Monday, 13 July 2015

European Shares Surge After Agreement on Greece Deal

European Shares Surge After Agreement on Greece Deal

 European shares surged in early trading on Monday after European Council President Donald Tusk said euro zone leaders reached a unanimous agreement following all-night talks in Brussels to move forward with a bailout loan for Greece.

The euro zone's blue-chip Euro STOXX 50 index rose 1.3 per cent, while the pan-European FTSEurofirst 300 index was up 1 percent by 0706 GMT.

Germany's DAX, France's CAC and Britain's FTSE 100 rose 0.6 to 1.4 per cent

Eurozone Reaches Agreement on Greece Deal

Brussels: Eurozone leaders reached a unanimous agreement after all-night talks in Brussels to move forward with a bailout loan for Greece, European Council President Donald Tusk said on Monday.

"Euro summit has unanimously reached agreement. All ready to go for ESM programme for Greece with serious reforms and financial support," Mr Tusk tweeted. 

BPCL Plans to Expand Bina Oil Refinery by 30%

 Bharat Petroleum Corp Ltd plans to expand its Bina oil refinery in Madhya Pradesh by 30 per cent to 156,000 barrels per day at a cost of about $472 million, its chairman S Varadarajan told Reuters on Monday.

The expansion of the refinery, operated by a joint venture of BPCL and state-owned Oman Oil Co in Madhya Pradesh, will be completed by 2018, he said.

Oman Oil, which has a minority stake in the venture, is not participating in the 30 billion rupees expansion as of now, Mr Varadarajan said.

As of 10:04 a.m., shares in BPCL were trading over 1 per cent higher at Rs 892.60 apiece on the BSE

Oil Prices Fall as Iran Nuclear Deal Seems Likely

Oil Prices Fall as Iran Nuclear Deal Seems Likely

 Oil prices fell on Monday as Iran and six world powers were close to nailing down a nuclear deal, but high Chinese crude import figures checked further losses.

Worries of Iran adding to a global oil surplus, at a time when the demand outlook could potentially weaken given a slump in China's equity markets and the ongoing Greek debt crisis, have led several analysts to say that crude would fall further.

Iran and six world powers are reportedly on the brink of finding a nuclear deal that would bring sanctions relief in exchange for curbs on Tehran's nuclear programme.

US crude prices were down 85 cents at $51.89 a barrel at 0433 GMT (10:03 a.m. in India). Brent crude fell more than dollar to $57.65 a barrel on worries a deal with Iran would lead to an easing of sanctions against Tehran and to higher crude exports.

"If a deal is confirmed, we may see support broken and the next test at $49.5 (for US crude)," CMC Markets said.

Although analysts said it would take until 2016 before Iran would be able to return to full-scale exports, most estimate that a jump of around 200,000 barrels per day in exports could be seen in the short term, adding to a current surplus of more than 2.5 million barrels a day.

However, Chinese customs data showing the country's crude imports in the first half of the year rose 7.5 per cent from a year ago helped put a floor under oil prices, despite analysts saying the increase in arrivals was more due to stockpiling of strategic reserves than a real rise in demand.

In Europe, the Greek debt crisis continued as political leaders argued late into the night at an emergency summit, so far without result.

With oversupply ongoing and abundant economic risk, the International Energy Agency (IEA) and several banks said they had lowered their oil price forecasts.

"The bottom of the market may still be ahead," the IEA said in its monthly report.

Bank of America Merrill Lynch said US crude prices "could soon drop well below our $50 per barrel target in 3Q15".

Commerzbank said that a fall below $55 per barrel in Brent and below $50 per barrel in US crude was "conceivable".

During the 2,650 trading sessions since 2005, US crude prices have spent only 178 days (7 per cent) of the time below $50 - first in early 2005 when prices began to rise away from historically lower levels, then during the post-2008 global financial crisis and then in current period of oversupply. 

Cairn India Gains 3% After Last Week's Big Selloff

Cairn India Gains 3% After Last Week's Big Selloff

Cairn India shares rose as much as 3 per cent on Monday amid value-buying to be among the top Nifty gainers. Cairn India shares had fallen nearly 9.5 per cent in the past week as global oil prices took a tumble to slip below $60 for the first time since January.

