Sensex down 44 points; Metal, PSU stocks lose shine

The Sensex and the Nifty were trading down by over 0.2 per cent in the mid-session on Friday due to heavy selling in metal, banking, realty and PSU stocks amid firm European cues.

At 2.25 p.m., the 30-share BSE index Sensex was down 44.41 points (0.22 per cent) at 19,760.35 and the 50-share NSE index Nifty was down 17.1 points (0.29 per cent) at 5,890.40.

Among BSE sectoral indices, metal index fell the most by 3.69 per cent, followed by PSU 1.54 per cent, realty 1.51 per cent and banking 1.38 per cent.

On the other hand, consumer durables, healthcare, oil & gas and IT indices remained investors' favourite and were up 0.16 per cent, 0.13 per cent, 0.03 per cent and 0.02 per cent, respectively.

Among 30-share Sensex, ITC, Sun Pharma, Hero MotoCorp, M&M and HDFC were the top five gainers, while the top five losers were Hindalco, Sterlite, Coal India, HUL and Maruti.

European stocks were heading for their longest stretch of weekly gains this year, as companies from LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton SA to Kering SA reported faster quarterly sales growth.

Stoxx 50 was up 9.79 points or 0.36 per cent at 2,750.08, FTSE 100 was up 4.85 points or 0.07 per cent at 6,592.80 and DAX was down 8.24 points or 0.1 per cent at 8,290.74.

Most Asian stocks were down, with the regional benchmark index trimming a fifth weekly advance, as Japanese shares dropped amid disappointing earnings.

Nikkei plunged 432.95 points or 2.97 per cent to 14,130.00, while Hang Seng was up 2.20 points or 0.01 per cent at 21,903.20 and S&P/ASX 200 was up 6.39 points or 0.13 per cent at 5,042.

Global stocks have been see-sawing as investors examine US economic data to try and gauge when the Federal Reserve will start scaling back its $85-billion-a-month bond-buying programme.

LIC's investment in Gitanjali Gems under FinMin scrutiny

The Finance Ministry is looking into Life Insurance Corporation’s investment in Gitanjali Gems , reports CNBC-TV18, quoting an unnamed official in the ministry.

Shares of the branded jewellery firm, which boasts of A-list Bollywood stars as its ambassadors, have been on a downward spiral since June 21 with only sellers. From a peak of Rs 637 on April 22, the stock is now down to Rs 85, but there are no buyers in sight still.

According to the official, there is no formal enquiry at this stage; only the details of the investment have been sought from the financial institution. As on June 30, LIC held 4.89 percent in the jewellery firm.

LIC's investment has drawn attention most likely since the financial institution was among the handful of institutions that increased stake in the company during the June quarter, buying 4.84 lakh shares.

The insurer had started building a position in Gitanjali Gems since mid-2012. In the July-September quarter last year, LIC bought 1.95 percent, increased the stake to 2.93 percent in the December quarter and to 4.36 percent in the March quarter. It then added some more shares last quarter.

Between July1 to April 22, the stock price more than doubled from Rs 300 to Rs 637.

Assuming a conservative average purchase price of Rs 400 per share, LIC would have forked out roughly Rs 180 crore for the stake. On paper, the value of the stake is now down to Rs 38 crore. But whom will LIC sell the stake to?, there are simply no buyers. 

The company had planned to raised around USD 250 million through an foreign currency convertible bond (FCCB) issue in February this year with a conversion price of Rs 570, but had to defer the plan owing to lack of demand from overseas investors.

The downtrend in the stock is said to have been triggered by unwinding of pledged shares after the owners of the stock were unable to fulfil the margin obligations. Sentiment for jewellery shares in general soured after the RBI tightened norms on gold imports, pushing up working capital requirement for these companies.

While other jewellery shares stabilized after the initial hammering, Gitanjali Gems shares continue to hurtle downhill. The fact that there are no buyers for the stock despite the 86 percent fall in three months shows that the problem is no longer an overhang of pledged shares. Most likely, investors don’t believe the company's numbers.  

A couple of weeks back, Sebi banned 26 entities, including Gitanjali Gems promoter Mehul Choksi, and broking firm Prime Securities, for allegedly manipulating the stock price.

