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Informist, Wednesday, May 27, 2026                                      Tel +91 (22) 6985-4000

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Equity Alert: JPMorgan sees fall in crude oil, retail hikes aiding fuel cos

 

MUMBAI--0845 IST--Global brokerage JPMorgan said the fall in crude oil prices, coupled with retail fuel price hikes and excise duty cuts, have eased the pressure on state-owned oil marketing companies. The brokerage said Hindustan Petroleum Corp. remains the most affected among the three. The margin outlook for the financial year 2027–28 (Apr-Mar) remains uncertain as lower crude oil prices could trigger higher excise duties, JPMorgan added. "FY27 earnings may be weighed down by Q1 (June quarter) stress & potential inventory losses," the brokerage said. JPMorgan continues to prefer Bharat Petroleum Corp. and Indian Oil Corp. in the oil marketing sector.

 

The managements of the oil marketing companies, in their post-earnings calls with analysts, said the June quarter earnings will be hit by the under-recovery on retail fuel products. The Hindustan Petroleum management said it expects some losses in the June quarter. The Bharat Petroleum management said the under-recovery on retail oil products is a short-term challenge and it is hopeful that the government will extend help to surmount it.

 

The oil marketing companies have raised retail prices of petrol and diesel in a staggered manner over the past two weeks. Since May 15, retail prices have risen by INR 7.35 per litre for petrol and INR 7.53 per litre for diesel. The price hikes were expected because of the energy shock caused by the war in West Asia. In March, the government also trimmed the excise duty on petrol and diesel by INR 10 per litre.

 

Tuesday, shares of Bharat Petroleum and Hindustan Petroluem ended over 1% higher from Monday at INR 304.60 and INR 398, respectively. Indian Oil Corp. closed 1% lower at INR 142.38.  (Adhithya Aji)

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Equity Alert: May open lower as US-Iran conflict escalates, oil prices rise

 

MUMBAI--0835 IST--Benchmark stock indices are expected to open slightly lower Wednesday amid escalation in the West Asia war. The rise in crude oil prices to nearly $100 a barrel is also expected to weigh on market sentiment. Asian markets were mixed in early trade. Shares of Oil and Natural Gas Corp. will be in focus as the company announced its March quarter earnings Tuesday post market hours.

 

Iran's foreign ministry said US strikes in Iran's southern Hormozgan province represent a "gross violation" of the fragile ceasefire in place since early April, Al Jazeera reported. Seyed Majid Moosavi, commander of the Revolutionary Guards' aerospace force, posted on his X account that his forces were prepared to respond and "negotiation with the enemy is pure loss." Meanwhile, Israel attacked southern Lebanon and killed 31 people and injured 40 others Tuesday as Israel's forces intensified their strikes and issued dozens of forced displacement orders for towns and villages in Lebanon's south and east, according to Al Jazeera's report.

 

At 0831 IST, Brent crude oil July futures were over 1% lower at $98.27 a barrel. 

 

"GIFT Nifty is indicating a slightly gap-down opening for the domestic markets," Vipin Kumar, technical analyst at Globe Capital Market, said. "Immediate support for Nifty index is placed around 23800–23850 spot levels. Going ahead, we reiterate our bullish view on Nifty index as long as it remains above 23800 spot levels on closing basis. Conversely, sustained trading below 23800 spot levels might push it back in a consolidation phase," he said. At 0811 IST, the June futures contract of GIFT Nifty was a tad lower from its previous close at 23891.50. This was over 22 points short of the Nifty 50's previous close of 23913.70.

 

An internal vigilance probe at HDFC Bank has found that INR 450 million paid to Maharashtra State Road Development Corp. as additional interest was allegedly disguised as marketing expenditure routed through local vendors, The Indian Express reported Wednesday, citing sources. Tuesday, shares of HDFC Bank closed 1% lower at INR 778.90, and it settled lower after two sessions of gains.

 

ONGC's net profit in the March quarter rose over 3% on year to INR 66.50 billion. The bottom line was way below analysts' view of INR 87.02 billion. Its revenue from operations rose 3% on year to INR 359.28 billion, also lower than analysts' estimate of INR 362.99 billion.

 

Barring the Dow Jones Industrial Average, other major US indices closed higher Tuesday. South Korea's KOSPI gained the most among Asian markets, and was nearly 5% higher.  (Arundathi A R)

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Equity Alert: Indices in Asia mixed; Nikkei 225, KOSPI hit new highs

 

MUMBAI--0810 IST--Indices in Asia were mixed as market participants sustained their optimism of the US and Iran concluding a peace deal soon. The rally in technology stocks on Wall Street overnight also likely supported sentiment. Japan's benchmark Nikkei 225 Day and South Korea's KOSPI notched fresh record highs during the early hours of the trading session. The Nikkei 225 touched a new high for the second time in the week.

 

The KOSPI was driven higher by gains in its heavyweights. Shares of SK Hynix surged over 11%. Semiconductor major SK Hynix crossed $1 trillion in market capitalisation for the first time. This comes after Micron Technology also joined the $1 trillion club after rising more than 19% on Wall Street Tuesday. Shares of Samsung Electronics Co. also gained over 6%. Given the volatile moves in the KOSPI, trading was also briefly halted when the index rose 5%, the Dow Jones Newswires reported. In Japan, while the Nikkei 225 displayed positive momentum, the broader TOPIX moved with a negative bias. The FTSE Singapore Strait Times is closed for Id al-Adha.

