>> New theory emerges over NSE tech glitch
>> BPCL to sell 8.6 crore shares through bulk deal
>> Investors, analysts expect Vedanta to raise buyback offer price
AND
>> 5 global courts endorse Cairn award in setback for India
Hi there. Welcome to ETMarkets Morning, the show about money, business and markets. I am Sandeep Singh.
Let’s start with a quick glance on the state of the markets.
Dalal Street looks headed for a negative start, as Nifty futures on the Singapore Exchange traded some 40 points lower at 8 am (IST). Other Asian markets opened mixed. Wall Street, too, had a mixed show as tech rout continued. Nasdaq tumbled almost 3%, but the Dow hit an all-time high. In currencies, US dollar held near a 3 1/2-month high against its rivals. Bitcoin traded above $52,000. And in oil market, crude prices edged lower after Brent pulled back below $70 a barrel.
That said, here’s what else is making news.
Investors and analysts are expecting metal and mining giant Vedanta Resources to raise the offer price to buy back up to 10% of the equity owned by public shareholders in the Indian subsidiary Vedanta following a rally in its share price. The company announced the open offer in January, but the stock has since run up almost 24% to close at Rs 224.65 on Monday against the open offer price of Rs 160 per share.
Different theories continue to do the rounds about the tech glitch that played havoc at India’s largest equity bourse NSE on February 24. Questions are being raised as to why NSE did not move to the Disaster Recovery site after the main platform shut down. After several dry runs, the replica of the primary site should have been up and running when the main system failed. ET cited its sources to report that it may have been a conscious call on the part of NSE to not move to the DR site as the co-location servers cannot be replicated in this backup system. However, NSE denied the report.
It’s bad news for the Centre in the Cairn retro tax case. Courts in five countries, including the US and the UK, have given recognition to an arbitration award that asked India to return $1.4 billion to Cairn Energy. This now opens the possibility of the British firm seizing Indian assets in those countries if New Delhi does not pay. Cairn Energy had moved courts in nine countries to enforce its arbitral award against India, which the company won after a dispute with the country’s revenue authority over a retroactively applied capital gains tax.
Bondholders of Reliance Capital have sought RBI intervention to recover their money from the Anil Ambani company, frustrated by the numerous litigations that have delayed asset monetisation at the insolvent financial services business. Vistra ITCL, the trustee for bondholders constituting 96% of RCL’s debt, has written to RBI, urging it to invoke its special powers under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code and refer the financial company to the NCLT.
LASTLY…
The race for acquiring Air India is fast narrowing down, with the Tata Group and SpiceJet promoter Ajay Singh among the few left in the bid to take over the airline. A section of Air India employees led by the airline’s director (commercial) Meenakshi Mallik has not made it to the list of qualified bidders. “We were informed (by transaction adviser Ernst & Young) on Sunday that we did not make it,” Mallik told The Times of India. AI founder Tatas are seen as most likely to re-acquire it, being the only financially strong player in the fray.
NOW Before I go, here is a look at some of the stocks buzzing this morning…
BPCL is likely to sell up to 8.68 crore shares, or 4%, of the company equity through a block deal on Tuesday,
Goldman Sachs has added engineering and construction major Larsen & Toubro to its ‘conviction list’ as the continuation of the government’s capital expenditure, low interest rates and the ‘Make in India’ initiatives are expected to boost the private sector capex cycle.
Kotak Mahindra Bank said its customers using debit cards at the point of sale terminals of a PSU bank faced excess debits in their accounts due to wrongful claims made by the bank
Packaging solutions provider Jindal Poly Films is exploring the sale of a significant minority stake to raise as much as ₹1,000-1,200 crore, as the BC Jindal group company looks to take advantage of a frenzied investment activity in the packaging industry.
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 put with us for all the market news through the day. Happy investing!
