Sensex Trades Marginally Lower; Dow Futures Up By 27 Points

Share markets in India are presently trading marginally lower.

The BSE Sensex is trading down by 93 points, down 0.2% at 52,011 levels.

Meanwhile, the NSE Nifty is trading down by 26 points.

Adani Ports & SEZ and Hero MotoCorp are among the top gainers today. Bajaj Finserv and Nestle India are among the top losers today.

The BSE Mid Cap index is trading up by 0.3%.

The BSE Small Cap index is trading up by 0.7%.

On the sectoral front, stocks from the energy sector, are witnessing most of the buying interest.

On the other hand, stocks from the FMCG sector are witnessing most of the selling pressure.

US stock futures are trading higher today, indicating a positive opening for Wall Street.

Nasdaq Futures are trading up by 5 points (flat) while Dow Futures are trading up by 27 points (up 0.1%)

The rupee is trading at 72.81 against the US$.

Gold prices are trading up by 0.4% at Rs 46,698 per 10 grams.

In global markets, gold prices fell to near two-week lows amid a stronger US dollar and hardening of US bond yields. Spot gold was down 0.2% to US$ 1,791.4 per ounce.

Tracking softer global prices, gold prices in India skidded for the fifth day in a row. On MCX, April gold futures were down 0.3% to Rs 46,772 per 10 grams, falling close to their lowest levels since June 2020.

Note that the recent fall in global rates and import duty cut in the Budget has pushed gold prices in India to near multi-month lows. In August gold had hit a record high of Rs 56,200 per 10 grams.

Moving on to stock-specific news...

Among the buzzing stocks, today is Adani Ports & SEZ.

Adani Ports and Socio-Economic Zone (APSEZ) rose over 5% in early trade today, touching its 52-week high after the company completed the acquisition of Dighi Port (DPL) for Rs 7.1 billion.

The company had intimated the commencement of this development to stock exchanges on March 6, 2020.

DPL, the twelfth port to join APSEZ's string of economic gateways across the eastern and western coast of India would establish the company's footprint in Maharashtra, the largest contributor to India's GDP, the company said in the release.

This would enable APSEZ to service customers in Maharashtra which includes the highly industrial areas and development in the Mumbai and Pune regions.

APSEZ plans to invest over Rs 100 billion to develop the port into a multi-cargo port with world-class infrastructure as well as investing in the development of rail & road evacuation infrastructure for seamless and efficient cargo movement.

The company will strengthen and repair existing infrastructure and invest in the development of facilities for the dry, container, and liquid cargo.

We will keep you posted on more updates from this space. Stay tuned.

At the time of writing, Adani Ports & SEZ share price was trading up by 3.8% on the BSE.

Moving on to news from the finance sector...

L&T Finance's Rs 30 Billion Rights Issue Oversubscribed

L&T Finance, the financial services arm of India's largest construction company Larsen & Toubro said that its Rs 30 billion rights offering was oversubscribed by almost 15%.

The offer opened on February 1, 2021, and closed on February 15, 2021. The company had fixed a price of Rs 65 per equity share for the offer and an entitlement ratio at 17:74 (17 equity shares for every 74 shares) held by the eligible equity shareholders.

Dinanath Dubhashi, Managing Director & Chief Executive Officer, L&T Finance, said, "The response reflects the faith in the resilience of our business model which along with our AAA credit rating, and the strong backing of our parent, gives us the confidence of continuing on our path of creating a stable and sustainable organization, for all our stakeholders." he added

The funds raised through the issue will be used to repay certain commercial papers issued by the company, infusion of funds in the company's subsidiary, for repayment of certain commercial papers issued by such subsidiary, the redemption of preference shares issued by the company, and for general corporate purposes.

Speaking of the stock markets, here is an illustration of the four phases that stock goes through during its life cycle. The cycle repeats itself after the stock goes through all these four stages.