Sensex ends flat ahead of Infy Q2 nos & IIP data; autos up

3:55 pm Market closing: After a volatile session, the Nifty managed to hold 6000 till the end. The Nifty closed up 13.50 points at 6020.95 while Sensex was up 23.65 points at 20272.91. About 1404 shares have advanced, 1008 shares declined, and 152 shares are unchanged.

3:40 pm Buzzer: Shares of Tata Motors are in top gear on Thursday, rallying 5.6 percent intraday to touch a record high of Rs 373.80. Its UK subsidiary Jaguar and Land Rover (JLR) announced its best ever September retail sales on Thursday. Luxury car maker JLR, reported record retail sales of 43,181 units during the month gone by, a growth of 17 percent year-on-year and 55 percent sequentially. Jaguar and Land Rover brands received strong response during the period with the China region sales growing 46 percent, Asia Pacific 29 percent, UK rising 11 percent, Europe up 8 percent, North America up 6 percent, and other overseas markets up 15 percent, the company said in its filing. 3:30 pm FII view: Breaching fiscal deficit target is unlikely to change India's rating, Atsi Sheth of Moody's Investors Service told CNBC-TV18 in an interview . Like most experts, Sheth also expects FY14 CAD to be lower than FY13. Meanwhile, Moody's has a negative outlook on Indian banking sector and cautions that asset quality weakening is a cause of concern for the sector. Recently, PMEAC chairman Dr C Rangarajan also said, with trade deficit for September falling to USD 6.76 billion from USD 17.15 billion a year ago, FY14 CAD may be even lower than projected USD 70 billion . The data also showed that exports in September rose 11.15 percent to USD 27.68 billion. According to him, the export data reflects a gradual pick-up in global demand.


 It has been a very subdued day as investors looked a bit cautious ahead of the Infosys September quarter results tomorrow. The Sensex is up 26.13 points at 20275.39, and the Nifty up 11.25 points at 6018.70. About 1345 shares have advanced, 937 shares declined, and 162 shares are unchanged. Tata Motors, Tata Steel , M&M, Maruti Suzuki and Sesa Sterlite are top gainers in the Sensex.

On the losing side are Tata Power , Hindalco , GAIL , HDFC Bank and HUL . Shares of IL&FS Engineering and Construction Company are locked at 10 percent upper circuit on Thursday after the board approved rights issue of the company. "The board of directors on Wednesday approved the issue of equity shares of face value of Rs 10 each to the existing equity shareholders on rights basis, up to Rs 300 crore, at a price of 7.5 percent less than the closing price of the share at NSE on October 09," the company said in its filing. Crude oil rose to USD 110 per barrel on Thursday as the kidnapping of Libya's prime minister delayed the prospect of a further recovery in production from the North African nation. Gunmen from a former rebel faction kidnapped Libyan Prime Minister Ali Zeidan on Thursday in reprisal for the government's role in the US capture of a top al Qaeda suspect, reports Reuters.

Tata Motors hits new high, stock surges over 5%

Till 1515 hours, a combined around 13 million shares have changed hands on the BSE and NSE.

Tata Motors has moved higher by over 5% to Rs 373, also its new high on the Bombay Stock Exchange, on expectation of the company's UK arm Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) will report strong volume growth over next few months led by start of dispatches of new RR Sport and continued traction from recent launches of RR and F-Type, which in turn will boost realisation and margin.

The stock opened at Rs 353 and hit a low of Rs 352 on BSE. A combined 12.57 million shares change hands on the counter till 1510 hours on BSE and NSE.

Analysts expect JLR to do better than its global peers and grow its volumes at 10-15% over FY13-16.

Higher volume and margin estimates and an improved outlook in the US and China (45% of revenues) has led analysts to give a higher valuation to JLR, according to Business Standard report.

Oil rises to $110 on Libyan PM's kidnapping

 Crude oil rose to $110 per barrel on Thursday as the kidnapping of Libya's prime minister delayed the prospect of a further recovery in production from the North African nation.
Brent futures were $1.01 higher at $110.07 per barrel at 0817 GMT.

Gunmen from a former rebel faction kidnapped Libyan Prime Minister Ali Zeidan on Thursday in reprisal for the government's role in the U.S. capture of a top al Qaeda suspect.
Libya's oil output has risen to 700,000 barrels per day, after falling at mid-year to its lowest since the country's 2011 civil war as strikes, militias and political activists blocked most oilfields and ports.
Since violence broke out, the government's fledgling army and police force have struggled to deal with armed protesters.

