Markets continue to languish;FMCG weigh

Meanwhile, Bharti Airtel up 5.5% along with IT majors buck trend

Markets continued to trade in the negative territory with FMCG, banks and Oil & Gas majors weighing on the indices in noon deals. At 1315 hrs, the Sensex was down 127 points at 19,221 and the Nifty slipped 55 points to trade around the levels of 5,699.

In the broader markets, the selloff worsened, with both the smallcap and the midcap indices losing 2% each.

The rupee approached a record low on Wednesday on doubts about whether the central bank can defend the currency with its existing cash-draining measures unless policy makers take additional steps. The rupee dropped by 61 paise to 61.08 in the late noon deals.

In Asia, Chinese shares rose after Beijing pledged to keep economic growth stable in the second half of the year, while the dollar held onto slight gains as market momentum stalled ahead of the outcome of the U.S. Federal Reserve policy meeting on Wednesday.

China's CSI300 index rose 0.5% after authorities pledged to keep growth stable in the second half of 2012 while pressing ahead with reforms and restructuring. The index is still down nearly 13% this year.

Japan's Nikkei share average dropped 1.5% in light trading, giving up some of the previous session's 1.5% gain. Still, the benchmark is up 31.5% in 2013, underpinned by the government's aggressive stimulus policies aimed at reviving the world's third-largest economy.

Back home, only IT index was in the green with gains of nearly 1%. Among the ones in the red were Realty, Bankex, Power, FMCG, PSU and Capital Goods losing 1-4%.

The top gainers among the Sensex-30 were Bharti Airtel up 5.5% after its net profit fell to 6.89 billion rupees for the fiscal first quarter ended June 31, beating analyst expectations, helped by better operating performance at home.

IT majors TCS, Infosys and Wipro gained 0.1-3%.

Dr Reddys Lab, Coal India, Tata Power, ONGC, Tata Motors, Mahindra & Mahindra and Bajaj Auto which added 0.2-3% rounded off the gainers.

Among the losers were NTPC, Jindal Steel, ICICI Bank, ITC, Gail India, Hindustan Unilever, Tata Steel and Cipla which slipped 2-5%.

The market breadth was negative. 1,522 stocks declined while 526 stocks advanced on the BSE.

Rupee breaches the perilous 61/$ level on persistent month-end dollar demand

Indian rupee, prolonging its freefall, has yet again breached the perilous 61/$ level on persistent month-end dollar demand from importers and on the back of strengthening in the US currency overseas. Lingering doubts on whether the central bank can defend the currency with its existing cash-draining measures unless policy makers take additional steps is mainly hurting sentiment. Meanwhile, negative local equities also added to the pressure of Indian currency. On the global front, US dollar advanced slightly in the early trade as investors prepared for a statement on monetary policy from the US Federal Reserve, as well as the preliminary estimate of second-quarter growth for the world's largest economy.

The partially convertible currency is currently trading at 61.05, weaker by 57 paise from its previous close of 60.48 on Tuesday. The currency has touched a high and low of 61.20 and 60.83 respectively. The Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) reference rate for the dollar stood at Rs 59.82 and for Euro it stood at Rs 79.32 on July 30, 2013. While, the RBI’s reference rate for the Yen stood at 60.84, the reference rate for the Great Britain Pound (GBP) stood at 91.7582. The reference rates are based on 12 noon rates of a few select banks in Mumbai.

IOC strengthens on raising $500 million through issue of dollar-denominated bonds

Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) is currently trading at Rs. 196.00, up by 0.65 points or 0.33% from its previous closing of Rs. 195.35 on the BSE.

The scrip opened at Rs. 194.00 and has touched a high and low of Rs. 197.40 and Rs. 186.20 respectively. So far 90,000 shares were traded on the counter.

The BSE group 'A' stock of face value Rs. 10 has touched a 52 week high of Rs. 375.00 on 18-Jan-2013 and a 52 week low of Rs. 194.00 on 30-Jul-2013.

