Stocks in focus: RIL, Bharti Airtel, BPCL, Max Financial, DHFL, IIFL Finance, defence stocks

After starting the week on a strong footing, BSE Sensex and Nifty 50 were likely to open flat with a positive bias on Tuesday. Nifty futures were trading 21.70 points or 0.19 per cent up at 11,264.20 on Singaporean Exchange. Investors will keep tabs on US presidential candidates debate, IPOs, stock-specific development, trends in COVID-19 cases, news related to coronavirus vaccine, oil prices and movement in rupee, along with other global cues. “Unlocking 5.0 to bring relaxation to tourism, education, hotels and leisure segment including cinema halls would improve demand as well as investors’ sentiments. Having said that, traders should not go overboard and see how the Nifty index behaves around the critical hurdle of 11,300,” said Ajit Mishra, VP – Research, Religare Broking Ltd.

BPCL, Videocon: Divestment-bound Bharat Petroleum on Monday defended it paying USD 54 million on behalf of its bankrupt partner Videocon group in its Brazilian joint venture, saying it was to defend the asset and to follow the law of the land and that the move has increased its stake in the JV to over 54.5 per cent now, according to PTI.

RIL, Airtel: Bharti Airtel remains the preferred operator for users when it comes to watching videos or making calls on apps like WhatsApp, while Reliance Jio continues to dominate in 4G coverage and availability, mobile analytics firm Opensignal has said in its latest report.

Defence stocks: Ahead of the 2+2 Indo-US Ministerial Dialogue scheduled for October the Defence Acquisition Council (DAC) gave its approval for buying additional 72,000 SiG Sauer Assault Rifles from the US. And these are expected to be used by the Indian Army troops along the 3,500 Km border with China.

Max Financial Services: Promoter Max Ventures Investment Holdings sold a total of 60.33 lakh shares of Max Financial Services in two transactions. Max Ventures has sold 20.80 lakh shares in September and 61 lakh shares in August in the company.

Max Healthcare: Max Ventures Investment Holdings, a promoter of Max Healthcare Institute, sold company’s shares worth nearly Rs 182 cr on Monday through an open market transaction. As per the bulk deal data on the BSE, Max Ventures Investment Holdings offloaded 1.67 crore shares of Max Healthcare at Rs 108.88 apiece, valuing the deal at Rs 181.96 crore.

Dewan Housing Finance Corporation: The administrator for DHFL has moved court against the company’s former promoters, Kapil and Dheeraj Wadhawan, and 38 others in connection with fraudulent transactions in the Slum Rehabilitation Authority (SRA) book.

IIFL Finance: Moody’s Investor Service on Monday downgraded IIFL Finance’s corporate family rating (CFR) to B2 from B1, senior secured debt rating to B2 from B1, and senior secured medium-term note (MTN) program rating to (P)B2 from (P)B1.