After Monday's mayhem, global markets mainly Asian were seen quoting with astounding gains in early deals, with Japan's Nikkei up nearly 11 percent at the highest point of the day.

Wall Street's main indexes slumped on Monday as fears of the United States tipping into recession following weak economic data last week rippled through global markets.

Here's a table showing how US stocks performed on Monday:

Source: Equitymaster

At present, the BSE Sensex is trading 912 points higher and NSE Nifty is trading 270 points higher.

Tata Motors, L&T, and Hindalco are among the top gainers today.

Nestle, Apollo Hospital, and SBI Life Insurance the other hand are among the top losers today.

Broader markets are trading on a positive note. The BSE Midcap index is trading 1.7% higher and the BSE Smallcap index is trading 1.6% higher.

Sectoral indices are trading on a positive note today, with stocks in the metal sector, realty sector, and capital goods sector witnessing selling pressure.

The rupee is trading at Rs 83.85 against the US dollar.

In commodity markets, gold prices are trading marginally higher at Rs 69,342 per 10 grams today.
 

ONGC Q1 Results

State-owned Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) on Monday (5 August) reported a 15% year-on-year (YoY) decline in net profit at Rs 89.4 bn for the first quarter that ended 30 June 2024.

In the corresponding quarter, Oil and Natural Gas Corporation posted a net profit of Rs 105.3 bn, the company said in a regulatory filing.

The company's revenue from operations increased 4.3% to Rs 352.7 bn against Rs 338.1 bn in the corresponding period of the preceding fiscal.

ONGC, in the June quarter, got US$ 80.64 for every barrel of crude oil it produced and sold to refiners to turn into fuels like petrol and diesel as opposed to US$ 70.6 per barrel gross realization last year.

Oil production was almost flat at 4.6 million tonnes (MT), the company said in a statement. Natural gas output, however, fell 3.6% to 4.9 billion cubic meters. Also, the price realized on gas dropped to US$ 6.5 per million British thermal units (BTUs) from US$ 6.7 in April-June 2023.

ONGC has made a total of five oil and gas discoveries so far in the current financial year. The results came after the close of the market hours.

Reliance Industries Climbs Fortune 500

Oil-to-telecom-to-retail conglomerate Reliance Industries Ltd continues to be the highest-ranked Indian firm on the Fortune Global 500 list, jumping two places to be ranked at No.86 in the 2024 ranking.

The firm was placed at No.88 in last year's ranking and has gained a whopping 69 places in the last three years - from being placed at No.155 in 2021 to being at No.86 in 2024.

Releasing the 2024 list, Fortune on its website said Reliance has been on the 500 list for 21 years now. It had revenues of US$ 108.8 bn and a profit of US$ 8.4 bn last year.

The 2024 ranking has nine Indian firms, five of them from the public sector.

Insurance behemoth Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) jumped 12 places to be ranked at No.95 on the 2024 list while state-owned Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) slid 22 places to 116.

Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) and Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd (BPCL) were ranked at No.180 and No.258 after they slid 22 and 25 spots respectively. Tata Motors was ranked at No.271, up 66 spots. HDFC Bank at No.306 and Rajesh Exports at No.463 were the other Indian firms on the list.

US retailer Walmart remains No.1 for the 11th consecutive year while Amazon reached a new high to claim No.2 spot (up from No.4 last year), according to Fortune.

The corporations on the annual list of the world's 500 largest companies posted near-flat, but still record-breaking aggregate revenues of $ 41 trillion in 2023, with a year-over-year increase of 0.1 percent, it added.
 

Aster DM in Advanced Talks with Blackstone

Aster DM Healthcare is in advanced discussions with Blackstone Group, potentially setting the stage for a landmark deal in the hospital industry.

This new organisation would be managed by Aster DM's promoters, alongside professionals from both Blackstone and Care Hospitals.

The proposed merger would significantly boost the combined entity's capacity, positioning it as a major player in the healthcare sector.

Aster DM currently operates with a bed capacity of 5,000, while Care Hospitals also offers around 5,000 beds.

The merger would thus establish a formidable healthcare network with a total capacity of approximately 10,000 beds.

This would potentially place the new entity as a strong competitor to Apollo Hospitals, the current leader in the space.

An intriguing aspect of this deal is its structure: it is not a cash transaction but rather a share swap.

This arrangement means that Aster DM Healthcare's promoters, led by Azad Moopen and his family, who currently hold a 42% stake in Aster DM, will obtain shares in the newly formed entity.

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