Investors were looking to when the rest of the oil production - total capacity is over 1.5 million bpd - would be back on stream.
"Markets were not anticipating a quick restart of the 0.9 million bpd missing crude oil production from Libya but a restart was a bearish flag," said Olivier Jakob, analyst at Petromatrix in Zug, Switzerland.
"That flag can now be pushed further away in time."
U.S. oil was up 43 cents at $102.04 per barrel.

FISCAL PROGRESS

Commodity and equity prices were also supported on signs of progress in Washington on ending the U.S. fiscal stalemate and averting a possible debt default.
U.S. Republicans were looking into a short-term hike in the government's borrowing authority to buy time for talks on broader policy issues, a Republican leadership aide said on Wednesday.
Also supporting prices was renewed worry about supply from Nigeria.

Shell Nigeria (RDSa.L) said on Wednesday it had shut its Trans Niger Pipeline (TNP) after reports of leaks, deferring 150,000 barrels per day of crude oil just 10 days after the pipeline was re-opened.
"Better supplies out of Nigeria and Libya were another bearish influence but this seems not to be the case anymore," said Christopher Bellew, broker at Jefferies Bache.

Oil recovered losses from the previous session after U.S. crude stocks rose by 6.8 million barrels in the week to October 4, well above forecasts by analysts of a 1.5 million barrel increase.
Over the past three weeks, crude stockpiles have increased by a total of 14.9 million barrels, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, the biggest three-week increase since April 2012.

KCP Sugar & Industries trades in green on the BSE

KCP Sugar & Industries Corporation is currently trading at Rs. 17.10, up by 0.20 points or 1.18 % from its previous closing of Rs. 16.90 on the BSE.

The scrip opened at Rs. 17.00 and has touched a high and low of Rs. 17.10 and Rs. 16.85 respectively. So far 2150 shares were traded on the counter.

The BSE group 'B' stock of face value Rs. 1 has touched a 52 week high of Rs. 26.00 on 20-Nov-2012 and a 52 week low of Rs. 15.00 on 28-Aug-2013.

Last one week high and low of the scrip stood at Rs. 18.35 and Rs. 16.90 respectively. The current market cap of the company is Rs. 193.89 crore.

The promoters holding in the company stood at 39.67 % while Institutions and Non-Institutions held 0.06 % and 60.27 % respectively.

KCP Sugar & Industries Corporation has sold 78,427 quintiles of sugar in September 2013, while the company has sold 4,452 MT of Molasses in the same month. Meanwhile, the company has sold 1545.69 MT, 0.765 MT and 40.975 MT of Bio-compost, Mycorrhiza and Calcium Lactate respectively. Further, the company has sold 7,10,203 bulk litres of Industrial Alcohol in September 2013, while the company has also sold 135.12 quintiles of Bio-Fertilzer in the same month.

The company is engaged in business of manufacturing and marketing of Sugar and Bio-products. The company’s manufacturing facilities are located at Vuyyuru and Lakshmipuram. Company’s Vuyyuru Unit is engaged in manufacturing sugar, Bio-Ethanol of 50 KLPD and has a power generation capacity of 15MV per day.

Financial Tech, MCX rally up to 5.4% on board rejig

Shares of Financial Technologies India and Multi Commodity Exchange of India today gained up to 5.4 per cent, after MCX Stock Exchange founder Jignesh Shah and its Managing Director Joseph Massey resigned from the bourse’s board.

Reacting to the news that was announced in the post market hours yesterday, FTIL stock jumped 5.43 per cent to Rs 173.50 on the BSE.

Similarly, MCX shares surged 4.99 per cent to Rs 425 — its upper circuit limit.

Jignesh Shah and Joseph Massey resigned from the bourse’s board yesterday, amid Rs 5,600 crore payment crisis at group company NSEL.

MCX-SX Ltd is promoted by Financial Technologies Group that also runs spot commodity exchange NSEL, which is engulfed in a crisis after it stopped trading on all contracts on July 31 on government directives.

“Jignesh Shah resigned as Vice-Chairman and shareholder-director of the exchange with immediate effect,” MCX-SX had said yesterday. Shah is the promoter of Financial Technologies Group.

