MTNL shares zoomed 9 per cent to Rs 26.8 per share on the BSE on Thursday after the government deferred the merger of state-run telecom firms BSNL and MTNL due to financial reasons.

At 10:20 AM, shares of the state-run telco was up 8 per cent at Rs 28.2 apiece on the BSE as against a 0.6 per cent fall in the benchmark Sensex index. About 4.9 million shares had changed hands on the NSE and BSE till the time of writing of this report. With today's gains, the shares have climbed 26 per cent so far in April as against a 1.4 per cent gain in the Sensex index.

Shares of state-run power companies have been on a roll off late on the back of rising electricity consumption in the country owing to early onset of summer coupled with heat waves.

In the last five trading sessions, NTPC has soared 17 per cent. The stock hit a record high of Rs 158 on Thrusday, and was up 2.6 per cent at Rs 157 on volume of around 90 lakh shares on the NSE as of 10.21 AM, while the NSE Nifty was down 0.5 per cent at 17,711.

In a first, billionaire Mukesh Ambani's Reliance Industries Ltd has set up electric vehicle (EV) charging infrastructure at its Mumbai campus to allow employees to charge their EVs free of cost.

The company's HR on Wednesday sent mailers to employees informing about the Jio-bp pulse EV charging zone at its Navi Mumbai campus, Reliance Corporate Park (RCP).

The Supreme Court (SC) on Wednesday lifted the stay on arbitral proceedings before Singapore International Arbitration Centre (SIAC) between Future Group and Amazon. The Bench also said that Future Retail’s plea for termination of proceedings before SIAC will also be heard on priority.

The SC said in its order that the interim application will be transmitted to the Delhi High Court as agreed by both parties and as proceedings have already begun there.

Zee Entertainment shares slipped 3.4 per cent to a low of Rs 281.10 in the intra-day trades on the NSE on Thursday amid heavy volume. Till 9:30 AM, 124.5 million shares had changed hands on the NSE and BSE.

According to reports, Invesco Developing Markets, the largest shareholder of Zee Entertainment Enterprises, was looking to sell 7.8 per cent stake worth Rs 2,200 crore in the entertainment major via block deals on Thursday.

The country’s largest carmaker Maruti Suzuki India (MSI) on Wednesday said it will increase prices of its entire model range this month amid rise in input costs.

Over the past year, the cost of the company’s vehicles continued to be adversely impac­ted due to increase in various input costs, the auto major said in a regulatory filing.

The price of 10 gram of 24-carat gold remained unchanged on Wednesday at Rs 52,140, while silver per kg became cheaper by Rs 300 to trade at Rs 66,300.

Ten gram of 22-carat gold is trading at Rs 47,800. The price of 10 gram of 24-carat gold in Delhi and Mumbai stood at Rs 52,140. Ten gram of 22-carat gold in Mumbai and Delhi is trading at Rs 47,800.

With 1,086 new coronavirus infections reported in a single day, India's total tally of COVID-19 cases rose to 4,30,30,925 while the active cases dipped to 11,871, according to the Union Health Ministry data updated on Wednesday.

The death toll climbed to 5,21,487 with 71 fresh fatalities, the data updated at 8 am stated.

Shares of Ruchi Soya Industries continued to witness selling pressure, and fell as much as 19 per cent to Rs 706 on the BSE in Wednesday’s intra-day trade amid heavy volumes ahead of the listing of shares allotted via follow-on-public offering (FPO). The stock of edible oil company has slipped 28 per cent in the past one week, as compared to a 2.8 per cent rise in the S&P BSE Sensex.

At 11:06 am; Ruchi Soya traded 10 per cent lower at Rs 791, as compared to 0.95 per cent decline in the S&P BSE Sensex.

Fintech major Paytm is likely to be operating EBITDA breakeven in the next six quarters, the company’s founder and CEO Vijay Shekhar Sharma said in a letter to shareholders on Wednesday.

“We should be operating EBITDA breakeven in next six quarters (i.e. EBITDA before ESOP cost, and by the quarter ending September 2023), well ahead of estimates by most analysts. Importantly, we are going to achieve this without compromising any of our growth plans,” Sharma wrote.

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