Last one week high and low of the scrip stood at Rs. 227.45 and Rs. 194.00 respectively. The current market cap of the company is Rs. 47272.23 crore.

The promoters holding in the company stood at 78.92% while Institutions and Non-Institutions held 6.43% and 14.65% respectively.

State-owned Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) has raised $500 million by selling 10-year dollar-denominated bonds. The senior unsecured bonds were priced at 3.224% points over comparable US Treasuries and the paper carries a coupon of 5.75%.

The company received bids for around $3.5 billion from over 400 investors, comprising 64% from fund managers, 17% from banks, 11% from insurance and sovereign wealth funds and 8% from private banks.

IOC is the largest enterprise in the country and the foremost ranked Fortune Global 500 Company in India and has presence in the complete hydrocarbon value chain from downstream refining & marketing, pipeline transportation, Petrochemicals, E&P and Gas Marketing.

Pipavav Defence to raise $150mn through London Stock Exchange listing

Pipavav Defence is targeting to list its stock on London Stock Exchange by October, 2013.

Pipavav Defence and Offshore Engineering Company Ltd on Wednesday announced that that the company plans to raise US$150mn through listing it London Stock Exchange. It has received provisional approval from FIPB to raise $200mn. The company has shortlisted Investment Bankers for listing it on London Stock Exchange.
The investment will be used in subsidiaries to build wide spectrum defence manufacturing facilities and infrastructure for the global demand.
The company is currently working with nearly 12 countries to build warships and offshore assets and it expects to become a global defense and offshore company over the next 4 to 5 years.
It is looking forward to joint marketing initiatives to tap growing global demands of warships and submarines through its prestigious Joint Venture with Mazagon Dock Ltd. It has submitted the bids worth $2bn in various countries with respective local partners.
The investment will reduce overall debt equity and strengthen the balance sheet significantly. Pipavav Defence is targeting to list its stock on London Stock Exchange by October, 2013.

YES Bank hikes base rate to 10.75%; revises deposit rates

Yes Bank has also consequently revised its Base Rate to 10.75% (an increase of 0.25%) effective August 1, 2013

YES BANK, India's fourth largest private sector bank today announced the revision of it's deposit rates by 0.25 percent to 0.5 percent in select tenors. This provides an opportunity for retail depositors to lock in higher rates on term deposits.

Yes Bank has also consequently revised its base rate to 10.75% (an increase of 0.25%) effective August 1, 2013.

The stock was trading at Rs 299.65 down 14 percent at 10 am.

VA Tech Wabag surges as its order intake surpasses Rs 1,000 crore in Q1FY14

VA Tech Wabag is currently trading at Rs. 392.50, up by 3.65 points or 0.94% from its previous closing of Rs. 388.85 on the BSE.

The scrip opened at Rs. 388.90 and has touched a high and low of Rs. 395.00 and Rs. 387.00 respectively. So far 285 shares were traded on the counter.

The BSE group 'B' stock of face value Rs. 2 has touched a 52 week high of Rs. 589.00 on 11-Jan-2013 and a 52 week low of Rs. 380.65 on 30-Jul-2013.

Last one week high and low of the scrip stood at Rs. 445.65 and Rs. 380.65 respectively. The current market cap of the company is Rs. 0.00 crore.

The promoters holding in the company stood at 30.91% while Institutions and Non-Institutions held 50.03% and 19.07% respectively.

VA Tech Wabag, a leading multinational company specialized in water and waste water management, has bagged orders exceeding Rs 1,000 crore cumulative in the first quarter of FY2014. Some of the domestic orders bagged by the company in the current quarter include orders from State municipalities like Orissa and Chennai.

Besides, the company has also been successful in bagging good order intake from international geographies like Philippines, Nepal and Turkey during the quarter. The company’s strategy of setting up of Multi Domestic Units (MDU) for deeper penetration in overseas geographies is progressing well.