Massey has also resigned as Managing Director and Chief Executive of MCX-SX, and as shareholder-director with immediate effect, it had said.

The high profile exits come at a time when Financial Technologies-promoted National Spot Exchange Ltd is facing crisis due to non-payment of dues to 13,000 investors.

MCX—SX said Sebi has nominated former LIC chief Thomas Mathew T as the bourse’s Public Interest Director.

“As an interim arrangement, U Venkataraman, wholetime Director, will assist a Special Committee of Public Interest Directors in carrying out the functions of the exchange,” it said yesterday.

The case of IMF's two set of GDP numbers

A primer on how GDP figures at factor cost and market prices are calculated

The figure for India’s gross domestic product (GDP) announced by International Monetary Fund (IMF) shocked even the most conservative of analysts. At less than 4 per cent (as highlighted in most of the places), it was nowhere close to the estimate of even the most bearish of economists.

IMF, for the first time, has announced two set of GDP numbers. The World Economic Outlook released by IMF says that India’s GDP at factor cost is projected to be 4.25 per cent in 2013 (FY14). For 2012 (FY13) GDP at factor cost stood at 5 per cent.

As per the second set of number (which was announced for the first time) GDP which is measured at market prices (including indirect taxes) pegged India’s growth at 3.75 per cent against its earlier prediction of 5.6 per cent. This number was generally picked up and highlighted in media.

While the sharp decline in the GDP estimate is glaring, the disclosure of the two numbers added to the confusion. The difference of 0.5 per cent between the two GDP numbers is the root cause of confusion.

How and why do these two numbers vary? Now, the GDP is defined as the total value of all goods and services produced in a country during a year.

To understand the different types of GDP numbers let’s take an example.

When we eat in a restaurant, the price is quoted on the menu card for every food item. But when the bill arrives after we are through eating, the total includes a new element called service tax.

When GDP is calculated using the factor cost method, it will include the prices on the menu card for the eatables consumed. But when it is calculated using the market price method the bill amount, which includes the service tax, will be considered.
GDP by market price method also takes into account the impact of subsidy. Say when rice is sold after the passage of food security bill at Rs 2 per kg, its cost to the government which includes the procurement price of Rs 13.45 per kg plus the storage and distribution cost works out to over Rs 16 per kg. Thus the subsidy element works out to Rs 14 per kg.

When GDP at factor cost is calculated, it will take into account Rs 16 per kg of rice but when GDP at market value is calculated, Rs 2 per kg will be considered.

Is it to gauge the impact of food security bill on the GDP that IMF announced two set of numbers?

We may not know IMF’s rationale for announcing two set of numbers, but a widening difference between the two numbers will reveal the cost of populist measures on the economy.

FIIs cut stake in banking stocks in September quarter

In HDFC Bank, for instance, they have reduced their holding after a gap of more than two years

Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) have reduced their exposure in Indian banking stocks during the quarter ended September 2013 on concerns of margins stress due to slowdown in the economy, rising non-performing assets and higher cost of funds.

The overseas investors have cut their holdings in public as well as private sector banks during the recently concluded quarter. Of the 18 banks that have thus far released the September quarter shareholding pattern, data suggests that FIIs have reduced their stake in 16 banks, while only in two banks – Bank of Baroda and UCO Bank – they have raised their holdings marginally over the previous quarter.

FIIs’ stake in HDFC Bank, IndusInd Bank, ING Vysya Bank, IDBI Bank, Indian Bank, Andhra Bank, Canara Bank and Karnataka Bank has declined in the range of 1 – 6% in July–September quarter (Q2), the data shows.

In HDFC Bank, they have reduced their holding after a gap of more than two years. Their stake in the country’s largest private sector lender has declined by nearly one percentage points at 33.61% in September quarter. FIIs held 34.49% stake at the end of June quarter.

In Karnataka Bank, their stake has declined the most by 6.4 percentage points to 16.45% from 22.83% in past three months. The stock had slipped nearly 26% to Rs 83.40 from Rs 112 during the quarter.

Currency woes

Most banking stocks had plunged between 20 – 40% in Q2 after the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) announced slew of measures to support the Indian rupee, which depreciated 14% to 67.73 against the US dollar in early September, including hiking the lending rates for banks to make the currency dearer.

