Stock Market Latest Updates: Sensex rises over 100 points, Nifty at 9,106; ITC, Asian Paints, Maruti among top gainers

Bharti Airtel acquires strategic stake in AI tech firm Voicezen

Bharti Airtel acquires strategic stake in AI tech co, Voicezen pic.twitter.com/R3y2qZuuf8

— CNBC-TV18 (@CNBCTV18Live) May 21, 2020

GE Renewable bags 102.6 MW wind turbine project from Powerica

GE Renewable Energy on Thursday said it has bagged a 102.6 MW wind turbine supply deal from Powerica Ltd for projects in Gujarat.

“GE Renewable Energy has been selected by Powerica Ltd to supply 38 of its 2.7-132 onshore wind turbines to be installed at the Rajkot and Khambaliya wind farms in Gujarat, India,” a company statement said.

Both projects were won by clean energy firm Powerica Ltd through a competitive bidding process organised by Gujarat Urja Vikas Nigam Limited (GUVNL) and Solar Energy Corporation of India Limited (SECI), respectively and will have an output capacity of 51.3 MW each.

Hindustan Zinc net profit drops 33% to Rs 1,339 cr in March quarter

Vedanta group firm Hindustan Zinc Ltd (HZL) on Thursday reported a 33.4 percent decline in net profit to Rs 1,339 crore for the quarter ended 31 March.

The company had posted a net profit of Rs 2,012 crore in the corresponding quarter of 2018-19, Hindustan Zinc Ltd said in a filing to the BSE.

Its total income declined to Rs 4,861 crore in the January-March quarter, compared with Rs 6,030 crore in the year-ago period.

HZL Chief Executive Officer Sunil Duggal said, “Industrial activity across the globe is undergoing a level of disruption never seen since the Second World War. In these challenging times, our focus is business continuity and safety of people and operations and supporting our communities affected by the pandemic.”

Gold futures drop marginally on weak global cues

Gold futures on Thursday fell 0.75 percent to Rs 46,776 per 10 gram as participants offloaded their holdings following weak trend overseas.

On the Multi Commodity Exchange, gold prices for the June delivery fell by Rs 355, or 0.75 percent, to Rs 46,776 per 10 gram in a business turnover of 2,854 lots.

The yellow metal for the August delivery declined by Rs 403, or 0.85 percent, to Rs 46,937 per 10 gram in 10,663 lots.

In New York, gold was trading 1.03 percent down at $1,734.10 per ounce.

Minimum air fare on Delhi-Mumbai route to be Rs 3,500: Hardeep Singh Puri 

CNBC-TV18 Newsbreak Confirmed | Aviation Minister says for Delhi-Mumbai flight minimum fare Rs 3500 & maximum Rs 10,000

Capping on fares & route changes to be applicable until August 24#Breaking #Exclusive #RestartingIndia @awnusharma pic.twitter.com/iU7RooXtOv

— CNBC-TV18 (@CNBCTV18Live) May 21, 2020

HungerBox team supplies meals to daily wage workers 

The FeedmyBangalore startup was launched three days into the lockdown which was announced on 24 March 2020. The initiative feeds daily wage workers and their families living in camps/slums in Bangalore and Hyderabad.  
 

HungerBox,a food-tech firm has partnered with kitchens and is delivering meals every day as part of the FeedMyBangalore initiative and FeedMyHyderabad initiative.

Sandipan Mitra, CEO and co-founder of HungerBox, said, “One of the things we have quickly done is absorbing some of 200 staff from our food vendors and brought them onto our rolls. We are deploying in them, in compliance with government guidelines, at approximately 40 campuses around the country."

Uber Connect now available in 5 more cities 

Uber on Thursday announced the availability of its recently launched package delivery service – Uber Connect, in more cities, New Delhi, Noida, Hyderabad, Chennai, and Chandigarh.

Piloted last week in four markets – Kolkata, Jaipur, Guwahati and Gurgaon, Uber’s latest service enables residents to send and receive items from each other within city limits, while maintaining social distancing. 

 
With this expansion, Uber Connect will now be available across nine key Indian cities, the company said in a statement.
 

All packages sent via Uber Connect will be transported on a two wheeler vehicle, be under 5 kilograms in weight, and not include prohibited items such as alcohol, recreational drugs, or dangerous and illegal items.
 
 

Prabhjeet Singh, Director-Operations and Head of Cities, Uber India & South Asia, said, “Uber Connect to five more cities creates earning opportunities for driver partners.”

