Budget 2015: Indian govt will unveil more reforms

The Government has invited both foreigners and NRI entrepreneurs to come and join in these efforts, added Sushma Swaraj.

The new Indian government will unveil more reforms in the coming days,  External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj reportedly said.

 Addressing a gathering of the Indian diaspora, Swaraj said numerous initiatives have been announced starting with Prime Minister's 'Make in India' campaign to make India an investment and manufacturing destination.

 The Government has invited both foreigners and NRI entrepreneurs to come and join in these efforts, added Sushma Swaraj.

Fertilizer use to surpass 200 million tonnes in 2018

As the potential to produce fertilizers will outpace their use, the global potential balance - a technical term measuring the amount available over actual demand - will grow for nitrogen, phosphate and potash, the main three soil fertilizers.

Global fertilizer use is likely to rise above 200.5 million tonnes in 2018, 25% higher than recorded in 2008.
 
World fertilizer consumption will grow by 1.8% a year through 2018, according to FAO's new report "World fertilizer trends and outlook to 2018."
 
At the same time "the global capacity of fertilizer products, intermediates and raw materials will increase further," the report said.
 
As the potential to produce fertilizers will outpace their use, the global potential balance - a technical term measuring the amount available over actual demand - will grow for nitrogen, phosphate and potash, the main three soil fertilizers.
 
Global use of nitrogen, by far the largest fertilizer base, is projected to rise 1.4% each year through 2018, while phosphate use will increase 2.2% and potash 2.6%. In comparison, the supply of those three critical components is expected to grow by 3.7%, 2.7% and 4.2% per annum, respectively, according to FAO's outlook report.
 
The report does not forecast future prices, but notes that fertilizer prices, after a surge in 2011, were broadly lower in mid-2014 than in 2010.
 
Nitrogen: growth and volume
 
Demand for nitrogen fertilizers is expected to grow fastest in Sub-Saharan Africa, at 4.6% a year. However, as current usage there is low, the region will in 2018 use only 340,000 additional tonnes of nitrogen than in 2014, accounting for less than five%  of the projected global increase.
 
In East and South Asia, which combined account for 60% of all nitrogen fertilizer use, growth over the next four years will be moderate, but account for 3.3 million additional tonnes in volume terms.
 
North American farmers are expected to use an additional 300,000 tonnes of nitrogen fertilizer in 2018, reflecting an annual growth rate of 0.5%, while Western European farmers are set to reduce their use by 50,000 tonnes, according to FAO's projections.
 
New options for healthy soil
 
Applying fertilizer is one way of replacing nitrogen that is removed from soils when crops are harvested. While extensive nitrogen use can entail waste and damage water resources, the huge increase in fertilizer use helped drive a rapid expansion in agricultural productivity in the postwar era.
 
At one extreme, overuse of fertilizer in some places has led to soils pollution in the form of nitrogen deposition and in some cases damaged water systems. At the other, in most parts of sub-Saharan Africa the under-use of fertilizer means that nutrients taken out of soils by crops are not being replenished, leading to land degradation and declining yields.
 
FAO's "Save and Grow" and the first principle of "Building a common vision for sustainable food and agriculture" show ways of maintaining or restoring soil health while relying on fewer inputs to sustainably increase crop productivity, says Clayton Campanhola, Director of FAO's Plant Production and Protection Division.
 
The use of locally-tailored crop rotations, mulching and manure can also restore nitrogen to soils. Some plants, notably legumes such as soybeans, have microorganisms in their root systems that take nitrogen from air and make it available to plants.
 
FAO has also developed methods to monitor crop conditions in real time, allowing for tailored decisions on how much fertilizer is needed. Precision methods of applying fertilizer, as opposed to broadcasting it, also reduce waste and the damage caused by nitrogen runoff.
 
2015 has been designated as the International Year of Soils, during which FAO is working with its partners to engage the public around the need to sustainably manage this critical resource for food production.
 
Mapping fertilizer trends
 
Fertilizer use will vary widely by geography in coming years, with sub-Saharan Africa posting robust demand for nitrogen and potash, albeit from low current usage levels. 
 
Asia as a whole is the largest consumer of fertilizer in the world and relies on imports of all three major nutrients. That's the case even as West Asia is continues to supply an important surplus of nitrogen, phosphate and potash.
 