The National Stock Exchange banking index, Bank Nifty, which measures price movement of banking shares, had reported its sharpest quarterly fall of 23% as compared to less than 5% decline in benchmark CNX Nifty.

Indian Bank, Union Bank of India, Canara Bank, United Bank of India, YES Bank, Andhra Bank, Dena Bank, Federal Bank and Corporation Bank had tanked more than 30% during the quarter.

From October, Bank Nifty has also recovered 7.5% compared to 4.7% rise in benchmark index after the RBI has yet again announced measures to ease liquidity conditions by cutting the marginal standing facility (MSF) rate by another 50bps, to 9.0%.

Outlook

Meanwhile, most analysts feel that the performance of banking sector is likely to remain dismal even in Q2FY14, as most of the banks to report moderate growth in revenue owing to tepid average growth in loan book and declining traction in core fee income.

The bank’s NIM (net interest margin) to be under pressure during the quarter on account of significant increase in bulk deposit rates, said an analyst with Karvy Stock Broking.

“Q2FY14 will be a very different quarter versus last few quarters, with asset quality issues persisting for government banks, but banks also to see elevated margin pressures yoy / qoq due to rise in short-term rates and lower lending rates yoy; mark-to-market hits arising out of rise in bond yields, despite recent RBI dispensation and also wage revision provisions,” says analyst at Bank of America Merrill Lynch.

However, analysts at Edelweiss Securities suggest that the flurry of actions undertaken by the RBI to curb rupee volatility coupled with its reversal on interest rate stance is likely to delay economic recovery process. “If current difficult business environment.

NBFCs to get priority for new banking licenses: Chakrabarty

Giving respite to Non-banking finance companies (NBFCs) waiting for banking licences, the Resserve Bank of India (RBI) Deputy Governor K C Chakrabarty said that NBFCs have advantage over other applicants for banking licences as they already have good customer base. Meanwhile, Chakrabarty added that a separate committee has been appointed to award licences and is considering various factors to choose appropriate applications for new banking licences.

The central bank has received 26 applications for new banking licence including NBFCs and various large corporates such as Tata Group, Reliance Capital and L&T Finance among others. Earlier, in February, the RBI issued final guidelines that would govern the new set of proposed banks. As per the guidelines, banks should have a minimum equity capital of around Rs 5 billion and not have foreign ownership of more than 49% for the first five years of operation. The rules also require that one out of every four branches opened by the new banks should be located in rural areas.

The government has planned to enhance the penetration level of Indian banking industry as it plays an important role in the economic development of the country and is the most dominant segment of the financial sector. Banks help channel savings to investments and encourage economic growth by allocating savings to investments that have potential to yield higher returns. The Indian banking industry’s contribution to GDP moves along with growth in the Indian economy.

Piramal Enterprises trades in fine fettle on BSE

Piramal Enterprises is currently trading at Rs 570.00, up by 5.60 points or 0.99% from its previous closing of Rs 564.40 on the BSE.

The scrip opened at Rs 567.40 and has touched a high and low of Rs 574.00 and Rs 565.95 respectively. So far 1205 shares were traded on the counter.

The BSE group 'A' stock of face value Rs 2 has touched a 52 week high of Rs 648.30 on 02-Sep-2013 and a 52 week low of Rs 395.00 on 06-Nov-2012.

Last one week high and low of the scrip stood at Rs 592.50 and Rs 562.00 respectively. The current market cap of the company is Rs 9836.96 crore.

The promoters holding in the company stood at 53.00% while Institutions and Non-Institutions held 30.03 % and 16.97 % respectively.

Piramal Enterprise’s Saridon, India's largest headache analgesic, has won two Gold Emvie Media Awards 2013 for ‘Best Media Strategy’ and ‘Best Media Innovation on Radio’. It is also honoured with ‘The People’s Choice Award’ for the top 10 advertisers in 2013 at The EMVIES 2013, instituted by the Advertising Club, India.

Saridon was also positioned as ‘The National Headache Reliever’ as it looked at various headache situations in media. The best movie reviewers in the industry used the Saridon and headache association to ‘Saridon rate’ a movie. With a total of 9680 interventions during stressful content and more than 50,000 seconds of Saridon associations on Media, Saridon received five stars for its performance in 2013.

Piramal Enterprises is one of India’s largest diversified companies, with a presence in pharmaceutical, financial services and information management sectors.

