Stocks To Watch: UltraTech Cement, BHEL, NHPC, Dr Reddy's Labs, LIC, Zydus Lifesciences

UltraTech Cement Ltd. will be in focus during Thursday trade after the company's changes at its unit resulted in additional production capacity of 2.4 mtpa, taking total domestic grey cement manufacturing capacity to 140.8 mtpa.

Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd. received an order worth Rs 4,000 crore from Adani Power, while NHPC Ltd. approved plans to borrow Rs 6,100 crore from the market in tranches for FY25.

Bajaj Finance Ltd. may also be in focus as reports say it's preparing for initial public offering with an eye on $10 billion valuation. The tentative size if the IPO is likely to be $1 billion, according to people in the know to NDTV Profit.

India's benchmark stock indices recouped from loss to gain on Wednesday, tracking recovery in heavyweights Reliance Industries Ltd., HDFC Bank Ltd., and Axis Bank Ltd.

The NSE Nifty 50 closed 143.25 points, or 0.65%, higher at 22,147.95, and the S&P BSE Sensex ended 526.02 points, or 0.73%, up at 72,996.31.

Overseas investors remained net buyers of Indian equities for the second consecutive day on Wednesday. Foreign portfolio investors bought stocks worth Rs 2,170 crore, while domestic institutional investors remained net buyers and mopped up equities worth Rs 1,198 crore, the NSE data showed.

The Indian currency weakened by 9 paise to close at 83.38 against the U.S. dollar.

Most markets in Asia-Pacific region fell as concens about interest rates to stay higher for longer in the U.S. rose after Federal Reserve's hawkish remarks.

The Nikkei 225 was trading 342.60 points or 0.84% lower at 40,420.13, and the KOSPI index was 4.36 points or 0.16% down at 2,750.75 as of 06:32 a.m.

In contrast to its peers, the S&P ASX 200 hit a fresh high in early trade, and was 78.90 points or 1.01% up at 7,898.50 as of 06:33 a.m.

Fed Governor Christopher Waller said that there is no hurry to cut interest rate right now. Current inflation reading suggests rates can stay at current level for longer to bring down the inflation sustainably to 2% target rate, Waller said at Economic Club in New York.

A renewed bout of volatility gripped U.S. stocks in the final stretch of a quarter that saw the market surge almost 10%, with many institutional investors potentially rebalancing their portfolios, according to Bloomberg.

The S&P 500 index and Nasdaq Composite ended 0.86% and 0.51% up respectively. The Dow Jones Industrial Average 1.22% higher.

Brent crude was trading 0.25% higher at $86.34 a barrel. Gold was down by 0.25% at $2,189.39 an ounce.

The GIFT Nifty was trading 4.5 points or 0.02% higher at 22,218.50 as of 06:37 a.m.

• UltraTech Cement: During the course of its capacity expansion programs, the company had identified opportunities for debottlenecking across various locations, including its wholly-owned subsidiary. Some of these have since been completed and stabilized resulting in additional production capacity of 2.4 mtpa. The total domestic grey cement manufacturing capacity stands at 140.8 mtpa. It will acquire 26% stake in O2 Renewable Energy for Rs 15.7 crore.

• Bharat Heavy Electricals: The company has received an order worth Rs 4,000 crore from Adani Power for setting up a thermal power plant in Chhattisgarh.

• NHPC: The board approved plans to borrow Rs 6,100 crore from the market in tranches for FY25. It also gave in-principle approval for closure of Loktak Downstream Hydroelectric in Manipur, subject to the government approval.

• Dr Reddy's Labs: The drugmaker entered into exclusive distribution partnership with Sanofi Healthcare India to promote and distribute the vaccine brands of SHIPL including well-established paediatric and adult vaccines, in India.

• LIC: The insurer has filed appeals before tax authorities in Ahmedabad and Bangalore on certain GST demands.

• Tata Elxsi: The company and Dräger, a global leader in medical and safety technology, have announced a collaboration to advance critical care innovation in India.

