Apple Inc. agreed to pay $29.9 million to employees at its stores who were forced to submit to security bag checks -- off the clock -- when they left work after or during their shifts.

Lawyers for the workers asked a federal judge on Friday to approve the settlement, which was reached after a protracted eight-year legal battle.

Johnson & Johnson (J&J) shares rose after the maker of cancer treatments, mouthwash and Tylenol said it will break itself up into two public companies, one focused on drugs and medical devices, and the other on consumer products.

The health-care giant will split off its consumer division in 18 to 24 months, the company said in a statement. The unit has been beset by lawsuits involving products such as baby-powder, which has been linked to ovarian cancers in some users. J&J shares gained 2.7 per cent in trading before US markets opened.

Apollo Hospitals Enterprise Limited (AHEL) has posted a three-fold jump in consolidated net profit to Rs 267 crore for the second quarter of the current financial year from Rs 59 crore during the July to September quarter of 2020-21.

The company’s revenue from operations saw a 35 per cent jump to Rs 3,717 crore during the quarter under review as compared to Rs 2,761 crore during Q2FY21.

Data analytics firm Latent View Analytics’ maiden offering, which ended on Friday, garnered 339 times (x) subscription, making it the most-subscribed initial public offering (IPO) ever. The total bids exceeded Rs 1.1 trillion—nearly six times more than what the country’s largest IPO, that of Paytm, received earlier this week.

The high networth individual (HNI) portion of the IPO garnered nearly 882x subscription with bids totalling Rs 78,498 crore. Retail portion was subscribed 124x and the institutional investor portion saw over 150x subscription. The price band for the IPO has been set at Rs 190-197 per share.

Providing a much needed relief to the commuters, the Railways has decided to discontinue special trains and revert to the pre-Covid regular services.

With the decision coming into effect, trains will run with their usual names, numbers and fares.

Shares of food delivery company Zomato surged 9 per cent on Friday to close at a new lifetime high of Rs 153 apiece. The gain was underpinned by the stock’s inclusion in the MSCI Standard Index and strong top-line performance in the September quarter.

The start-up, which made its stock market debut in July, is currently trading 102 per cent higher than its issue price of Rs 76. Zomato is currently valued at Rs 1.21 trillion.

Shares of Adani Group companies were in focus on Friday with two group stocks -- Adani Total Gas and Adani Transmission -- hitting their respective record highs, while its flagship company Adani Enterprises trading close to its all-time high level on the BSE. In the past one month, these three stocks have outperformed the market by surging up to 20 per cent, as compared to a 0.28 per cent rise in the S&P BSE Sensex.

Individually, Adani Transmission rallied 5 per cent to Rs 1,995, surpassing its previous high of Rs 1,990 hit on September 15, 2021, in the intra-day trade today.

The dollar rose on Thursday, hitting a 16-month high a day after the strongest U.S. inflation reading in more than three decades, while equities rebounded on expectations higher consumer prices will help corporate growth.

The UK's blue-chip stock index rose to 20-month highs as China-exposed miners listed in London bounced on relief that property developer China Evergrande averted a default.

Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Thursday dedicated 142 schools in five districts under the state government's 5T School Transformation programme, which includes 67 schools in Sundargarh, 30 in Cuttack, 23 in Balasore, 12 in Nabarangpur and 10 in Kandhamal.

In the first phase of the 5T School Transformation programme, 1,075 schools in 30 districts of the state have been completed.

India recorded a single-day rise of 12,516 COVID-19 cases on Friday, taking the country's tally of infections to 3,44,14,186, informed the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.

Meanwhile, the count of active cases in the country has declined to 1,37,416, which is the lowest in 267 days.

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