IFC plans to raise $1 bn from rupee-linked bond programme for India projects

Officials said the bonds' maturity had not been finalised.

The World Bank's private sector arm, International Finance Corp, plans to launch a $1 billion rupee-linked bond programme within weeks to raise money internationally for private projects in India.

IFC officials said the bonds' maturity had not been finalised but the programme could include tranches of two or three-year paper initially followed by long-term bonds.

The coupon and settlement of the bonds will be in dollars but the proceeds will be converted into rupees and allocated to private sector projects in India, IFC officials told Reuters by telephone.

"The bond coupon and the FX exchange rate will all reflect the Indian rupee's fundamentals," said Jingdong Hua, vice-president, Treasury and Syndications at IFC, World Bank Group.

The rupee has rebounded by more than 11% since hitting a record low of 68.85 against the dollar on August 28 after being hammered earlier this year on concerns about India's gaping current account deficit and expectations for reduced capital inflows to India once the US Federal Reserve starts to scale back its stimulus programme.

Investors in the bonds will bear the exchange rate risk, but are likely to benefit from a wide interest differential between India and the United States.

Hua said demand was likely to be strong due to IFC's AAA credit rating.

IFC is also in talks with the Indian government about setting up an onshore bond programme, but officials did not elaborate.

IFC invested $1.4 billion in India in the last financial year which ended in March.

Corporation Bank's festival offer

Corporation Bank has reduced interest rates on home and vehicle loans as part of its ‘grand festival bonanza’. The offer is valid up to January 31.

A press release said the bank has reduced interest rates on home loans by 0.5 per cent. The floating rate of interest for all tenors and for amounts up to Rs 50 lakh is now at the base rate of 10.25 per cent. For amount above Rs 50 lakh, the loan is offered at 10.50 per cent.

Processing charges will be fully waived for loans up to Rs 25 lakh, and 50 per cent concession is offered on loans above Rs 25 lakh. The rate of interest on four-wheelers for personal use has been reduced by 1 per cent. Vehicle loans up to Rs 50 lakh are offered at 10.65 per cent.

The bank has reduced interest rates on loans for consumer durables up to Rs 5 lakh by 1.75 per cent. The rate of interest is reduced from 12.25 per cent to 10.50 per cent for kitchen and home appliances, solar panels, water heaters, etc., it said.

The statement said the bank has entered into a special arrangement with New India Assurance Company Ltd for offering insurance coverage for vehicle loans.

Rupee down 27 paise at 62.15 Vs dollar

The rupee shed 27 paise to 62.15 per dollar in the opening trade against the previous close of 61.88 on the back of weakness in the domestic equity market.

The domestic unit had weakened yesterday as the International Monetary Fund sharply cut its economic growth forecast for India and due to a rally in the American currency following the naming of Janet Yellen as the next head of the US Federal Reserve.

However, India's trade deficit narrowed to a two-and-a-half-year low in September, which stood at $6.7 billion compared with $10.9 billion in August amid a sharp fall in the inward shipments of gold and silver, which helped support the domestic unit.

“The rupee is expected to track global cues. The rupee is expected to move in the levels of 61.60 to 62.40 a dollar in the rest of the week,” said said S. Srinivasaraghavan, Head of Treasury at Dhanlaxmi Bank.

Call rates, G-Secs

The 7.16 per cent government security, which matures in 2023, opened a tad lower at Rs 91.5 against the previous close of Rs 91.57. The yields hardened a tad to 8.46 per cent from 8.45 per cent. Bond yields and prices move in opposite directions.

The inter-bank call money rate, the rate at which banks borrow from each other to meet their short-term fund requirements, opened higher at 9.10 per cent against the previous close of 9 per cent.

India has potential to achieve 5% plus growth: Mayaram

Mayaram is currently in Washington to attend the annual plenary meeting of the IMF and the World Bank

India's Economic Affairs Secretary Arvind Mayaram has said the country still has the potential for achieving a growth rate of more than 5% this fiscal year, a day after the IMF drastically scaled down India's growth rate to a mere 3.8%.

"India has generally surprised critics. I think at the end of the year you will see that we will surprise them again," Mayaram said.

"The fact is that one needs to look at hard numbers. We believe and we still believe that we have in the current fiscal we have the potential of going beyond 5%," he said.

