Indices at previous closing
Nifty50: 17,764 ▼-133 (-0.7%)
Sensex: 59,636 ▼-372 (-0.6%)
Nifty Bank: 37,976 ▼-65 (-0.1%)
For more updates on F&O, click here.
Reliance-Saudi Aramco to re-evaluate O2C deal
Reliance Industries (RIL) and Saudi Aramco have mutually decided to re-evaluate the potential 20% stake acquisition investment deal. Saudi Aramco was in talks with Reliance to buy a stake in its O2C business. The announcement came after market hours on Thursday. But, ahead of it, RIL’s stock corrected 4.6% last week.
The talks between the two companies had started in August 2019. However, the deal has now been put on the back burner, especially in the light of RIL moving aggressively towards green energy. RIL has even withdrawn its application with the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) for segregating the O2C business from RIL.
GST rates hiked for apparel, textile and footwear
The government has increased the goods and services tax (GST) on apparel, textiles and footwear from 5% to 12%. The new rates will be effective from January 2022. Industry experts were already forecasting a 15-20% increase in the apparel costs in the coming season as prices of yarn, packing material and freight are showing inflationary trends.
Hence, clothing makers found the revision untimely. Meanwhile, textile companies such as Arvind welcomed the move as it would result in unblocking of GST credit and improve overall cash flows. Shares of Bata India (-1.3%), Jockey maker Page Industries (-1.3%) and Arvind (-6.0%) ended in the red, while those of Aditya Birla Fashion (+0.8%) posted gains on Thursday.
IRB Infra to raise funds
The road infrastructure company will raise ₹5,347 crore through preferential allotment of equity shares. The company received a nod from its shareholders on Saturday to raise capital from Cintra Global S.E - a wholly owned subsidiary of Ferrovial S.A, and Bricklayers Investments - an affiliate of GIC, Singapore Sovereign wealth fund.
The company said that it received approval from all of its big institutional investors for capital infusion. This comes at a time when the government is focusing on infrastructure to drive economic recovery. Meanwhile, shares of IRB Infrastructure were up around 5% on Thursday.
Sectoral indices (November 18)
| Top gainers | Top losers |
| Nifty PSU Bank ▲ 0.0% | Nifty Auto ▼ 2.6% |
| NA | Nifty Metal ▼ 2.5% |
Global markets (at 8:15 am today)
| Indices | Today's movement |
| SGX Nifty | ▲ 0.4% |
| Nikkei 225 (Japan) | ▼ 0.2% |
| Hang Seng (Hong Kong) | ▼ 0.2% |
| SSE Composite (China) | ▲ 0.4% |
| Dow Jones (US) (November 19) | ▼ 0.7% |
| NYSE (US) (November 19) | ▼ 0.8% |
| Nasdaq (US) (November 19) | ▲ 0.4% |
| S&P 500 (US) (November 19) | ▼ 0.1% |
Fact of the day
The global food and beverage company Pepsi went bankrupt during the 1931 great recession because of a surge in sugar prices.
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