VA Tech Wabag is a multinational player in the water treatment industry. It offers complete life cycle solutions including conceptualization, design, engineering, procurement, supply, installation, construction and O&M services.

Tata Consultancy Services receives Partner Excellence Award from Pegasystems

Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), a leading IT services, consulting and business solutions organisation, has been awarded a Partner Excellence Award for its work with Pegasystems, a leader in business process management (BPM) and software for customer centricity. TCS was recognised for its work with Pegasystems as the Best Sell with for Customer Success in Financial Services. The award, which recognises partner organisations for their ability to use Pegasystems to drive customer success, was presented to TCS during Pegasystems’ annual global sales conference in Orlando.

Tata Consultancy Services is an IT services, consulting and business solutions organization that delivers real results to global business, ensuring a level of certainty no other firm can match. TCS offers a consulting-led, integrated portfolio of IT, BPO, infrastructure, engineering and assurance services.

Bharti Airtel rings loud on getting approval for transfer of Data Centre undertaking bizz

Bharti Airtel is currently trading at Rs. 324.25, up by 2.80 points or 0.87 % from its previous closing of Rs. 321.45 on the BSE.

The scrip opened at Rs. 313.35 and has touched a high and low of Rs. 327.80 and Rs. 312.70 respectively. So far 270956 shares were traded on the counter.

The BSE group 'A' stock of face value Rs. 5 has touched a 52 week high of Rs. 370.40 on 25-Jan-2013 and a 52 week low of Rs. 238.50 on 30-Aug-2012.

Last one week high and low of the scrip stood at Rs. 346.70 and Rs. 317.40 respectively. The current market cap of the company is Rs. 129635.69 crore.

The promoters holding in the company stood at 65.23% while Institutions and Non-Institutions held 24.40% and 10.37% respectively.

Bharti Airtel has received an approval for sale/transfer of its Data Centre undertaking (DCU) business by way of slump sale to its newly incorporated wholly owned subsidiary Nxtra Data. The board of director at its meeting held on July 31, 2013, has approved for the same.

Bharti Airtel is a leading integrated telecommunications company with operations in 20 countries across Asia and Africa. The company ranks amongst the top 5 mobile service providers globally in terms of subscribers.

Gati Infra builds hydro-electric power project in Sikkim

GE Energy Financial Services India has invested Rs. 257 Crores in the hydro-power project through a share subscription agreement.

Gati Infrastructure Private Limited -an energy  initiative of Mahendra Agarwal, Founder and CEO of – Gati Limited, India’s pioneer and leader in Express Distribution and Supply Chain Solution is helping to alleviate India's enormous electricity shortage with its first and largest hydro-power  project in the private sector, in the north east of India.
GE Energy Financial Services India has invested Rs. 257 Crores in the hydro-power project  through a share subscription agreement. The 110 megawatt Chuzachen hydro-electric project in East Sikkim harnesses the water flow from the rivers Rangpo and Rongli, in a run-of-river design,  with turbines and generators supplied by Alstom India Ltd . The project built at a cost  of  Rs. 1188 Crores is the first one of this magnitude, under Private Ownership, in the north east of India. IDFC is the lead financier, with a loan at the project level. Capital Fortunes Private Limited - Hyderabad are the advisors and sole arrangers  in respect of this transaction. Commissioned in May of this year, the project is operating at steady state .

Mahendra Agarwal, promoter of Gati Infrastructure , explained why the company chose the snowy , rainy northeastern state of Sikkim as the hydro-power project's location “Sikkim is a  growing economy in the north east with average rainfall higher than in several other Himalayan States. With glacial melt and the perennial rivers, Sikkim has a peak potential capacity of 8,000 megawatts  of hydro-electric power.”

