Stocks to Watch: SpiceJet, Sun Pharma, Zydus Cadilla, HDIL,Ashok Leyland, Orbit Corporation

MUMBAI: Crude oil prices fell on Tuesday as investors booked profits after a recent rally. US crude fell to $68.15 per barrel after hitting its highest settlement since Nov. 4 on Monday. London Brent crude dipped to $67.57.

The Indian rupee opened lower against the dollar Tuesday. At 9:20 am, partially convertible rupee was at 47.08 down 0.13 paise.

Low-cost airline SpiceJet, which attracted $80-million investment from US billionaire Wilbur Ross last year, is looking to acquire a rival budget airline, and start international and regional operations, said its chief executive Sanjay Aggarwal. He expects a deal to materialise over the next 8-10 months.

Sun Pharmaceuticals, India���s biggest drug company by market capitalisation, will spend Rs 332 crore in research & development of low-cost versions of original drugs to be sold in the domestic and global markets. The Mumbai-based drug maker had last year spent Rs 290 crore on R&D activities.

Ahmedabad-based ZydusCadila and Israeli generic major Teva have settled their patent disputes over active pharmaceutical ingredients
used to make generic versions of GlaxoSmithKline���s heart drug and Johnson & Johnson���s anti-psychotic drug. Zydus will now be able to sell its generic versions of these products in the US without legal implications from Teva.

Housing Development & Infrastructure Ltd has entered in to a joint venture with Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority for development of 525 acre of land under Rental housing scheme at Virar. The company will develop 13 million square feet for rental space and hand it over to MMRDA free of cost and remaining approximately 39 million of square feet space will be available to the company for free sale.

Hinduja Group's flagship Ashok Leyland is planning to develop heavy vehicles that run on compressed natural gas (CNG) as the availability of gas is expected to double this year with gas flowing from Reliance Industries' Krishna Godavari basin.

Orbit Corporation will hold board meeting to consider a proposal for fund raising through qualified institutions placement to qualified institutional buyers.