 

In some macroeconomic news, retail inflation in Australia rose 4.2% on year in April, down from the 4.6% annualised rise in March. Automotive fuel prices fell 7% on month in April, after rising 32.8% in the previous month. "The fall this month includes the halving of the fuel excise on 1 April. Automotive fuel prices are still 23.5 per cent higher compared to February and before the impact of the Middle East (West Asia) conflict," Sue-Ellen Luke, head of prices statistics at the Australian Bureau of Statistics, said in a media release. The S&P/ASX 200 was flat.

 

The following were the levels of major Asian indices at 0810 IST:

 

Index	Level	Change in %
CSI 300 Index	4890.4272	0.94
Hang Seng Index	25479.65	(-)0.47
Nikkei 225 Day	65735.60	1.14
TOPIX FIRST SECTION	3937.44	(-)0.03
KOSPI	8413.75	4.55
S&P/ASX 200 Index	8657.80	0

 

(Ruchira Kagita)

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Equity Alert: Morgan Stanley sees Coal India OFS price discount an overhang

 

MUMBAI--0744 IST--Morgan Stanley sees the floor price of Coal India's offer for sale to be at material discount to current market price, NDTVProfit said citing the firm in a post on X. Late Tuesday, the coal mining company informed exchanges that the government will sell up to 2% stake in the company at a floor price of INR 412 a piece. The floor price is at a discount of 10% to Tuesday's close of INR 458.15 on the NSE. The discounted floor price is seen acting as an overhang and Morgan Stanley expects the stock to remain volatile in the near term. 

 

Coal India's offer for sale includes a base issue of 1% and a greenshoe option of 1%. The government holds 63.13% stake in the mining company and if the government exercises green shoe option, the shareholding will reduce to 61.13% post the issue. At the floor price, the government will raise around INR 50.78 billion by selling 2% stake in Coal India. If the government reduces its stake by only 1%, it will raise INR 25.40 billion.  (Gopika Balasubramanium)

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Equity Alert: Jefferies sees non-defence govt spend flat; cuts weight on RIL

 

MUMBAI--0740 IST--In an India strategy report, Jefferies said it expect the government's spend on non-defence sectors to be flat during 2026-27 (Apr-Mar), as the government will look to cut costs to offset rising expenses from higher petroleum and fertiliser subsidies and lower oil tax revenues, NDTV Profit said, citing the investment bank as saying in an X post. The overall fiscal impact due to these factors could be INR 1.25 trillion-INR 1.5 trillion, to be shared with states or oil companies, the investment bank said.

  

On current retail fuel prices, oil marketing companies will have breakeven at $85-$87 a barrel without specifying the time period, Jefferies said. So far in May, these companies have hiked prices four times, with the latest price in Delhi for petrol being INR 102.12 a litre and that for diesel INR 95.20 a litre. Jefferies expects fuel prices to rise further from current levels.

 

Other measures to manage the impact from the higher costs for the government are likely to be pushing divestment in state-owned enterprises. The latest is the government selling 2% stake in Coal India through an offer for sale at a floor price of INR 412 a piece, with the issue opening later in the day. The government is slated to raise up to INR 50.78 billion through this. 

 

On stocks, Jefferies said it added ABB India to its porfolio with a 3% allocation and Triveni Turbines with 2% allocation. Alongside, it removed Bharat Electronics and reduced capital in Reliance Industries by 1.5% and that in Thermax by 2%. It increased weights on Titan Co. by 1.5% and NTPC by 2%.  (Gopika Balasubramanium)

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Equity Alert: Tech stocks drive US mkt Tue; S&P 500, NASDAQ hit fresh highs

 

MUMBAI--0738 IST--Wall Street reopened Tuesday after the Memorial Day break Monday. While the S&P 500 and the NASDAQ Composite advanced, the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed in the red. The S&P 500 and the NASDAQ hit fresh all-time highs Tuesday, driven by technology stocks. Shares of Micron Technology soared almost 20% and the stock breached $1 trillion in market capitalisation for the first time.

 

"For those of us that have been working that long, the tech rallies we've been seeing this year are reminiscent of the boom at the end of the 1990s," Chris Zaccarelli, the chief investment officer for Northlight Asset Management, told Reuters. 

 

Among other technology stocks that advanced during the session were Advanced Micro Devices, Qualcomm, Intel Corp., Alphabet, Broadcom. Shares of these companies rose 2–8%. The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index gained over 5% to hit a record high and the S&P 500 Information Technology index was up almost 2%. 

 

Investors were also buoyed by prospects of a peace deal between the US and Iran. US President Donald Trump had indicated earlier that a peace deal was nearing finalisation. Despite the US military's recent attack against Iran, which the US Central Command said was done in "restraint", Brent Crude oil futures remained below $100 per barrel. Prices have been hovering between $95 and $99 per barrel for the past three days. The July contract of Brent crude oil futures fell almost 5% during this period. 

 

Following were the closing levels of major US indices Tuesday:

 

US Indices	Levels	Change in %
Dow Jones Industrial Average	50461.68	(-)0.23
NASDAQ Composite	26656.181	1.19
S&P 500	7519.12	0.61

 

(Ruchira Kagita)

 

US$1 = INR 95.68

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

 

Edited by Rajeev Pai

 

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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