In Thursday’s session, a stronger-than-expected US retail sales report for January and an improved global sentiment could drive domestic markets higher.

At 7:30 am, the SGX Nifty was quoted at 18,066 points, up more than 43 points.

Globally, US stocks ended higher overnight as US retail sales rose 3% in January, the biggest gain since 2021. Major indexes, including the Dow Jones, S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite, fell 0.9%.

Hero MotoCorp: Chief Financial Officer Niranjan Gupta expects exports to contribute at least 10% to overall revenue in the medium to long term. Currently, the proportion of overseas shipments in the overall turnover pie is in the low single digits. The company plans to expand its presence in the high-end domestic market over the next three to five years.

NTPC: The state-owned power giant plans to raise Rs 6,213 crore yen term loans to fund its capex for new and ongoing projects. The company has tendered the yen loan, financed through external commercial borrowing.

Hindustan Aeronautics: The company has signed a Transfer of Technology (ToT) agreement with CSIR-National Aerospace Laboratories for the design knowledge, production and commercialization of composite fin and rudder components for Air India’s light fighter Tejas.

Under the agreement, the company can directly produce composite components for the LCA-Mk1A series.

MTNL: The company’s consolidated loss widened to Rs 775.5 crore in Q3FY23 from Rs 659.2 crore a year earlier. Consolidated operating income in Q3 also fell 25% to Rs 227.41 crore from Rs 303.5 crore in Q3FY22.

Bharat Dynamics: The company launched three new products during Aero India – 2023 in Bangalore. They introduced vertically launched products – short-range surface-to-air missiles or VL SR SAMs”, “semi-active laser seeker-homing anti-tank guided missiles for BMP-II”, and “drone-delivered missiles”.

Bharat Electronics: The company has signed an agreement with Goa Shipyard to provide state-of-the-art products for naval platforms, such as autonomous ships and other AI-based systems or solutions.

Patel Engineering: The company and its joint venture partners have been announced as the lowest bidder (L1) for the Rs 1,567 crore project in Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra. The company’s share of these new orders was Rs 1,006 crore.

PTC Industries: The company signed an agreement with Hindustan Aeronautics to explore mutual cooperation and business development opportunities to localise aerospace-grade raw materials, components, subsystems and aero-engine systems for Russian aircraft. Management said the agreement would give the country a technological edge in manufacturing key aero-engine components and small engines.