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Informist, Thursday, May 21, 2026                                      Tel +91 (22) 6985-4000

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Equity Alert: Rail Vikas shares up 2% ahead of Jan-Mar earnings

 

MUMBAI--1005 IST--Shares of Rail Vikas Nigam Ltd. rose 2% ahead of the company's March quarter earnings, to be announced later in the day. Prabhudas Lilladher Pvt. Ltd. expects the company's net profit to rise over 9% on year and 54% sequentially to INR 4.08 billion for the March quarter.

 

Its revenue is seen rising around 5% on year and nearly 48% sequentially to INR 66.59 billion. Rail Vikas' earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, and amortisation are projected at INR 4 billion for the quarter, according to Prabhudas Lilladher.

 

"Order inflow for Q4 is INR 37 bn (billion) and the company has achieved ~87% of its guidance of INR 85 bn," the brokerage said. It expects an EBITDA margin of 6% for the quarter, flat from the year-ago period.

 

At 1000 IST, shares of the company were over 1% higher at INR 272.95 on the NSE. Of the two brokerage reports on the company available with Informist, Prabhudas Lilladher has a 'sell' recommendation on the stock with a target price of INR 183 and IDBI Capital Market & Securities Ltd. has a 'hold' recommendation with a target price of INR 334.  (Ashutosh Pati)

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Equity Alert: Markets open up after Trump says talks with Iran in final stage

 

MUMBAI--0930 IST--The benchmark indices opened on a positive note after US President Donald Trump said Washington is in the final stage of talks to strike a deal with Iran to end the war in West Asia. After Trump's comments, the July futures contract of Brent Crude Oil eased to $105.8 per barrel. All Asian markets also opened higher. At 0931 IST, the Nifty 50 was at 23769.60 points, up 110.60 points or 0.5%. The BSE Sensex was at 75598.55 points, up 280.16 points or 0.4%.

 

Grasim Industries was the top gainer among Nifty 50 constituents, up over 3%. Brokerages took a positive stance on the company after its March quarter earnings Wednesday. Nuvama upgraded Grasim Industries to "buy" because of the company gaining market share in the paints business. InterGlobe Aviation, Bharat Electronics, and Asian Paints rose around 2?ch. Eicher Motors, Shriram Finance, Tata Steel, Apollo Hospitals Enterprise, and Tata Motors Passenger Vehicles were up around 1?ch.

 

Trent was the underperformer in the index, down 0.6%. Sun Pharmaceutical Industries, SBI Life Insurance Co., and Titan Co. were down marginally.

 

All the broader market and sectoral indices were up at the market opening. The Nifty Midcap and Nifty Smallcap indices were up around 1?ch. Nifty Realty and Nifty Auto were the best-performing sectoral indices, up around 1?ch.

 

Grasim Idustries was the top gainer among Nifty 200 constituents as well. Energy companies Siemens Energy India and Hitachi Energy India rose nearly 3%. Jubilant FoodWorks was the worst-hit stock in both the Nifty 200 and Nifty 500 indices, down over 6%. Wednesday, the company reported its first fall in bottom line in four quarters. Sammaan Capital was the top gainer in the Nifty 500, up nearly 9%, while Ola Electric fell over 3%.  (Adhithya Aji)

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Equity Alert: Indices in Asia rise on US-Iran peace deal hopes, tech rally

 

MUMBAI--0830 IST--Stock markets in Asia were up, mirroring the rise on Wall Street overnight. Indices in the region were buoyed by President Donald Trump saying the US was in the final stage of talks with Iran. Brent crude oil futures slipped almost 6% from Wednesday's high to around $105 per barrel.

 

"If I can save war by waiting a couple of days or I can save people being killed by waiting a couple of days, I think it's a great thing to do," Trump told reporters at Joint Base Andrews, Maryland.

  

In Japan, the Nikkei 225 Day was up almost 4% and TOPIX was up 2%. Shares of heavyweight Softbank Group Corp. soared almost 20%, boosted by chip giant Nvidia Corp.'s stellar earnings for the quarter ended April. South Korea's benchmark KOSPI outperformed peers in the region and was up 6%, supported by its dominant constituent, Samsung Electronics Co. Shares of the electronics giant surged over 6%. The company struck a tentative deal with its union to avert a strike planned over May 21 and Jun. 7, The Wall Street Journal reported.

 

In macroeconomic news, Japan's exports rose 14.8% on year, driven by semiconductor machinery. Imports, meanwhile, grew 9.7% on year. The Asian country's trade balance in April narrowed to 301.9 billion yen (INR 188.3 billion) in April, from 643 billion yen in March.

 

The following were the levels of major Asian indices at 0832 IST:

 

Index	Level	Change in %
CSI 300 Index	4900.8934	1.03
Hang Seng Index	25639.90	(-)0.04
Nikkei 225 Day	61945.34	3.58
TOPIX FIRST SECTION	3875.34	2.21
KOSPI	7739.05	7.35
FTSE Singapore Strait Times	5058.68	0.27
S&P/ASX 200 Index	8639.90	1.69

 

(Ruchira Kagita)

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Equity Alert: To open higher on Trump's positive comments, oil at $105/bbl

 

MUMBAI--0820 IST--Benchmark stock indices are likely to extend gains Thursday and open higher after US President Donald Trump said talks with Iran were in the final stages. Indices are also expected to track early gains in their Asian peers. Brent crude oil prices eased to $105 a barrel after Trump's comments. At 0812 IST, Brent crude oil July futures were 0.4% higher at $105.47 per barrel.

