Asian markets diverged Wednesday after fresh records on Wall Street and remarks by the Fed chief that hinted the US central bank would cut interest rates later this year, without offering a clear timeframe.

While Europe's main stock markets were dragged down Tuesday by political uncertainty in France.

The tech-heavy Nasdaq, and the broad-based S&P 500, on Tuesday (9 July) edged to fresh records.

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

Source: Equitymaster

At present, the BSE Sensex is trading 131 points lower and NSE Nifty is trading 23 points lower.

Bajaj Auto, Eicher Motors, and Maruti Suzuki are among the top gainers today.

M&M, Axis Bank, and JSW Steel the other hand are among the top losers today.

Broader markets are trading on a positive note. The BSE Midcap index is trading 0.2% higher and the BSE Smallcap index is trading flat.

Sectoral indices are trading on a positive note today, with stocks in the realty sector, healthcare sector, and FMCG sector witnessing the most buying. Meanwhile, stocks in the metal sector, auto sector, and banking sector are witnessing selling pressure.

The rupee is trading at Rs 83.49 against the US dollar.

In commodity markets, gold prices are trading 0.2% higher at Rs 72,551 per 10 grams today.
 

RVNL's New Order Win

State-owned Rail Vikas Nigam Ltd (RVNL) on Tuesday (9 July) has emerged as the lowest bidder for a project valued at Rs 2 bn from the South Eastern Railway.

The project involves the design, supply, erection, testing, and commissioning of a 132 KV traction substation, sectioning posts (SPs), and sub-sectioning posts (SSPs) in a 2x25KV system on the Kharagpur-Bhadrak section of the Kharagpur division.

This contract aims to support the railway's capacity to handle 3000 MT of traffic. The project is to be executed within a time frame of 18 months.

A large block deal took place in the stock of Rail Vikas Nigam, with 14 m shares of the railway PSU worth Rs 8.3 bn changing hands. This transaction, as per data available on the exchanges, accounts for 0.7% of the company's total equity. The shares were exchanged at an average price of Rs 585 per share.

The Union government currently owns a 72.8% stake in Rail Vikas Nigam as of the March quarter. The June quarter shareholding pattern is yet to be updated.

The railway PSU also crossed Rs 1 tn in market capitalization on Friday (5 July), becoming only the second railway stock after IRFC to achieve this milestone.

Wipro Settles Lawsuit

Software firm Cognizant Technology Solutions Corporation on Tuesday (9 July) said it has resolved a lawsuit filed by Wipro against its former chief financial officer Jatin Dalal.

According to a US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filing dated 2 July 2024, Cognizant's board of directors approved a payment of US$ 505,087 to cover the settlement and legal fees associated with the dispute.

Wipro had sought damages and injunctive relief, alleging that Dalal breached non-compete and confidentiality obligations under his compensation agreements by joining Cognizant.

The settlement was reached without any admission of liability by either party. The payment by Cognizant compensates Dalal for the settlement amount paid to Wipro and his legal expenses.

Last year in November, Wipro had filed a suit in Bengaluru's Civil Court against its former CFO Jatin Dalal seeking payment of compensation of Rs 25,15,52,875 with interest of 18% for allegedly violating a clause in his employment contract with the company. Dalal resigned from Wipro in September 2023.

Allegedly, the non-compete clause prevents Dalal from joining a rival within one year of leaving the company, failing which he would be liable to compensate Wipro with the value of the restricted stock units (RSU) allotted to him or the sum of his total remuneration in the previous 12 months.
 

Delhivery Block Deal

Shares of Delhivery will be in focus on Wednesday, 10 July, after a large trade took place in the logistics services provider in a pre-market block window.

As many as 23.4 m shares or 3.2% of the overall equity changed hands in the block deal, according to data available on the exchanges.

Shares changed hands at an average price of Rs 388.45 per share. The total transaction value is said to be Rs 9.1 bn.

At the end of the March 2024 quarter, CPPIB held a 5.9% stake in Delhivery. It pared a 2.8% stake in Delhivery on April 25, via block deals, divesting as many as 2 crore shares, valued at over Rs 9 bn.

Fidelity Funds, HSBC, and the Smallcap World Fund were among the buyers in the Delhivery block deal at the time.

The logistics services provider continues to report losses over the last six years, with FY22 and FY23 witnessing huge losses to the tune of over Rs 10 bn.

Delhivery shares were listed on 24 May 2022, at Rs 495, a premium of nearly 2% from its offer price of Rs 487 per share.

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