UltraTech’s Expansion, JSW Energy’s Fundraising, MOIL’s Record Production, Zee CEO Goenka Cuts Own Pay by 20%

Opening Bell: 

Gift Nifty is down by 47.5 points in the early morning trade, indicating a negative opening for Indian stock market

On Wednesday, Asian markets experienced declines, mirroring the previous session’s losses on Wall Street. Japan’s Nikkei 225 fell by 1.3%, with Topix also dropping by 0.82%. South Korea’s Kospi declined by 0.8%, while the Kosdaq slipped by 1.24%. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index futures suggested a slightly lower opening.

On Tuesday, US stocks took a downturn as investors considered the possibility of the Federal Reserve postponing interest rate reductions. Meanwhile, Tesla’s stock declined following the company’s announcement of its first drop in quarterly deliveries in almost four years. The Dow Jones Industrial Average decreased by 396.61 points, or 1 percent, closing at 39,170.24. The S&P 500 fell by 37.96 points, or 0.72 percent, to settle at 5,205.81, while the Nasdaq Composite went down by 156.38 points, or 0.95 percent, ending the day at 16,240.45.

Stocks News:

👉 Zee Entertainment Enterprises: The company’s Managing Director and CEO, Punit Goenka, has taken a significant step by announcing a 20 percent cut in his salary. Under Goenka’s guidance, Zee Entertainment is actively pursuing measures across its various divisions to reduce expenses and boost efficiency. In the fiscal year 2023, Goenka’s compensation was Rs 35 crore.

👉 UltraTech Cement: UltraTech Cement has expanded its operations by launching two new facilities: a cement grinding unit with a capacity of 2.70 million tons per annum (mtpa) in Karur, Tamil Nadu, and an integrated cement plant with a capacity of 2.70 mtpa in Kukurdih, Chhattisgarh. This expansion brings the company’s total domestic cement production capacity to 146.2 mtpa. Including its overseas capacity of 5.4 mtpa in the UAE, UltraTech Cement’s global capacity now stands at 151.6 mtpa.

👉 JSW Energy: On Tuesday, JSW Energy declared its plan to generate ₹5,000 crore by offering shares to institutional investors through a Qualified Institutional Placement (QIP) process, which may be conducted in several phases. The company has yet to specify how it will utilize the funds raised. It intends to issue equity shares at a face value of ₹10 each, aiming to raise a total of up to ₹5,000 crore in one or more segments. Details regarding the timing and pricing of the QIP will be finalized later.

👉 MOIL: MOIL has achieved a record-breaking performance in production, with 17.56 lakh metric tons produced in the financial year, marking a 35 percent increase over the previous year and surpassing the prior record of 13.64 lakh metric tons in FY08 by 29 percent. Similarly, its sales reached a historic high of 15.36 lakh metric tons in FY24, up 30 percent year-on-year and 10 percent higher than its previous record sales of 13.92 lakh metric tons in FY08. Additionally, MOIL recorded its highest ever production of electrolytic manganese dioxide (EMD) at 1,413 metric tons, a 28 percent increase from the previous year. EMD is crucial for its role in import substitution, primarily used in the pharmaceutical and battery manufacturing sectors.

👉 Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) net sold shares worth Rs 1,622.69 crore, while domestic institutional investors (DIIs) purchased Rs 1,952.72 crore worth of stocks on April 1, provisional data from the NSE showed.

Domestic and International Events

• The World Bank has revised its GDP growth forecast for India upwards by 20 basis points to 6.6 percent for the fiscal year 2025. This updated forecast is more conservative compared to the real GDP growth estimate of 7.5 percent for the current fiscal year. Nonetheless, the World Bank anticipates an acceleration in growth in the years to follow, fueled by the dividends from a decade of strong public investment. According to India’s statistics ministry’s second advanced GDP estimate for the fiscal year 2023-24, the growth rate for the current year is projected at 7.6 percent, which is 30 basis points above the initial estimate of 7.3 percent.

• In the United States, the number of job openings slightly increased by 8,000, reaching 8.756 million on the final day of February. This adjustment came after January’s figures were revised down to 8.748 million from the initially reported 8.863 million, contrary to the economists’ expectations of 8.750 million job openings surveyed by Reuters. Job vacancies had reached an all-time high of 12.0 million in March 2022. According to the Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS) by the Labor Department, there were 1.36 job vacancies for every unemployed person in February, a decrease from 1.43 in January.

• Gold prices extended their record rally on Wednesday led by a weaker dollar and safe-haven demand. Spot gold price gained 0.2% to $2,283.47 per ounce after hitting an all-time high of $2,288.09 earlier in the session. US gold futures rose 1% to $2,303.80 per ounce.

• Crude oil prices extended a rally after a larger-than-expected fall in US crude inventories and escalating geopolitical tensions. Brent futures for June delivery rose 0.22% to $89.12 per barrel, while US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures for May gained 0.2% to $85.32 a barrel. Both Brent and WTI had risen to its highest since October on the previous day.