Analysts also say the Cairn merger deal could be sweetened further even though Vedanta said that it remains confident of closing the merger deal with Cairn India by March 2016.

Last month, Vedanta had announced to merge its oil exploration arm Cairn India into itself through an all-share deal and proposed to offer one share of Vedanta against one share of Cairn to the minority shareholders of the oil exploration firm. Cairn shareholders have also been offered one redeemable preference share of Rs 10 face value with 7.5 per cent annual dividend for each share held in the company.

Cairn has cash and cash equivalent of about Rs 17,000 crore on its books while Vedanta has debt of over Rs 37,000 crore.

TS Harihar, chief executive and founder of HRBV Client Solutions Private, sees the Cairn-Vedanta merger going through as it would make Cairn a diversified commodities player. "The marriage makes a lot of sense but the deal could be sweetened further," he said.

The merger deal requires the approval of majority of the minority shareholders of Cairn India. Currently, LIC and Cairn Energy Plc (the erstwhile promoters of Cairn India) are the two biggest minority shareholders in the oil exploration firm with a stake of 9 per cent and 10 per cent, respectively.

"We are in regular touch with the shareholders of both the companies and the response has been very encouraging. The market has embraced the proposed merger and we are confident that the shareholders will approve the decision," Tom Albanese, CEO of Vedanta, told Press Trust of India on the sidelines of the company's 50th Annual General Meeting.

At 9:40 a.m., shares of Cairn India were up 1.8 per cent as compared to a 0.20 per cent gain in Nifty. Shares of Vedanta were down nearly 0.60 per cent.        

L&T, BHEL Fall as Industrial Data Disappoints

L&T, BHEL Fall as Industrial Data Disappoints

Shares of L&T and BHEL fell on Monday after the industrial output data disappointed the Street. The industrial production index grew 2.7 per cent in May 2015, which was below the Street's expectations of of 4.1 per cent. Further, IIP growth for April 2015 was revised downwards from 4.1 per cent to 3.3 per cent, largely because of a sharp downward revision - from 11.1 per cent to 6.8 per cent - in the capital goods sector.

The capital goods sector grew a muted 1.8 per cent in May 2015 while consumer goods contracted and growth in intermediate goods decelerated.

"This implies that the revival in the industrial sector is not as strong as we were made to believe a month ago," brokerage Nirmal Bang said in a report.

Shares of L&T and BHEL had rallied 13 per cent and 8 per cent respectively in the past one month. In comparison, the Nifty gained over 4 per cent in the past one month.

At 10:15 a.m., shares of L&T were down 1.6 per cent while BHEL fell over 1 per cent as compared to a flat Nifty.        

HDFC Mutual Fund files offer document for Nifty ETF

HDFC Mutual Fund has filed offer document with SEBI to launch an open ended exchange traded fund scheme named as “HDFC Nifty ETF”. The New Fund Offer price is Rs 100 per unit. Entry and exit load charges will be nil for the scheme. The scheme does not offer any Plans/Options and seeks to collect a Minimum Target Amount of Rs 10 crore.

The scheme will be benchmarked against CNX Nifty Index. The minimum application amount is Rs 5,000 per application and in multiples of Re 1 thereafter.

The investment objective of the scheme is to provide investment returns that, before expenses, closely correspond to the total returns of the Securities as represented by the CNX Nifty Index subject to tracking errors.

Indraprastha Gas acquires additional 25 lakh shares of MNGL


Indraprastha Gas (IGL) has acquired 25 lakh shares of MNGL at a price of Rs 38 per equity shares of MNGL in the second & final tranche. Presently, the company holds 5 crore shares constituting 50% of present paid up capital of MNGL.

The company earlier on March 30, 2015, had acquired 4.75 crore shares of Maharashtra Natural Gas (MNGL) in the first tranche at a price of Rs 38 per equity share from certain financial investor shareholders of MNGL.

Indraprastha Gas, incorporated in 1998, is engaged in distribution of CNG and PNG in Delhi. In 1999 the company took over Delhi City Gas Distribution Project from GAIL (India). IGL laid the network for the distribution of natural gas in the National Capital of Delhi to consumers in the domestic, transport, and commercial sectors.