Europe as a whole will also offer a surplus of all three nutrients due to large positive balances in East Europe and Central Asia. Fertilizer use through 2018 is expected to be flat in Western Europe while growing 3.6% a year in the easternmost subregion.
 
Latin America and the Caribbean will depend on imports of all three during the forecast period, during which the region's use of fertilizers is expected to grow at a robust 3.3% annual rate, according to FAO.
 
Differences in total demand for nitrogen among continents will remain large. In 2018,  Africa will demand 4.1 million tonnes, Europe 15.7 million tonnes, the Americas 23.5 million tonnes and Asia 74.2 million tonnes.
 
Even though overall fertilizer use in sub-Sahara Africa is projected to grow at a 4.7% annual pace, the fastest in the world, Africa will remain a major exporter of nitrogen, providing an additional 3.4 million tonnes to the global balance. 

Moderate Gains For MCX Gold, Silver, Traders Eye FOMC Minutes

Moderate Gains For MCX Gold, Silver, Traders Eye FOMC Minutes 

Gold is trading steady in Asia today after slumping yesterday. COMEX Gold dropped morethan 2% to test its six month lows near $1200 per ounce as he lack of resolution on thetalks between the Greek government and its Eurozone creditors hit the sentiments. Thetraders sold gold ahead of the minutes of the last meeting of the Federal Reserve’spolicy setting committee, due to be released on Wednesday. Gold has been supported in lastfew days though the latest slide has put a question mark on the ability of the commodityto record significant gains following a massive correction last year. COMEX Gold isquoting at $1210 per ounce, up $1.40 per ounce on the day. MCX Gold futures are trading atRs 26334 per 10 grams, up Rs 115 per 10 grams on the day. MCX Silver futures are tradingat Rs 36630 per kg, up Rs 256 per kg on the day.

The latest figures from World Council (WGC) indicated that the gold demand around theworld picked up in Q4 2014 though overall interest in physical gold remained mutedfollowing a massive slide in Jewellery demand. The sentiments remained supportive in Asiatoday following continued worries over Greek debt jitters. COMEX Gold trades at $1233 perounce, up $6 per ounce on the day. MCX Gold futures are trading at Rs 26813 per 10 gramsup Rs 122 per 10 grams on the day. MCX Silver is trading at Rs 38260 per kg, up Rs 56 perkg on the day.

According to latest data out from the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, India’sgold imports surged 8.13% over year to US$1558.40 million in January 2015. Silver importsalso soared 29.20% to US$381 million in January 2015. Indian demand for gold jewelleryrose by 8% to 662 tonnes in 2014 - making it the best year of jewellery demand sincerecords began in 1995, the WGC stated in its latest gold demand trends update. However, onthe whole, the Indian gold demand stood at 842.7 tonnes in 2014, down nearly 14% after arecord performance in 2013.

Meanwhile, the global gold market ended 2014 on a strong footing, according to a latestupdate from the World Gold Council (WGC). Q4 demand grew from 930.0t to 987.5t (+6%).However, the annual total of 3,923.7t was down 4% year-on-year – not surprising asconsumer demand in 2014 was never likely to match 2013’s record surge says the WGC.Jewellery demand was down 10% to 2,152.9t, but 5% above its five-year average. Investmentrose 2% to 904.6t, although bar and coin fell from the 2013 record. Central banks bought477.2t, close to a 50-year high.

Meanwhile, gold speculators continue to retreat. Large futures traders and goldspeculators sharply cut back on their overall bullish bets last week as positionsdecreased for a second straight week, according to the latest Commitment of Traders (COT)data released by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) on Friday. Thenon-commercial futures contracts of Comex gold futures, traded by large speculators andhedge funds, totaled a net position of +155,274 contracts in the data reported throughFebruary 10th.

This was a weekly change of -29,741 contracts from the previous week’s total of+185,015 net contracts that was registered on February 3rd. The drop in the net speculatorpositions (-29,741 contracts) was due to a decrease in the weekly bullish positions by-29,970 contracts that offset a decline in the gold bearish positions by just -229contracts. The fall in the gold speculative positions has now overall positions to the lowest level in five weeks.

Nifty above 8,850 levels

CNX Smallcap index is out-performing the benchmark index of the NSE.

The market continues to trade on a firm note on the back of sustained buying in select sectors.

The NSE Nifty has jumped to a high of 8,862 and, is now up 43 points at 8,852.

