March, 2 ,2022:

Indian benchmark indices Sensex and Nifty50 ended in the red territory.

• The 30-Scrip BSE Sensex ended 778.38 points or 1.38% lower at 55,468.90.

• The NSE Nifty plunged 187.95 points or 1.12% to close at 16,605.95.

Except for Oil & Gas, Metal, Media indices, all sectoral indices ended in the red territory. 

• Nifty Metal Rose 4.07%.        

• Nifty Oil & Gas Climbed 1.20%.

• Nifty Media Jumped 1.87%. 

• Nifty Bank plunged 2.30%.

• Nifty Auto fell 2.96%.

• Nifty Pharma shed 1.84%.

BSE smallcap and Midcap indices fell 0.12% and 0.17% each.

Asian Markets:

• Japan’s Nikkei 225 closed 1.68% lower.

• Australia’s ASX 200 rose 0.28%.

• KOSPI, the major stock market index of South Korea, gained 0.16%.

• Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index slid 1.84%.

• China’s SZSE Component Index fell 1.05%, while Shanghai Composite tumbled 0.13%.

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Trending Stocks On Encome.io Dashboard:

News Wrap:

Big News: 

Religare Enterprises Becomes “Debt-Free”, Company Planning To Create War Chest For New Business Venture

Religare Enterprises, New Delhi based financial company announced that it has become debt-free after paying off Rs 185.5 crore to its subsidiary Religare Finvest.

"We are pleased to announce that REL is completely debt-free now. As a holding company, REL is providing the necessary growth capital to all its businesses and REL is all set to expand in new BFSI verticals, having synergies with existing businesses," Rashmi Saluja, Chairperson of the company said in a regulatory filing to the exchanges.

The company further said it will foray into sectors like Asset Reconstruction, Alternate Investment Funds, Insurance Broking, Digital Wealth Management. With the addition of such new verticals, Religare Group's businesses and financial performance will have a “multiplier effect".

The company added, it is putting together a "war chest" to help build the new enterprises both organically and inorganically.

War chests are funds that are kept aside to meet a specific purpose, action or campaign or for unforeseen circumstances. 

The shares of Religare closed 5.66% higher at RS 129.80.

Sales Report: 

Hero MotoCorp: 

• Two-wheeler market leader Hero MotoCorp’s total wholesales in February 2022 stood at 3,58,254 units, down 29% from 5,05,467 units sold in February 2021.

• Domestic sales in February 2022 stood at 3,31,462 units, compared with 4,84,433 units in February 202, down 31.57%.

• Motorcycle sales in February 2022 stood at 3,38,454 units, compared with 4,63,723 units in February 2021. 

• Scooter sales dipped to 19,800 units in February 2022 from 41,744 units in February 2021.

• Exports in February 2022, however, increased to 26,792 units from 21,034 units in February 2021.

Bajaj Auto: 

• Bajaj Auto’s overall sales (two-wheelers and commercial vehicles) in February 2022 stood at 3,16,020 units, down 16% from 3,75,017 units sold in February 2021.

• Bajaj Auto's two-wheeler domestic sales slid 35% in February 2022 to 96,523 units from 1,48,934 units in February 2021. 

• Two-wheeler exports in February 2022 were 82,814 units compared with 1,83,629 units exported in February 2022.

•  Bajaj Auto's overall two-wheeler sales in February 2022 stood at 2,79,337 units, compared with 3,32,563 units in February 2021.

• The Commercial Vehicles sales stood at 16,224 units in February 2022, compared with 15,887 units in February 2022.

• Commercial vehicle exports were 20,459 units in February 2022, down 23% from 26,5777 units in February 2022. 

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More To Know: 

• The board of Power Finance Corporation has approved the proposal of borrowing Rs 82,000 crore in 2022-23. 

• The only listed Indian depository--Central Depository Services (India), informed that over six crore plus (60 million) active Demat accounts are associated with them. 

• MR Messaging has been successfully bought by Route Mobile's subsidiary Routesms Solutions. MR Messaging is now a completely owned subsidiary of Routesms Solutions and a step-down subsidiary of Route Mobile as a result of this.

• Panacea Biotec will sell pharmaceutical formulations of its subsidiary to Mankind Pharma for an aggregate consideration of Rs 1,872 crore.

• Vedant Fashions reported a 24% YoY growth in consolidated profit at Rs 127.8 crore, while revenue increased 29% to Rs 384.8 crore.

• Bharat Electronics has inked a pact with the Ministry of Defense for the retro-modification of Commander Sight of Battle Tanks-T90 for the Indian Army. The amount of the contract is Rs 1,075 crore.

• The board of Vedanta approved the third interim dividend of Rs 13 per equity share for FY22.

• Russian metals company Severstal stopped deliveries in Europe following the EU imposed sanctions on its main shareholder- Alexei Mordashov.

• Urban Company announced a partner stock ownership plan (PSOP) for its gig workers and service providers. Over 5-7 years, the business would reportedly issue stocks worth Rs 150 crore to its expanded network of service partners at no cost.

• Infibeam Avenues has purchased Uvik Technologies, a contactless technology firm, for Rs 75 crore in cash and equity.

• UCO Bank has partnered with Fisdom, a fintech business, to deliver paperless Demat accounts, pension fund, e-tax filing, and stockbroking services via mobile banking.

• Ford announces separating its electric vehicle and internal combustion divisions into distinct businesses. 

  'Ford Blue' will focus on traditional combustion engines, while ‘Ford Model e’, will be developing electric vehicles.

• Netflix will buy Finland-based mobile game developer Next Games for about $72 million.