approval
– Infosys told to fix I-T portal by Sep 15
Now lemme give you a quick glance on the state of the markets.
Dalal Street is likely to have a gap-up start this morning. Nifty futures on the Singapore Exchange traded 80 points higher at 8:10 hours (IST). Asian markets opened higher on Tuesday as investors took heart from rallies on Wall Street partly fuelled by vaccine hopes. MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was up by 1.19 per cent.
Elsewhere, the yield on 10-year Treasuries was little changed at 1.26%. The dollar was smarting on Tuesday following its sharpest one-day fall since May, though traders were wary of chasing the mood-driven move lower ahead of a Federal Reserve symposium that could map out an end to stimulus and asset purchases. Bitcoin traded at about $50,000. Oil prices rose on Tuesday after the US drug regulator granted full approval to the Pfizer Inc/BioNTech SE COVID-19 vaccine, stoking investor hopes that higher fuel demand will follow a potential step up in US coronavirus vaccination rates. Brent crude oil futures gained 66 cents, or 0.9%, to $69.41 a barrel.
That said, here’s what is making news.
The government is exploring ways to allow telcos such as Vodafone Idea and Bharti Airtel to pay their adjusted gross revenue (AGR) dues over 20 years, and may seek a legal opinion on a possible mechanism, government officials said. Separately, the process to finalise a relief package for the sector is picking up pace. Any government bid to relax the AGR payment tenure needs to take into account the Supreme Court ruling, which mandated telcos to pay their dues over 10 years, through March 31, 2031.
Analysts cheered the cancellation of a 51% stake purchase in Cronus Pharma by Indian drug major Aurobindo Pharma. However, they said that the company is going through a large investment phase which may impact the earnings outlook. Axis Securities has upgraded the stock to buy with an unchanged target price of Rs 850 on termination of the Cronus deal and potential unlocking in the injectables business.
Reliance Industries is looking at creating a super app by integrating the offerings of local search engine Just Dial which it had acquired recently, ET reported. Currently, it offers JioMart for online grocery retail and mobile application My Jio and the one-stop super app is likely to be a marketplace of services and offerings, delivered via in-house technology and through third-party integrations.
LASTLY,
More than 200 out of the NSE 500 stocks have dropped between 20% and 75% from their 52- week highs, a stark contrast to the euphoric sentiment a month ago when investors and traders were scampering to spot the next winner. Analysts said the decline in these shares might be the beginning of the end of the broad-based market rally that resulted in stocks jumping multi-fold from their lows in March 2020. The Nifty Midcap 100 and Nifty Smallcap 100 indices have declined 4% and 8%, respectively since August 1.
NOW Before I go, here is a look at some of the stocks buzzing this morning…
Hindalco has chalked out a capex allocation plan of $2.5 to $3 billion over the next five years, chairman Kumar Mangalam Birla said Monday.
Real estate developer Lodha Group has entered into an agreement with Pune-based developer Goel Ganga Developments to jointly develop a 1.5 million sq ft residential project on a 12-acre land parcel on NIBM Road in southern Pune.
HDFC Bank expects to increase its credit card issuance to half a
million per month by February next year as the country’s most valuable lender, making up for lost time, harnesses its pool of new accounts and alliances to re-establish its leadership credentials in a business where it has long been a frontrunner.
Indian Hotel Company’s (IHCL) board has approved issuing of equity
shares by way of a rights issue to the existing shareholders of the company for an amount not exceeding Rs 3,000 crore in accordance with
Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) regulations.
Do also check out over two dozen stock recommendations for today’s trade from top analysts on ETMarkets.com.
That’s it for now. Stay with us for all the market news through the day. Happy investing!
