Stocks in focus today: HDFC Bank, Reliance Industries, Wipro, IRFC, Mindtree, Indiabulls Real Estate

Nifty futures were trading 35.50 points or 0.25 per cent down at 14,423 on Singaporean Exchange, suggesting a gap-down opening for BSE Sensex and Nifty 50 on Monday. Earlier, in the previous week, the broader Nifty 50 index gained 3.2 per cent while the 30-share index Sensex gained 2.7 per cent. Midcap stocks continued to the outperform the equity benchmarks with the Nifty MidCap 100 index adding 5.2 per cent. Analysts see US stimulus, earnings season and budget expectation could determine the market movement. Also, Nifty 50 may continue to trade with positive bias from here till Union Budget 2021. “The MSCI Emerging Market Index has broken the pre GFC peak of 1345 seen in 2007. If it sustains above 1350 for one/two more weeks then it would confirm the break-out and go into a new zone,” said Rusmik Oza, Executive Vice President, Head of Fundamental Research at Kotak Securities.

Stocks in focus today:

HDFC Bank: HDFC Bank reported an 18 per cent on-year growth in net profit for the quarter ended December to Rs 8,578 crore on the back of a 15 per cent on-year rise in net interest income (NII) to Rs 16,317.6 crore. In other development, the bank has notified the stock exchanges of the occurrence of an inadvertent trade by a designated person during restricted period. “Mr. Jimmy Tata, Chief Credit Officer of the Bank had sold 1,400 equity shares of the Bank,” it said. The Audit Committee of the Bank was notified of this matter.

Mindtree, Indiabulls Real Estate: A total of 21 companies including Mindtree, Indiabulls Real Estate, IndiaMART InterMESH, IRB Infrastructure Developers, Majesco, Rallis India, Alok Industries, Shakti Pumps, Snowman Logistics and Trident, among others are set to announce their October-December quarter earnings later in the day today.

RIL: E-commerce major Amazon has written to Sebi again, and urged the market regulator Sebi to suspend the review of the Future-Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) deal. This is the eighth letter by Amazon to the SEBI Chairman Ajay Tyagi since late October.

Wipro: IT services major Wipro said it has completed its Rs 9,500-crore share buyback programme. The buyback saw Azim Premji-affiliated entities tendering 22.89 crore shares worth about Rs 9,156 crore during the process, a regulatory filing said. “(A total of) 23.75 crore equity shares were bought back under the buyback at a price of Rs 400 per equity share,” it added.

IRFC: The IPO of the PSU firm opens for subscription on Monday, where 178 crore equity shares of the firm will be available for subscription. Indian Railway Finance Corporation will be the first IPO of 2021 as it looks to raise Rs 4,633 crore through a fresh issue and an offer for sale (OFS) by the President of India through the Ministry of Railways.