Infosys, IndiGo, Vodafone Idea, ONGC, ITC, and Oil India among top stocks to watch today

Stocks to Watch: Prime Minister Narendra Modi's speech on Independence Day on Tuesday (August 15) was important from an economic point of view for two important reasons. He announced that 13.5 crore Indians have moved out of poverty, and he promised India to be the third-largest economy in the world in the next five years.

Though he didn't tell the sources of these stats and projections, for poverty, he was most likely referring to Niti Ayog's National Multidimensional Poverty Index: A Progress Review 2023, which says that as many as 13.5 crore Indians came out of poverty between 2015-16 and 2019-21.

For helping the Indian economy sneak into the top 3, he was probably referring to the International Monetary Fund's World Economic Outlook database's projection, which predicted last year that the country's economy would be in the top 3 by 2028.

Whatever his sources were, it will be interesting to see whether these two important announcements uplift market sentiment on Wednesday.

The market was closed on Tuesday due to Independence Day.

At around 8:05 AM on Wednesday, August 16, the GIFT Nifty futures traded 84.5 points lower, or 0.43 per cent at 19,390, suggesting a negative opening of the market. 

Among major developments in the last two days, the government has hiked Special Additional Excise Duty (SAED) on crude petroleum from Rs. 4250/tonne to Rs. 7100/tonne with effect from Tuesday (August 15).

Oil shares like ONGC and Oil are expected to feel pressure on Wednesday after this decision. 

ITC and Vodafone Idea declared their Q1 results on Monday, while the Supreme Court issued a temporary notice to SpiceJet CMD Ajay Singh on Monday.

The board of Ashok Leyland approved the acquisition of OHM India, while Pennar Industries bagged orders worth Rs 702 crore across various business verticals.

ZeeBiz takes you through the shares that can be in news on Wednesday.

ONGC

The petroleum ministry announced on Monday (August 14) that SAED on crude petroleum will be hiked from Rs. 4,250 per tonne to Rs. 7,100 per tonne with effect from Tuesday.

The biggest jump has come in SAED on diesel, which has been hiked by Rs 1/litre to Rs 5.50/litre.

SAED on air turbine fuel is up by nil/litre to Rs 2/litre.

The share of ONGC hit a 52-week high on Monday after the company announced that its Q1 profit had doubled.

The share ended the Monday session 0.48 per cent up at Rs 178.00. 

Oil India

Oil India's share also hit a 52-week high last week after it reported a 4 per cent rise in its net profit.

Last week, ICICI Securities said in a report that oil and gas realisations for Oil India are likely to stay above average despite the windfall tax and new domestic pricing.

The company's share saw a marginal jump of 0.22 per cent to end the trading session on Monday at Rs 279.20.

ITC

The Tata Group's profit beat Zee Business Research estimates as it soared 17.58 per cent to Rs 4,902.74 crore in the first quarter of the current financial year.

The company's revenue from operations, however, dropped to Rs 16,995 crore from Rs 18,320 crore in the year-ago period.

The company declared its April-June quarter results after market hours on Monday, when its share ended flat at Rs 448.95.

SpiceJet

SpiceJet shares skyrocketed 6.72 per cent to Rs 33.67 each after the airline reported a jump of 197.5 crore in its PAT on Monday.

However, later in the day, the Supreme Court slapped SpiceJet CMD with a contempt notice in a case against Credit Suisse for failing to comply with an "in principle commercial settlement'.

It is yet to be seen how SpiceJet shares react to this development once the market opens on Wednesday.
 

Vodafone Idea

Vodafone Idea's net loss widened to Rs 7,840 crore as the telecom company reported its first-quarter results on Monday.

The company's revenue from operations, however, increased marginally by 2.3 per cent to Rs 10,655.5 crore from Rs 10,406.8 crore in the June 2022 quarter.

The share closed the day's session 0.86 per cent down to Rs 8.04 on Monday.

Ashok Leyland

Ashok Leyland announced on Monday that it had acquired Hinduja Group Company, OHM India Mobility, to house E-mass.

Ashok Leyland informed bourses that under the deal, it would invest Rs 300 crore in the Hinduja group company.

The company's share was down 0.11 per cent at market close on Monday.