Indices trim gains, Sensex up 128 points, Nifty above 9,100

Indices trimmed the gains as Sensex was trading 127.61 points or 0.41 percent higher at 30,946.22 while the Nifty was up 41.65 points or 0.46 percent at 9,108.20 at around 3.10 pm.

ITC was the top gainers in the Sensex pack surging over 7 percent. Other gainers included Asian Paints, Hero MotoCorp, Bajaj Auto, Maruti and Sun Pharma.

The losers included NTPC, IndusInd Bank, Bajaj Finance, HDFC and L&T.

Kerala records highest number of cyber attacks

While the sudden outbreak and spread of COVID-19 has led to a continuing lockdown in India, the situation has exposed the netizensto cybercrimes in the country.

K7 Computing’s Cyber Threat Report, an analysis of cyberattacks during the lockdown, has found that Kerala recorded the highest number of cyberattacks during this period. The report analyses various cyberattacks within India during the pandemic and reveals that threat actors targeted the state with COVID-19 themed attacks aimed at exploiting user trust.

The sudden surge in the frequency of attacks witnessed from February 2020 to mid-April 2020 indicates that scamsters across the world were exploiting the widespread panic around coronavirus at both the individual and corporate level.

These attacks aimed to compromise computers and mobile devices to gain access to users’ confidential data, banking details, and cryptocurrency accounts. 

J Kesavardhanan¸founder and CEO of K7 Computing, said, “COVID-19 has created an ideal situation for various threat actors to target individuals and enterprises alike. The panic caused by the stringent lockdown measures and rapid spread of this virus has left many people looking for more information on the situation. Threat actors exploit this fear to their advantage and scam users into downloading malicious software and divulging sensitive information like banking codes."

The need to be cyber cautious has never been greater. This is more so in the case of corporates who have adopted a work from home policy hurriedly without adequate cyber hygiene. We have seen an increase in attacks on enterprises and SME employees as well, he said.

MedGenome to enhance infectious disease testing

MedGenome Labs Ltd has announced it is collaborating with Dr Iravatham’s clinical laboratory at Hyderabad to enhance Tuberculosis diagnostics offering and gets ICMR approval for RT-PCR testing for COVID-19 with its current partner XCyton Diagnostics

The partnership with Iravatham’s Lab will help integrate MedGenome’s flagship innovation SPIT-SEQ, with various tests offered by Dr Iravatham for tuberculosis and also set up a state of the art BSL2/3 infectious testing lab in Hyderabad .

Corporate revenues drop over 25% during lockdown: Survey

Majority of high-ranking business managers confirm that corporate revenues have already declined by over 25 percent during the lockdown and businesses will take more than a year to return to normalcy, according to a survey.

The survey titled ‘‘Covid-19 and Your Wealth’’, conducted by online investment provider Scripbox, reveals the impact of the lockdown on company revenues and job losses.

Nearly 67 percent of top bosses, business owners and founders surveyed said that company revenues have already declined by more than 25 percent during the lockdown.

Further, all respondents believe that business will return to normal only by 2021, while 22 percent business leaders expect it to take more than a year, from when the lockdown ends.

Nifty Bank drops

#CNBCTV18Market | Nifty Bank falls nearly 400 points from today's peak pic.twitter.com/bVoVtJX2WS

— CNBC-TV18 (@CNBCTV18Live) May 21, 2020

Not expecting significant growth for insurance industry this year: Bajaj Allianz

Bajaj Allianz Life is not expecting significant growth for insurance industry this year due to coronavirus impact on the economy, a top company official has said.

However, the insurer said, customers will like to buy policies online.

“I think this is an year of survival, not everybody is likely to invest (in policies) when the GDP (gross domestic product) is not likely to do good. This year will not be an year of significant growth,” Tarun Chugh, MD and CEO of Bajaj Allianz Life Insurance, told PTI in an interview.

Maharashtra govt releases Rs 67 cr for migrants’ train travel so far

The Maharashtra government has so far released Rs 67.19 crore through the Chief Minister’’s Relief Fund to bear the cost of train travel of the stranded migrant workers to their native places from the state, an official said on Thursday.

The government, which had initially provided Rs 54.75 crore for the purpose, has now released additional Rs 12.44 crore from the CM Relief Fund, an official of the Chief Minister’s Office said.

“The state government had already spent Rs 54,75,47,070 to buy the train tickets for migrant workers. The funds had been transferred to the district collectors across the state, where migrant workers had registered themselves to return their home states,” the official said.

