Stocks to watch: Maruti, Vedanta, Jubilant Food, Ipca Labs, Nestle, Mphasis

At 08:46 am, Nifty futures of the Singapore Exchange (SGX) were trading 233.50 points or 2.53 per cent higher at 9,458.50, indicating a gap-up start for the Indian market on Wednesday.  

Here's a look at the top stocks that may remain in focus today - 

Banks, NBFCs: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday evening announced a much-awaited Rs 20-trillion stimulus package while giving away that the nationwide lockdown would be extended beyond May 17. READ MORE

Vedanta: Billionaire Anil Agarwal on Tuesday announced intention to take his Indian listed firm Vedanta Ltd private by buying out shares held by public. Agarwal-controlled Vedanta Resources will offer Rs 87.5 per share to nearly 49 per cent public shareholders of Vedanta Ltd.

Cipla: The company announced that it has signed a non-exclusive licensing agreement with Gilead Sciences, Inc. for the manufacturing and distribution of the investigational medicine Remdesivir, which has been issued an Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) by the USFDA to treat COVID-19 patients.

Jubilant Lifesciences: Jubilant Life Sciences on Tuesday said it entered into a non-exclusive licensing agreement with US-based Gilead Sciences to make and sell the latter’s anti-viral drug Remdesivir in 127 countries, including India. The re-purposed Ebola drug is being considered as a potential therapy for coronavirus (Covid-19).

Maruti Suzuki India: The company will report its March quarter results of the financial year 2019-20 (Q4FY20) on Wednesday. Analysts expect India's largest carmaker's profit in the fourth quarter of financial year 2019-20 (Q4FY20) to fall anything from 18 per cent to 40 per cent on a year-on-year basis, while revenue decline to be in early teens, largely led by sharp fall in volumes. READ MORE

MSCI rejig: In the latest MSCI index rejig, as many as 6 securities, including Abbott India, IPCA labs, Jubilant FoodWorks, Power Finance Corp, Tata Consumer, and Torrent Pharma have been added to the MSCI India Domestic index and 5 have been deleted -Ashok Leyland, BoB, Cummmins India, M&M Fin Services, and Tata Power Co.    

Earnings today: Besides Maruti, 9 other companies are slated to release their March quarter numbers today, including names such as Mphasis, Siemens, and ABB Ltd. 

Nestle India: Packaged foods major Nestle India on Tuesday reported a profit before tax (PBT) of Rs 704 crore for the quarter ended March 31. Last year, the company’s PBT stood at Rs 700 crore, implying flat growth for the period this year. The company follows a January-December accounting year.

Blue Star: Net profit of Blue Star declined 88.85% to Rs 8.90 crore in the quarter ended March 2020 as against Rs 79.84 crore during the previous quarter ended March 2019. Sales declined 18.58% to Rs 1299.36 crore. 

Havells: Net profit of Havells India declined 10.69% to Rs 177.73 crore in the quarter ended March 2020 as against Rs 199.01 crore during the previous quarter ended March 2019. Sales declined 19.51% to Rs 2217.44 crore. 

Hindustan Zinc: The company's board on Tuesday approved Interim Dividend of Rs 16.50 per equity share i.e. 825 per cent on face value of Rs 2 per share for the Financial Year 2019-20 amounting to Rs 6,972 crore.