• GOCL Corp: The company entered into an MoU with Squarespace lnfra City, Hyderabad for monetization of approx. 264.50 acres of land situated at Kukatpally, Hyderabad.

• Texmaco Rail & Engineering: The company's Rs 250-crore QIP saw participation of Samena Capital, Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, Societe Generale and Mahindra Manulife Mutual Fund.

• Balmer Lawrie & Company: The company will set up a free trade warehousing zone in Special Economic Zone of Jawaharlal Nehru Port Authority near Mumbai on a land parcel of approx 15 acre and invest Rs 230 crore.

• REC: The company approved Rs 1.6 lakh crore market borrowing plan for FY25 through different instruments.

• Zydus Lifesciences: USFDA conducted an inspection at the SEZ Onco Injectable manufacturing plant at Ahmedabad closed with 4 observations.

• Cyient: The company announced a strategic partnership with Deutsche Aircraft, a German original equipment manufacturer, on the detailed design for manufacturing of the rear fuselage section for the 40-seater D328eco regional turboprop aircraft.

• SRF: The company has given Rs 190 crore corporate guarantees on behalf of its wholly owned subsidiary SRF Industries (Thailand).

• Himatsingka: The company has made further investment of Rs 16.64 crore in unit Himatsingka Holdings NA Inc.

• Exide Industries: The company invested Rs 34.99 crore in subsidiary Exide Energy Solutions on rights basis. With this investment, the total investment stands at Rs 2,000 crore.

• Shiva Cement: The board approved issuance of shares worth Rs 400 crore by way of a rights issue.

• Blue Dart: The company introduced 20-hour delivery service to GIFT City from major metros through fleet of 8 Boeing aircraft.

• Zaggle Prepaid Ocean Services: The company will acquire 45% stake in Span Across IT Solutions for Rs 24.75 crore to enter new segment of employee related business.

• Info Edge: The company has agreed to invest Rs 30 crore in unit Naukri Internet Services.

• Aditya Birla Capital: The company has invested Rs 18 crore in arm Aditya Birla Capital Digital.

• Bajaj Finance: The non-banking financial company is planning for an initial public offering, with likely size of $1 billion, according to the people aware of the matter to NDTV Profit. Bajaj Finance is said to be seeking valuation of $10 billion. However nothing is finalised yet as discussion is in nascent stage.

• SRM Contractors: The Rs 130.2-crore issue was subscribed 17.42 times on its second day. The bids were led by non-institutional investors (45.51 times), retail investors (13.94 times), and institutional investors (2.41 times).

• Samhi Hotels: Blue Chandra sold 1.01 crore shares (4.67%), TT Asia-Pacific Equity Fund bought 82.82 lakh shares (3.79%), Societe Generale bought 11.51 lakh shares (0.53%), Dnb Fund - Asian Small Cap bought 3.94 lakh shares (0.18%), and Dnb Fund - India bought 3.44 lakh shares (0.16%) at Rs 206.1 apiece.

• Vijaya Diagnostic Centre: Kotak Mahindra Mutual Fund bought 8.1 lakh shares (0.79%), Sunil Chandra Kondapally sold 5.1 lakh shares (0.49%), and Surendranath Reddy Sura sold 3 lakh shares (0.29%) at Rs 630 apiece.

• Aster DM Healthcare: Olympus Capital Asia Investments sold 3.81 crore shares (7.64%) at Rs 405.02 apiece. Nippon India Mutual Fund bought 1.03 crore shares (2.07%) at Rs 405 apiece, SBI Mutual Fund bought 76.91 lakh shares (1.53%) at Rs 405 apiece, Olympus Capital Asia Investments Limited sold 60.74 lakh shares (1.21%) at Rs 406.72 apiece, ICICI Prudential Mutual Fund bought 82.71 lakh shares (1.64%) at Rs 405 apiece, Smallcap World Fund Inc bought 49.66 lakh shares (0.99%) at Rs 405 apiece, Olympus Acf Pte Ltd sold 45.59 lakh shares (0.91%) at Rs 405 apiece.

• CDSL: Standard Chartered Bank sold 75 lakh shares (7.17%) at Rs 1,688.64 apiece.

