• Axis Bank: Proposes to acquire 17.002% of the equity share capital of Max Life, resulting in a total ownership of 18% post the transaction. Definitive agreements have been executed by the parties. The earlier proposal was to acquire 29.002% stake in Max Life.
• Allcargo Logistics: Promoter group has proposed to delist the company's equity shares and acquire stake held by public shareholders. Promoters currently hold 70.01% stake in the company while the remaining is held by the public. Final offer price to be determined by a reverse book building process as per SEBI guidelines. Board to meet on August 27 to consider the delisting proposal.
• Phoenix Mills: Promoter group looks to sell 5.8% stake at a floor price of Rs 665 per share, which is an 8.3% discount to Monday's closing price. Promoters can also sell an additional 1.5% stake.
• Sun Pharma: As per the notice from the U.S. Department of Justice, the company's wholly-owned subsidiary DUSA Pharma has agreed to pay over 20 million dollars to resolve allegations pertaining to knowingly promoting an administration process for a drug that contracted product instructions approved by the U.S. FDA.
• Future Retail: Pays interest for an amount of $14 million which was due on its U.S. Dollar notes.
• JK Paper: The company's subsidiary Sirpur Paper Mills has temporarily shut down production operations at its manufacturing facility in Sirpur-Kaghaznagar in view of the current market conditions consequent to Covid-19. The company said that the frequent lockdowns in various parts of the country has weakened the demand of products of the aforesaid subsidiary company due to which its production had to be temporarily shut.
• State Bank Of India: Goldman Sachs upgrades the stock to buy from neutral. Price target raised to Rs 282 from Rs 183.

To know more about earnings reported after market hours, key brokerage updates and F&O cues, click here.

Good Morning!

India's markets are now trading at their highest level in six months, after ending with gains for the fifth out of the last six trading sessions. Gains on Monday were led by private banks like HDFC Bank, Kotak Bank, ICICI Bank and Axis Bank.

But futures are indicating a flat start to Tuesday's trading session. The Singapore-traded SGX Nifty, an early indicator of the Nifty 50 Index’s performance in India, was little changed at 11,503 as of 8:05 a.m.

The street will watch out for Globus Spirits, LIC Housing Finance and IRB Infra, among others, that reported their quarterly earnings late on Monday. Atul Auto, Can Fin Homes, Ircon International, Phillips Carbon Black and P&G Hygiene are set to announce their numbers on Tuesday.

Stocks like State Bank of India Ltd. and Dabur Ltd. will be in focus because of brokerage upgrades.

Globally, Asian markets have opened higher in Tuesday's session. Markets in Japan, Australia and China are rising after the U.S. equities ended at a record high on Monday over Covid-19 vaccine optimism.

Futures on the Dow Jones are trading higher by 180 points. The index ended 1.3% higher on Monday.

West Texas Intermediate crude was little changed at $42.56 per barrel, while gold was up 0.3% to $1,933/Oz.

Short on time? Well, then listen to this podcast for a quick summary of All You Need To Know before the opening bell.