Sintex Industries reports 12% rise in Q1 consolidated net profit

Sintex Industries has reported results for first quarter ended June 30, 2015.

The company’s net profit rose by 12.58% at Rs 57.31 crore as compared to Rs 50.90 crore for the quarter ended June 30, 2014. Its total income has increased by 7.65% to Rs 833.08 crore for the quarter under review from Rs 773.91 crore for the corresponding quarter of the previous year.

On the consolidated basis, the company has reported 12.03% rise in its net profit at Rs 69 crore for the quarter ended June 30, 2015 as compared to Rs 61.59 crore for the same quarter in the previous year. Total income of the company has increased by 10.52% at Rs 1489.79 crore for quarter under review as compared to Rs 1347.93 crore for the quarter ended June 30, 2014.

Indirect tax collection grew 37.5 percent in the first quarter

Showing a healthy growth, Indirect tax revenues grew 37.5 per cent to nearly Rs 1.54 lakh crore in the first quarter of the current fiscal, powered by a robust show in excise collections. The growth in collections indicates that the underlying momentum in the economy is improving across all sectors including manufacturing as reflected in healthy excise tax collections.

As per the government data, Indirect tax collections in April-June quarter increased to Rs 1,53,980 crore from over Rs 1.12 lakh crore in the year-ago period. In the quarter central excise collections surged by 81 percent to Rs 61,661 crore, from Rs 34,067 crore a year earlier. Customs collections were up 20.2 percent to Rs 47,080 crore, from Rs 39,175 crore in April-June 2014, while Service tax collections went up by 16.4 percent to Rs 45,239 crore in April-June 2015. For the month of June, the overall indirect tax collections surged by 33.3 percent to Rs 57,357 crore. Excise tax was up 67 per cent at Rs 22,717 crore for the month, while Service tax inflows were up 14 percent on year at Rs 17,546 crore and customs collections were up 21 percent at Rs 17,094 crore.

The government has stated that the growth in underlying indirect tax collections of 14.5 per cent suggests a healthy increase in nominal GDP (gross domestic product) growth which constitutes the tax base for indirect tax collections. The indirect tax collections reflect in part the effect of the additional measures taken by the central government, including the excise hike on diesel and petrol, the increase in clean energy cess and withdrawal of exemptions for motor vehicles and consumer durables, besides service tax rate hike to 14 per cent. For the full year the government is targeting Rs 6.46 lakh crore from indirect taxes this financial year, a growth of 18.8 percent compared with previous financial year.

Suven Life Sciences secures 4 product patents for their NCE’s in China, Mexico and South Africa


Suven Life Sciences (Suven) has secured patents in China (CN103443093) and South Africa (2013/01143, 2013/06328) to their New Chemical Entities (NCE’s) for CNS therapy through mechanism of action - H3 Inverse agonist and these patents are valid until 2031,2030 and 2031 respectively. The granted claims of the patent include the class of selective H3 ligands discovered by Suven and are being developed as therapeutic agents and are useful in the treatment of cognitive impairment associated with neurodegenerative disorders.

Suven also secured a patent for their NCE in Mexico (326651) and the granted claims of this patent include the class of selective alpha-4-beta-2 compounds discovered by Suven and are being developed as therapeutic agents for major depressive disorder (MDD) and the patent is valid through 2030.

With these new patents, Suven has a total of sixteen granted patents from China, nineteen granted patents from Mexico and twenty two granted patents from South Africa. These granted patents are exclusive intellectual property of Suven and are achieved through the internal discovery research efforts. Products out of these inventions may be out-licensed at various phases of clinical development like at Phase-I or Phase-II.

Foreign investment in Supreme Industries reaches trigger limit




Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has notified that the foreign shareholding by Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs)/Registered Foreign Portfolios Investors (RFPIs) in Supreme Industries has reached the trigger limit. Accordingly, further purchases of equity shares of this company would be allowed only after obtaining prior approval of the RBI.

Supreme Industries is India's leading plastic processing company with seven business divisions. The company has forayed into different types of plastic processing in Injection Moulding, Rotational Moulding (ROTO), Extrusion, Compression Moulding, Blow Moulding etc.

