Share markets in India ended flat on Thursday after pharma stocks rallied on positive corporate announcements. At the closing bell, the BSE Sensex closed lower by 30 points and the NSE Nifty finished down by 19 points.
Dr Reddy's Laboratories, Cipla, Lupin and Sun Pharma were the top gainers on both indices, while ICICI Bank, Tata Motors DVR, Zee Entertainment and GAIL lost the most.
Dr Reddy's share price will in focus today after it received establishment inspection report (EIR) from the US health regulator for a unit of its Srikakulam plant in Andhra Pradesh.
Tata Motors launched its first compact SUV Nexon with a price tag starting from Rs 0.6 million for petrol and Rs 0.7 million for the diesel variant. With this rollout, the company aims to scale up its position to the third or fourth spot in the utility vehicle segment.
L&T share price will hog limelight today on the reports that its hydrocarbon division has bagged an order worth Rs 17 billion to build a pipeline for Kuwait Oil Company.
Claris Lifesciences has completed the sale of its remaining 20% stake in Otsuka Pharmaceutical India, the joint venture with Otsuka Pharmaceutical Factory, Inc. and Mitsui & Co., to Otsuka Pharmaceutical Factory, Inc. (Japan) for a consideration of US$20 million.
Cadila Healthcare share price may be under pressure today after its US arm, Zydus Pharmaceuticals USA Inc, recalled 44,800 bottles of antidepressant Paroxetine tablets from the American market.
S&P Global Ratings has cut China's sovereign credit rating for the first time since 1999, citing the risks from soaring debt, and revised its outlook to stable from negative.
The sovereign rating was cut by one step, to A+ from AA-.
As per the report, China's prolonged period of strong credit growth has increased its economic and financial risks. Although this credit growth had contributed to strong real GDP growth and higher asset prices, the rating agency believes it has also diminished financial stability to some extent.
Going forward, whether the cut will have a relatively big impact on Chinese enterprises since corporate ratings can't be higher than the sovereign rating will be the key thing to watch out for.
Asian stocks ended mostly lower on Thursday and the dollar strengthened after the US Federal Reserve struck a hawkish tone by signaling another rate hike this year.
Since December 2015, the Fed has modestly raised the rate four times. Rates had previously been cut to a record low after the 2008 financial crisis, helping to fuel a multiyear global stock boom.
The Fed also announced that it would begin shrinking its US$4.5 trillion balance sheet starting October.
But, why should we in India be worried about which way the American economy and interest rates are headed? As Vivek writes in The Vivek Kaul Letter:
What to watch out for the rest of this week:
Oil prices steadied on Thursday, holding most of their recent gains before a meeting of oil producers that could extend production limits aimed at clearing a glut that has depressed the market for more than three years.
Ministers from the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, Russia and other producers will meet in Vienna today and are due to consider extending output cuts that began in January.
To keep a tab on the movements in crude oil and other commodities, you can read the stock market commentary from the Daily Profit Hunter team. Their commentary tracks the developments in the global economy as well as stock, currency and commodity markets.
The 120 million shares initial public offering of SBI Life Insurance Company got subscribed 13% on second day, as per latest data.
The issue received bids for 10.9 million shares against IPO size of 88.2 million shares (excluding anchor investors' portion).
Meanwhile, Prataap Snacks, which sells its products under the brand name 'Yellow Diamond', is coming out with an initial public offer (IPO) today to raise around Rs 4.8 billion.
Of this, Rs 2.8 billion will be offer for sale while the remaining Rs 2 billion will be used for repayment of debt, capacity expansions and marketing and branding activities.
So, do these companies have sound business models? Are they leaving enough money on the table for investors? We have released our IPO note for both the above IPOs. You can access the same in our IPO section.
To know which IPOs to subscribe to, you can download our FREE report - How to Get Rich with IPOs. This report will show you how to safely profit from the 2017 IPO rush.
The rupee on Thursday weakened to over 11-week low against the US dollar while 10-year bond yield jumped to four month high on the speculation of widening fiscal deficit after finance minister said that the government may soon announce measures to revive economic growth.
So far this year, the rupee has gained 5%, while foreign institutional investors (FIIs) have bought US$6.78 billion and US$20.41 billion in equity and debt, respectively.
Fall in rupee was also due to losses in Asian currencies after US federal Reserve left rates unchanged.
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