Stock Market Today: All You Need To Know Going Into Trade On Feb. 21

Markets in Asia-Pacific region were trading in negative in early trade on Wednesday, taking cues from overnight losses on Wall Street.

The Nikkei 225 was trading 111.68 points or 0.29% lower at 38,251.93, while the S&P ASX 200 was trading 54.50 points or 0.71% down at 7,604.50 as of 6:21 a.m.

Investors await the interest rate decision by the Indonesia on Wednesday.

Big tech dragged the U.S. stock market away from its all-time highs, with Wall Street awaiting Nvidia Corp.’s earnings Wednesday for confirmation it can meet the sky-high expectations set by the artificial intelligence boom, reported Bloomberg.

The S&P 500 edged 0.60% lower and the Nasdaq Composite declined 0.92% on Tuesday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average traded 0.17% lower.

Brent crude was 1.46% down at $82.34 a barrel. Gold was lower by 0.03% at $2,023.76 an ounce.

India’s benchmark stock indices ended higher for the sixth consecutive session on Tuesday, with the NSE Nifty 50 closing at an all-time high.

The Nifty ended 74.70 points, or 0.34%, higher at 22,196.95, while the S&P BSE Sensex closed 349.24 points, or 0.48%, up at 73,057.40.

Overseas investors remained net sellers of Indian equities for the second consecutive session on Tuesday.

Foreign portfolio investors offloaded stocks worth Rs 1,335.5 crore, while domestic institutional investors remained net buyers and mopped up equities worth Rs 1,491.3 crore, the NSE data showed.

The Indian rupee strengthened 5 paise to close at Rs 82.97 against the U.S. dollar.

• Zee Entertainment Enterprises: SEBI has found, while investigating into founders, Rs 20 billion might have been diverted from the company, Bloomberg reported. As of now the amount is not finalised, and the regulator is reaching out senior official to know their stance on it.

• Hindalco Industries: The company's wholly-owned American subsidiary, Novelis Inc., has filed confidentially for an initial public offering with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

• Swan Energy: The Rs 4,000 crore QIP opened on Tuesday at a floor price of Rs 703.29 per share.

• Union Bank of India: The lender approved raising funds up to Rs 3,000 crore via QIP at a floor price of Rs 142.78 per share.

• Devyani International: Yum Restaurant India is likely to sell a 4.4% stake in Devyani International via block deals.

• DLF: The company unit has acquired land parcels in Gurugram, Haryana for Rs 1,241 crore, enabling partial redemption of bonds for Rs 775 crore. The company’s unit has completed the registration and transfer of the first tranche of land parcels.

• Wipro: The IT major with IBM expanded its partnership to offer new AI services and support to clients.

• Zee Entertainment: The company clarified that it is not involved in any negotiations in relation to the Sony merger deal.

• GOCL: To meet the FDI limit of 74%, promoter Hinduja Capital, Mauritius, will be reducing their stake by 1% to 72.83% from 73.83% via bulk or block deal.

• Minda Corp: Competition Commission of India approved the acquisition of an 8.8% stake in Pricol.

• Ashok Leyland: The company will set up a new integrated commercial vehicle plant focused on green mobility in Uttar Pradesh.

• NTPC: Unit NTPC Green Energy signed an agreement with the Andhra Pradesh government to develop a green hydrogen hub in Visakhapatnam, which includes the construction of a production facility for 1,200 tonnes per day.

• Thermax: The company entered into a licence and technical assistance agreement with Flowtech Co., South Korea, to obtain technology to manufacture Poly carboxylate ether products to strengthen its construction chemicals business portfolio. For the $300,000, 50% will be adjusted against royalty payments and the balance will be a refundable deposit until the agreement period.

• Bondada Engineering: The company received a work order worth Rs 4.93 crore from Sundrops Energia to supply the equipment for the solar power plant.

• Medplus Health Services: A company unit received a suspension order from Drugs and Control authorities for suspending the operations of a store for two days.

• Varun Beverages: The company, through its unit, entered into an exclusive snack appointment agreement to manufacture and package 'Cheetos' in Morocco. The commencement of production from the company’s own manufacturing facility will be effective from May 1, 2025, with a capex of Rs 100 crore.

• ONGC: The board approved a JV for compressed biogas plants with a seed equity contribution worth up to Rs 10 crore.

• GR Infraprojects: The company’s arm, GR Tarakote Sanjichhat Ropeway, executed a concession pact with Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Shrine Board. The estimated cost for the ropeway project is Rs 200 crore.

• Juniper Hotels: The company will offer its shares for bidding on Wednesday. The price band is set from Rs 342 to Rs 360 per share apiece. The 1,800 crore IPO is completely a fresh issue. The company has raised Rs­­ 810 crore from anchor investors.