Crude prices make a weak start on supply glut concern




Crude oil futures extending their decline have made a weak start on Monday, ignoring news that European leaders gave Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras three days to enact their main demands to keep alive chances of adding bailout funds. Crude prices were mainly weighed down by prospects of Iran increasing crude exports in an oversupplied market. Iran and world powers may announce a nuclear deal as soon as Monday after a political agreement was reached to lift a United Nations arms embargo.

Benchmark crude oil futures for August delivery declined by 97 cents to $51.77 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. In London, Brent for August delivery lost $1.12 or 1.9 percent, to $57.61 a barrel on the ICE.

IL&FS Transportation receives LoA for project worth Rs 587.60 crore



IL&FS Transportation Networks has received a Letter of Acceptance (LoA) dated July 10, 2015 from Government of Jharkhand for 6 laning of Ranchi Ring Road, Section VII from Kathitanr to Karma comprising of 23.575 Kms. for development by Jharkhand Infrastructure Implementation Company, a subsidiary of the company on a Built Operate Transfer (BOT) basis.

The project is on annuity basis with a concession period of 17.5 years including construction period of 2.5 years. The estimated cost of the project is Rs 587.60 crore. The company shall receive a semi-annual annuity of Rs 55.82 crore.

IL&FS Transportation Networks has been involved in the development, operation and maintenance of national and state highways, roads (including urban roads), flyovers and bridges in Andhra Pradesh, Delhi, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Uttar Pradesh, Kerala, Jharkhand and Rajasthan.

Tata Motors launches Veerangana Express cab service in Gwalior



Tata Motors, India’s largest commercial vehicle manufacturer has partnered with Laxmibai Mahila Nagrik Sahakari Bank and SGS Motors in Gwalior to launch the Veerangana Express - an affordable, comfortable, convenient and safe cab service for women, by women in Gwalior. The Veerangana Express will use Tata Motors’ most acclaimed last mile passenger transport solution - the Tata Magic IRIS, a stylish, safe and comfortable alternative for commuters who depend on three-wheelers.

The Veerangana Express cab service managed by a group of Ladies, will ply within Municipal limits in Gwalior. This programme has been funded by Laxmibai Mahila Sahakari Bank and is being supported by the District Collector and Transport Department. This service is being assisted by the District Industrial center by way of 30% subsidy (on-road price) under ‘Mukhya Mantri Swarojgar Yojana’ which is an initiative by the Chief Minister, Madhya Pradesh.

Tata Motors is India's largest automobile company, is the leader in commercial vehicles in each segment, and among the top in passenger vehicles with winning products in the compact, midsize car and utility vehicle segments. It is also the world's fourth largest truck and bus manufacturer.

Gold Slips With no Greek Deal, US Rate Hike Signals

Gold Slips With no Greek Deal, US Rate Hike Signals

 Gold edged lower on Monday, dragged down by the euro after a weekend emergency summit to tackle Greece's debt crisis yielded no deal and with the U.S. Federal Reserve still on track to raise interest rates this year.

Greece will now be required to push legislation through parliament this week to convince its euro zone creditors to release funds to avert a state bankruptcy and start negotiations on a third bailout programme estimated at up to 86 billion euros ($95.5 billion).

The news weighed on the euro, making dollar-denominated assets such as gold more costly for holders of other currencies.

Spot gold was off 0.2 per cent at $1,161.10 an ounce by 0156 GMT, after falling for a third straight week.

Also a drag on gold were signals from Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen on Friday suggesting that the U.S. central bank is on course to raise interest rates within this year.

Expectations that the Fed would lift interest rates at some point this year had weighed on bullion prices, which touched a four-month low last week. It had been largely on a decline since hitting a high of $1,232 in mid-May.

"We are bearish toward gold prices and the underlining factor for this is our expectation that the Fed will raise interest rates by the third quarter," said OCBC Bank analyst Barnabas Gan, who sees gold at $1,050 by year-end.

Gan said the Fed rate hikes could be a "minimum of one, maximum of two" this year, depending on how the U.S. labor market fares.