Similarly, the BSE Sensex has surged to register a fresh intra-day high at 29,336. At 11:50 am, the BSE index is up 173 points at 29,309.

The CNX Smallcap index continues to out-perform the benchmark index of the NSE. The index has jumped over 1.5 per cent at 5,660.

Among Nifty-50 stocks, HDFC has jumped 3.3 per cent at Rs. 1,330 after 804,000 shares were executed in a single block deal on the BSE counter.

Mahindra & Mahindra has added 2.2 per cent at Rs. 1,238 after the company decided to upgrade airbag software on or before July 2014.

Shares of NTPC have also spurted 2.2 per cent at Rs. 147 after the media reported that the company is planning to invest around Rs. 60,000 crore for building renewable energy projects.

Tata Power, Gail India, Hindustan Unilever and Larsen & Toubro are some of the prominent gainers.

On the other hand, Hero MotoCorp has plunged 4.6 per cent at Rs. 2,677 after 3.5 per cent equity exchanged on the BSE and NSE counter around Rs. 2,664 - Rs. 2,718.

Bharti Airtel has tumbled 2.4 per cent at Rs. 353. Sesa Sterlite has dropped nearly 2 per cent at Rs. 208.

HDFC surges 3% on block deal

The stock so far has hit an intra-day high of Rs. 1,327. 

After opening on a flat note, Housing Development Finance Corporation (HDFC) has moved higher on the back of aggressive buying at the BSE counter.

Around 804,000 shares changed hands in a single block deal on the BSE counter at Rs. 1,314.

The stock opened at Rs. 1,290 and so far, has touched a high at Rs. 1,327 - up 3 per cent from previous close of Rs. 1,288.

Now, the stock is up 2.9 per cent at Rs. 1,326. The BSE counter has witnessed heavy trades of around 906,000 shares, which is 6.2-times more, when compared with two-week daily average volume of 146,000 shares.

Meanwhile, the Sensex has jumped 160 points at 29,296

Daily Market Strategy - Fine start, global factors in focus

After a break, the indices will look at sticking to their winning ways at least at start. Hero Motocorp could see some swings as it plans to sell $300 million worth of shares today.

 
Investors may have overall become richer by Rs. 5.5 lakh crore so far this year following the rally in equities.  The whole of last year, investors added Rs. 28 lakh crore to their wealth.  Yet, the fear has set in some quarters regarding earnings disappointment and valuations. Global market attention seems to be on Greece these days. After a break-down in talks on Monday, expectations are that Greece will seek an extension to its loan agreement. The extension could be for a period of four to six months to prevent the current rescue deal from expiring at the end of the month, a report stated.
 
After a break, the indices will look at sticking to their winning ways at least at start. Hero Motocorp could see some swings as it plans to sell $300 million worth of shares today. Suzlon too could see a spurt in volumes following open offer plans by Dilip Shanghvi Family and Associates.  Meanwhile, the Nifty has shown strong resilience, reverting sharply from the lows of 8500 levels (futures). The next major event is undoubtedly the Union Budget and indices may prefer to consolidate in a range of 8650 to 8900 levels (on spot) for the next few trading session accompanied by bouts of volatility. Barring Oil and Gas sector, rest of the sectoral indices have remained positive with banking stocks showing signs of tiredness on the upside. However, FMCG and Pharma stocks continue to remain in traders’ focus.
 
Global cues are positive. Japanese markets are cheerful powered by a weak yen. The Bank of Japan policy decision is awaited though not much is expected here despite slowing inflation and lackluster consumer spending. Hong Kong's Hang Seng index is also trading higher. The Dow Jones ended flat but is a shy away from its record close. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq too ended on a flat note.
 
The government is looking to provide clarity over taxation of consortium, a structure commonly used to implement large turnkey projects. This could boost foreign investments in infra sector as taxation of consortium as 'association of persons' emerged as a key roadblock for foreign investors eyeing infrastructure sector, says a report.
 
The Centre may look to infuse about Rs 18,000 crore into public sector banks next fiscal, more than doubling the allocation from the current fiscal after a number of lenders expressed concerns over their fundraising ability due to lack of support from the government, says a report.
 
The annual rate of inflation, based on monthly WPI, stood at  -0.39% (provisional) for the month of January, 2015 (over January, 2014) as compared to 0.11% (provisional) for the previous month and 5.11% during the corresponding month of the previous year. Build up inflation rate in the financial year so far was -1.11% compared to a build up rate of 5.23% in the corresponding period of the previous year. 
 
