Friday, 17 October 2014

Sensex, Nifty flat; TCS, HCL Tech tank 6-7% on earnings


Equity benchmarks started of Friday's trade on a positive note post yesterday's sharp cut but it could not sustain those gains. It got back to consolidation mode with the Sensex rising 2.70 points to 26002.04, and the Nifty falling 4.60 points to 7743.60. About 781 shares have advanced, 373 shares declined, and 33 shares are unchanged. Hero Motocorp gained 1.68 percent post a 58 percent jump in second quarter net profit. Bharti Airtel, M&M, ITC, HUL, Zee Entertainment (ahead of earnings) and Asian Paints rallied 1.2-1.7 percent. TCS tanked 7.41 percent on profit booking and lower than expected revenue numbers in the quarter ended September 2014. HCL Technologies crashed over 6 percent after its revenue missed expectations. Tech Mahindra was down 4.53 percent. Sesa Sterlite, Wipro, Tata Motors, Hindalco, and DLF were other losers. The Indian rupee has opened higher by 15 paise at 61.68 a dollar on Friday compared to previous day's closing value of 61.83 a dollar. Pramit Brahmbhatt, Veracity feesl local equity market is likely to trade sideways and will take cues from global markets for further directions. He expects the rupee to trade firm after yesterday's fall although the strength in the dollar will keep the currency under pressure. According to him, the rupee is expected to trade in the range of Rs 61.40-62.40/USD. The dollar recovered given the relative strength of the US economy and the Federal Reserve's commitment to tighten monetary policy. On the global front, Asian markets were trading mixed with the Nikkei falling marginally. US stocks ended little changed, with the Dow industrials recouping much of a 206-point deficit, as investors balanced worries about global growth against mostly better-than-expected US earnings and economic reports. In Europe, shares closed lower after trimming losses in late afternoon trade, tracking US markets which partially recovered after visiting correction territory, even as fears surrounding Greece's stability resurfaced. In commodities, Brent crude rises to USD 86 per barrel buoyed by robust economic data and as US gasoline inventories last week fell to their lowest in nearly two years.