Shares of telecom companies gained on Wednesday on report that it would take at least six months to evaluate the companies' self-assessment of dues linked to adjusted gross revenue (AGR).

Among individual stocks, Vodafone Idea surged as much as 23.5 per cent to Rs 4.94 on the BSE while Bharti Airtel was up 2.46 per cent to Rs 508.5. In comparison, the benchmark S&P BSE Sensex was trading 0.1 per cent higher at 10 AM.

Reliance Industries (RIL), the oil-to-telecom behemoth, surged around 6 per cent to Rs 1,178.40 apiece on the BSE on Wednesday after global brokerage firm Macquarie upgraded the stock to 'Neutral'. Moreover, oil prices continued to rise for the second straight day, lifted by hopes that US producers will cut output.

RIL had hit a 52-week low of Rs 1,094.95 on Monday (March 9) owing to crash in crude oil prices after Saudi Arabia and Russia triggered a price war.

Shares of oil marketing companies (OMCs), including Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd (HPCL) and Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd (BPCL), skid up to 4 per cent on the BSE after oil prices rose for the second straight day on Wednesday.

At 9:43 am, Brent Crude Futures were at $38.45 per barrel-mark, up 3.3 per cent, while the US WTI was at $35.26/bbl, up 2.62 per cent. This comes after an over 8 per cent rise in the oil prices on Tuesday. Prices inched higher on hopes of a supply cut by US producers.

The Congress Legislative Party held a meeting in Bhopal on Tuesday which was attended by 94 MLAs while 20 MLAs did not turn up for the meet, as per sources.

The numbers game seems to be tilting towards the BJP, which has 107 MLAs in the House which has a current strength of 228.

After sailing close to the wind since the Lok Sabha elections last year, the Madhya Pradesh government, run by the Congress, was on the verge of collapse on Tuesday, and it looks certain that Shivraj Singh Chouhan of the BJP will return as chief minister.

Chouhan had been chief minister from 2005 to the end of 2018, when the Congress returned to power.

Air freight rates are skyrocketing after the grounding of many passenger flights in Asia has left shippers scrambling to book limited spots on cargo planes as Chinese industrial production restarts, according to industry insiders.

About half of the air cargo carried worldwide normally flies in the belly of passenger jets rather than in dedicated freighters. But deep flight cuts in response to the coronavirus outbreak have made the market more dependent on freight haulers.

IndusInd Bank's promoters will hike their stake in the private sector lender by buying extra shares from the market.

The promoters of the bank —IndusInd International Holdings (IIHL) and IndusInd — plan to acquire additional shares from open market in India. This will be within the overall regulatory cap prescribed for promoter holding in private banks, the bank informed the BSE on Friday.

State Bank of India chairman Rajnish Kumar on Saturday said that the bank had received the draft scheme for the reconstruction for crisis-hit Yes Bank and a legal team was doing its due diligence on it. He said the bank would go to the Reserve Bank of India by March 9.

Speaking at a press conference, Rajnish Kumar said that SBI had been approached by many investors, who saw an opportunity in YES Bank.

US President Donald Trump has said the overall risk to the American public from deadly Coronavirus remains low.

I think at this point, … the overall risk to the American public does remain low, Trump told reporters on Friday after he visited Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) headquarters in Atlanta.

China's exports contracted sharply in the first two months of the year, as the fast spreading coronavirus outbreak caused massive disruptions to business operations, global supply chains and economic activity.

Imports also fell but were better than analyst expectations.

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