The Associated Chamber of Commerce and Industry of India (ASSOCHAM) said it was time full benefit was taken of the crucial macro advantage accruing to the Indian economy. 
 
Infosys announced a definitive agreement to fully acquire Panaya, Inc., a leading provider of automation technology for large scale enterprise software management, in cash, for an enterprise value of USD 200 mn.This acquisition reflects Infosys' execution of its Renew and New strategy to enhance the competitiveness and productivity of current service lines by leveraging automation , innovation and artificial intelligence. Panaya's CloudQuality suite uniquely positions Infosys to bring automation to several of its service lines via an agile Saas model, and helps mitigate risk, reduce costs and shorten time to market for clients.
 
Piyush Goyal Union Minister of State (IC) for Power, Coal & New and Renewable Energy in his opening address assured that the Government will make sure that the investments in India will be protected and encouraged. He said for a new investment destination the prerequisite is an atmosphere which makes to do business easier , consistency in policies, bankable contracts and prevalence of rule of law in the country . 
 
The Minister assured the investors that though the Government is pro-poor it understands the problems of business and will act as a facilitator. 
 
Shares of Suzlon Energy hit 20% upper circuit at Rs22 after Sun Pharmaceuticals promoter Dilip Shanghvi and family acquired 23% stake in Suzlon Energy for an equity investment of Rs 1,800 crore. 
 
Shares of Oil Marketing Companies (OMCs) are trading on a buoyant note this morning on the back of fuel price hike.The oil marketing companies have hiked petrol and diesel prices by 82 and 61 paise respectively in Mumbai with effect from today. This is the first price hike since August 2014, after prices of Crude Oil started to slide.
 
Shares of Unitech gained 11% at Rs18 after company posted Q3 results.The Group has posted a profit after taxes, minority interest and share of profit / (loss) of associates of Rs. 433.380 million for the quarter ended December 31, 2014 as compared to Rs. 328.257 mn for the quarter ended December 31, 2013. 
 
Shares of HDIL surged 6% at Rs117 after company posted Q3 results. Consolidated Profit before Tax was at 24.12% approximately, at Rs.86.71 crores.
 
Results Watch: Ambuja Cements, SKF India, Castrol India, Sanofi India, Mawana Sugars, Goodricke Group, RR Financial Consultants.
 
Trends in FII flows: The FIIs were net sellers of Rs1.82bn in the cash segment on Monday. The domestic institutional investors (DIIs) were also the net buyers of Rs2.8bn, as per the provisional figures released by the NSE.
 
Global Data: Chinese New Year Eve CNY, BoJ Monetary Policy Statement JPY, BoJ Press Conference JPY, Non-monetary policy's ECB meeting EUR, Bank of England Minutes GBP, BOE MPC Vote Cut GBP, BOE MPC Vote Hike GBP, BOE MPC Vote Unchanged GBP, Claimant Count Change (Jan) GBP, Average Earnings excluding Bonus (3Mo/Yr) (Dec) GBP, Average Earnings including Bonus (3Mo/Yr) (Dec) GBP, Claimant Count Rate (Jan) GBP, ILO Unemployment Rate (3M) (Dec) GBP, Construction Output w.d.a (YoY) (Dec) EUR, Construction Output s.a (MoM) (Dec) EUR, ZEW Survey - Expectations (Feb) CHF, 10-y Bond Auction EUR, MBA Mortgage Applications (Feb 13) USD, Wholesale Sales (MoM) (Dec) CAD, Building Permits (MoM) (Jan) USD, Housing Starts (MoM) (Jan) USD, Producer Price Index (YoY) (Jan) USD, Producer Price Index (MoM) (Jan) USD, Producer Price Index ex Food & Energy (MoM) (Jan) USD, Producer Price Index ex Food & Energy (YoY) (Jan) USD, Industrial Production (MoM) (Jan) USD, Capacity Utilization (Jan) USD, 4-Week Bill Auction USD, FOMC Minutes USD, Producer Price Index - Input (QoQ) (Q4) NZD, Producer Price Index - Output (QoQ) (Q4) NZD, Foreign bond investment (Feb 13) JPY, Foreign investment in Japan stocks (Feb 13) JPY, Merchandise Trade Balance Total (Jan) JPY, Adjusted Merchandise Trade Balance (Jan) JPY, Exports (YoY) (Jan) JPY, Imports (YoY) (Jan) JPY. 
 