TCS gains on modernizing and automating taxation system in Zambia

Tata Consultancy Services is currently trading at Rs. 1807.00, up by 16.15 points or 0.90% from its previous closing of Rs. 1790.85 on the BSE.

The scrip opened at Rs. 1789.00 and has touched a high and low of Rs. 1807.05 and Rs. 1789.00 respectively. So far 8,815 shares were traded on the counter.

The BSE group 'A' stock of face value Rs. 1 has touched a 52 week high of Rs. 1808.00 on 25-Jul-2013 and a 52 week low of Rs. 1197.60 on 18-Dec-2012.

Last one week high and low of the scrip stood at Rs. 1808.00 and Rs. 1740.00 respectively. The current market cap of the company is Rs. 3,53,669.00 crore.

The promoters holding in the company stood at 73.96% while Institutions and Non-Institutions held 21.57% and 4.47% respectively.

Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), a leading IT services, business solutions and consulting firm, has won a three year contract from the Zambia Revenue Authority (ZRA) for the modernization of its domestic tax system. This is the company's third revenue and tax system automation project in the African region after a successful implementation for Uganda Revenue Authority and ongoing implementation for Kenya Revenue Authority.

To carry out this transformational engagement, ZRA realized that it needed a strategic partner with strong domain expertise in executing tax administration systems as well as a strong technology credibility. TCS was the ideal choice having done more than 15 tax framework implementations in India, seven in USA and two in Africa. The scope of the project includes providing an integrated tax software application based on TCS' taxation framework, taxpayer 24/7 portal for e-services delivery, data migration, training, roll-out, warranty and operational support.

Tata Consultancy Services is an IT services, consulting and business solutions organization that delivers real results to global business, ensuring a level of certainty no other firm can match. TCS offers a consulting-led, integrated portfolio of IT, BPO, infrastructure, engineering and assurance services.

Economy news of the day

The Government is working on a scheme that will put mobile phones in the hands of rural folks.

India's logistics sector is likely to cross the US$200 bn by 2020, Minister of State for Road Transport Sarvey Sathyanarayana said today. (ET)

In what could be Governor D Subbarao’s last monetary policy review, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) maintained the status quo on repo rate and cash reserve ratio (CRR) — leaving those unchanged at 7.25 % and 4%, respectively. However, its unexpectedly dovish tone led to the rupee’s slide — to 60.49 a dollar.(BS)

Govt may ease FDI norms in multibrand retail this week. (BS)

The Government is working on a scheme that will put mobile phones in the hands of rural folks. (BL)


The government asked the agrochemicals industry to invest in research and development (R&D) activities, so that it could remain globally competitive. (ET)

Bharti Airtel Q1 PAT at Rs6.89bn

Bharti Airtel Ltd has posted results for the first quarter ended 30th June, 2013.

The PAT for the quarter stands at Rs6.89bn, up 35%

Q1 sales is at Rs202.64bn, down 1%.

The net debt is at $9.8bn.

Mkt cautious ahead of Fed outcome; ICICI, Bharti Q1 nos key

Investor sentiment is cautious ahead of the Fed two-day meet outcome due today. The Federal Reserve is expected to maintain its accommodative monetary policy, but investors will be looking for hints on when the central bank might start scaling back on its monthly bond-buying programme. In addition, markets will also be eager for hints for who may replace Ben Bernanke next year as Fed chairman.

Back home, equity benchmarks fell 1.3 percent Tuesday as the rupee dropped below the 60-mark post RBI's credit policy review , continuing weakness for the fifth consecutive session.

ICICI bank is expected to deliver a stable set of numbers. In a CNBC-TV18 poll, the bank is seen reporting 24 percent growth in profits year-on-year. Margins are seen to be stable sequentially.

Bharti Airtel is also set to announce April-June quarter results today. Q1 is expected to be a strong quarter for all telecom stocks. CNBC-TV18 poll sees nearly 28 percent jump in profits while revenues could rise by over 4 percent. Solid voice volume growth, modest uptick in voice RPM and sustained data revenue growth momentum will aid numbers this quarter.