Mayaram is currently in Washington to attend the annual plenary meeting of the IMF and the World Bank.

The Indian delegation to the meeting is being led by Union Finance Minister P Chidambaram, who arrived here last evening.

In its latest World Economic Outlook report, released early this week, the IMF on Tuesday had said that India will grow only 3.8% in the 2013-14 financial year against projected 5.6% in its July forecast, a cut of 1.8% points; which is said to be the steepest.

Apollo Hospitals enters into partnership to develop dialysis system in India

Apollo Hospitals Enterprise has entered into collaboration with Medtronic, Inc., the global leader in medical technology, to bring to market an innovative, affordable and portable hemodialysis system in India. This would help improve access to care for End Stage Renal Disease (ESRD) patients who need Renal Replacement Therapy (RRT). 

This collaboration will leverage a Medtronic-developed technology platform, supported by clinical insight from Apollo envisioning a cost reduction by 10-20 per cent for patients. At present, on an average a patient spends about Rs 1,200 to Rs 2,000 for a dialysis.

Medtronic intends to develop and manufacture key components of this hemodialysis system in India which will be ready for commercial launch in 2016.

DLF extends rally on sale of non-core assets to pare debt

The stock has rallied over 9% in past two days on the Bombay Stock Exchange.

DLF is trading higher by over 3% at Rs 152, extending its previous day’s nearly 6% rally on BSE, after the real estate developer said it sold assets worth of Rs 147 crore as part of its strategy to pare debt by exiting non-core businesses.

“The subsidiaries of the company, namely, DLF Home Developers Ltd. and DLF Projects Ltd. have divested 60% stake in Star Alubuild Private Limited (Star Alubuild), a subsidiary at an enterprise value of Rs 79.8 crore,” DLF said in a statement.

The company has sold its stake in unit Star AluBuild Pvt. Ltd to Japan’s Lixil Corp.

DLF said that it has also concluded an agreement with Violet Green Power Pvt. Ltd to sell a 33 megawatts (MW) capacity wind turbine business in Rajasthan for Rs 67.44 crore on Tuesday as part of the strategy.

These transactions are a part of DLF's objective of divesting its non-core assets, it added.

The stock opened at Rs 147.90 and has seen a combined around 2.22 million shares changing hands on the counter till 0935 hours on BSE and NSE.

Shah, Massey step down from MCX-SX board

Move comes after FMC said to have sent show-cause notice to Financial Technologies group

Vice-Chairman Jignesh Shah and Managing Director & CEO Joseph Massey have stepped down from the board of MCX Stock Exchange.

Meanwhile, the exchange said in an announcement the Securities and Exchange Board of India had, through a letter dated October 8, nominated former LIC head, Thomas Mathew T, as MCX-SX’s public interest director.

The move is understood to have come after the Forward Markets Commission sent a showcause notice to the Financial Technologies group, questioning its ‘fit and proper’ status to act as the promoter of National Spot Exchange Ltd after a Rs 5,600-crore payment crisis, punctuated with allegations of fraud and mismanagement, at the bourse.

It’s believed Shah and Massey resigned after the MCX-SX board, at an extraordinary general meeting on Tuesday, raised questions on their continuing on the stock exchange’s board, as they were associated with NSEL. The exchange did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Earlier, while renewing the exchange’s licence in September, Sebi had asked for formation of an oversight committee. It had also said any adverse finding by other regulators could also result in withdrawal of its licence.

Now, U Venkataraman, the lone shareholder director on the board of the exchange, will assist a special committee of public interest directors in carrying out the functions of the exchange, according to the statement. According to the exchange’s website, S U Kamdar, Ashima Goyal and D R Dogra are the other board members — all of them public interest directors.

IN A SPOT

* FMC may have sent a showcause notice to the FT group, questioning its ‘fit and proper’ status to be NSEL promoter

* MCX-SX board members are said to have questioned Shah and Massey continuing on the board at an AGM

* Sebi had earlier sought formation of an oversight panel while renewing the exchange’s licence in September

Market opens flat ahead of Q2 results season

At 9:16 AM the 30-share BSE Sensex was down 0.1% or 26 points at 20,223 levels while broader NSE Nifty was down 0.1% or 6.40 at 6001.

Benchmark share indices opened flat with a downwards bias a day before Infosys kicks off the second earnings results. Benchmark indices opened flat tracking SGX Nifty which down 22 points.