To be fair to LIC, it was not the only high profile institutional investor to back the stock. Others like GMO, Credit Suisse, Goldman Sachs, Macquarie, Morgan Stanley, Fidelity, College Retirement Fund, and Stichting Pension to have/are still invested in the stock.

Drug pricing policy issue hurting sector's growth: Biocon

Biotechnology major Biocon which today posted a strong first quarter earnings raised concerns about confusion in India's drug pricing policy, which has impacted the growth of pharma-biotech sector.

“We are still seeing very challenging environmental condition in India especially around regulatory aspects of the pharma-biotech sector. We hope that the government will really address this with the sense of urgency,” Kiran Mazumdar Shaw, CMD, Biocon said in a earnings press conference.

She alleged that due to confusion in pricing policies stockists have been reluctant to take stock on hand until the pricing issues are resolved. She added that although clinical trials are resuming now, India needed a regulatory robustness. “We don’t want more layers being put in to approvals but have expertise and the knowledge with which to approve clinical trials expeditiously,” she stressed.

The company reported 18.65 percent rise in consolidated net profit at Rs 93.50 for the first quarter on account of strong performance in the biopharma segment. Consolidated revenue rose to Rs 723 crore from Rs 594 crore in a year ago quarter.

Mazumdar said that Q1 result reflect the company’s inherent strength in product portfolio. She expects insulin to be the strong growth driver in current fiscal. The company will launch its second novel biologic drug Alzumab used in psoriasis treatment in August. “We are now of course looking at taking this molecule global and we are in discussion with several companies that are very keen to partner this program in our global development plan,” she said.

Sensex trades flat during afternoon session

 A benchmark index of Indian equities markets was trading flat at 8.43 points or 0.04 percent up, during the afternoon trade Friday.

Some positive buying was observed in fast moving consumer goods (FMCG), oil and gas and IT sectors, while selling pressure was observed in the banking index (bankex), metals and public sector undertakings (PSU) sectors.

The 30-scrip sensitive index (Sensex) of the S&P Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), which opened at 19,892.47 points, was trading at 19,813.19 points in the afternoon session, up 8.43 points or 0.04 percent from previous day's close at 19,804.76 points.
The Sensex touched a high of 19,907.45 points and a low of 19,774.58 points in the trade so far.
The S&P BSE FMCG index moved up by 38.96 points, oil and gas index increased by 44.49 points and IT index inched up by 34.84 points; while bankex plunged by 195.20 points, metal index dipped by 128.55 points and PSU index dropped by 74.02 points.
The wider 50-scrip Nifty of the National Stock Exchange (NSE) was trading 10.60 points or 0.18 percent down at 5,896.90 points.

Punjab National Bank hits 4-year low on rising bad loans

Punjab National Bank has tanked 6.2% to Rs 589, its lowest level since June 2009, after the state-owned bank said that its gross non-performing assets (NPA), as a percentage of advances, rose to 4.84% in June 2013 quarter against 3.34% in year ago quarter. In March quarter, gross NPA stood at 4.27%.

The bank’s Net NPAs were also increased to 2.98% during the quarter from 1.68% in the corresponding quarter of previous fiscal.

Meanwhile, the bank said net profit grew 2.3% to Rs 1,275 crore against Rs 1,246 crore a year ago. Net interest income rose to Rs 3,908 crore against Rs 3,693 crore last year.

The stock opened at Rs 630 and hit a high of Rs 632 before the announcement of results. A combined 3.23 million shares have changed hands till 1200 hours against an average around one million shares that were traded daily in past two weeks on NSE and BSE.

HUL Q1 net down 23% at Rs 1,019 crore

FMCG major Hindustan Unilever today reported 23.43% decline in net profit at Rs 1,019.25 crore for the first quarter ended June 30, 2013.

The company had posted net profit of Rs 1,331.19 crore in the corresponding quarter a year ago.

HUL's net sales went up by 6.99% to Rs 6,687.49 crore in the quarter under review as against Rs 6,250.15 crore in the corresponding quarter last year, the company said in a BSE filing.

Total income of the company was at Rs 6,809 crore. EBITDA was at Rs 1,086 crore.

The company's other income was at Rs 117 crore versus Rs 218.6 crore in the same period last year. Operating margin was at 15.9%.