Colgate profit up marginally

#4QwithCNBCTV18 | @Colgate's net profit slightly higher-than-expected but topline & operational performances miss estimates; the toothpaste major has announced a dividend of Rs 16/sh pic.twitter.com/zfdaPqE35X

— CNBC-TV18 (@CNBCTV18Live) May 21, 2020

Panasonic pledges 200 mn yen for research, development vaccines for COVID-19

Offering its full support to the collaborative effort between Osaka University, Osaka Prefecture, and others currently undertaking research and development into COVID-19 therapies and vaccines, Panasonic Corporation announced that it is pledging 200 million yen to help underwrite these efforts.

COVID-19 continues to spread across the globe and consensus is growing that the pandemic will last longer than initially expected. Against this backdrop, efforts to exercise self-restraint and remain indoors have led Japan to the point where restrictions on movement are gradually being lifted, as per an official release.

“Japan is now entering an entirely new phase during which it must promote economic recovery while controlling infection rates. Achieving both of these goals relies on the successful development of drugs and vaccines, so rapid deployment of these tools is critically important,” the release reads.

Uber expands ‘Connect’ service to five more Indian cities

Ride-hailing platform Uber on Thursday said its package delivery service ‘Connect’ has been rolled out in five more cities – New Delhi, Noida, Hyderabad, Chennai and Chandigarh.

The service, which was piloted last week in Kolkata, Jaipur, Guwahati and Gurgaon, enables residents to send and receive items from each other within city limits, while maintaining social distancing amid COVID-19 outbreak.

“The positive response to our pilot program last week has encouraged us to expand the availability of Uber Connect,” Uber India and South Asia Director-Operations and Head of Cities Prabhjeet Singh said in a statement.

Rupee rises 19 paise to Rs 75.60 at close

#Rupee ends stronger compared to previous close

6.45% 2029 bond ends up 7 pasie at Rs 102.97; yield at 6.03%

5.79% 2030 bond ends up 5 paise at Rs 100.20; yield at 5.76% pic.twitter.com/C5ZtcW4t34

— CNBC-TV18 (@CNBCTV18Live) May 21, 2020

Sensex rises 259 points, Nifty at 9,135

Sensex rose 258.98 points or 0.84 percent to 31,077.59 while the Nifty was up 68.30 points or 0.75 percent at 9,134.85 at around 2.10 pm.

ITC, Hero MotoCorp, Bajaj Auto, Asian Paints, Maruti, TCS and HCL Tech were the top gainers in the Sensex pack.

NTPC, Bajaj Finance, IndusInd Bank, L&T, ONGC and Bharti Airtel were among the losers.

NIfty strengthening beyond 9,100 mark at mid-session

The Indian markets at half time continue to rise for second day in a row gaining strength above 9,100 mark, said Aditya Agarwala, Senior Technical Analyst, Yes Securities.

However, following a 100 points gain in trade today it is approaching an intermediate hurdle placed at 9,180; a sustained trade beyond this resistance zone will extend the gains taking the Index higher to levels of 9,250, he said.

“However, failure to take out 9,180 on the upside could lead to minor profit booking dragging the Index lower to levels of 9040. Broader markets are outperforming the headline Indices with gains of 1.50 percent. All the sectoral Indices are trading in the green taking the Nifty higher. European markets however, have opened on a weak note which keep upside capped in our markets as well,” Agarwala said.

Skoda Auto Volkswagen resumes production at Aurangabad plant

Skoda Auto Volkswagen India on Thursday said it has resumed production at its Aurangabad plant with reduced manpower and has also commenced work on its India 2.0 project at the Pune facility adhering to all necessary safety protocols amid the coronavirus pandemic.

The Aurangabad facility which will be working with reduced manpower in a single shift, will initially produce the new Superb ahead of its launch next week and later include other models and brands as the company scales up its production gradually, the company said in a release.

As port-operations and manpower availability continues to improve, operational efficiency of inbound logistics and parts availability will aid gradual ramp-up to full production capacity, it said.

Ugro Capital reports Rs 20 cr net profit in March quarter

SMEs-focused non-banking lender Ugro Capital on Thursday reported a Rs 20.3 crore net profit in the March quarter, as it completes the first full-year of operations, despite higher provisioning in the wake of COVID-19.

Total income rose 28.4 percent to Rs 37.1 crore in the reporting quarter from Rs 28.9 crore in Q3, the company said.

According to its chairman and managing director Shachindra Nath, the good set of numbers is despite adopting a conservative approach to COVID-19 impact on loans and making Rs 3.3 crore specific provisions for this to ward off any asset quality crisis, and also to ensure that there are no negative surprises because over 80 percent of customers have opted for loan moratorium.

