Top stocks in news: Knowledge REIT, Voda Idea, Glenmark Pharma, Vedanta, banks & NBFCs

Indian benchmark indices settled on a flat note on Thursday ahead of extended weekend as traders remained cautious over the US-Russia summit. BSE Sensex added 57.75 points, or 0.07 per cent, to settle at 80,597.66, while NSE's Nifty50 inched up 11.95 points, or 0.05 per cent, to close at 24,631.30. Here are the stocks that may remain under spotlight before the opening bell on Monday, August 18, 2025:

Corporate actions today: Shares of Power Finance Corporation, Aarti Industries, Bright Brothers, DHP India, JK Paper, Lakshmi Electrical Control Systems, Ram Ratna Wires and Rose Merc shall trade ex-dividend today, while shares of Algoquant Fintech shall trade ex-bonus and ex-split today.

Knowledge Realty Trust: Units of India's second largest office REIT will make its debut on Dalal Street today, after it raised Rs 4,800 crore via IPO, which ran between August 05-07. The company sold its units for Rs 100 apiece with a lot size of 150 units. The issue saw a strong response from the investors with an overall subscription of 13.11 times.

ONGC, Power Grid, NTPC, Tata Power: S&P Global Ratings has raised the issuer credit ratings of ONGC, Power Grid Corporation of India, NTPC, and Tata Power to 'BBB' from 'BBB-'. The outlooks are stable.

Banks & NBFCs: S&P Global Ratings has raised long-term issuer credit ratings for seven Indian banks- State Bank of India, ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank, Axis Bank, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Union Bank of India, and Indian Bank- as well as three finance companies- Bajaj Finance, Tata Capital, L&T Finance.

Vodafone Idea: The telecom operator reported widening of net losses at Rs 6,608.1 crore with a 5 per cent YoY rise in revenue at Rs 11,022.5 crore for the June 2025 quarter. Customer ARPU for the quarter stood at Rs 177, signaling a YoY growth of 15 per cent.

Glenmark Pharmaceuticals: The drug maker reported an 86.2 per cent YoY crash in its net profit at Rs 46.8 crore, while revenue increased slightly, up 0.6 per cent YoY at Rs 3,264 crore for the first quarter that ended June 30, 2025. Ebitda dropped 1.4 per cent YoY to Rs 580 crore, while margins contracted to 17.7 per cent for the quarter.

Vedanta: SEBI has issued a warning letter to Vedanta for non-compliance related to the modification of a Scheme of Arrangement filed with the stock exchange without obtaining SEBI's prior written consent.

KEC International: The RPG Group company has secured new orders worth Rs 1,402 crore in its transmission & distribution, civil, and cables & conductors businesses. With these additions, its order intake has surpassed Rs 8,400 crore in 2025 so far.

Alembic Pharmaceuticals: The pharma company has received final approval from the USFDA for its Abbreviated New Drug Application (ANDA) for Tretinoin Cream USP, 0.025 per cent, which is used for the treatment of acne vulgaris. The estimated market size for Tretinoin cream is $94 million for the twelve months ending June 2025.

PVR INOX: The multiplex and movie theatre company has opened an 8-screen multiplex at Mahindra Millennium Mall in Bengaluru, Karnataka, and a 10-screen megaplex at Sky City Mall in Borivali, Mumbai. With these launches, it now operates the largest multiplex network with 1,763 screens across 355 properties in 111 cities (India and Sri Lanka).

Signatureglobal (India): The real estate company’s subsidiary, Signatureglobal Business Park, has executed three Sale Deeds to purchase 33.47 acres of land at Sohna, Gurugram. Of this, 30.86 acres were acquired in collaboration.

JK Cement: The company board has approved a greenfield expansion project involving a new cement line with a capacity of 7 million tonnes per annum (MnTPA) worth Rs 4,805 crore.

PNC Infratech: The infra player has received a Letter of Award from NHPC for setting up a 300 MW Inter-State Transmission System (ISTS)-connected solar power project, along with a 150 MW / 600 MWh energy storage system.

Somany Ceramics: The hardware company has received communication from GAIL (India) regarding a gas leakage incident at Chainage 17 km of GAIL’s Gauna–Bawana pipeline due to heavy rainfall and flood-like conditions. This has resulted in the temporary stoppage of gas supply to the company's Kassar plant. As a result, production at the plant has been temporarily halted.

EMS: The water treatment and sanitation player has received a letter of acceptance (LOA) for an order worth Rs 104.06 crore from UP Jal Nigam (Urban).

Globe Civil Projects: The infra & construction company has received a letter of award (LoA) for the construction of an International Cricket Stadium at Lohat, Jhajjar, Haryana, for the Haryana Cricket Association. The project is valued at Rs 222.2 crore.