After opening the day on the muted, Indian benchmark indices turned positive as the session progressed but ended the day higher.

Equity benchmark indices, BSE Sensex and NSE Nifty50, ended in the green on Wednesday.

At the closing bell, the BSE Sensex stood higher by 150 points (up 0.2%).

Meanwhile, the NSE Nifty closed higher by 4 points.

TCS, Infosys, and Wipro are among the top gainers today.

Coal India, Hero MotoCorp, and Divis Laboratories on the other hand, were among the top losers today.

The GIFT Nifty was trading at 24,172, down by 47 points, at the time of writing.

The BSE MidCap index ended 0.4% lower and the BSE SmallCap index ended 0.5% lower.

Sectoral indices were trading mixed, with stocks in the IT sector and the media sector witnessing buying speer. Meanwhile, stocks in the power sector and the metal sector witnessed selling pressure.

Shares of Trent, Torrent Pharma, and TVS Motors hit their respective 52-week highs today.

The rupee is trading at 83.96 against the US$.

Gold prices for the latest contract on MCX are trading 0.3% higher at Rs 70,880 per 10 grams.

Meanwhile, silver prices were trading 0.6% higher at Rs 81,562 per 1 kg.
 

Adani Enterprises to Launch NCD

In the news, Billionaire Gautam Adani's flagship Adani Enterprises Ltd could launch its maiden public offer of non-convertible debentures (NCD) this month, maybe as early as next week, to raise Rs 6 bn from the public.

Adani Enterprises' plan to raise equity capital of US$ 1.5-2 bn is also at an advanced stage, and a qualified institutional placement (QIP) offering is likely to be launched in the first half of September.

On 25 July, Adani Enterprises filed a draft prospectus with stock exchanges for raising Rs 6 bn through a public NCD offer. The issue includes a base amount of Rs 3 bn, with the option to raise an additional Rs 3 bn if needed.

The funds to be raised from the NCD offering will be used for repayment, in full or in part, of the existing loans availed by the company.

On the QIP front, the company is in discussions with several institutional investors and is seeing good demand following the successful US$ 1 bn share sale of Adani Energy Solutions, which saw six times the demand on 30 July 2024.

HEG Plunges 7%

Moving on to news from the engineering sector, shares of HEG fell over 7% on 14 August after the graphite electrode maker reported weak Q1 earnings. The company's net profit fell 84.4% on-year to Rs 230.4 m and revenue slipped 15% YoY to Rs 5.7 bn in the April-June quarter.

The company's EBITDA margin for the June quarter declined to 6.7% from 21% during the same quarter last year. Margins were hit by a 37% increase in other expenses, which were 26% of sales in the June quarter compared to 16% in the base quarter.

HEG's gross margin though, saw an expansion of 5% on a sequential basis. Its earnings per share (EPS) slipped to Rs 5.9 in Q1 against Rs 36.1 in the corresponding quarter of the last fiscal.

The firm also announced a stock split in the ratio of 1:5.

This is the first instance of the HEG deciding on a stock split. Earlier, the company carried out a buyback of equity shares in 2019 but has never issued a bonus. The record date for the sub-division/split of existing equity shares will be intimated in due course.

HEG manufactures graphite electrodes, which are used as a raw material in steel production via the EAF route, significantly less polluting (three-fourths reduced emission) vs. the more traditional blast furnace or BF route.
 

Nifty IT Index Shines

Moving on to news from the IT sector, the Nifty IT index emerged as a standout performer among the 13 major sectoral indices following favourable US economic data. The IT index surged 1.5% on 14 August with TCS, Infosys, and HCLTech leading the rally.

The boost in IT stocks was fueled by data showing a smaller-than-expected increase in US producer prices for July.

The producer price index (PPI) for final demand rose by just 0.1%, falling short of economists' forecasts of 0.2%. The PPI had seen a 0.2% increase in June.

This easing inflationary pressure has sparked optimism that the Federal Reserve may soon cut interest rates, lifting market sentiment.

14 August marked the fourth session of gain for the Indian IT index. In the US, tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite also gained for four sessions, from 8-13 August.

Shares of Wipro, LTIMindtree, Tech Mahindra, Infosys, HCLTech, and TCS were up 0.3-2.2%. Mphasis, Persistent Systems, Coforge, and L&T Technology Services traded 0.8-1.5% higher.

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