Cipla stocks will be in focus today as the the Indian generic drugmaker on Friday informed BSE that its UK arm, Cipla EU, has entered into definitive agreements to acquire two US-based companies InvaGen Pharmaceuticals Inc and Exelan Pharmaceuticals Inc for $550 million in an all cash transaction.

The BSE Sensex and NSE Nifty opened on a weak note tracking mixed global cues. At 9.28 am, Sensex was down 227.36 points at 25,537.42. Similarly, Nifty was down 67.00 points at 7,756.00 during the same time.

Below are the stocks that are likely to be in focus today

Cipla: In a BSE filing today, the Indian generic drugmaker said that its UK arm, Cipla EU has entered into definitive agreements to acquire two US-based companies InvaGen Pharmaceuticals Inc and Exelan Pharmaceuticals Inc for $550 million in an all cash transaction.

Wipro: Country’s third-largest software services firm has been chosen as the official digital and IT partner for Chelsea Football Club.The financial details of the deal were not disclosed and the announcement was made after market hours on Thursday.

Lupin: Drug major Lupin has launched generic anti-depressant drug Duloxetine in 40 mg strength in the US market.

National Buildings Construction Corporation (NBCC): The state-owned NBCC has bagged contracts worth Rs 387 crore during last month.

ONGC: State-owned Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC) has bought a 15 per cent stake in Russia’s second-largest oil field from Rosneft for about $1.35 billion.

Glenmark Pharma: Glenmark Pharmaceuticals has completed the clinical phase I studies for its novel monoclonal antibody ‘GBR 830′ for treating autoimmune diseases.

GVK: Green groups lost a fight to stop billionaire Gina Rinehart and India’s GVK from building a giant coal mine in Australia, as a court on Friday dismissed an appeal against the state of Queensland’s environmental approval for the project.

Ashok Leyland: Reserve Bank has allowed foreign investors to invest up to 40 per cent of the paid up capital in Ashok Leyland.

Trading of CNX Nifty futures on the Singapore stock exchange (SGX Nifty) amid mixed global cues indicates that the Nifty and Sensex could open in red on Friday. (PTI)

The BSE Sensex and NSE Nifty are expected to open in red on Friday as CNX Nifty futures on the Singapore stock exchange (SGX Nifty) was trading in negative terrain amid mixed global cues.

At 8.18 am (IST), SGX Nifty was down 23.50 points, or 0.30 per cent, at 7,818.

Asian shares were mixed on Friday as caution about the US jobs report jostled with signals from the European Central Bank that it is willing to take further steps to shore up the European economy.

Nikkei was down 1.13 per cent at 17976 while Hang Seng was down 0.27 per cent at 20,879.

The Shanghai stock markets are closed for the second day as China commemorates the 70th anniversary of the end of World War II.

Wall Street shares ended up on Thursday, though they pared back much of earlier gains. The S&P 500 gained 0.1 per cent but the Nasdaq Composite ended 0.4 percent lower.

On Thursday, the BSE Sensex and NSE Nifty snapped three-day losing streak and rose 1.22 per cent and 1.37 per cent at 25764.78 and 7,823, respectively.

(With inputs from agencies)

The Sensex has lost 13% since January 29, when it touched 29,681.77 points, but stocks such as Chennai Petroleum Corporation (CPCL) have yielded a whopping 200%, as crude oil prices continue to fall. (Reuters)

Brokerages continue to downgrade their Sensex targets — CLSA has lowered its forecast for December 2015 to 30,000 points from 31,800 — and foreign investors continue to take risk off the table, but there are several stocks that have brought cheer to investors. Indeed, if the Indian markets haven’t done too badly despite the volatility in the global markets over the last few months, it’s because close to 300 companies — that’s 60% of the BSE 500 universe — have outperformed the Sensex after the benchmark index hit a record high in January 2015.

The Sensex has lost 13% since January 29, when it touched 29,681.77 points, but stocks such as Chennai Petroleum Corporation (CPCL) have yielded a whopping 200%, as crude oil prices continue to fall. Stocks that have doubled in value include Rajesh Exports, Tata Elxsi, Ricoh India, Welspun India, Jubilant Life Sciences and Vardhman Textiles.

Lower-than-expected GDP growth for the three months to June of 7% has dampened sentiment in the market. While the government’s decision to not levy minimum alternate tax on foreign investors with retrospective effect has eased concerns on that front, the depreciation of the Indian currency is worrying analysts. They point out that a falling rupee would offset some of the advantages of falling prices of commodities, which will make inputs cheaper for a whole host of companies.

Nevertheless, being a commodity consumer, with a credible reform story, the outlook for India is better than that for other emerging markets, Macquarie observed in a report. Macquarie trimmed its Nifty target for December 2015 to 8,700 points from 9,600.

Although demand for construction and mining equipment has started picking up, Srei Equipment Finance is focusing on growing its diversified business for balanced and risk-adjusted growth.

The company, a market leader in infra equipment finance space, expects incremental growth in the next three years to come from the diversified businesses — used equipment finance and financing healthcare, IT and agriculture equipment.

“Good balance in infra and non-infra equipment financing will give us a good and balanced growth.  Balanced diversification and distribution will help the company achieve a risk-adjusted growth, which is our strategy,” Srei Equipment Finance CEO DK Vyas told FE.

At the end of June quarter, total disbursements of the NBFC, a 50:50 JV between Srei Infrastructure Finance and French major BNP Paribas, stood at R1,749 crore, of which around 17% was to the diversified areas. The company expects  about 30% of its total disbursement in next three years to be to the newly-developed businesses.

Currently, in new infrastructure equipment finance, its market share is 30%. “We want to maintain that market share. This will continue to be our key focus area, but learning from the downturn in the economy, we have also started diversifying into IT, healthcare, agriculture and pre-owned equipment financing,” Vyas said.

Agriculture and pre-owned equipment verticals, which are low-risk and high-return businesses, will become key profit drivers for the company, while IT and healthcare with lowest cost-income ratio will help it diversify risks. And infra equipment finance will continue to provide top-line growth.  This fiscal, the company aims to disburse R1,000 crore to used equipment segment. Disbursement was about R600 crore in the last financial year.

We upgrade the stock to buy (from reduce) with an unchanged target price of  R150. We ascribe 30/share to  Tata Global Beverages’ (TGBL) share of Starbucks JV; we see the Starbucks JV as a successful, value-creating venture in the medium term and our valuation is based on a long-term DCF model.

The business is still in nascent stage and is a negative contributor to consolidated earnings. R9/share value ascribed to TGBL’s investments in some of the listed companies of the Tata Group; we have applied a 30% holding company discount.  R11/share ascribed to the company’s ex-India core business; we have been very conservative in ascribing value to this piece.

We have ascribed a PE multiple of 8X on FY2017E EPS and have not assumed any material improvement in performance of these businesses. This leaves us with an implied residual value of R65/share for TGBL’s standalone (primarily India tea business) or an implied PE of 11X FY2017E. We find these levels fairly attractive.

The sharp recent correction has driven TGBL to levels where the attractive India tea business is finally available at reasonably inexpensive valuations (11X FY2017E EPS). We continue to see TGBL’s portfolio as a mix of some challenging (UK, Russia, other parts of Europe, China, Middle East, etc.) and a few good/exciting (India tea, Starbucks) businesses.