BPCL reported net profits of Rs.11,940 crore in the Mar-21 quarter as against a net loss of Rs.1,361 crore in the Mar-20 quarter. Standalone gross revenues from operations stood 21% higher at Rs.98,756 crore. The board of BPCL recommended final dividend of Rs 58 per share, including a special dividend of Rs.35 per share, taking the total dividend in the year to Rs.79 per share. The government plans to sell its 52.98% stake in BPCL for around Rs.54,000 crore. GRMs were sharply higher and there was exceptional gains too.
Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority or the PFRDA made an official announcement that the total assets under management under the National Pension System or the NPS and the Atal Pension Yojana had crossed Rs.600,000 crore mark. In fact, the AUM rise from Rs.500,000 crore to Rs.600,000 crore had happened in a span of just 7 months. NPS subscribers stand at 74 lakh government employees and 28.4 lakh non-government employees. The subscriber base of PFRDA currently stands at 4.28 crore.
It was again a return of the bulls on Wednesday as the Sensex rallied by 380 points and almost maintained the early rally through the day. Apart from the promise of global easy money, the news of a stimulus by the Indian government also helped markets. The rally was led by stocks like Infosys, HDFC, TCS, Bajaj Finance and Reliance. The Nifty scaled 15,300 while the Sensex easily scaled the 51,000 mark. One trend on Wednesday was the sharp surge in the VIX from around 18.30 levels to 21 levels, ahead of F&O expiry.
Technology companies buying Hollywood studios is nothing new. In a surprise move, Amazon will be paying $8.45 billion to take over Metro Goldwyn Meyers, better known as MGM. This was the studio that created the iconic James Bond franchise. The idea is to enable a strong content flow so that Amazon is able to compete with likes of Netflix and Disney. Recently, AT&T had decided to combine with Discovery to create another tech-media powerhouse. Amazon has its own studio but that has given mixed results.
In a surprising move, Credit Suisse is cutting metal stocks from overweight to underweight in a note on its latest India strategy. Credit Suisse noted that that the P/B ratio relative to market was near a 10-year high. The broker also feels that the extreme inventory squeeze may have played out in metals. In fact, with the popular aluminium-to-steel price ratio close to a 20-year low, they have removed Tata Steel from their model portfolio. Credit Suisse expects input prices to slowly taper and is adding Ultratech and Asian Paints.
Titan has rallied sharply to scale the Rs.1,614 levels, gaining nearly 6% in just 2 days. Titan is already close to its record high price of Rs.1,620. The stock has already recovered 15% from its recent los of Rs.1,400. It may be recollected that Titan had reported 61% growth in sales in the Mar-21 quarter. Most brokers are expecting a sharp pent-up demand factor to work in favour of Titan in the second half of the fiscal. Titan is emerging as a structural story to benefit from the shift from the unorganised to organised sector.
Cadila Healthcare has announced that Zydus had signed an agreement with TLC of Taiwan to market its Liposomal Amphotericin-B; a critical drug to treat Black Fungus in India. TLC is a specialty pharmaceutical company based out of Taiwan. Under the deal, TLC will supply AmphoTLC on non-exclusive basis to Zydus, and Zydus will commercialize the drug in India. With the surge in Black Fungus infections in India, this drug will address the acute shortage of amphotericin-B in India. Black fungus is also known as Mucormycosis.
HDFC will raise up to Rs.7,000 crore by issuing non-convertible debentures or NCDs on private placement basis. The bond issue will have a base size of Rs.5,000 crore with the option to retain oversubscription of up to Rs.2,000 crore. HDFC will offer an annual coupon rate of 6% on the bonds. The bond issue will open on May 28 and close on the same day. It will help HDFC to augment long-term resources and will go into financing / refinancing the housing finance business. The tenor of the bonds will be 4 years and 363 days.