 

"We'll either have a deal or we're going to do some things that are a little bit nasty. But hopefully that won't happen," NDTV reported, quoting Trump as saying. "I'm in no hurry. I just, ideally, I'd like to see few people killed, as opposed to a lot," he said.

 

At 0814 IST, the May futures contract of the GIFT Nifty was a tad lower at 23810.50 from its previous close. The movement of the GIFT Nifty suggested a higher opening for the benchmark indices and the spot level of the GIFT Nifty was over 150 points higher from the Nifty 50's previous close of 23659.

 

"The benchmark Nifty index is consolidating in a Symmetric Triangle formation on intraday charts having resistance in the 23700-23800 spot zone and supports at 23450-23300 spot zone," Vipin Kumar, derivatives and technical analyst at Globe Capital Market, said. "A break on either side of the formation will start a short term move in that direction. By the time it is trading within the mentioned range, we suggest traders to maintain stocks and sector specific trading approach."

 

Max Healthcare Institute and ITC will be in focus Thursday, as the companies will announce their March quarter earnings later in the day. Max Healthcare is likely to post a nearly 38% on-year rise in its net profit and revenue for the March quarter, driven primarily by volume growth, led by bed additions and a ramp-up of newly commissioned facilities. Its consolidated net profit is seen at INR 4.39 billion and revenue at INR 26.33 billion. The stock closed nearly 1% higher Wednesday at INR 1,075.70 on the National Stock Exchange.

 

ITC's net profit for the March quarter is expected to be flat on year at nearly INR 49 billion. The company's revenue, however, is expected to increase almost 6% on year to nearly INR 183 billion. On a sequential basis, the net profit is likely to decline 8.8% and revenue is expected to increase 1.4%. The stock closed almost 1% lower Wednesday at INR 307.55 on the NSE.

 

Apollo Hospitals Enterprise reported its March quarter earnings post market hours Wednesday. Its consolidated net profit for the quarter rose 36% on year to INR 5.29 billion and surpassed analysts' estimate of INR 4.75 billion. The top line of the company in Jan-Mar grew over 18% on year to INR 66.06 billion, and was above expectations of INR 64.52 billion. Shares of the company ended nearly 1% higher at INR 8.078.50 Wednesday on the NSE.

 

South Korea's KOSPI was the highest gainer among Asian equity indices and gained over 6% in early trade. All three US indices settled higher Wednesday, over 1% higher each.  (Arundathi A R)

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Equity Alert: US Indices end higher, supported by Nvidia's strong earnings

 

MUMBAI--0750 IST--Stock indices on Wall Street ended higher Wednesday, supported by chipmaker Nvidia Corp.'s stellar earnings for the quarter ended April. The NASDAQ Composite and the S&P 500 snapped their three-session losing streak, supported by technology stocks.

 

'AI Darling' Nvidia posted a strong set of earnings for the quarter. The company's revenue was 85% higher on year at $81.6 billion, beating the consensus forecast of $78.9 billion. Nvidia's net income, meanwhile, rose threefold to $58.3 billion. Analysts had forecast the chip company's net income at $42.9 billion.

 

Nvidia's revenue from data centre computing was up 77% on year at $60.4 billion while sales from its data centre networking were up almost three times on year at $14.8 billion. Shares of the chip giant closed 1.3% higher. "The buildout of AI factories — the largest infrastructure expansion in human history — is accelerating at extraordinary speed," said Jensen Huang, founder and chief executive officer of Nvidia.

 

Nvidia's robust earnings drove other technology stocks higher. Shares of Micron Tech closed almost 6% up, those of Advanced Micro Devices rose 8%, Qualcomm 3.5%, and Broadcom nearly 2%. Shares of Tesla and Amazon also closed 3% and 2% higher, respectively.

 

"The market is coming off a really strong earnings season that delivered positive revisions to earnings expectations, but concerns around inflation and demand destruction in the economy are proving persistent," Scott Helfstein, head of investment strategy at Global X ETFs, told CNBC.

 

On the macroeconomic front, war-led inflation fears sustain. Minutes of the Federal Open Market Committee's Apr. 28-29 meeting showed the Federal Reserve may raise interest rates if inflation remained above the 2% target for longer, particularly as a fallout of the war in West Asia. Many participants suggested that an easing bias shouldn't be indicated.

 

"...the staff viewed the possibility that inflation would be more persistent than anticipated as a salient risk," according to the minutes. Inflation is expected to slow after the first half of this year and be closer to 2% by the end of next year. As for the health of the labour market, many believed that the recent low rates of job growth were not necessarily indicative of fragility.

 

Following were the closing levels of major US indices on Wednesday:

 

US Indices	Levels	Change in %
Dow Jones Industrial Average	50009.35	1.31
NASDAQ Composite	26270.359	1.54
S&P 500	7432.97	1.08

(Ruchira Kagita)

 

US$1 = INR 96.21

IST, or Indian Standard Time, is five-and-a-half hours ahead of GMT

 

Edited by Avishek Dutta

 

All prices from National Stock Exchange, unless otherwise specified.

All percentage changes for share prices are rounded off to the nearest whole number; percentage changes for index values are rounded off to one decimal place.

All times are Indian Standard Time.

 

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NYSE: New York Stock Exchange
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SEBI: Securities and Exchange Board of India
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