The company reported a volume growth of 4% in the quarter.

HUL's scrip was trading at Rs 656.70 per share, down 4.34% from previous close.

The company said it continues to see slowdown in market growth. 

M&M shines as business unit MFCS inaugurates first workshop in Ghaziabad

Mahindra & Mahindra is currently trading at Rs. 893.10, up by 13.00 points or 1.48% from its previous closing of Rs. 880.10 on the BSE.

The scrip opened at Rs. 889.00 and has touched a high and low of Rs. 895.00 and Rs. 880.20 respectively. So far 16,345 shares were traded on the counter.

The BSE group 'A' stock of face value Rs. 5 has touched a 52 week high of Rs. 1026.45 on 20-May-2013 and a 52 week low of Rs. 678.75 on 26-Jul-2012.

Last one week high and low of the scrip stood at Rs. 925.00 and Rs. 870.10 respectively. The current market cap of the company is Rs. 55,005.00 crore.

The promoters holding in the company stood at 25.35% while Institutions and Non-Institutions held 51.19% and 18.23% respectively.

Mahindra & Mahindra’s (M&M) business unit - Mahindra First Choice Services (MFCS) multi-brand certified used car company, has launched its first workshop with unique features in Ghaziabad at Mohan Nagar. The facility, spread over 17,000 sq. ft with 15 bays, has a monthly capacity of servicing 1000+ cars of various brands.

Mahindra & Mahindra is the flagship company of the Mahindra Group. The company’s core automotive and farm equipment businesses have grown into market leaders whose triple bottom line ethic is driving industry trends towards technological innovation, social responsibility, and constantly improving customer satisfaction.

Jet-Etihad deal hits Sebi, DIPP roadblocks

Ahead of the Foreign Investment Promotion Board’s (FIPB’s) meeting on Monday to discuss the Rs 2,060-crore Jet-Etihad deal, the proposed agreement has run into rough weather. This time, the Department of Industrial Policy & Promotion (DIPP), as well as the Securities & Exchange Board of India (Sebi) have raised concerns on effective control being given to the Abu Dhabi-based airline.

Following earlier concerns, Jet and Etihad filed a revised shareholders’ agreement (SHA) with DIPP and FIPB. This, too, doesn’t seem to have gone down well with DIPP, which has found the “tone and language” is “similar to what it had submitted earlier”.

Meanwhile, Sebi is understood to have written to the Department of Economic Affairs (DEA) that the commercial cooperation agreement (CCA) should not be entered into by the two airlines at this juncture. The Sebi view is that the operational control of India’s largest private carrier, Jet Airways, is likely to get transferred to a foreign player after stake sale to Etihad Airways.

 Stop Jet-Etihad deal: BJP MP writes to PM

Sebi’s objection here is significant, as the deal might fall apart if the CCA is not struck. That’s because the agreement is one of Etihad’s conditions for making investments in the debt-ridden Jet Airways.

The CCA prescribes that Etihad could source candidates for senior management positions after the acquisition of stake in Jet. The two airlines further plan to shift network and revenue management functions to Abu Dhabi and consolidate sales office, according to a general sales agreement, to support Jet’s sales in the UAE.

The CCA requires Jet to exit from existing code-share arrangements with third parties on routes where Etihad or its affiliates operate. It also says that Etihad will take the lead role in negotiating with suppliers. Sebi is of the view that these clauses give Etihad the upper hand in operational matters.

Further, under the corporate-governance code, the nominations committee of Jet-Etihad has exclusive powers to recommend the appointment or removal of independent directors and the CEO. Sebi says the committee should not undermine the authority of the board. It adds the powers of the nominations committee should be removed and the supremacy of the board restored.

 Jet-Etihad deal: Agencies in consultation on 'control' issue

According to sources, Sebi has said the current corporate-governance code, which holds that board resolutions can be passed with a three-fourths majority, is against the provisions of the Companies Act. Under the current arrangement, all major decisions will have to be approved by Etihad.

This will give the Abu Dhabi-based airline substantial control over the Indian one. Sebi has suggested the clause be amended for passage of resolutions by simple majority.

According to the current shareholders’ agreement, Etihad will get three board positions, while Jet will have four. There will be seven independent directors on the board. In simple words, the proposed amendment means that vote of eight board members will be sufficient to pass a resolution.

