Stocks may open lower

Trading of Nifty 50 index futures on the Singapore stock exchange indicates that the Nifty could fall 32 points at the opening bell.

Overseas, Asian stocks declined following an overnight slide in US equities after a fresh personnel shakeup in the Trump administration spurred concerns about a unilateral approach to trade, national security and foreign affairs.

US equities fell in choppy trade yesterday, 13 March 2018 after tech shares pulled back amid concerns trade tensions between the US and China could increase. The sudden firing of US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson took some by surprise less than a week after top economic adviser Gary Cohn resigned from the White House. US President Donald Trump has nominated CIA director Mike Pompeo, an ex-congressman who has endorsed pushing back against the Chinese threat, to replace Tillerson.

Back home,a divergent trend was witnessed yesterday, 13 March 2018 as the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, settled with small losses while the Nifty 50 index registered minor gains. The Sensex fell 61.16 points or 0.18% to settle at 33,856.78. The Nifty 50 index rose 5.45 points or 0.05% to settle at 10,426.85.

The trading activity on that day showed that the foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) bought shares worth a net Rs 7028.42 crore yesterday, 13 March 2018, as per provisional data released by the stock exchanges. Domestic institutional investors (DIIs) bought shares worth a net Rs 1613.39 crore yesterday, 13 March 2018, as per provisional data.

Among corporate news,IT major TCS will be in spotlight. Tata Sons sold 3.12 crore shares, or 1.63% equity, of TCS in two separate bulk deals on NSE yesterday, 13 March 2018. Tata Sons offloaded 2.05 crore shares at Rs 2,876.46 each. Another 1.06 crore shares were sold at Rs 2,872.19 each. As on 31 December 2017, Tata Sons held 73.52% stake in TCS.

Bharat Financial Inclusion (BFIL) and IndusInd Bank will be watched. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has, vide its letter dated 13 March 2018, conveyed its 'no objection' for the voluntary amalgamation of BFIL with IndusInd Bank, subject to compliance with the terms and conditions specified therein. The announcement was made after market hours yesterday, 13 March 2018.

The approval of the merger by the board of directors of BFIL was intimated to the stock exchanges on 14 October 2017. The amalgamation received the approval of the Competition Commission of India on 19 December 2017.

The proposed merger still requires approval from the stock exchanges/Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI), the National Company Law Tribunal, the respective shareholders and creditors of BFIL and IndusInd Bank and other applicable statutory and regulatory approvals.

Punjab National Bank (PNB) will be watched. With respect to news titled, "CBI to Special Court: Fraud amount by Gitanjali group companies increases by Rs.942.18 crs; Total amount of fraud in PNB case now stands at over Rs.13,600 crs; CBI also adds Section 409(IPC), Criminal breach of trust in FIR," PNB issued a clarification after market hours yesterday, 13 March 2018.

PNB clarified that the amount of Rs 942 crore were the regular limits sanctioned to Geetanjali Group under consortium lending, and were standard credit exposure at the time of detection of the fraud. Now, this exposure is being added to the existing fraudulent amount. This amount has nothing to do with any new fraudulent letters of undertakings (LoUs)/letters of comfort (LoCs).

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