Stock Market Live: GIFT Nifty Indicates Positive Open; Brent Crude Falls Near $87 A Barrel

Rainbow Children's Medicare said Vikas Maheshwari will resign as CFO with effect from August 31. The change creates a senior management transition for the healthcare company.

Religare Enterprises said its arm Religare Broking allotted shares worth Rs 100 crore through a rights issue, with the parent subscribing to the issue. The transaction adds capital to the broking subsidiary.

Iris Clothings received NSE approval to issue 77 lakh shares on a preferential basis to non-promoters. The approval clears a key step for the proposed equity issuance.

Ather Energy approved the allotment of 16 lakh shares at Rs 1,230 per share and 79 lakh warrants at Rs 1,260 per warrant. The allotment updates the company's capital structure.

Sai Parenterals said its arm Noumed renewed a three-year OTC supply agreement with a higher contract value of Rs 204 crore. The agreement provides continued revenue visibility for the subsidiary.

Jaykay Enterprises secured an order worth Rs 60 crore from BrahMos Aerospace. The defence-related contract puts the company's order flow in focus.

NBCC received an order worth Rs 122 crore from the Rajasthan Council of School Education. The order provides a fresh project trigger for the state-owned construction company.

BR Goyal Infra received a Rs 151 crore toll collection contract from NHAI. The contract adds a new infrastructure-related order to the company's portfolio.

Advait Energy Transitions received an order worth Rs 135 crore from MPPTCL. The contract adds to the company's order pipeline.

HoABL entered into a joint venture with NITCO, its subsidiary and promoter for Alibaug land parcels. NITCO said the project is expected to generate Rs 1,500 crore in revenue.

Varun Beverages will incorporate KIVA Spirits and Company in India and a joint venture in Tunisia. The company also appointed Prathmesh Mishra as managing director and CEO of the new arm.

Macquarie raised target prices for Devyani International, Westlife Foodworld and Sapphire Foods while maintaining Outperform ratings. The brokerage cited improving demand, operating leverage and expectations of Ebitda growth across the sector.

Macquarie upgraded Jubilant Food to Neutral from Underperform and raised its target price to Rs 520 from Rs 375. The brokerage cited channel checks indicating Q2 same-store sales growth ahead of Q1 and signs of demand recovery.

Jefferies maintained Buy on Adani Ports with a target price of Rs 2,160 and Underperform on Gujarat Pipavav with a target price of Rs 131. The brokerage said potential extensions of Gujarat port concessions could remove an overhang, though the final terms will determine the economics.

Nifty September futures rose 0.66% to 24,485.20 and traded at a premium of 150 points. The premium provides an early derivatives indication of positioning ahead of the cash market session.

Apollo Pipes will consider fundraising through a QIP or rights issue at its board meeting on August 31. The proposal places the company's capital-raising plans in focus.

Max Estates said its board will consider an equity preferential issue on August 28. The board decision could determine the company's next equity fundraising move.

Prataap Snacks executed a share purchase agreement to acquire a 100% stake in RLOP Food Processing. The acquisition expands the company's portfolio through a full ownership transaction.

HEG's demerger will become effective from September 1, with September 7 fixed as the record date. Shareholders will receive one share for every one share held, while the company also announced leadership roles for the demerged businesses.

Fedbank Financial Services approved fundraising of up to Rs 2,500 crore through NCDs. The company also increased its borrowing limit to Rs 23,000 crore.

Honasa Consumer has called off its proposed acquisition of a 58% stake in Fluence Pharma after closing conditions were not fulfilled. The decision ends the proposed transaction and removes the acquisition from the company's immediate plans.

GMR Airports received a rating upgrade from CARE Ratings on its Rs 1,500 crore NCDs and long-term bank facilities. The rating moved to CARE AA-; Stable from CARE A ; Positive.

Jefferies maintained its Buy rating on GMR Airports with a target price of Rs 135 after AERA approved the Hyderabad airport's FY27-31 tariff order. The brokerage said tariff recovery remains intact, though the timing of recovery from major capacity expansion will shift towards FY30-31.

Cyient's transformation strategy received contrasting assessments from JPMorgan and Morgan Stanley.

JPMorgan

• Rating: Overweight
• Target price: Rs 1,050
• Key reason: The brokerage expects FY27 to be a year of transformation and FY28 to focus on scaling, with management targeting industry-leading growth and margins above 16%.

Morgan Stanley

• Rating: Underweight
• Target price: Rs 820
• Key reason: The brokerage said execution remains crucial and is not building in a material near-term improvement in the business outlook.

Varun Beverages attracted separate Overweight views from JPMorgan and Morgan Stanley as investors assess its expansion into alcoholic beverages.

JPMorgan

• Rating: Overweight
• Target price: Rs 530
• Key reason: The alcobev initiatives could diversify the portfolio and create medium-term growth avenues, while domestic growth recovery remains the key near-term catalyst.

Morgan Stanley

• Rating: Overweight
• Target price: Rs 557
• Key reason: The proposed subsidiary continues management's commentary on expansion into RTD and alcoholic beverages, though details of the strategy remain awaited.

Citi maintained its Neutral rating on Federal Bank with a target price of Rs 360 after reports around a potential transaction involving Jana. The brokerage said Jana could potentially add 14% to Federal Bank's advances and 11% to its deposits, while offering funding cost arbitrage, a granular secured franchise and access to underpenetrated markets.

Cipla disclosed that the US FDA inspected its Pithampur facility from August 17 to August 25 and issued seven observations in Form 483. The regulatory observations put the pharmaceutical company's manufacturing facility under investor focus.

Hindustan Copper will remain in focus after the government exercised its oversubscription option, increasing the OFS size to 5.8 crore shares, or a 6% stake. The non-retail portion was subscribed 3.41 times as of 3:45 pm.

BofA downgraded Urban Company to Underperform from Neutral and set a target price of Rs 155 after the stock rallied 30% since its Q1 results. The brokerage said competition remains intense in InstaHelp and losses remain high, even as core business momentum stays strong.

Kotak Securities upgraded Metro Brands to Add from Reduce, citing a better entry point despite cutting its target price to Rs 1,000 from Rs 1,050. The brokerage said listed footwear players have seen growth improve after the GST cut, while normalising footwear imports could signal faster sales and advertising acceleration for Metro Brands. It also identified the value format Walkway as a potential long-term growth driver.

S&P 500 futures were little changed, while Nasdaq-100 futures rose nearly 0.1%.

Brent crude declined for a third session, falling below $87 a barrel and extending its weekly loss to about 8%. West Texas Intermediate traded near $81.

The decline followed discussions between Iran and Oman on an interim framework aimed at restoring shipping through the Strait of Hormuz.

Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.53%, while South Korea’s Kospi gained 0.24%.

Japan’s Nikkei 225 fell 0.35%, while China’s Shanghai Composite edged 0.01% lower.

GIFT Nifty traded at 24,554.54 on Wednesday, indicating a positive start for Indian equities after the benchmarks returned to gains in the previous session.