DIPP has, apparently, also put a question mark on how equity investments made by Naresh Goyal, a non-resident Indian, will be treated in the entire calculation of foreign investment in the deal. This is because, if Goyal’s equity participation is summed up with Etihad’s 24 per cent stake, the FDI limit of 49 per cent “will be easily breached”. Goyal has a 66 per cent equity stake in the airline.

DHFL enters into JV with PFI to provide life insurance products to customers in India

Dewan Housing Finance Corporation (DHFL) and Prudential Financial, Inc. (PFI) have entered into a joint venture (JV) partnership to provide life insurance products to customers in India. PFI does business under the trade name Pramerica in selected countries outside the US.

Under the terms of the agreement, which is subject to regulatory approvals, DHFL and its promoters’ entities will acquire DLF’s 74% interest in DLF Pramerica Life Insurance Company (DPLI) and the company, upon closing is proposed to be renamed DHFL Pramerica Life Insurance Company (DHFL Pramerica). The business of the current entity will continue without interruption and the current management will continue to run the joint venture, under the stewardship of the shareholders.

DPLI started operations in India on September 01, 2008 and has a pan India presence through its agency and third party distribution channels.

Biocon Q1 net profit at Rs935mn

Biocon Ltd has posted a net profit after taxes, minority interest of Rs. 935.00 mn for the quarter ended June 30, 2013 as compared to Rs. 788.00 mn for the quarter ended June 30, 2012.
Total Income has increased from Rs. 5926.00 mn for the quarter ended June 30, 2012 to Rs. 7231.70 mn for the quarter ended June 30, 2013.

The company has said that the Board of Directors of the Company has noted the proposal for merger of its subsidiary Clinigene International Ltd with Syngene International Ltd.
Commenting on the results, Chairman and Managing Director, Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw stated, “We are pleased to report a strong set of numbers for Q1 FY14. The new organization structure has enabled us to deliver superior results with the core business performing strongly. Biocon’s Insulins business continues to do well, riding on the back of an increased geographical footprint in the emerging markets. The India-focused branded formulations vertical as well as our research services continue to grow at a steady pace. Our research programs are making good progress. I am very excited about the upcoming launch of Alzumab®, our second novel biologic. We look forward to bringing this first-in-class molecule for the treatment of psoriasis to the Indian market. The current fiscal will see us consolidate our various initiatives whilst we continue our investments in our biosimilars and novel molecules, to deliver a sustainable growth platform. ”
Quarterly Business Performance
Biopharma: Small Molecules & Biosimilars
Biopharma sales grew 19% YoY at Constant Exchange Rate (CER), with broad based growth across the small molecules & biosimilars portfolios.
Small Molecules
The small molecules portfolio delivered a strong performance this quarter, led by Immunosuppressants and Specialty molecules like Fidaxomicin and Orlistat. The statins portfolio has remained stable, despite the changing market dynamics.
Biosimilars
The biosimilars portfolio delivered a healthy growth this quarter, as we enhanced our geographical footprint in generic rh-insulin to 45+ countries. Our Insulin Manufacturing plant recently underwent a capacity enhancement drive, which was initiated in late Q4 FY13. The plant is now back on-stream, and will provide the necessary fillip to sustain the growth momentum going forward.
Commenting on the Biopharma Business Performance, Arun Chandavarkar, COO- Biocon, said, “The sustained growth in our small molecules business reflects the robustness of our diversified and differentiated portfolio. Commercialization of insulin in emerging markets continues to be a significant growth driver and we are on track with our capacity expansions to address these medium term opportunities. We remain focused on developing our pipeline products that address significant global opportunities across our business segments to sustain our long term growth.”
Branded Formulations
The branded formulations vertical grew at 17% YoY this quarter, vis-à-vis the industry growth of 8% YoY. We have seen sustained momentum across our flagship brands in Oncology, Diabetology and Nephrology. The growth was supported by our new divisions of Comprehensive Care and Bio-Products, where we have seen good traction and acceptance of our brands. However, sustained industry-wide challenges including the change in regulations, phased roll-out of NPPA pricing protocols and widespread de-stocking have impeded the growth momentum.
Commenting on the current landscape and the vertical’s performance, Rakesh Bamzai, President-Marketing Biocon, said, “Biocon’s Branded formulations business has created a significant presence in the Indian Pharma Market with our top of the line quality products; by focusing on patients’ therapeutic needs and driving better patient compliance to treatment regimes. Although there are challenges in the industry due to recent changes in pricing guidelines, we are optimistic that our branded formulations business will overcome these challenges and continue to register high growth by improving our market shares on existing products supported by the launch of new products.”
We are currently geared towards the launch of our 2nd novel biologic, AlzumabTM in the Indian market in Q2 FY14. AlzumabTM is our ‘first-in-class’ Anti-CD6 Monoclonal Antibody; which was approved by DCGI for Psoriasis earlier this year.
Novel Molecules
We have firmed up the overall framework for the first set of trials for our oral insulin candidate, IN-105. We are currently in the process of obtaining regulatory approval for commencement of these trials.
Research Services
The research services segment grew 22% YoY at CER, with growth spread across our offerings in Chemistry, biology & biologics. Commenting on this performance, Peter Bains, Director Syngene International, said, “We are pleased to report Q1 FY14 revenues of 155 Crores, representing a YoY growth of 26%. We continue to invest in strengthening and expanding our integrated services platform and we are delighted to see this offering being taken up by both existing customers and new partners. Manufacturing services have had a particularly strong quarter, marked by the inauguration of a new state-of-the-art high potency manufacturing platform. We are also encouraged to be supplying a growing number for partners who have products in late Phase II and Phase III programs. We expect to build further on this momentum, and deliver a strong growth this fiscal”.

