Indian shares opened higher for a fifth straight session on Thursday, as gains in energy producers countered losses in automakers and tech companies. However, both the BSE S&P Sensex and the NSE Nifty pared most of their gains as investors booked profit after the benchmarks' longest winning streak in nearly six months.
Here are the stocks in focus for the day:
Wipro
Shares of Wipro rose as much as 1 percent to Rs 470 after it announced the divestment of its EcoEnergy segment to focus on its core I.T. business.
EcoEnergy, a unit worth Rs 156 crore, will be bought by an indirect subsidiary of United Technologies Corporation for $70 million, which translates to about Rs 480 crore.
The deal is yet to receive approval from the Competition Commission of India, the company said in a exchange filing.
Hindustan Construction Company
Shares of the infrastructure major jumped as high as 15.8 percent to Rs 39 after on reports that it will receive an arbitral award payment of Rs 2,000 crore within four to six weeks.
The company received communication from NHPC and the National Highway Authority of India regarding the award while Niti Ayog has already asked for the payment to be released.
HCC has arbitration awards for Rs 3,427 crore as of September 30, 2016 and has further claims of around Rs 4,173 crore in the arbitration process.
"The communication came in the backdrop of the government setting into motion the process to release 75 percent of arbitration amounts against margin free guarantee in situations where awards have been given but have been contested by the concerned authorities," the company said in a press release.
HCC to get arbitral award of Rs 2,000 crore from NHPC, NHAI https://t.co/aCF0WDm0C4 pic.twitter.com/l4R96poacb
OMCs
Shares of oil marketing companies fell after a hike in petrol prices by 13 paise an a cut in diesel prices by 12 paise. The revision in rates announced by Indian Oil Corp (IOC), the nation's biggest fuel retailer, is excluding state levies (VAT) and the actual change will be higher after considering them.
The price revision will come into effect from December 1 pic.twitter.com/STsgp1saty
- Indian Oil (-2.4 percent to Rs 299)
- Bharat Petroleum (-2.2 percent to Rs 630)
- Hindustan Petroleum (-4.4 percent to Rs 450)
Meanwhile, shares of upstream oil companies and gas producers rose buoyed by a deal to cut global oil output. OPEC surprised sceptics with its first deal to cut output in eight years, sending oil rallying the most in eight months.
OPEC has agreed to cut production for the first time in 8 years. pic.twitter.com/s7CCmOOuVV
- Oil India (+3.3 percent to Rs 432)
- ONGC (+2.6 percent to Rs 296)
- Reliance Industries (+1.4 percent to Rs 1,005)
- GAIL India (+2.93 percent to Rs 437)
- Indraprastha Gas (+2.3 percent to Rs 846)
Reliance Communications
Shares of Anil Ambani led company fell 2 percent to Rs 37 after Moody's Investor Services slashed its corporate family rating and senior secured rating from Ba3 to B1.
The international rating agency stated that while the expected reduction in debt from the recent deleveraging deal is a positive, it will take six to nine months for the transactions to close. Moreover,the material shift with respect to business focus, scale and growth strategy will affect the credit profile of the company and credit risk for bondholders.
Earnings Reaction
- Punj Lloyd (-3.7 percent to Rs 20)
- Man Infraconstruction (+4.5 percent to Rs 42)
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