Bajaj Finserv profit declines 

#4QwithCNBCTV18 | Bajaj FinServ's topline rises more than 2% on a YoY basis; net profit slides because a pre-tax contingency provision of Rs 900 cr on account of #Covid_19 pandemic pic.twitter.com/nYATDuavr5

— CNBC-TV18 (@CNBCTV18Live) May 21, 2020

US-based firm leads COVID-19 vaccine race, clinical trials show promising results: Experts

As scientists across the world work frantically to find a vaccine against COVID-19, which continues its rapid global spread, all eyes are on US-based company Moderna’s encouraging early results on a small group of healthy volunteers.

Cautioning that a vaccine is still months, maybe even a year away, experts said the US-based biotechnology firm‘s results have propelled it to a pole position in the race of 118.

Eight candidate vaccines for COVID-19 are in the clinical evaluation, while 110 are in the preclinical stage, according to the WHO’s latest draft landscape. 

Preclinical development is a stage of research during which important feasibility, iterative testing and drug safety data are collected, while clinical trials are research studies performed on people.

Rajiv Gandhi Nyay Yojya for Chhattisgarh farmers launched

Congress president Sonia Gandhi launched the Rajiv Gandhi Kisan Nyay scheme in Chhattisgarh through video conferencing on Thursday and said this was a true tribute to the former prime minister.

Addressing the launch event on the occasion of Rajiv Gandhi’’s death anniversary, she lauded the scheme, saying it will bring a change in the lives of farmers and help them become self-reliant.

“Such schemes should be implemented at the ground level to help bring a change in the lives of people. This is a revolutionary scheme and is a true tribute to Rajiv Gandhi. This is a big step taken in lines with the values of Rajiv Gandhi,” she said.

Stimulus package does not address immediate concerns of healthcare system: Fitch

Fitch Solutions has said that the latest stimulus package does not address immediate concerns of the healthcare system which is reeling under the pressure of COVID-19 pandemic.

On 11 March, the Ministry of Finance increased allocation – 0.008 percent of the country’s GDP – to the health services division to support an expansion of healthcare spending, Fitch Solutions Country Risk and Industry Research (a unit of Fitch Group) said.

It is to be noted that this is not a new budgetary allocation, but only a rerouting of existing expenditure, it said, adding that the “stimulus package is lacking in addressing the immediate concerns of the healthcare system”.

The unprecedented crisis due to COVID-19 has highlighted the need to increase investment in the healthcare sector in the country.

Despite several healthcare reforms, India is badly placed to tackle the rapid spread of coronavirus.

SEBI revises post-default curing period for credit rating agencies

Markets regulator SEBI on Thursday said that credit rating agencies can deviate from the 90-day period required to upgrade the rating of an entity from default to non-investment grade.

The credit rating agencies (CRAs) can take the decision on case-to-case basis, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) said in a circular.

SEBI has noted in a few recent cases of defaults that even though the rated entity was able to correct the default within a relatively shorter span of time, the rating could not be upgraded and continued to be under sub-investment grade due to the extant provisions on post-default curing period.

There is a post-default curing period of 90 days for the rating to move from default to speculative grade and generally 365 days for default to move to investment grade.

Railway to resume bookings at ticket counters soon

Railway Minister says bookings to resume at ticket counters of stations in next 2-3 says. We are conducting studies, developing protocol pic.twitter.com/iEQHLLTIgv

— CNBC-TV18 (@CNBCTV18Live) May 21, 2020

Swiggy begins home delivery of alcohol 

Swiggy starts home delivery of alcohol, @MeghaVishwanath reports.

The service went live in Ranchi, Jharkhand today after obtaining necessary approvals from the government pic.twitter.com/5QHuAuVurp

— CNBC-TV18 (@CNBCTV18Live) May 21, 2020

Sensex zooms 332 points, Nifty above 9,150-mark

Indices extended gains in the afternoon trade as Sensex zoomed 332.20 points or 1.08 percent to 31,150.81 while the Nifty was up 99.50 points or 1.1 percent at 9,166.05 at around 1.15 pm.

ITC was the top gainer in the Sensex pack jumping nearly 5 percent.

Other gainers included Bajaj Auto (4.14 percent), Hero MotoCorp (3.98 percent), Maruti (3.25 percent), Asian Paints (3.21 percent) and HDFC Bank (2.19 percent).

IRCTC online ticket bookings reach 1.5 lakh-mark in first 2 hours; shares up 5%

Almost 1.50 lakh tickets were booked within two hours of opening the bookings on IRCTC website for the 100 pairs of passenger trains that the railway will operationalise from 1 June, officials said Thursday. 