Pennar Industries 

A value-added engineering products company, Pennar Industries, announced on Monday that it had bagged orders worth Rs 702 crore for its different business verticals, including the railways and steel segments.

Pennar Industries has received orders from leading players across industries, including Tata Power, Saint Gobain, Tata Electronics,  Godrej Boyce, Ashok Leyland, Yamaha, Emerson, Hindalco, and Kirloskar Toyota, among others, it said in its BSE filing.

Indiabulls Housing Finance

The company posted its June quarter numbers on Monday, standalone profit was up 59.3 per cent to Rs 241 crore against Rs 151.3 crore a year ago.

Earnings Before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation, and Amortisation or EBITDA stood at Rs. 1,558.36 crore in June 2023 down 2.25 per cent from Rs 1,594.16 crore in June 2022.

InterGlobe Aviation or IndiGo 

Gangwal family to sell stakes through a block deal. 1.56 crore shares or 4 per cent stake to be sold worth Rs 3,730 crore.

The deal is possible at Rs 2400/share at a six per cent discount.

Oil stocks 

The windfall tax has been revised, which can affect oil stocks. The price of crude petroleum will be hiked from Rs 4250/tonne to Rs 7100/ronne.

Diesel prices will be hiked from 1/litre to Rs. 5.50/litre. On ATF, prices will be hiked from nil/litre to Rs2/litre.

Hero MotoCorp

Promoters have given details about the disclosure of the family agreement of 2016 under SEBI rules. No change in the existing management or control of the company Sunil Kant Munjal resigned from the post of joint MD in 2016.

"Family Group" and Sunil Kant Munjal agreed to use the trademark HERO."

M&M 

The company launched four revolutionary OJA tractor platforms globally. It also launched seven revolutionary, lightweight 4WD tractors to transform farming.

OJA 2127 launched at Rs 5.64 lakhs and OJA 3140 at Rs 7.35 lakhs.

Greaves Cotton/TVS Motor/Hero Motocorp/Bajaj Auto 

Ola Electric launches the country's cheapest e-scooter. The new entry-level scooter S1X launched with a starting price of Rs 79,999.

The scooter is available in three variants.

HDFC Bank

The merger of HDFC with HDFC Bank has pushed credit offtake by an incremental 500 basis points to 19.7 per cent for the fortnight to July 28, excluding the fact that system-wide lending growth was only 14.7 per cent over year, according to a report.

The largest pure-play mortgage lender, HDFC, merged with its own banking subsidiary on July 1 in a record USD 40 billion all-stocks merger, creating a banking behemoth with a balance sheet of over Rs 23 lakh crore.

RVNL

Rail Vikas Nigam Limited (RVNL) posted a 15 per cent year-on-year jump in its consolidated net profits, which reached Rs 343 crore during Q1 from Rs 297.6 crore during the corresponding quarter last fiscal. The revenue from operations of the RVNL jumped 20 per cent year-on-year to Rs 4,640.7 crore from Rs 5,571.5 crore during Q1 FY23.

Infosys 

The company entered into a strategic collaboration with Liberty Global. The company will provide services worth €1.5 billion (Rs 13,650 crore) to Liberty Global over an initial period of five years. If the contract is extended for eight years, then the contract value will increase to €2.3 billion (Rs 21000 crore).

NLC India 

The company declared bids for an 810 MW grid connected solar photovoltaic power project.

The bidder declared for the Grid-Connected Solar Photovoltaic Power Project under a competitive bidding tender floating from RRVUNL. 

Poonawalla Fincorp 

Poonawalla Fincorp Limited (PFL) announced the appointment of Kumar Gaurav as Chief Marketing Officer. In his new role, Kumar will lead marketing, brand, corporate communications, public relations, and digital marketing and will be responsible for developing brand campaigns to enhance the company's brand presence and reputation in a manner that drives consistent business growth. 

GMR Airport

GMR Airports Infrastructure Limited reported on Monday a 40 per cent increase in gross revenue at Rs 2,018 crore for the first quarter ended June 30 of fiscal year 2024.

The company reported a loss of Rs 30 crore against a loss of Rs 137 crore a year ago.

SRF LTD 

On August 14, the Goods and Services Tax (GST) department raided the company's factory in Bhiwadi, Rajasthan. Officials asked for documents related to GST credit claims.

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