Stock in news

The National Fertilizer offer-for-sale (OFS) kicks off today and the government is likely to fix the price band for the Neyveli Lignite offer. The base price for the OFS has been fixed at Rs 27 apiece, which is 1.12 per cent higher than the current market price of Rs 26.70.

NTPC board approves investment of Rs 3,363 crore for UP Thermal Power Plant.

Jindal Steel authorises panel to examine share buyback option.

Meanwhile sources indicate that the auto industry sends an SOS to the government for immediate intervention. Auto industry body SIAM writes to the heavy industry Minister Praful Patel seeking around 30 percent reduction in excise duty across products.

Global cues

In US, markets close mixed, the Dow Jones industrial average slipped. Nasdaq hit a 12.5 year high. Among techs, Facebook advanced more than 6 percent after the social-networking giant announced the launch of Facebook mobile games publishing. The stock has surged more than 45 percent so far this month and is trading close to its IPO price of USD 38 a share.

In europe, markets closed narrowly higher after a mixed bag of earnings reports, fresh economic data released from the euro zone, and a bank sell-off led by Barclays.

Asian markets were trading mixed. China's Shanghai Composite rose 0.76 percent or 15.08 points at 2,005.15.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng was up 0.18 percent or 40.60 points at 21,994.56. Japan's Nikkei shed 0.87 percent or 121.23 points at 13,748.59.

Singapore's Straits Times declined 0.46 percent or 15.04 points at 3,230.41.

Other asset class

In the currency space, the euro steady above 1.32 to the dollar. The dollar index is around 81.80 levels. The dollar yen is at 98.

Brent crude prices slip to USD 106 per and Nymex slips to USD 103 per barrel.

From precious metals space, gold hovers around 1325 dollars an ounce

HCL Tech Q4 PAT at Rs12.10bn

HCL Technologies Ltd has posted results for the first quarter ended 30th June, 2013.

The net profit for the quarter stood at Rs12.10bn.

Q4 other income was at Rs1.75bn, while sales is at Rs69.44bn.
Total Income has increased from Rs 210370.50 mn for the year ended June 30, 2012 to Rs 258876.70 mn for the year ended June 30, 2013.

The company has announced that the Board of Directors of the Company at its meeting held on July 31, 2013, inter alia, has recommended a final dividend of Rs.6/- per equity share of Rs.2/- each of the Company for the year ended June 30, 2013.

“Fy’13 results have demonstrated significant business momentum, non- linearity and record customer satisfaction. HCL continues to excel in agility and innovation with a Business Model that is resilient in a dynamic environment,” said Shiv Nadar, Chairman & Chief Strategy Officer, HCL Technologies.
“An exceptional growth of 22% during the Financial Year has propelled HCL’s Revenue past the INR 25000 crore milestone. HCL continues to lead the industry in profitable growth, with seven successive quarters of Net Income Margin expansion, having reported 62% growth in Net Income this year. We have consolidated our leadership position in the Infrastructure Management Services and verticals like Financial Service and Lifesciences & Healthcare,” said Anant Gupta, President & CEO, HCL Technologies.
“Backed by another strong quarter, we closed our Financial Year on a positive note. Our Net Income margin expanded by 400 bps and touched a five year high of 16%. Our Return on Equity for the year has been 34% which is amongst the best in the industry. EBITDA to Free Cash Flow conversion has been at a healthy 68%," said Anil Chanana, CFO, HCL Technologies.
During the quarter, HCL booked in excess of US$ 1 Billion, including 12 multi- year deals from F500/G2000 clients. These were primarily from Manufacturing, Financial Services and Lifesciences & Healthcare verticals. Focus on disruptive new propositions like EFaaSTM, ALT ASM, Enterprise of Future and Innovation Monetization continue to drive our differentiation in the transformational renewal market.