Stocks to watch: Affle India, BEML, RIL, auto stocks, RailTel, IOC, Vedanta

Nifty futures on the Singapore Exchange traded 187 points or 1.29 per cent higher at 14,712 around 8.35 am, indicating a gap-up start for benchmark indices on Monday.

Here are the top stocks that are likely to be in focus today:

Affle India: The company at its board meeting approved the fundraising of upto Rs 1,080 crore.

IOC: Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) will invest Rs 32,946 crore to expand Panipat refinery capacity to 25 million tonne per year from 15 million tonne per year earlier.

Auto stocks: Auto sales figures would start trickling in from March 1 onwards. Car and tractor makers are likely to report a strong set of auto sales numbers for the month of February, but growth in two-wheeler sales may not be as strong, according to analysts. Stock-specific action is expected in the auto companies on the back of these numbers.

RIL: Reliance Strategic Business Ventures, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Reliance Industries (RIL), has acquired an additional equity stake in its investee company skyTran Inc. for a consideration of $26.76 million.

Axis Bank: The board of Axis Bank has approved a proposal to reclassify United India Insurance Company Ltd (UIICL) as a public shareholder category investor in the bank from promoter category.

Maruti Suzuki: The country's largest carmaker Maruti Suzuki India, on Saturday, said it has achieved the milestone of 20 lakh cumulative exports.

Equitas Holdings: UK's development finance institution CDC Group has pruned its stake in Equitas Holdings by 2.61 per cent through sale of over 89 lakh shares in open market last week, according to a regulatory filing.

Vedanta: Vedanta Resources has raised $1.2 billion in a bond offering that saw strong investor interest. Vedanta said it will use the proceeds of the bonds for the acquisition of equity shares of the Indian subsidiary as well as servicing existing debt.

Adani Group stocks: Adani Group firms Adani Green Energy (AGEL), Adani Transmission (ATL) and Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone (APSEZ) on Saturday announced release of pledge on equity shares by their promoters Gautam S Adani and Rajesh Adani on behalf of SB Adani Family Trust. Adani Group stated in a BSE filing about release of pledge on 10,00,000 equity shares of AGEL, 1,38,21,355 equity shares of ATL and 3,21,40,000 equity shares of APSEZL.

DLF: Realty firm DLF plans to raise up to Rs 395 crore through issue of debentures. In a regulatory filing, the company informed that the proposal will be discussed on March 3 at a meeting of the finance committee of the board of directors.

Nestle: With focus on fast-growing rural market, FMCG major Nestle has plans to reach around 1.2 lakh villages with each having population of over 5,000 over the next two-three years, supported by distribution expansion and some portfolio tweaking, its chairman and managing director Suresh Narayanan said.

PFC: State-owned Power Finance Corporation (PFC) on Friday said that its board has approved a plan to borrow a sum of Rs 1 lakh crore under different debt segments. The amount will be borrowed in one or more tranches in financial year (FY) 2021-22, PFC said in a BSE filing.

BEML: The government, on Friday, extended the deadline for submitting preliminary bids for buying its 26 per cent stake in BEML till March 22, the Department of Investment and Public Asset Management said in a circular.

Dredging Corporation: Dredging Corporation of India Limited (DCI) has appointed George Yesu Vedha Victor as its managing director and chief executive officer with effect from March 1. He will succeed Rajesh Tripathi, who has been relieved from the services from February 26, 2021, on attaining the age of superannuation, DCI said in BSE filing.

Tata Chemicals: The company has appointed Nandakumar S Tirumalai as the Chief Financial Officer after John Mulhall was elevated to Managing Director & CEO of subsidiary Tata Chemicals North America, Inc.

Bharti Airtel: Integrated Core Strategies (Asia) Pte sold 3,70,59,893 equity shares in the company at Rs 556.46 per share on the NSE.

Railtel Corporation of India: Goldman Sachs India Fund bought 37.09 lakh equity shares in the company at Rs 113.57 per share on the NSE. Nippon India Mutual Fund bought 20 lakh shares at Rs 116.13 per share.