Investors will watch developments around coronavirus vaccine, news related de-escalation in border hostilities and the pace of Covid-19 recoveries

Nifty futures were trading 27.25 points or 26 per cent lower at 10, 452.80 on Singaporean Exchange, indicating a gap-down opening for BSE Sensex and Nifty 50 on Wednesday. Investors will watch developments around coronavirus vaccine, news related de-escalation in border hostilities and the pace of Covid-19 recoveries. Besides, corporate earnings for the March quarter may lead to stock-specific action. “We’ll continue to find trading opportunities across the board so participants should focus more on stock selection. We suggest preferring banking, financials, FMCG and select infra stocks for long trades,” said Ajit Mishra, VP – Research, Religare Broking Ltd.

Stocks in focus today:

Reliance Industries: RIL on Tuesday in its annual report said that it is working to complete contours of a USD 15-billion strategic deal with Saudi Aramco. While it did not give a timeline for its completion.

Indian Oil, Canara Bank: GAIL India, Indian Oil Corporation (IOC), Power Finance Corporation, Canara Bank, Balmer Lawrie, General Insurance Corporation, HG Infra Engineering, India Cements, Indoco Remedies, PNC Infratech, Prestige Estates Projects, Rail Vikas Nigam, Sandesh, Sanghi Industries, Shriram EPC, Tribhovandas Bhimji Zaveri and United Breweries are among 85 companies that are scheduled to announce their March quarter earnings today.

Yes Bank: Rating agency Icra on Tuesday downgraded Yes Bank’s Rs 1,344-crore upper tier II bond programme to ‘D’, or default grade, from BB+, a day after the bank said it had been barred from making coupon payments on these bonds, due on June 29.

Bank of Baroda: BoB posted a net profit of Rs 506.6 crore in January-March for FY20 as compared to a loss of Rs 991 crore in the corresponding quarter of the previous year.

Indian Bank: Indian Bank reported a net loss of Rs 217.73 crore for the fourth quarter of FY20, compared to a net loss of Rs 189.77 crore in the corresponding quarter of the previous financial year. The bank said that the extent to which the Covid-19 pandemic will impact the bank’s results will depend on future developments, which are highly uncertain.

Reliance Infrastructure: Reliance Infrastructure Chairman Anil Ambani on Tuesday said the company will be completely debt-free this financial year. RInfra, which is sitting on a debt of over Rs 6,000 crore, has been working towards monetising its assets to reduce debt, according to a PTI report.

Asian Paints: Asian Paints reported a 2.1 per cent decline in net profit in the quarter ended March 31. The revenue from operations declined by 7.1 per cent to Rs 4,635.59 crore from Rs 4,991.50 crore a year ago.