Yellen said the while the U.S. economy should grow steadily for the remainder of the year, allowing the Fed to move with its first rate hike in nearly a decade, she stressed that U.S. labour markets remain weak and that more workers could be encouraged back into the job market with stronger growth.

Hedge funds and money managers bailed out of COMEX gold and silver futures and options at the fastest pace in at least a year in the week to July 7, at the height of the commodities market's biggest rout in years, data on Friday showed.

Speculators hit gold the hardest even after Greece rejected terms of a bailout for the stricken country's debt, cutting their net long by 13,906 lots to 7,574 contracts, according to data from the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission.

Physical demand for gold remained tepid last week as prospective investors in China chased bargains in equities after a market selloff, while those in India delayed purchases.

U.S. gold for August delivery gained 0.2 per cent to 1,160.50 an ounce.

Yes Bank wins ‘The Asian Banking and Finance Awards 2015’

Yes Bank, India’s 5th largest private sector Bank, was awarded in two prestigious categories at the Asian Banking and Finance Wholesale Banking Awards, held in Singapore. The bank received ‘Cash Management Bank of the Year’, India, ABF Wholesale Banking Awards, 2015 and ‘Trade Finance Bank of the Year’, India, ABF Wholesale Banking Awards, 2015.
The bank was declared the winner for showcasing Innovative E-Collection practices in CMS and unique Knowledge Banking approach to expand its Export Credit Business in Trade Finance. The award was given to the bank after a rigorous assessment by an independent panel comprising members from Deloitte, EY, KPMG and post field research by the ABF research staff.
Since 2012, Asian Banking and Finance has been recognizing the most innovative projects and the best practices in Asia’s wholesale banking sector. Banks from 18 Asian countries took part in the awards.

Greece Argues into the Night with Eurozone on Bailout Terms

Euro zone leaders argued late into the night with near-bankrupt Greece at an emergency summit, demanding that Athens enact key reforms this week to restore trust before they will open talks on a financial rescue to keep it in the European currency area.

Leftist Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras was told to push legislation through parliament to convince his 18 partners in the euro zone to release immediate funds to avert a state bankruptcy and start negotiations on a third bailout programme estimated at up to 86 billion euros ($95.5 billion).

Six sweeping measures including tax and pension reforms must be enacted by Wednesday night and the entire package endorsed by parliament before talks can start, a draft decision by Eurogroup finance ministers sent to the leaders showed.

The document included a German proposal to make Greece take a "time-out" from the euro zone if it fails to meet the conditions. But a senior EU source said the idea was illegal and would be dropped from the summit statement if Tsipras accepted other deeply unpalatable terms.

Tsipras said on arrival in Brussels he wanted "another honest compromise" to keep Europe united.

But German Chancellor Angela Merkel, whose country is the biggest contributor to euro zone bailouts, said the conditions were not yet right to start negotiations, sounding cautious in deference to mounting opposition at home to more aid for Greece.

"The most important currency has been lost and that is trust," she told reporters. "That means that we will have tough discussions and there will be no agreement at any price."

If Greece meets the conditions, the German parliament would meet on Thursday to mandate Merkel and Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble to open the talks on a new loan. Then Eurogroup finance ministers could meet again on Friday or at the weekend to formally launch the negotiations.

As the marathon summit dragged into early Monday morning, with breaks for private meetings between Tsipras and the French, German and EU leaders, markets in Asia-Pacific marked the euro down and bought safe-haven bonds. The absence of deal in Brussels also hit pre-market trading in the United States.

EU officials said the biggest of several sticking points was Germany's insistence that Greek state assets worth 50 billion euros be placed in a trust fund in Luxembourg to be sold off with proceeds going directly to pay down debt. The EU says experts evaluate Greek assets earmarked for privatisation at just 7 billion euros.

One diplomat said that was tantamount to turning Greece into a "German protectorate", stripping it of more sovereignty.

Another diplomat said Merkel had declared the matter a "red line" for Germany and insisted that the International Monetary Fund be fully involved in any third bailout for Greece, despite resistance from Athens.

Tsipras, for his part, was insisting on a stronger commitment by the creditors to restructure Greek debt to make it sustainable in the medium-term.

