Stocks to watch: Dairy stocks, Airtel, Dish TV, Sterlite Tech, Axis Bank

At 08:40 AM, Nifty futures on the Singapore Exchange (SGX) were trading 44 points or 0.36 per cent lower at 12,102, indicating a negative start for the Indian market on Thursday. 

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

Dairy stocks: The government on Wednesday approved a Rs 4,558-crore scheme to promote the dairy sector which will benefit about 9.5 million farmers, said Information and Broadcasting Minister Prakash Javadekar.

Bharti Airtel, Essel Group stocks: The deal between Subhash Chandra’s Essel group, the promoters of direct-to-home (DTH)) company Dish TV, and Sunil Mittal’s Bharti Airtel has been called off due to differences over valuation. READ MORE

Vodafone Idea, Bharti Airtel: Bharti Airtel chairman Sunil Mittal and Vodafone Idea Chairman Kumar Mangalam Birla met Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Wednesday to seek relief for the deeply stressed telecom sector. READ MORE

Vodafone Idea: The company informed that Brickwork Ratings has downgraded its rating on Non-Convertible Debentures (NCDs) aggregating to Rs 2,500 crore from 'BWR BBB-' to 'BWR BB-‘.

Sterlite Tech: The company has bagged new orders of Rs 1,500 crore These orders have ranged from continued business development in its core areas of optical connectivity solutions and network services to emerging areas suchp as software virtualization.

Infibeam Avenues said it has forayed into the US, the world''s second largest digital payments market by revenue, and will offer its solutions to web and mobile-based small and medium enterprises (SME).

Axis Bank: The lender is likely to pick 20 per cent stake in Max Life Insurance, according to a report by The Economic Times. 

SunTech Realty: The company informed that it received encouraging response for Sunteck MaxXWorld at Naigaon as number of units sold reached a mark of more than 1800 apartments.

Asian Paints: The company's board will meet on February 25, Tuesday to consider and approve second interim dividend for the financial year 2019-20.

GAIL: In a clarification, the company on Wednesday informed that it had received provisional assessment orders towards Annual License Fees in respect of IP-II License for several financial years from Department of Telecommunications (DoT). "DoT had submitted an allegedly total outstanding amount of Rs 1,83,076 crore, which were refuted by the company being an unrelated matter to the terms and conditions of the License," GAIL said in an exchange filing.  

Thomas Cook: The company will consider share buyback on February 26.