At 9:16 AM the 30-share BSE Sensex was down 0.1% or 26 points at 20223 levels while broader NSE Nifty was down 0.1% or 6.40 at 6001.

Stocks in Asia rose on hopes that US lawmakers would soon reach an agreement over the budget and end the shutdown.The Asian markets are flat to high. Japan's Nikkei is up 0.8% and Hong Kong's Hang is absolutely flat. South Korea's Kospi index gained 0.10 while China's Shanghai index is down 0.20%


Key US share indices ended flat on Wednesday on hopes that lawmakers would soon come to an agreement over the budger and put an end to the federal government shutdown.

The Dow Jones industrial average ended up 26 points, or 0.2%, to end at 14,803. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index closed 1 point, or 0.06% higher, at 1,656. However, the Nasdaq Composite Index fell 17 points or 0.5%, to end the session at 3,678.

European stocks ended lower on Wednesday as the continuing shutdown in the US continued to weigh on investor sentiment. The CAC-40 ended down 0.2%, DAX slipped 0.5% while the FTSE-100 closed 0.4% lower.

Stock movers in the pre-open session were L&T finance holding up 5.5% and Bajaj Auto up 1.7%

STOCKS TO WATCH

Apollo Hospitals may see some action after the company said it has entered into a partnership with global medical technology major Medtronic Inc develop a cost-effective and efficient dialysis system in India. The collaboration will leverage on a technology platform developed by Medtronic, supported with clinical insight from Apollo, envisioning a reduction in cost by 10-20 per cent for patients.

Visa Steel may be in focus after the company evinced interest to acquire assets of steel trading major Stemcor in Odisha that includes an iron ore pellet plant and stakes in an iron ore and manganese mine.

SBI is likely to see activity on reports that the finance ministry is likely to allow the banking major to raise around Rs 8,000 crore of equity capital either through a QIP or a follow-on issue.

Sources said that Idea Cellular is likely to announce a QIP of Rs 3,000 crore as early as next week.

Time Technoplast gains on launching Composite Cylinders for LPG distribution

The promoters holding in the company stood at 61.89% while Institutions and Non-Institutions held 19.05% and 19.09% respectively. Time Technoplast has launched India’s first Composite Cylinders for LPG distribution. The company has received the necessary approvals Petroleum and Explosives Safety Organization (PESO) for Composite Cylinders. Further, the company has successfully commenced commercial sale to most reputed private sector LPG distribution Company in Western India.

Time Technoplast has become the first and only local manufacturer of Composite Cylinders for LPG distribution in the country. PSU Oil Companies and other parallel marketers of LPG have evinced huge interest in Composite Cylinders. Company currently has ongoing order for further supplies of Composite Cylinders in India and overseas and is likely to secure additional orders which are in the pipeline.

Time Technoplast is the leading plastic product company based in India and is engaged in manufacture of technology based innovative products in the space of industrial packaging, infrastructure, lifestyle , automobile, healthcare , material handling and composites. It has expanded its operations outside of India in UAE, Bahrain, Thailand, China, Taiwan and Indonesia. The company is also expanding its operations in South Korea, Vietnam, Turkey and Egypt.

Tech Mahindra ranks as the Top Global Engineering R&D service provider

Tech Mahindra, a specialist provider of connected solutions to the connected world and enabling future digital enterprises, has been recognized by Zinnov Management Consulting, a leading Globalization and Market Expansion Advisory firm. Zinnov has recognized Tech Mahindra in the Leadership zone for the second consecutive year and ranked it among the top 4 global integrated engineering and product engineering R&D service providers. Also, the company is rated in the Leadership zone across four major industry verticals – Aerospace, Automotive, Telecom, and Industrial.

Zinnov’s Global R&D Service Provider Ratings (GSPR) for 2013 were conducted across 10 major industry verticals with more than 200 R&D service providers across geographies including India, China, Russia, Eastern Europe, & APAC. Tech Mahindra featured in the study that follows a structured process of selection from the filtered list of top 75 Research & Development service providers.

Tech Mahindra is a leading provider of solutions and services to the telecommunications industry with a majority stake owned by Mahindra & Mahindra. The company, since 2002 has operations in China with offices in Beijing, Shanghai, Nanjing and Guangzhou.

