Indian Share Markets Open Flat; Tech Mahindra and Asian Paints Top Gainers

Tue, 17 Aug 09:30 am

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Asian share markets are mixed today as traders weighed the impact of delta virus variant on global growth.

The Hang Seng is down 0.7% while the Nikkei is up 0.1%. The Shanghai Composite is trading lower by 0.5%.

In US stock markets, Wall Street indices closed at record highs as investors moved into defensive sectors.

Stocks recovered from losses earlier in the session, shaking off glum economic data out of China.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.3% while the Nasdaq declined 0.2%.

Back home, Indian share markets have opened on a positive note.

The BSE Sensex is trading up by 52 points. Meanwhile, the NSE Nifty is trading higher by 12 points.

Tech Mahindra is among the top gainers today. IndusInd Bank, on the other hand, is among the top losers today.

Both, the BSE Mid Cap index and the BSE Small Cap index have opened on a flat note.

Sectoral indices are trading mixed with stocks in the banking sector and automobile sector witnessing selling pressure.

IT and FMCG stocks are trading in green.

Shares of Magma Fincorp and Apollo Hospitals hit their 52-week highs today.

The rupee is trading at 74.24 against the US$.

Gold prices are trading down by 0.6% at Rs 47,204 per 10 grams.

Meanwhile, silver prices are trading down by 0.5% at Rs 62,816 per kg.

Crude oil prices recovered from Monday's losses, as investors sought bargains and on expectations that major producers will not boost supply soon, though fears of weaker global demand amid surging pandemic capped gains.

Speaking of stock markets, in her latest video, Co-head of Research at Equitymaster, Tanushree Banerjee talks about startups and how India is emerging as the hotbed of tech unicorns.

She discusses whether Zomato and Paytm are set to be the next Microsoft and Apple.

Tune in to the below video to find out more:

Moving on to stock specific news...

Ruchi Soya Industries is among the top buzzing stocks today.

Edible oil producer Ruchi Soya Industries, owned by Ramdev's Patanjali Ayurved group, has received market regulator's approval to sell fresh shares through a follow-on public offer (FPO) to pare debt and cut promoter shareholding as mandated by the markets regulator.

Reportedly, the approval came last week on Saturday.

With the regulator's approval in hand, the company is looking to launch the share sale soon, as early as next week.

REVEALED: 3 "Super Smallcaps" You Didn't Know About

The pricing will be finalized close to the launch date, as per a person aware of the matter.

Ruchi Soya had filed a draft prospectus with the regulator for a Rs 43 bn FPO to raise fresh money.

While Ruchi Soya is a listed company with a discovered price in the market, an FPO allows a company to price its shares freely, and thus it may be priced at a sharp difference from the market price.

Patanjali had acquired the erstwhile bankrupt firm known for the Nutrela brand of products in 2019 for around Rs 43.5 bn through an insolvency and bankruptcy code (IBC) process.

Ruchi Soya's shares relisted on 27 January 2020 at Rs 16.10 and soared to a one-year high of Rs 1,535 on 29 June, largely on account of its extremely small public float.

The FPO will help the firm increase the public float, taking a step forward to meeting the minimum public shareholding (MPS) norm of 25%.

Currently, the company needs to increase public shareholding by only 9% to meet the MPS requirement and the remaining 15% is required to be completed by December 2022.

Ruchi Soya Industries share price has opened the day down by 1.3%.

Speaking of Ruchi Soya, note that shares of the company saw a meteoric rise after relisting on the stock exchanges last year in January.

From Rs 17 on 27 January, shares skyrocketed to touch a high of Rs 1,535 on 29 June - a jump of 8,929%.

The rise in Ruchi Soya's stock price was mainly on account of the low level of free float.

BSE data shows that of the total 295.8 m equity shares, the promoters owned 292.9 m shares or 99%. This left only about 1% with the public.

Co-head of Research at Equitymaster, and editor of StockSelect, Tanushree Banerjee wrote an editorial on this topic back in July 2020, when the stock was grabbing headlines.

You can read the editorial here: This 6,729% Gainer Stock Should Remind You of Vakrangee.

Moving on to news from the energy sector, as per a leading financial daily, Saudi Aramco is in advanced talks for an all-stock deal to acquire a stake in Reliance Industries' oil refining and chemicals business.

The Saudi Arabian firm is discussing the purchase of a roughly 20% stake in the Reliance unit for about US$20 bn to US$25 bn-worth of Aramco shares, as per people aware of the matter.

Mukesh Ambani's Reliance Industries could reach an agreement with Aramco as soon as the coming weeks.

A deal would forge closer ties between the world's biggest oil exporter and one of the fastest-growing energy consumers.

It would seal more than two years of negotiations and mark Aramco's first all-stock deal since its initial public offering (IPO) in 2019.

Ambani confirmed talks about a deal with an implied stake valuation of US$15 bn that same year. Discussions were delayed by the onset of the coronavirus pandemic and slump in crude oil prices.

Since then, the energy markets have recovered with crude prices jumping around 35% this year to almost US$70 a barrel.

The above transaction would help Aramco reach its goal of more than doubling refining capacity to between 8 m and 10 m barrels of crude a day.

How this deal pans out in the coming days remains to be seen.

Reliance Industries share price has opened the day up by 0.3%.

To know what's moving the Indian stock markets today, check out the most recent share market updates here.

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