Sensex Trades In Green; Infosys & TCS Surge Over 5%

Share markets in India are trading higher in today's volatile trade, lifted by IT stocks.

The BSE Sensex is trading up by 231 points, up 0.7%, at 35,000 levels. Meanwhile, the NSE Nifty is trading up by 72 points.

The BSE Mid Cap index is trading up by 0.6%. The BSE Small Cap index is trading up by 0.5%.

On the sectoral front, gains are largely seen in the IT sector and the oil & gas sector.

FMCG stocks, on the other hand, are witnessing selling pressure.

The rupee is trading at 75.46 against the US$.

Gold prices are trading down by 0.2% at Rs 47,841 per 10 grams.

Moving on to stock-specific news, as per a leading financial daily, a wave of voluntary delisting proposals in India's US$ 1.8-trillion stock market is stoking bets on which entity will be the next to go private.

In the last two months, the majority owners of Vedanta, Adani Power, and Hexaware Technologies have proposed buying out all publicly traded shares amid the coronavirus-induced sell-off in stocks.

It was also reported last month that Diageo is exploring options to delist United Spirits.

Enthusiasm to invest in shares of public companies that can go private matches a trend seen in Singapore in recent years.

According to the data from DBS Bank, the premium for privatizations and takeovers in the city-state averaged about 15% between 2017 and July 2019.

The strategy was earlier seen in India after the global financial crisis, and, in 2009, at least one local fund manager opened a fund to buy shares in companies seen to have a high likelihood of delisting.

We will keep you updated on the latest developments from this space. Stay tuned.

In news from the automobile sector, shares of Ashok Leyland rose as much as 3.5% today despite the company posting a 92.3% decline in consolidated net profit at Rs 577.8 million in the fourth quarter of FY20 (Q4FY20).

The Hinduja Group flagship firm's revenue from operations during Q4FY20 stood at Rs 50.9 billion as against Rs 98.7 billion in the year-ago period.

For the fiscal year 2019-20, the company posted a consolidated net profit of Rs 4,598 million as compared with Rs 21,946 million in 2018-19.

The company's MD and CEO said, "this has been a challenging year for the industry, which witnessed a significant decline in volumes of 42%.

He added that the company achieved earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA) of 6.7% for the year despite drop in volumes.

Ashok Leyland's share price is presently trading down by 1.8%.

Moving on to news from the FMCG sector, Hindustan Unilever (HUL) is among the top buzzing stocks today.

The company said that it has completed the acquisition of VWash from Glenmark Pharma.

The acquisition was announced on March 23 and was subject to certain closing conditions, which are now fulfilled.

Meanwhile, HUL also announced that it would stop using the word 'Fair' in its 'Fair & Lovely' skin cream, in a move that comes after years of protests that it promotes prejudice over skin color.

The new name is awaiting regulatory approvals and will be adopted in the next few months.

First introduced in India decades ago, Fair & Lovely became a bestselling product, racking up sales of about Rs 40 billion last year as it tapped into the perspective that equated fairness with beauty.

That positioning was criticized by many for promoting colorism in a country where a large part of the population is brown-skinned.

Soon after HUL's announcement, Emami, which owns the 'Fair & Handsome' brand said it values consumer sentiments and take cognizance of the holistic approach that is required to be taken to address their needs.

HUL share price is presently trading down by 1.3%.

Here's an interesting data of HUL, until 2013, the company had products and categories customized for the Indian market. That made it difficult for the company to sell its overseas products in the country. Nor could it reach out enough to a global customer base with Indian products.

A change of strategy suddenly opened up Unilever's global markets to HUL for both sourcing and selling.

The result was evident in profit growth and stock price over the next few years.