IRCTCT shares jumped 5 percent to Rs 1400.70 per piece after it resumed ticket bookings on Thursday for trains starting operations from 1 June.

On Wednesday, railway issued a list of 100 pairs of trains including popular trains such as Durontos, Sampark Krantis, Jan Shatabdis and Poorva Express.

This is the second slew of special passenger services that marked the Railways graded restoration of its trains which were suspended due to the coronavirus pandemic.

“At 12:00 Hours, 73 trains were available in the system for booking. 1,49,025 tickets were booked having 2,90,510 passengers,” said a railway spokesperson.

These trains will have both AC and non-AC classes and fully reserved coaches.

Vedanta’s proposed debt-financed acquisition to simplify group structure: Moody’s

Vedanta’s open offer to acquire the remaining 49.9 percent shareholding it does not own and to delist it from the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) is credit positive and a major step in the simplification of Vedanta’s complex group structure, according to Moody’s Investors Service.

Earlier this week, Vedanta said the acquisition of minority stake will be at a price that is the higher of either the floor price Rs 87.50 per share — a 10 percent premium over the closing market price of Rs 79.60 on 11 May — or the price discovered through the reverse book building process.

If successful, said Moody’s, the transaction will provide Vedanta better access to future cash surpluses and cash of around 1.4 billion dollars held at Vedanta Ltd and its wholly-owned subsidiary Cairn India Holdings in December 2019.

IndiGo stock falls as govt caps airfare

#CNBCTV18Market | InidGo slips 5% from highs as govt caps airline fares during #COVID_19 pic.twitter.com/Sb42wkggwf

— CNBC-TV18 (@CNBCTV18Live) May 21, 2020

HMSI to resume manufacturing operations from next week in phased manner

Honda Motorcycle and Scooter India (HMSI) on Thursday said it will resume manufacturing operations across its four plants in the country in two phases, with Karnataka-based facility kickstarting the process from next week.

With a 360-degree outlook of balancing the forward and backend linkages across its ecosystem and the evolving market demand, the company has aligned its production plans, HMSI said in a statement.

Production will resume in a phased manner starting 25 May from company’’s biggest plant in Narsapura in Karnataka, followed by other three plants from first week of June, it added.

Around 99 per cent of the company’s 300 plus supplier plants too have received the necessary approvals to resume their operations and are in advanced stages of resuming production, HMSI said.

Govt caps air fares to shield passengers

Aviation Ministry caps air fares, says airlines should adhere to lower, upper limits of fares prescribed pic.twitter.com/5leUvffAjl

— CNBC-TV18 (@CNBCTV18Live) May 21, 2020

Power utility firm CESC raises Rs 300 cr via NCDs

Power utility company CESC on Thursday said it has raised Rs 300 crore through issuance of non-convertible debentures (NCDs).

“3,000 Non-Convertible Debentures of face value of Rs 10 lakh each aggregating to Rs 300 crore have been allotted today, on a private placement basis, to ICICI Bank Ltd,” according to a regulatory filing.

According to the company’’s earlier statement, the proceeds of the issue will be utilised for capital expenditure and general corporate purposes.

Nissan introduces online booking process amid coronavirus pandemic

Auto maker Nissan India on Thursday said it has launched a new digital initiative enabling customers to book and buy vehicles online amid coronavirus pandemic.

The company’’s SUV Kicks and entire Datsun range can now be booked online, Nissan India said in a statement.

“We are strengthening our commitment in line with our customer centric approach by bringing the showroom experience to customers’’ location through a virtual showroom with a digitally enabled car purchase journey,” Nissan Motor India Managing Director Rakesh Srivastava said.

It allows customers to experience as well as own products with complete confidence, convenience and with zero physical contact, he added.

JK Lakshmi Cement shares rally over 11% as Q4 profit jumps two-fold

Shares of JK Lakshmi Cement on Thursday jumped nearly 11 percent after the company reported over two-fold jump in consolidated net profit for the fourth quarter ended on March 2020.

The stock advanced 10.75 percent to Rs 220.80 on BSE, and surged 9.17 percent to Rs 217.80 on NSE.

The company on Wednesday reported more than two-fold jump in consolidated net profit to Rs 98.63 crore for the fourth quarter ended on March 2020, helped by cost reductions.

The company had posted a profit of Rs 39.38 crore in January-March period a year ago, it said in a regulatory filing.

Norms for domestic flyers released

Passengers would not be permitted to consume eatables inside the aircraft during the flight. No paper or magazines to be available in the aircraft, @MoCA_GoI pic.twitter.com/a7DwB9w76s

— CNBC-TV18 (@CNBCTV18Live) May 21, 2020