In other news in the media: 
 
Encouraged by a pro-business government at the Centre, the Hinduja Group is planning to invest US$10bn in the Indian infrastructure and defence sectors. 
 
Aurobindo Pharma Limited said it expected its injectables business to grow at 50% in the next financial year and would continue to achieve a fairly higher growth in the next two to three years from then, on the back of the products lined up for approvals from the US FDA.
 
Apollo Hospitals Group signed a MoU with the Republic of Ghana to develop tertiary healthcare services in the African country and to provide specialised medical treatment for the country’s patients at some of the former’s facilities in India. 
 
YES Bank is planning to raise Rs5bn with an overallotment option through the country's first ‘green’ infrastructure bonds. The tenor of these are 10 years and the interest rate are sub-nine per cent.

Fair trade watchdog CCI has again directed Coal India Ltd to “cease and desist” from unfair business ways after finding the state-owned miner violated competition norms with respect to dry fuel supply. 
 
Mahindra & Mahindra plans to launch its electric car in Europe in the next six months as it looks to tap the rising demand for eco-friendly vehicles in the continent.

Lupin has inked a pact with Poland-based Celon Pharma to jointly develop and market a generic version of GlaxoSmithKline’s Advair Diskus, a drug used to treat asthma, in global markets. 

NTPC will invest close to US$10bn for executing green energy projects in the next five years as part of government's plans to provide thrust to clean electricity generation. 
 
Royal Enfield, the two-wheeler division of Eicher Motors, will invest R5bn this year on various activities, including setting up of two technology centres and increasing its production capacity to 4.5 lakh units annually. 
 
Punjab National Bank said government will infuse Rs8.7bn into the lender by way of equity capital for the current fiscal. 
 
State Bank of India is in the process of completing the due diligence for the controversial US$1bn loan to Adani Group for its Australian mining project and take a final call on it soon. 
 
Avantha Group company CG has been awarded with a contract by NTPC for the design, manufacture and supply of Generator Step-Up Transformers for its largest capacity 800 MW super-critical thermal power plant at Darlipali in Odisha. 
 
Indian Oil Corp will invest Rs78bn in fuel quality upgradation projects at two key refineries as well as other expansion projects. 
 
Wholesale Price Index-based Inflation entered negative territory; it fell to minus 0.39% y-o-y in January. On a month-on-month basis, too, WPI inflation dropped 0.8% in January. 
 
Implementing direct benefit transfer for food subsidy will help government save Rs250bn by eliminating costs associated with procurement, distribution and storage of foodgrains, ratings agency Crisil said. 
 
Ending months of logjam over discoveries mired in contractual disputes, the Oil Ministry has used the recently granted freedom to clear development of oil and gas discoveries worth about Rs1.5tn. 

Nifty above 8,800 levels

Auto, Consumer Durables, Power, banking, healthcare, metal, realty, capital goods, FMCG indices are the gainers, while IT, Metal, Oil and gas indices are losers. 

At 9:30AM, the S&P BSE Sensex is trading at 29,204 up 68 points, while NSE Nifty is trading at 8,829 up 20 points.

The BSE Mid-cap Index and BSE Small-cap Index was trading up at 1%.
Auto, Consumer Durables, Power, banking, healthcare, metal, realty, capital goods, FMCG indices are the gainers, while IT, Metal, Oil and gas indices are losers.

Global cues are positive. Japanese markets are cheerful powered by a weak yen. The Bank of Japan policy decision is awaited though not much is expected here despite slowing inflation and lackluster consumer spending. Hong Kong's Hang Seng index is also trading higher.

The Dow Jones ended flat but is a shy away from its record close. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq too ended on a flat note.

The government is looking to provide clarity over taxation of consortium, a structure commonly used to implement large turnkey projects. This could boost foreign investments in infra sector as taxation of consortium as 'association of persons' emerged as a key roadblock for foreign investors eyeing infrastructure sector, says a report.

The Centre may look to infuse about Rs 18,000 crore into public sector banks next fiscal, more than doubling the allocation from the current fiscal after a number of lenders expressed concerns over their fundraising ability due to lack of support from the government, says a report

Sensex to open on a positive note

Investors may have overall become richer by Rs. 5.5 lakh crore so far this year following the rally in equities.

