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Sensex Tanks 495 Points, Jet Airways in Focus and Other Top Stocks in Action Today
Tue, 23 Apr Pre-Open

On Monday, share markets in India opened on a negative note and ended the day deep in red after a volatile day of trading.

The BSE Sensex closed lower by 495 points to end the day under the 39,000 point mark at 38,645. While the broader NSE Nifty ended the day down by 158 points to end at 11,594.

Barring IT sector, all sectoral indices ended on a negative note with oil & gas stocks, realty stocks, and finance stocks losing the most.

Top Stocks in Action Today

Maruti Suzuki share price is in focus today. Reportedly, the company is all set to launch new 1.2 litre DUALJET, DUAL VVT BS VI engine with next generation Smart Hybrid technology in Baleno, a premium hatchback.

The new BS VI compliant Baleno (Petrol) with Smart Hybrid will be available at NEXA showrooms across the country.

Eicher Motors share price is also in focus as the company's motorcycle arm - Royal Enfield has expanded its presence in Asia by opening its standalone flagship store in Seoul, South Korea.

Vintage Motors (Kiheung International) will be Royal Enfield's distributor-partner in South Korea.

The Latest on the Jet Airways Saga

Shares of Jet Airways continued their downtrend by slipping around 19% in early trade today. The free fall began last Friday after the company announced temporary suspension of flight operations as lenders turned down the airline's request for emergency funding.

Last week, the consortium of Indian lenders, led by the State Bank of India (SBI), informed Jet Airways that they were unable to consider its request for critical interim funding.

In past one week, the company's Independent Director Rajshree Pathy, and Non-Executive Non-Independent Director Nasim Zaidi have submitted their resignations "due to personal reasons and constraints of time".

Reports also state that, the Tata group may revive an attempt to buy the cash-strapped airline if lenders to the grounded airline fail to find a buyer and are forced to drag the carrier to a bankruptcy court.

Last year, the Tata group withdrew from talks to buy the debt-laden airline after Naresh Goyal was unwilling to cede control and had opened parallel negotiations with existing investor Etihad Airways PJSC of Abu Dhabi for a potential equity infusion.

Note that, Jet Airways used to be a frontrunner once. What went wrong?

Well, one of the many reasons was the challenge from the entry of budget carriers. This led to dropping of fares by Jet Airways. Some tickets were sold even below the breakeven cost.

Then, provincial taxes of as much as 30% on jet fuel were added to its expenses. Further, the rise in oil prices was a death blow to their earnings.

On a consolidated level, the company has bled in nine of the last eleven fiscals. In other words, it has kept its bottom-line in the black in only two out of the last eleven years.

In other news, SpiceJet has announced signing of an initial pact for code share partnership with Gulf carrier Emirates.

Reportedly, the reciprocal partnership will allow opening of new routes and destinations for passengers of the two airlines.

SpiceJet is also planning to launch 24 new flights connecting Mumbai and Delhi with other cities on its domestic network. Of these, 16 will connect Mumbai, four will connect Delhi while the rest will connect the two metros with each other.

How all this pans out remains to be seen. Meanwhile, we will keep you updated on all the developments from this space.

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