Wipro's Biggest Acquisition, Vodafone Idea Fundraising Plan, and Buzzing Stocks Today

Mon, 8 Mar Pre-Open | Monish Vora, TM Team

   Momentum Moves   

   SGX Nifty   

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   12:30 pm   

   Closing   

Indian share markets witnessed huge selling during closing hours on Friday and ended lower.

Benchmark indices ended lower for the second straight session on Friday amid volatility triggered by the Fed Reserve chair's statement on market intervention.

While Powell said the rise in yields was "notable", he did not consider it a "disorderly" move, or one that pushed long-term rates so high the Fed might have to intervene in markets more forcefully to bring them down.

At the closing bell on Friday, the BSE Sensex stood lower by 441 points (down 0.9%). Meanwhile, the NSE Nifty ended down by 143 points (down 1%).

ONGC was among the top gainers. IndusInd Bank and Wipro, on the other hand, were among the top losers.

The BSE Mid cap index and the BSE Small cap index ended down by 1.9% and 1.5%, respectively.

On the sectoral front, metal stocks, banking stocks and IT stocks were among the hardest hit.

Shares of Avenue Supermarts and Adani Gas hit their respective 52-week highs on Friday.

At 8:05 am today, the SGX Nifty was trading up by 98 points, or 0.7% higher at 15,050 levels. Indian share markets are headed for a firm opening today following the positive trend on SGX Nifty.

Gold prices for the latest contract on MCX were trading down by 0.5% at Rs 44,305 per 10 grams at the time of closing stock market hours on Friday.

Speaking of stock markets, in his latest video for Fast Profits Daily, India's #1 trader Vijay Bhambwani talks about how inflation is affecting your money in the market and why you need to keep a close eye on it.

Tune in to the video below to find out more:

Top Stocks in Focus Today

Among the buzzing stocks today will be Indiabulls Housing Finance.

Indiabulls Housing Finance has raised US$150 million (Rs 10.9 billion) by issuing foreign currency convertible bonds, the company said last week.

The FCCBs, set to mature on March 4, 2026, bear a coupon rate of 4.5%. The bonds are proposed to be listed on Singapore Exchange Securities Trading Limited.

Indiabulls said as many as 45 million equity shares of the company would be in the trade-off with the FCCBs.

This is Indiabulls Housing's debut convertible bond issuance. Besides, it is also the first FCCB by a financial institution from India in the last ten years.

Revealed: 3 "Revival Stocks" for Potentially Massive Gains

The housing finance company already raised Rs 26.7 billion through a qualified institutional placement (QIP) in September 2020, and a partial stake of its investment in the London based OakNorth Bank.

Reliance Power share price will also be in focus today as the company has defaulted on repayments to Axis Bank, Yes Bank and Lakshmi Vilas Bank (LVB) due on January 31, 2020.

As per regulatory disclosures, the company has defaulted on repaying Rs 7.8 million to Axis Bank, Rs 10.9 million to Yes Bank and Rs 12.5 million to LVB. The firm had taken a loan of Rs 750 million from Axis Bank, Rs 630 million from Yes Bank and Rs 200 million from LVB. Total borrowings from financial institutions stood at Rs 13.5 billion as of March 3, 2021.

Reliance Power had earlier disclosed during the December quarter that the group was confident of meeting its obligations by generating sufficient and timely cashflows through time-bound monetisation of gas-based power plant equipment and other assets of certain subsidiaries. The firm also hopes to realize the amount from ongoing regulatory arbitration claims.

Wipro to Buy Capco for US$ 1.45 Billion

Wipro, in its biggest acquisition so far, has signed an agreement to buy London-based Capco, a global management and technology consultancy, for US$ 1.45 billion.

Capco provides digital, consulting and technology services to financial institutions in the Americas, Europe, and the Asia Pacific.

The deal is an all-cash one and will be funded through internal accruals and debt. The acquisition is subject to customary closing conditions and regulatory approvals and is expected to close in the June quarter.

Rishad Premji, chairman, Wipro, said, "With this deal we are joining select service providers that bring end-to-end consultative, digital cloud, and IT-driven solutions at scale to our customers. This deal will bring scale to Wipro's BFSI (banking financial services, and insurance) play."

The company said this acquisition would make Wipro one of the largest end-to-end global consulting, technology and transformation service providers to the banking and financial services industry.

It will add revenues of US$ 700 million and will see 5,000 technology and business consultants joining Wipro.

How the above development pans out remain to be seen. Meanwhile, we will keep you updated on all the news from this space.

Speaking of stock markets, in last week's edition of Momentum Moves, Brijesh Bhatia, Research Analyst at Equitymaster, had said that smallcaps will outperform the Nifty.

In this week’s Momentum Moves video, Brijesh explains why the Nifty is in for a time correction and why the Bank Nifty is looking weak in the short-term.

As per Brijesh, Nifty is trading in a rising channel pattern and is hovering in the range of 14,450-15,300. He believes the time correction can be expected till the index trades in this zone.

Along with the Nifty, Brijesh also shares his views on the Bank Nifty. Tune in to the video below to find out more:

Vodafone Idea's Fundraising Plans Hit a Snag

In news from the telecom sector...

Vodafone Idea's fund-raising plans have hit a snag.

Vodafone Idea's talks with the Oak Hill consortium have not led to a binding agreement as there were unresolved issues around funding terms, guarantees and claims to the struggling telco's assets in case of a payment default, a report by Economic Times stated.

The report added that while talks between the two sides have not fallen through completely, the telecom JV between UK's Vodafone Group and Aditya Birla Group is already exploring other potential funding partners and is confident of securing funding by the end of this month.

The exclusive period for talks between the group of potential lenders consisting of Oak Hill, Pacific Investment Management Co, Sixth Street, Twin Point Capital and Varde Partners and Vodafone Idea was extended by a month from January 30 to February 28 but no agreement could be signed.

Stay tuned as we will keep you updated on all the developments from this space.

And to know what's moving the Indian stock markets today, check out the most recent share market updates here.

For information on how to pick stocks that have the potential to deliver big returns, download our special report now!

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