Market LIVE: Sensex up 150 pts, Nifty tests 17,600; ZEE jumps 20%, banks hit

Share market LIVE updates: So far today, Sensex has hit a high of 59,178.44 and low of 58,886.83. Nifty has been in 17,528.95-17,610.45 range. ZEE Entertainment surged over 20% on merger deal with Sony Pictures India?

Concerns over China Evergrande Group have put investors on edge and added to recent worries over economic growth from the Delta variant. Investors are waiting for the end of this week's Fed meeting that may shed light on when its massive purchase of government debt will begin to ease

View on Zee-Sony merger deal: Yash Gupta, equity research analyst, Angel Broking

In the merged entity Sony Pictures will hold 53% and Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd will hold 47% of total shareholding. Sony Pictures will also infuse $1.57 billion ( ?11,000 crors) into the merged company.?

Punit Goenka, who is managing director & chief executive officer of Zeel will continue to remain managing director & chief executive officer of the merged entity.?

We recommend investors to be cautious as shares of Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd have risen 78% from Rs170 apiece to Rs303 in the last one month and as of now the company has not disclosed the valuations.

Nifty view: Manish Hathiramani, proprietary index trader and technical analyst, Deen Dayal Investments

The Nifty has taken support at the 17300 levels. The direction in the short term is still not clear; we need to keep above 17600 on a closing basis in order to resume the current uptrend. On the flip side, if we break 17300 on a closing basis, we will endeavor a further slip to 17100-17150. It is a wait and watches the situation."

ICICI Securities initiates coverage on Reliance Industries with a HOLD rating?

Long term prospects and dominant standing of Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) in each of its product & service portfolio, provides comfort for long term value creation.

RIL’s consumer business will be the growth driver, going ahead. The company has a strong balance sheet post fund raising while its traditional business will continue to generate steady cash flows.?

We initiate coverage on the stock with a HOLD recommendation.

Target Price and Valuation: On an SOTP basis, we value the stock at | 2480/share

Godrej Properties clocks ?575 crore of sales on day 1 of Noida project launch

Godrej Properties Ltd on Wednesday said it sold 340 homes, comprising half a million square feet, worth Rs575 crore, on the first day of the launch of the second phase of its ‘Godrej Woods’ project in Noida.

The Mumbai-based real estate developer said response to its forest-themed phase named ‘Evergreen’ has pushed total sales of the project in the past six months to about Rs1,140 crore.

Freshworks raises $1.03 billion in U.S. IPO, valued at $10.13 billion:

Business software firm Freshworks said it had priced its U.S. initial public offering well above the target range to raise $1.03 billion, valuing the Salesforce.com rival at $10.13 billion as hybrid work fuels demand for its products.

Freshworks priced 28.5 million shares at $36 per share, the company backed by Accel and Sequoia Capital said on Tuesday. It had earlier expected to raise $969 million at the top end of its increased price range of $32 to $34 per share.

San Mateo, California-based Freshworks joins a number of big names from the enterprise software business that have taken advantage of red-hot U.S. capital markets over the past 18 months.

Oil prices rise on big decline in US crude stocks

Oil prices rose around 1% on Wednesday, extending overnight gains, after industry data showed US crude stocks fell more than expected last week in the wake of two hurricanes, highlighting tight supply as demand improves.?

US WTI crude futures rose 75 cents, or 1.1%, to $71.24 a barrel in early deals, adding to a 35 cent gain from Tuesday. Brent crude futures climbed 68 cents, or 0.9%, to $75.04 a barrel, after gaining 44 cents on Tuesday.

SGX Nifty down in early deals, indicates tepid start to Indian equities?

SGX Nifty futures were at 17,519.50, down 42.55 points, or 0.24%, in early deals.

Board of ZEEL gives in-principle approval for merger between ZEEL & Sony Pictures Networks India

ZEE Entertainment Enterprises Ltd (ZEEL) has signed a merger deal with Sony Pictures Networks India Private Ltd, the company said in an exchange filing on Wednesday. According to the terms of the deal, Sony Pictures Entertainment will infuse $1.575 billion into the merged entity.

"The Board of Directors of ZEEL at its meeting held on September 22, 2021, has approved the execution of a non-binding term sheet ("Termsheet") with Sony Pictures Networks India Private Limited ("Sony India"), in relation to a potential transaction involving a composite scheme of arrangement for the merger of the Company and Sony India and infusion of growth capital by the promoters of Sony India into Sony India as part of the merger," as per a ZEEL statement.

After the merger, shareholders of ZEEL will hold 47.07%, while Sony Pictures Networks will hold a 52.93% stake in the merged entity.

Stocks to Watch?

Shares of HDFC Bank, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Tata Motors, SBI Card, among others, will be in focus today.?

Indiabulls Housing Finance, Vodafone Idea, IRCTC, Punjab National Bank, and Sun TV Network are under the F&O ban for 22 September

Nifty view: Sameet Chavan, Chief Analyst-Technical and Derivatives, Angel Broking:

In the last couple of sessions, Nifty corrected nearly 450 points and hence, it was a bit oversold. Importantly, it reached its key support zone of 17350-17250 which coincided with the ’89-EMA’ on hourly chart. Hence with global markets rebounding sharply, it was the apt point from where market can see some recovery. But we must accept the fact that although the recovery was evident, it has over surpassed our projected levels of 17500 by a fair margin. Nevertheless, we still believe that this is merely a bounce back and we are not completely out of the woods yet.?

For the coming session, 17600-17650 are to be seen as immediate hurdles, while weakness will resume once we start staying below 17450.

We advise traders not to get carried away by this bounce back and one should still continue with a cautious stance. In order to regain the confidence, another couple of days’ strength is quite crucial for the market. Also, all eyes on global market as the next path of action is still to be dictated by them only.

Asian stocks cautious in line with overnight muted close on Wall Street?

Asian stock markets made a cautious start on Wednesday and the dollar held firm amid lingering nerves about the fallout from a looming failure at developer China Evergrande and anticipation that the US Federal Reserve may move a step closer to tapering.

Japan's Nikkei fell 0.5%. Equity, bond and currency markets in China opened for the first time on Wednesday since concern over Evergrande's predicament triggered a wave of selling and contagion worries around the world.

Singapore-traded FTSE China futures are about 2% below Friday's closing level. Safe-haven assets such as the yen and U.S. Treasuries rose slightly in morning trade.

Globally, markets have calmed following a sharp selloff on Monday, as analysts have downplayed the threat of Evergrande's troubles becoming a "Lehman moment" and setting off a financial crisis. But stocks have scarcely bounced and commodities remain under pressure as concern shifts to the economic consequences.

Overnight on the Wall Street, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 50.63 points, or 0.15%, to 33,919.84, the S&P 500 lost 3.54 points, or 0.08%, to 4,354.19 and the Nasdaq Composite added 32.50 points, or 0.22%, to 14,746.40.

S&P 500 futures fell 0.4% in early Asia trade and the offshore yuan was under pressure near a one-month low at 6.4850 per dollar. Hong Kong markets are closed for a holiday.

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