Outlook
The focus in the current fiscal is to further our progress in the biosimilars, research services and the branded formulations space. The current business and regulatory environment is challenging and has impacted the Indian pharmaceutical industry’s growth momentum. We intend to manage the environmental uncertainties by building efficiencies across costs and processes as well as by improving the portfolio mix with margin accretive products. The R&D and Capex investments in our biosimilars programs continue as planned with R&D costs expected to increase during the year.

HCL Infosystems inks partnership pact with Educomp Solutions

HCL Infosystems has entered into partnership pact with Educomp Solutions to provide 'Life Cycle Services' for existing and new Educomp classrooms across India. The 'Life Cycle Services' comprise services like break-fix support and field repair along with managing new installations in the Educomp Classrooms.

HCL’s Lifecycle Services is backed by 720 support touch points, 10,000 service engineers, spread across 5,000 towns and Remote Infrastructure Management (RIM) centres. At present, HCL Learning has over 12,000 classrooms, 60 career development centres and offers content as well as innovative products such as DigiSchool and Xcelerate.

Mahindra Lifespace in JV with SCM Real Estate to develop residential project in India

Mahindra Lifespace Developers Ltd has informed BSE regarding a Press Release dated July 26, 2013 titled "Mahindra Lifespaces and Standard Chartered Bank to form joint venture for development of residential real estate in India". Mahindra Lifespace Developers has entered into joint venture arrangement with SCM Real Estate (Singapore), an investment arm of Standard Chartered Bank, for the purpose of developing of residential project in India.

SKS Microfinance Q1 FY14 PAT at Rs. 5cr

SKS Microfinance Limited today announced a PAT of Rs. 5 crore in Q1-FY14, its third consecutive quarter of profit post its turnaround in Q3-FY13 with a profit of Rs.1.2 crore and a profit of Rs. 2.7 crore in Q4-FY13.

The Company has registered a four-fold increase in operating profit to Rs. 16 crore in Q1-FY14 from Rs. 4 crore in Q4-FY13. In Q1-FY13, the Company incurred a loss of Rs. 39 crore.

Total revenue increased by 21% to Rs. 123 crore in Q1-FY14 from Rs. 102 crore in Q4-FY13 (Rs. 79 crore in Q1-FY13). The Company’s net interest income increased by 26% to Rs. 63 crore in Q1-FY14 from Rs. 50 crore in Q4-FY13 as loan disbursements registered a 51% increase to Rs. 830 crore in Q1-FY14 from Rs. 550 crore in Q1-FY13. Consequently, the non-Andhra Pradesh portfolio grew by 63% to Rs. 2,003 crore in Q1-FY14 from Rs. 1,229 crore in Q1-FY13. The average portfolio outstanding increased by 14% between Q4-FY13 and Q1-FY14.