• Tourism Finance Corp: Aditya Kumar Halwasiya bought 1.18 crore shares (13.05%) at Rs 209.75 apiece, Koppara Sajeeve Thomas sold 34.44 lakh shares (3.81%), Pansare Holdings PTE sold 42.56 lakh shares (4.7%), Varanium Capital Advisors sold 10.04 lakh shares (1.11%), Varanium India Opportunity sold 30.97 lakh shares (3.42%) at Rs 209.75 apiece.

• Jindal Saw: Eriska Investment Fund sold 23.5 lakh shares (0.73%), Nippon India Mutual Fund - Small Cap Fund bought 12 lakh shares (0.37%), Samco Mutual Fund bought 5.5 lakh shares (0.15%) at Rs 521 apiece.

• Whirlpool of India: Whirlpool Mauritius sold 3 crore shares (23.95%) at Rs 1,277.02 apiece, while SBI Mutual Fund bought 91.5 lakh shares (7.2%), Aditya Birla Sunlife Mutual Fund bought 8.88 lakh shares (0.7%), Societe Generale ODI bought 8.65 lakh shares (0.68%), Nippon India Mutual Fund bought 7.97 lakh shares (0.62%), DSP Mutual Fund bought 7.14 lakh shares (0.56%), ICICI Prudential Mutual Fund bought 6.49 lakh shares (0.51%) at Rs 1,276.99 apiece.

• Shilpa Medicare: TA FII Investors sold 5 lakh shares (0.57%) at Rs 422.22 apiece.

• NGL Fine-Chem: Promoter Sunita Potdar sold 20,000 shares on Feb. 19.

• Authum Investment and Infrastructure: Promoter Mentor Capital bought 1.5 lakh shares on Feb. 19.

• Coffee Day Enterprises: Promoter Malavika Hegde sold 98 lakh shares on Feb. 19.

• G N A Axles: Promoter Maninder Singh sold 1.06 lakh shares on Feb 15, Promoter Gursaran Singh bought 1.12 lakh shares on Feb 15.

• Mangalore Chemicals and Fertilizers: Promoter Zuari Agro Chemicals created a pledge of 1 lakh shares on Feb. 16.

• Apollo Micro Systems: Promoter Karunakar Reddy Baddam revoked a pledge of 62.50 lakh shares on Feb. 16.

• Bank of Baroda: To meet analysts and investors on Feb. 26 and 27.

• Star Housing Finance: To meet analysts and investors on Feb. 23.

• Titan: To meet analysts and investors on Feb. 23.

• Windlas Biotech: To meet analysts and investors on Feb. 26.

• Sadhana Nitrochem: To meet analysts and investors on Feb. 23.

• BLS International Services: To meet analysts and investors on Feb. 26.

• ICICI Bank: To meet analysts and investors on Feb. 21.

• JSW Infra: To meet analysts and investors on Feb. 26 ,27, 28 and 29.

• Escorts Kubota: To meet analysts and investors on Feb. 26.

• Gandhar Oil: To meet analysts and investors on Feb. 27.

• Quick Heal Technologies: To meet analysts and investors on Feb. 23.

• Bharat Forge: To meet analysts and investors on Feb. 26.

• Castrol India: To meet analysts and investors on Feb. 26.

• Price band revised from 20% to 10%: Force Motors, Wockhardt.

• Ex/record Dividend: PI Industries, Mrs. Bectors Food Specialities, MRF, NCL Industries, SJVN, Saregama India, Cummins India, Electrosteel Castings, Uniparts India, JK Lakshmi Cement, Hero MotoCorp, Life Insurance Corporation of India, Sula Vineyards.

• Moved into short-term ASM framework: Aegis Logistics, Dilip Buildcon, HPL Electric & Power, Natco Pharma, Nuvama Wealth Management.

• Moved Out of short-term ASM framework: Sindhu Trade Links, Zuari Industries.

• Nifty February futures up by 0.27% to 22,217.2 at a premium of 20.25 points.

• Nifty February futures open interest down by 3.4%.

• Nifty Bank February futures up by 1.26% to 47,188 a premium of 93.8 points.

• Nifty Bank February futures open interest down by 0.3%.

• Nifty Options Feb. 22 Expiry: Maximum Call open interest at 23,000 and Maximum Put open interest at 22,000.

• Bank Nifty Options Feb. 21 Expiry: Maximum Call Open Interest at 48,000 and Maximum Put open interest at 45,000.

• Securities in ban period: Balrampur Chini Mills, Bandhan Bank, Biocon, Canara Bank, GMR Infra, GNFC, Hindustan Copper, India Cement, Indus Tower, National Aluminium, RBL Bank, Sail, Zee Entertainment Enterprise.

The Indian rupee strengthened 5 paise to close at 82.97 against the U.S. dollar.