Equity benchmarks will likely open modestly lower on Thursday, tracking tepid global markets. The Nifty could open around 50 points lower, as suggested by the SGX Nifty’s quoted price of 17,783.

US stock futures were slightly higher this morning ahead of quarterly earnings reports from top financial institutions. Dow Jones futures, Nasdaq futures and S&P 500 futures rose 0.2%.

Infosys: The company underperformed in the fourth quarter, with its profit falling 6.9% quarter-over-quarter, while revenue fell 2.3% quarter-over-quarter. The company missed Bloomberg’s expectations for revenue growth and net profit. Bloomberg estimated revenue at Rs 38,769 crore and net income at Rs 6,612 crore. Also, its weak FY24 guidance has led to downgrades from leading brokerages.

HDFC Bank: The private sector lender reported a 19.8% year-on-year rise in net profit to Rs 12,047 crore on solid loan growth. Net interest income (interest earned minus interest paid) rose by 23.7% to Rs 23,351.8 crore in the quarter.

Tata Motors: The company said on Friday it would raise prices on its passenger vehicles from May 1 to partially offset higher input costs. The weighted average increase is 0.6%, depending on the variant and model. This will be the second price hike for its PV products after a hike in February.

Zee Entertainment: According to CNBC-TV18, Oppenheimer is expected to sell a 5.65% stake in the company in a block deal today. The size of the stake sale offer is around Rs 1,130 crore at Rs 199.8-208.15 per share.

Max Healthcare: The company completed the acquisition of an additional 34,000 shares in Eqova Healthcare for Rs 68.87 crore, taking its stake to 60% from 26%.

Brightcom Group: SEBI found that the company had inflated its profit after tax by more than Rs 1,280 crore for the 2019 and 2020 financial years. The regulator has ordered the company to publish the correct shareholding model, and its managing director and directors cannot sell their shares.

RIL: RIL’s subsidiary Viacom18 has completed its merger with Reliance Storage and integrated the OTT platform JioCinema. Viacom18’s allotment of shares to RIL group entities and Bodhi Tree Systems as consideration for the proposed merger.

KIOCL: The company has secured two mineral exploration projects worth Rs 1.48 crore in Karnataka and Rs 2.33 crore each.

HCL Technologies: Anand Birje, head of digital business services, has resigned to pursue another opportunity.

Torrent Power: Following the resignation of Lalit Malik, the company has appointed Saurabh Mashruwala as Chief Financial Officer (CFO), effective April 14, 2023.

Jindal Stainless: ELM Park Fund has acquired an additional 34.5 million shares, or 4.19%, of the company from the open market. As a result, the former’s stake increased from 2.31% to 6.51%.

VA Tech Wabag: The company sold its phase-out subsidiary Wabag Switzerland for CHF 4.85 million. It said this was part of a business strategy to optimise the group structure and in line with the strategic focus of reducing our exposure to the European region.

Elin Electronics: The board has approved launching 16 new products, including new fans, motors and juicer grinders.

Transformers and Rectifiers (India): The company said it had secured an order for transformers with a total contract value of Rs 192 crore from a central utility company. The company’s order book stands at Rs 1,691 crore with this order.

Orissa Bengal Carrier: The company has signed a 35,000-ton material transportation contract with Jindal Iron & Steel Power Ltd.

Sarda Energy & Minerals: After verification by the Indian Bureau of Mines, the mining plan deviates from the rectification situation. After inspection, the suspension order for the company’s iron ore mining operations was immediately revoked.

Sprayking Agro Equipment: It set April 25 as the equity registration date to determine whether shareholders can issue bonus shares.

Muthoot Finance: The company completed an advance on external commercial borrowing totalling $225 million on April 13, 2023. Following the prepayment of external commercial borrowings, the company has initiated a step-by-step plan to cancel the senior secured notes issued under GMTN and listed on the London Stock Exchange International Securities Market.

PCBL: The first phase (63,000 tonnes) of the company’s 1.47 lakh tonnes greenfield carbon black manufacturing plant in Tamil Nadu has commenced commercial production.

Ugar Sugar Works: The company has started operating a 250 KLPD (from 845 KLPD existing) grain distillery at the Ugar factory during the off-season.