Reliance Infrastructure to raise Rs 2,500 crore through long term resources

Reliance Infrastructure has received an approval for raising of long term resources through external commercial borrowings (ECBs), foreign currency convertible bonds, and rupee term loans / NCDs, up to Rs 2,500 crore. The funds raised will be used for refinancing and extending maturities of higher cost rupee debt and/or other approved end uses. The board of directors at its meeting held on October 09, 2013 has approved for the same.

Reliance Infrastructure is the largest power distribution licensee in Mumbai, with 25 years license to distribute electricity in its licensed distribution areas spread over 400 Sq. Kms. in the suburbs and surrounding areas of Mumbai, and supplying power to around 29 lakh consumers.

Markets to see some consolidation after a day of big rally

The Indian markets got a runaway rally in last session on getting a better than expected trade data that eased the concern of current account deficit breaching the estimated limit. Today, the start is likely to be in green but some consolidation too can be expected after a big rally and tailing cautiousness in the global markets. Traders will wait for Infosys numbers slated to be announced tomorrow for any further cues. However, there will be some concern with the International Monetary Fund, after a day of lowering its growth forecast for India has said that the country’s fiscal deficit is expected to increase to 8.5 percent of the GDP this financial year, mainly due to the downward revision in GDP growth, depreciation of rupee and higher global oil prices. On the other hand, Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia has said that India’s GDP will see a turnaround in the coming quarters on account of various steps taken by the government to spur growth as well as good agricultural production. There will be some disappointment in steel stocks, as the government has ruled out export duty cut on iron ore. Producers have asked for a reduction in a bid to push exports. There will be some buzz on the street with market regulator Sebi proposing to put in place a uniform policy for trade cancellation following recent incidents of freak trades on leading stock exchanges.

The US markets got some respite on Wednesday, though the major indices made a mixed closing but the trade remained choppy amid the continued concerns about the ongoing government shutdown with traders cheering the nomination of Janet Yellen as Federal Reserve Chairman. The Asian markets have made a mixed start; most of the indices have turned green on hopes of US gridlock to be resolved soon. The Japanese market has moved higher as the yen weakened against dollar.

Back home, Indian equity benchmarks, despite negative opening, snapped the session near their high point of day, as investors turned bullish following better-than-expected trade deficit data in September. Earlier, the markets opened in the red following report that International Monetary Fund (IMF) further cut India’s current fiscal growth projection to 3.8% from 5.6% as projected in July and 5.7% as expected in April. It has said that growth in India has slowed down more than anticipated and the country must maintain fiscal and monetary credibility in order to prevent capital outflows. But, sentiments took u-turn after India’s trade deficit narrowed to a two-and-a-half-year low at $6.76 billion in September, compared with $10.9 billion in August, after India’s exports posted double digit growth for third consecutive month, and with imports sliding for the fourth month in a row. Meanwhile, India’s exports during September, 2013 grew by 11.15% at $27.68 billion as compared to $24.90 billion during September 2012, thanks to stronger demand from Western nations and increased competitiveness. On the same time, steep decline of imports for fourth consecutive month was witnessed on account of sharp slide of gold imports to $0.8 billion in September as compared to $4.6 billion in September 2012. After the trade data, there appeared not even an iota of profit booking in the session, as the benchmarks managed to fervently gain from strength to strength as investors continued hunt of fundamentally strong but oversold stocks. Frontline indices managed to finish the session above their intraday high and settled comfortably above 6,000 (Nifty) and 20,200 (Sensex) levels as investors took to hefty across the board buying. On the global front, most of the Asian equity benchmarks, after a negative opening, ended the session in the green as sentiments turned positive on report that President Barack Obama will nominate Janet Yellen as Federal Reserve chairwoman. Recovery in Indian rupee too boosted the markets up-move, while the rally in auto counter supported the sentiments with stocks like TVS Motors, Bajaj Auto, Hero Motocorp, Tata Motors etc edging higher as festive season kicks in. Additionally, banking stocks like Bank of India, YES Bank, IndusInd Bank, Bank of Baroda, HDFC Bank and Kotak Mahindra Bank too edged higher after September trade deficit narrowed at $6.7 billion against $10.91 billion in August. Finally, the BSE Sensex surged 265.65 points or 1.33%, to settle at 20249.26, while the CNX Nifty gained 79.05 points or 1.33% to settle at 6,007.45.