Stocks to Watch: RIL, Airtel, HUL, SBI, DB Realty, pharma, steel, textiles

Reliance Jio plans its biggest ever rupee bond sale, while Bharti Airtel shelves its plans to de-merge its core telecom business

After having logged strong gains in the last three straight trading sessions, the key benchmark indices may once again start trade on a quiet note as per the indications from the SGX Nifty. At 08:00 AM, the SGX Nifty January futures were quoted at 17,812 as against the spot Nifty close of 17,805 on Tuesday.

The market players have been sidelining Covid-19 related news flow and focusing on the buying momentum in the markets on hopes of lower economic impact from the so-called third wave. Meanwhile, here are the stocks in focus for trade on Wednesday.

Reliance Industries: Mukesh Ambani’s telecom arm - Reliance Jio, India’s plans its biggest ever rupee bond sale for gaining market share. The company plans to raise up to $671 million by way of issuing notes maturing in five years at a coupon of 6.20 per cent, according to people familiar with the matter. READ MORE

Bharti Airtel: India’s second largest mobile service provider Bharti Airtel has shelved plans to amalgamate its digital businesses into the listed entity and de-merge its core telecom business into a separate subsidiary. READ MORE

Meanwhile, the telecom company’s payment arm - Airtel Payments Bank has been categorised as a scheduled bank by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI). With this, Airtel Payments Bank can now pitch for government-issued Requests for Proposals (RFPs) and primary auctions and undertake both central and state government business, besides participating in government-operated welfare schemes, the company said in a release.

Hindustan Unilever (HUL): Distributors in Maharashtra have decided to call off their agitation against the FMCG major for the next three months. This comes after HUL assured them that it will correct the price disparity between traditional trade and the organised distribution channel.

However, distributors are not selling Colgate-Palmolive India’s (Colgate India’s) MaxFresh range of products in Maharashtra as the company has not yet come forward to discuss the issue. READ MORE

Future Group stocks: In a setback to the Future Group, the Delhi High Court on Tuesday dismissed the Group’s petitions seeking a direction to the Singapore International Arbitration Centre (SIAC) -- adjudicating Amazon's objections against Future's deal with Reliance. READ MORE

Pharma stocks: Drug makers have started dispatching oral Covid pill Molnupiravir all over the country, and are likely to hit retail stores this week itself. Meanwhile, a price war is on among several companies launching Merck’s antiviral drug. Mankind Pharma and Dr.Reddy’s are reportedly going to sell the 40 capsules pack for Rs 1,400 each. READ MORE

DB Realty: The company’s board has approved a proposal to raise up to Rs 130.50 crore by way of issue of convertible warrants to promoters and non-promoters on a preferential basis.

Steel stocks: The government’s thrust on infrastructure, coupled with an increase in demand from the construction, engineering, and other sectors, is expected to push up domestic steel consumption in 2022, according to brokerages and rating agencies.

The US recently announced a $1-trillion infrastructure spending, which could substantially boost the country's steel consumption, thereby keeping steel prices firm in the US market, brokerages said. READ MORE

SBI: The state-run bank has invested $20 million in Pine Labs. The latter in 2021, had raised $600 million from a marquee set of new investors and followed it up with a $100-million fundraise from US-based Invesco Developing Markets Fund. Pine Labs competes with other fintech companies such as BharatPe, Mswipe, Paytm and Razorpay. READ MORE

Textiles: Union Minister Piyush Goyal on Tuesday said the government is making efforts towards gaining access to new markets and getting concessional duties on textile products through free-trade agreements, with countries like the UK, the UAE, Canada, the European Union and Australia.

Earnings Watch: Spandana Sphoorty Financial to announce its results today.

Mystic Electronics: The company’s board has approved a proposal for stock split in 10:1 ratio. Subsequently, each equity share with a face value of Rs 10 will be sub-divided into 10 equity shares with a face value of Re 1. each.

Stocks in F&O ban: There is not a single stock in the F&O ban period today.