Indices trade sideways with losses; ZEE jumps 17%

Equity indices traded sideways with modest losses in afternoon trade. The Nifty traded below the 17,200 mark. Media, metals and pharma stocks advanced while banks and financial shares were under pressure.

At 13:23 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex dropped 267 points or 0.46% at 57,417.88. The Nifty 50 index lost 73.45 points or 0.43% at 17,172.75.

In the broader market, the S&P BSE Mid-Cap index rose 0.21% while the S&P BSE Small-Cap index gained 0.06%.

The market breadth, indicating the overall health of the market, was negative. On the BSE, shares 1,443 rose and 1,865 shares fell. A total of 119 shares were unchanged.

Nifty Gainers & Losers:

Dr. Reddy`s Lab (up 4.91%), Hindalco Inds (up 2.53%), Coal India (up 2.24%), Cipla (up 1.98%) and UltraTech Cement (up 1.54%) were top gainers in Nifty 50 index.

Kotak Mahindra Bank (down 2.89%), HDFC Bank (down 2.65%), ICICI Bank (down 2.1%), Titan Company (down 2.1%) and BPCL (down 1.17%) were top losers in Nifty 50 index.

Stocks in Spotlight:

Zee Entertainment Enterprises (ZEEL) jumped 17.56% after the company`s largest minority shareholder, Invesco, decided not to pursue litigation against Zee. Invesco Developing Markets Fund on 23 March said it decided not to pursue an extraordinary general meeting (EGM) to add six independent directors as Zee`s merger with Sony will achieve the fund`s aim of strengthening board oversight. Division Bench of the Bombay High Court has on 22 March 2022, allowed the appeal filed by Invesco Developing Markets Fund and OFI Global China Fund and set aside the order passed by the learned single judge of the Bombay High Court. The Division Bench has directed that status quo be maintained for a period of 3 weeks. The company still awaits the detailed order in this regard. Invesco Developing Markets Fund and OFI Global China Fund on 11 September 2021 served a requisition notice to ZEEL to hold an EGM to remove Punit Goenka from the firm`s board as director. Goenka, son of Essel Group founder and chairman Subhash Chandra, is managing director and chief executive officer of ZEEL. The two institutional investors also called for the removal of two of ZEEL`s independent directors, Ashok Kurien and Manish Chokhani. The letter also proposed the appointment of six independent directors, including Surendra Singh Sirohi, Naina Krishna Murthy, Rohan Dhamija, Aruna Sharma, Srinivasa Rao Addepalli and Gaurav Mehta.

In December 2021, ZEEL and Sony Pictures Networks India (SPNI) signed definitive agreements to merge ZEEL into SPNI and combine their linear networks, digital assets, production operations and program libraries. After the closing, Sony Pictures Entertainment Inc. (SPE) will indirectly hold a majority 50.86% of the combined company, the founders of ZEEL will hold 3.99%, and the other ZEEL shareholders will hold a 45.15% stake.

Kotak Mahindra Bank fell 2.89% after a large block deal took place in the initial deals on the BSE today. At 9:24 IST, around 3,17,69,813 equity shares, representing 1.60% of total equity of Kotak Mahindra Bank, changed hands at the counter on the BSE. The names of the buyers and sellers could not be ascertained. The media reported that Canada Pension Plan Investment Board is expected to sell stake via a bulk deal on 24 March 2022 to make a partial exit from Kotak Mahindra Bank. The Canadian pension fund will offload a 1.41% to 2.02% stake in the private lender at Rs 1,681.26-Rs 1,769.75 per share through the bulk deal.

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