"Our third consecutive quarter of profit in Q1-FY14 is a result of our team’s tireless implementation in the last few quarters of the four-pronged turnaround strategy of fully providing for the AP exposure, managing the supply-side shock, cost structure optimization and recapitalization,” said Mr. S. Dilli Raj, Chief Financial Officer, SKS Microfinance Limited. “With the overall improvement in the regulatory environment aiding our robust growth in credit assets and core income, we are gearing up for sustained growth and profits. Operating leverage and financial leverage will aid profitability. The continued collection efficiency of 99.9% in Q1-FY14 reinforces the operating model validity.”

SKS Microfinance Limited had a net worth of Rs. 395 crore and capital adequacy of 30.2% (capital adequacy without RBI dispensation on AP provisioning is 21.6%) as of June 30, 2013. The Company’s cash and bank balance stood at Rs. 310 crore.

Provision and write-offs increased by 10% to Rs. 11 crore in Q1-FY14 from Rs. 10 crore in Q1-FY13. The entire provisioning in Q1-FY14 relates fully to Standard Asset Provisioning. The Company has chosen to adopt the Reserve Bank of India’s new Standard Asset Provisioning norms with effect from April 1, 2013 itself.

DLF gains on selling 74% equity stake in its Insurance JV

DLF is currently trading at Rs. 177.90, up by 2.80 points or 1.60% from its previous closing of Rs. 175.10 on the BSE.


The scrip opened at Rs. 177.00 and has touched a high and low of Rs. 179.50 and Rs. 177.00 respectively. So far 56,000 shares were traded on the counter.

The BSE group 'A' stock of face value Rs. 2 has touched a 52 week high of Rs. 289.20 on 12-Mar-2013 and a 52 week low of Rs. 161.25 on 24-Jun-2013.

Last one week high and low of the scrip stood at Rs. 177.75 and Rs. 165.60 respectively. The current market cap of the company is Rs. 31,661.00 crore.

The promoters holding in the company stood at 75.00% while Institutions and Non-Institutions held 20.19% and 4.82% respectively. 

DLF has signed a definitive agreements to sell its 74% equity stake in its the Life Insurance Joint Venture - DLF Pramerica Life Insurance Company, a joint venture with Prudential International Insurance holdings (PIIHL), a subsidiary of Prudential Financial, Inc USA 'PFI' to Dewan Housing Finance Corporation (DEIFL) & its group entities. These agreements are subject to regulatory approvals. The transaction is in line with the DLF's ongoing strategy to divest non-core assets.

DLF, founded by billionaire Kushal Pal Singh, has a land bank of 10,255 acres, the biggest in the real estate sector. At its peak, its debt pile stood at Rs 23,000 crore.

Sensex to open on a weak note

There is no peace of mind in the market as the August series sets in. Though the main indices have gained around 5% in July, the undercurrent remains negative. Crisil has stated that a third of the 11,500 companies it rates may not be in a position to service debt this fiscal as the RBI’s liquidity tightening to shore up the rupee stretches payment cycles.

Credit quality of corporates is likely to be weakened by slow growth in GDP, heightened currency volatility, and higher-than-expected interest rates, the Crisil report added.

That aside the market is expected to open flat today. It’s going to be action-packed as far as the results are concerned. Some may announce after market hours, which could be a new trend soon. Wipro, HUL and Nestle will be on investor’s radar on account of its numbers expected today. ITC, first-quarter profits grew 18% at its slowest pace in four years as India’s economic growth slowed.

A report states that HUL has seen a record number of bearish bets in the derivatives (F&O) market as the valuation, or price-to-earnings multiple (P/E), of the stock has climbed to an all-time high of nearly 45 times, making it one of the most expensive stocks on Dalal Street.

The rupee strengthened to a five-week high on Thursday. It closed at 59.11/12 per dollar compared with 59.13/14 on Wednesday.
US markets were marginally higher. Nasdaq gained 25 points led by a rally in Facebook. The Dow Jones rose 13.37 points while Standard & Poor's 500 Index added 4.31 points.
The yen rose to a two-week high versus the dollar. Asian shares are trading lower. Japan's Nikkei 225 is down 1.5% and Hong Kong's Hang Seng index has fallen 0.3%. South Korea's Kospi index is marginally lower and so is the case with China's Shanghai index.