Investors may have overall become richer by Rs. 5.5 lakh crore so far this year following the rally in equities.  The whole of last year, investors added Rs. 28 lakh crore to their wealth.  Yet, the fear has set in some quarters regarding earnings disappointment and valuations. Global market attention seems to be on Greece these days. After a break-down in talks on Monday, expectations are that Greece will seek an extension to its loan agreement. The extension could be for a period of four to six months to prevent the current rescue deal from expiring at the end of the month, a report stated.

After a break, the indices will look at sticking to their winning ways at least at start. Hero Motocorp could see some swings as it plans to sell $300 million worth of shares today. Suzlon too could see a spurt in volumes following open offer plans by Dilip Shanghvi Family and Associates.  Meanwhile, the Nifty has shown strong resilience, reverting sharply from the lows of 8500 levels (futures). The next major event is undoubtedly the Union Budget and indices may prefer to consolidate in a range of 8650 to 8900 levels (on spot) for the next few trading session accompanied by bouts of volatility. Barring Oil and Gas sector, rest of the sectoral indices have remained positive with banking stocks showing signs of tiredness on the upside. However, FMCG and Pharma stocks continue to remain in traders’ focus.

Global cues are positive. Japanese markets are cheerful powered by a weak yen. The Bank of Japan policy decision is awaited though not much is expected here despite slowing inflation and lackluster consumer spending. Hong Kong's Hang Seng index is also trading higher. The Dow Jones ended flat but is a shy away from its record close. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq too ended on a flat note.

The government is looking to provide clarity over taxation of consortium, a structure commonly used to implement large turnkey projects. This could boost foreign investments in infra sector as taxation of consortium as 'association of persons' emerged as a key roadblock for foreign investors eyeing infrastructure sector, says a report.

The Centre may look to infuse about Rs 18,000 crore into public sector banks next fiscal, more than doubling the allocation from the current fiscal after a number of lenders expressed concerns over their fundraising ability due to lack of support from the government, says a report.

The annual rate of inflation, based on monthly WPI, stood at  -0.39% (provisional) for the month of January, 2015 (over January, 2014) as compared to 0.11% (provisional) for the previous month and 5.11% during the corresponding month of the previous year. Build up inflation rate in the financial year so far was -1.11% compared to a build up rate of 5.23% in the corresponding period of the previous year.

The Associated Chamber of Commerce and Industry of India (ASSOCHAM) said it was time full benefit was taken of the crucial macro advantage accruing to the Indian economy.

Infosys announced a definitive agreement to fully acquire Panaya, Inc., a leading provider of automation technology for large scale enterprise software management, in cash, for an enterprise value of USD 200 mn.This acquisition reflects Infosys' execution of its Renew and New strategy to enhance the competitiveness and productivity of current service lines by leveraging automation , innovation and artificial intelligence. Panaya's CloudQuality suite uniquely positions Infosys to bring automation to several of its service lines via an agile Saas model, and helps mitigate risk, reduce costs and shorten time to market for clients.

Piyush Goyal Union Minister of State (IC) for Power, Coal & New and Renewable Energy in his opening address assured that the Government will make sure that the investments in India will be protected and encouraged. He said for a new investment destination the prerequisite is an atmosphere which makes to do business easier , consistency in policies, bankable contracts and prevalence of rule of law in the country .

The Minister assured the investors that though the Government is pro-poor it understands the problems of business and will act as a facilitator.

Shares of Suzlon Energy hit 20% upper circuit at Rs22 after Sun Pharmaceuticals promoter Dilip Shanghvi and family acquired 23% stake in Suzlon Energy for an equity investment of Rs 1,800 crore.

Shares of Oil Marketing Companies (OMCs) are trading on a buoyant note this morning on the back of fuel price hike.The oil marketing companies have hiked petrol and diesel prices by 82 and 61 paise respectively in Mumbai with effect from today. This is the first price hike since August 2014, after prices of Crude Oil started to slide.

Shares of Unitech gained 11% at Rs18 after company posted Q3 results.The Group has posted a profit after taxes, minority interest and share of profit / (loss) of associates of Rs. 433.380 million for the quarter ended December 31, 2014 as compared to Rs. 328.257 mn for the quarter ended December 31, 2013.

Shares of HDIL surged 6% at Rs117 after company posted Q3 results. Consolidated Profit before Tax was at 24.12% approximately, at Rs.86.71 crores.