Indian stock markets witnessed subdued trading on Thursday, with both the benchmark indices – S&P BSE Sensex and NSE Nifty – closing marginally lower compared to Wednesday.
Pipavav Defence and Offshore Engineering shares soared 20% and closed at a new 52-week high of Rs 100.25 in response to speculation that the Anil Ambani Group company is likely to benefit from a Rs 60,000 crore deal that Reliance Defence will secure during Prime Minister Narendra Modi's current visit to Russia.
It was reported that Reliance Defence and Russian United Shipbuilding Company will announce plans to build four frigates for the Indian Navy after talks between Narendra Modi and Russian President Vladimir Putin conclude on Thursday.
The four frigates would cost Rs 30,000 crore and would be built at Pipavav's facility in Gujarat. Another deal for about Rs 35,000 crore for modernisation of Indian Navy ships was also expected to be signed, according to The Financial Express.
The BSE has sought an explanation from Pipavav Offshore on the media report.
Narendra Modi tweeted that he will be meeting Putin and also talking to CEOs of Russian companies later.
Will go to the Kremlin in a short while from now. Will meet President Putin & key agreements will be inked. Will also interact with CEOs.
— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) December 24, 2015
The Sensex closed 11.59 points, or 0.04%, at 25,838.71, while the Nifty ended with a loss of 4.90 points, or 0.06%, at 7,861.05.
While 16 Sensex shares advanced, 13 declined with a turnover of Rs 214.72 crore.
As for Nifty, 28 shares advanced while 21 declined.
Bharti Airtel, GAIL (India) and Tata Motors gained on the BSE, while ICICI Bank, Maruti Suzuki, ONGC , State Bank of India, Reliance Industries, Infosys and HDFC ended the day with modest losses on the BSE.
Alkem Laboratories, which debuted on 23 December and ended the day with 31% gains, rose 10.16% further on Thursday to end the day at Rs 1,521.75. The share was issued at Rs 1,050 in the IPO that closed on 10 December.
The issue of 12,853,442 equity shares was oversubscribed 44 times and the company raised Rs 1,350 crore.
Dr Lal PathLabs, the diagnostic chain, which also got listed on the same day, had ended with a gain of almost 50% over its issue price of Rs 550 per share. On Thursday, the stock gained another 8.43% and closed at Rs 893.65.
The markets will be closed on 25 December for Christmas, followed by weekend.