• GMR Power & Urban Infra: Setu Securities sold 31.03 lakh shares (0.51%) at Rs 44.75 apiece.

• TVS Holdings: Sundaram Finance Holdings sold 2.02 lakh shares (0.6%) at Rs 8,138.9 apiece, VS Trust bought 2.02 lakh shares (0.6%) at Rs 8,138.9 apiece.

• Ethos: KDDL sold 4.05 lakh shares (1.73%) at Rs 2,499.8 apiece, Invesco Mutual Fund bought 3.07 lakh shares (1.31%) at Rs 2,500.05 apiece.

• Aditya Vision: Rashi Vardhan sold 2 lakh shares (1.66%) at Rs 3,400 apiece, Smallcap World Fund Inc bought 2.73 lakh shares (2.26%) at Rs 3,400 apiece, Sunita Sinha sold 0.81 lakh shares (0.67%) at Rs 3,400 apiece.

• Rama Steel Tubes: Sunflower Broking bought 74.31 lakh shares (1.46%) at Rs 13.8 apiece.

• Subex: Ashapura Commodities bought 36.81 lakh shares (0.65%) at Rs 29.99 apiece.

• Sunteck Realty: Jaliyan Commodity bought 7.76 lakh shares (0.53%) at Rs 400.05 apiece.

• Zee: Ppfas Mutual Fund bought 62.22 lakh shares (0.64%) at Rs 141.44 apiece.

• Deepak Fertilisers & Petrochemicals: Promoter Robust Marketing Services bought 31,000 shares on March 20.

• Pennar Industries: Promoter Aditya Narsing Rao bought 15,800 shares on March 26.

• Apollo Hospitals Enterprise: Promoter K Visweshwar Reddy created a pledge for 70,000 shares on March 26.

• Price band revised from 10% to 5%: Jyoti CNC Automation.

• Ex/special Dividend: Aditya Vision.

• Ex/Dividend: Crisil.

• Ex/Stock Split: Persistent Systems.

• Ex/Interim dividend: Housing & Urban Development Corp.

• Ex/record Interim Dividend: REC, R Systems International, SBI Cards and Payment Services.

• Moved into short-term ASM framework: Skipper.

• Saregama: To meet investors and analysts on April 5.

• Sigachi Industries: To meet investors and analysts on March 30.

• Mrs Bector Foods: To meet investors and analysts on April 2, 3 and 9.

• Azad Engineering: To meet investors and analysts on April 2.

• Nifty March futures up by 0.48% to 22,088.55 at a premium of 43.4 points.

• Nifty March futures open interest down by 23.1%.

• Nifty Bank April futures up by 0.27% to 46,717.55 at a premium of 438.3 points.

• Nifty Bank April futures open interest down by 27.2%.

• Nifty Options March 28 Expiry: Maximum Call open interest at 22,500 and Maximum Put open interest at 22,000.

• Bank Nifty Options April 3 Expiry: Maximum Call Open Interest at 48,000 and Maximum Put open interest at 46,700.

• Securities in ban period: Hindustan Copper, Zee.

• IT Q4 Results Preview - Weak FY24 Exit, A Weak FY25 Start Could Pressure Consensus Estimates: Nirmal Bang

• Sastasundar Ventures - Balancing Growth, Efficiency Optimally; Systematix Initiates Coverage With A Buy

• Sumitomo Chemical - Nirmal Bang Upgrades To A Buy On Revival In Crop Protection Chemicals

• Bharat Electronics - Multiple Levers In Place To Fuel Growth; Anand Rathi Re-Initiates Coverage With A Buy

• Shree Cement - Expanding Footprint Largely In Existing Markets: Motilal Oswal

• Info Edge- Green Shoots Visible In Hiring Data; Zomato’s Outperformance Is Not Yet Priced In: ICICI Securities

• Indraprastha Gas - CNG Strength Counters EV Threat: HDFC Securities

• Balaji Amines - Dimethyl Ether Can Be A Game Changer: Prabhudas Lilladher