Japanese consumer prices rose the most since 2008 in June. Reports indicate this could be a sign that the country is may be emerging from a period of deflation. China has directed more than 1,400 companies in industries from steelmaking to papermaking to cut excess capacity by year-end.

US regulator reportedly said that it reached an $885 mn settlement with UBS over allegations the bank misrepresented mortgage-backed bonds that were sold to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac during the housing bubble.
The initial claims for U.S. jobless benefits rose to 343,000 in latest week from 334,000 in the previous week, the Labor Department said.
Gold was steady after a 0.9% rise.

Ambuja Cements stock tanked to its 5-year lows after market participants got jittery over the stake sale deal that reeks of Ambuja's foreign parent walking away with the its cash holdings.

Maruti Suzuki India Ltd., the nation’s biggest carmaker by volume, reported first-quarter profit that beat analyst estimates after a weaker Japanese yen lowered import costs.

Special CBI court today has given exemption to Reliance Telecom, chairman Anil Ambani from appearing as a witness in the 2G spectrum trial till August 15.

Faced with over Rs. 11,200 crore tax liability, Vodafone India chief Analjit Singh on Thursday met Finance Minister P Chidambaram for the second time this week and expressed the hope that there will be clarity soon on the proposal to settle the dispute through conciliation.

Nikkei falls to 2-week low on stronger yen, weak earnings

 Japan's Nikkei share average fell to a two-week low on Friday morning, as selling accelerated on the back of a firmer yen and disappointing quarterly earnings from the likes of Canon Inc and Advantest Corp.
The Nikkei fell 1.9 percent to 14,288.92 in mid-morning trade after slipping to a low of 14,236.46 earlier, the lowest level since July 9.
Analysts said that the Nikkei's immediate support is seen at its 25-day moving average of 14,119.61.
The first-quarter earnings season is at its peak, with more blue chips reporting their results next week. Analysts said that investor sentiment has turned sour on the results after companies like Canon and Shin-Etsu Chemical Co disappointed the market on the previous day. Canon extended its losses, down 1.9 percent.
On Friday, Yahoo Japan Corp fell as much as 5.7 percent after the company Posted worse-than-expected earnings.

Advantest tumbled 8.7 percent after reporting an operating loss of 3.32 billion yen for the April-June quarter.
Exporters took a hit as the yen rose against the dollar, with Toyota Motor Corp falling 2.0 percent, Sony Corp dropping 1.8 percent and Honda Motor Co shedding 2.1 percent.
Market players said that investors are reluctant to take large positions for now.
"Trading may be led by futures as many investors are reluctant to take positions in the cash market until they see all the earnings outcomes," said Yutaka Miura, a senior technical analyst at Mizuho Securities.
Investors will also watch to see whether the dollar holds above 99 yen during the day, given a greater focus on dollar-yen levels as exporters release their results. A weak yen lifts exporters' competitiveness overseas as well as their profits when repatriated.
"Since the weak yen has been a major factor to buy into the Japanese market, exporters' first quarter earnings will likely drive investor sentiment from now on in deciding whether they want to buy more or retreat," said Hikaru Sato, senior technical analyst at Daiwa Securities.
The dollar last traded at 99.25 yen.

The Topix dropped 1.7 percent to 1,181.34, with 32 of its 33 subsectors in negative territory.
Before the market opened, Japan's June core consumer price index came in at 0.4 percent, just above forecasts for 0.3 percent.
Economists said the data was positive for the stock market in the mid to long term.
"The rise in the CPI is mainly due to the weaker yen, which is raising import costs, so it's too early to be overly optimistic. But we can say that 'Abenomics' is very much in play," said Nobuhiko Kuramochi, strategist and economist at Mizuho Securities.
The Nikkei has dropped around 10 percent from the year's peak at 15,942.60 hit on May 23, but it is up 38 percent this year on the back of the weaker yen as Prime Minister Shinzo Abe continues to drive an aggressive policy mix of fiscal and monetary stimulus.