Stocks To Watch: Bharti Airtel, Biocon, GAIL, HDFC Life, Infosys, JSW Steel, UltraTech Cement, Vodafone Idea

Asian stocks edged higher as investors mulled updates on the deadly coronavirus outbreak.

Shares saw modest gains in Japan and Australia. U.S. stock futures were steady after the S&P 500 eked out a small advance helped by gains for big tech companies. Markets in mainland China and South Korea are shut, and Hong Kong closes early, for lunar new year holidays.

The Singapore-traded SGX Nifty, an early indicator of NSE Nifty 50 Index’s performance in India, fell 0.3 percent to 12,160 as of 6:50 a.m.

Short on time? Well, then listen to this podcast for a quick summary of All You Need To Know before the opening bell.

Here are the stocks to watch in today’s trade.

• Telcos: Department of Telecommunications has directed officials not to take action against the companies on adjusted gross revenue non-payment, according to Bloomberg report.
• Reliance Jio has paid Rs 195 crore to DoT to clear all AGR dues until Jan. 31, according to a TI report.
• GAIL filed an application with Supreme Court seeking clarification on the provisional assessment orders the company has received from DoT.
• KEI Industries approved QIP Floor Price at Rs 518.14 per share, which is at a discount of 1 percent to the closing prices as on Jan. 23. Company looking to raise Rs 400 crore with a greenshoe option to raise another Rs 100 crore. If the company raises Rs 500 crore at issue price, it will lead to equity dilution of 10.8 percent stake on the expanded equity base.
• Infosys: SEBI may probe whistleblower allegations against the company, according to a Bloomberg report.
• Biocon: Kiran Mazumdar Shaw appointed as the executive chairperson for five years with effect from April 1. Her term as managing director will come to an end on March 31, and she is not seeking re-appointment.
• Olectra Greentech’s arm Evey received letters of award for the deployment of 555 electric buses from 8 city/state transport authorities. The contract period is for 10-12 years.
• PNB Housing Finance said that Punjab National Bank will maintain a minimum shareholding in PNB Housing Finance at 26 percent and will continue to be the promoter of the company.
• HFCL said that its greenfield optical fibre manufacturing facility at Hyderabad has been commissioned and commenced its operations with effect from Jan. 23.
• Muthoot Finance will consider raising funds via non-convertible debentures on Feb. 14.
• Info-Edge has set up an AIF to invest in tech- and tech-enabled entities. The company will invest Rs 100 crore in the fund.
• Century Textiles & Industries: Board to consider raising the capital issue of NCDs for a rose to Rs 400 crore on Jan. 28.
• Coffee Day Enterprises entered into definitive agreement to sell its share broking arm Way2Wealth Securities and its arms to Shriram Capital’s group company.
• Thyrocare Technologies to consider the reappointment of Dr. A Velumani as MD and CEO on Feb. 1.
• Sadhana Nitro Chem to consider share split of 5:1 on Jan. 31.
• CG Power & Industrial Solutions: Public Prosecutor filed for Bankruptcy of company’s two Belgium arms. Hearing for this is fixed on Feb. 3.
• JK Lakshmi Cement will consider raising funds via External Commercial Borrowings on Jan. 28.

Earnings Reaction To Watch

HDFC Life Insurance (Q3, YoY)

• Gross premium rose 14.9 percent to Rs 8,001 crore.
• PAT rose 2 percent to Rs 250 crore.

Biocon (Q3, YoY)

• Revenue rose 13.5 percent to Rs 1,748.1 crore.
• Net profit fell 6.6 percent to Rs 202.8 crore.
• EBITDA rose 16.7 percent to Rs 444.2 crore.
• Margin stood at 25.4 percent vs 24.7 percent.
• Small molecules revenue rose 16 percent to Rs 543.8 crore.
• Biologics revenue rose 31 percent to Rs 588.2 crore.
• Branded Formulations revenue fell 26 percent to Rs 157.3 crore.

Cholamandalam Investment & Finance (Q3, YoY)

• Net Interest Income rose 21.3 percent to Rs 925.3 crore.
• Net profit rose 27.6 percent to Rs 388.5 crore.
• Disbursements fell 2 percent to Rs 747.5 crore.

Zensar Tech (Q3, QoQ)

• Revenue fell 4.8 percent to Rs 1,020.6 crore.
• Net profit fell 50.6 percent to Rs 39.5 crore.
• EBIT fell 74.6 percent to Rs 28.4 crore.
• Margin stood at 2.8 percent vs 10.4 percent.

CDSL (Q3, YoY)

• Revenue rose 17.4 percent to Rs 54.1 crore.
• Net profit fell 26 percent to Rs 20.8 crore.
• Took one-time charge for a non-recurring previous years’ anticipated statutory liability of Rs 10.6 crore.

Nifty Earnings To Watch

• JSW Steel
• UltraTech Cement

Other Earnings To Watch

• Bank of Baroda
• Aavas Financiers
• Prestige Estates Projects
• Sonata Software
• Supreme Industries
• Wendt
• Allsec Technologies
• Atul
• EIH
• Emkay Global Financial Services
• Kirloskar Ferrous
• Onward Technologies Apollo Micro Systems
• Indian Bank
• Mangalam Drugs And Organics

Pledge Share Details

• JSW Steel promoter Sahyog Holdings revoked pledge of 86,000 shares on Jan. 17.
• Sical Logistics promoter Tanglin Retail invoked pledge of 60 lakh shares on Jan. 14.
• Future Consumer promoter Future Corporate Investment revoked pledge of 65 lakh shares on Jan. 21.

Trading Tweaks

• Aster DM Healthcare record date for share-buyback.
• Nifty CPSE Index Changes: Stocks to be excluded IOC, PFC. Stocks to be included: Cochin Shipyard, NHPC, NMDC, Power Grid.
• AGC Networks to move into ASM Framework.
• Indiabulls Ventures to move out of short term ASM Framework.

Money Market Update

• The rupee ended at 71.27/$ on Thursday 71.20/$ on Wednesday

F&O Cues

Index Futures

• Nifty January futures closed at 12,201, premium of 20.7 points versus 38 points.
• Nifty January futures open interest down 2 percent, sheds 2.7 lakh shares in open interest.
• Nifty Bank January futures closed at 31,090, premium of 86 points versus 101.4 points.
• Nifty Bank January futures open interest down 14 percent, sheds 2.1 lakh shares in open interest.

Options

• Nifty PCR at 1.26 versus 1.00 (across all series)

Nifty Monthly Expiry: Jan. 30

• Max open interest on call side at 12,500 (35.4 lakh shares).
• Max open interest on put side at 12,000 (41.3 lakh shares).
• Open interest addition seen at 12,100P (+8.1 lakh shares), 12,000P (+5.8 lakh shares).