An EU official said several options were being discussed to give Greece bridging funds once it passed the laws, including releasing European Central Bank profits on Greek bonds, tapping an emergency fund run by the European Commission, or bilateral loans from friendly countries such as France. Two official French sources denied that any bridging loan was planned.

Finance ministers said Greece needed 7 billion euros of funding by July 20, when it must make a crucial bond redemption to the European Central Bank, and a total of 12 billion euros by mid-August when another ECB payment falls due.

Some diplomats questioned whether it was feasible to rush the package through the Greek parliament in just three days. Tsipras is set to sack ministers who did not support his negotiating position in a vote last Friday and make dissident lawmakers in his Syriza party resign their seats, people close to the government said.

TEMPORARY GREXIT?

Several hardline countries voiced support for the German proposal that Greece take a five-year "time-out" from the euro unless it accepted and implemented swiftly much tougher conditions.

But French President Francois Hollande, Greece's strongest ally in the euro zone, dismissed the notion, saying it would start a dangerous unravelling of EU integration.

Talks among the currency zone's finance ministers turned into what one participant called "a kindergarten" before they were suspended without agreement at midnight on Saturday, resuming more calmly on Sunday morning after the French and German ministers met privately to clear the air.

At one stage in the debate on Greece's debt sustainability, Germany's Schaeuble snapped at ECB President Mario Draghi: "I'm not stupid," a person familiar with the exchange said. Schaeuble also clashed with the head of the euro zone bailout fund, Klaus Regling, on whether the EU treaty conditions for an emergency loan were fulfilled, another source said.

Those rules say there must be "a risk to the financial stability of the euro area as a whole or of its Member States".

GREEKS SEE HUMILIATION

Greece's new finance minister, Euclid Tsakalotos, was silent in public but the reaction among some lawmakers in Tsipras's radical leftist Syriza party, still smarting from having to swallow austerity measures they had opposed, was furious.

"What is at play here is an attempt to humiliate Greece and Greeks, or to overthrow the Tsipras government," said Dimitrios Papadimoulis, a Syriza member of the European Parliament.

With banks shuttered for two weeks, cash withdrawals rationed and the economy on the edge of an abyss, some Greeks vented their anger on Merkel and Schaeuble.

"The only thing that I care about is not being humiliated by Schaeuble and the rest of them" said Panagiotis Trikokglou, a 44-year-old private sector worker in Athens.

Greece has already had two bailouts worth 240 billion euros from euro zone countries and the International Monetary Fund, but its economy has shrunk by a quarter since the crisis began, unemployment has soared above 25 percent and one in two young people is out of work.

Athens defaulted on an IMF loan repayment last month and faces state bankruptcy if it cannot make the bond redemption on July 20, which would likely force the ECB to cut emergency funding for Greek banks.

Economists said the idea of a temporary exit would mean in practice ejecting Athens from the European monetary union.

Paul De Grauwe, a Belgian economist at the London School of Economics, compared it to a couple having a trial separation.

"Temporary Grexit is like temporary divorce. Most if not all end up being permanent," he said in a Twitter message.

The United States has added its voice to calls for a deal this weekend, concerned at the geopolitical consequences if Greece were to be cut loose and become a failed state in economic terms in the fragile southern Balkans, adjoining the Middle East.

($1 = 0.9007 euros)

Sensex Jumps Over 100 Points, Nifty Near 8,400

9:15 a.m.: The markets opened higher in trades today on the back of broad-based buying. The Sensex advanced 103 points to 27,764 and Nifty jumped 40 points to move above 8,400 levels.

Metal and capital goods stocks were facing selling pressure while some buying interest was in pharma and IT stocks.

From the Nifty-50 basket of stocks, 32 were declining while 18 were declining.

Cairn India, Sun Pharma, Asian Paints, HCL Technologies, Cipla and Bharti Airtel were among the top gainers on Nifty. While, Power Grid, BHEL, HUL, L&T, Hindalco and Bajaj Auto were among the losers.

9:09 a.m.: The Sensex jumped 78 points to 27,739 and Nifty jumped 37 points to 8,397 in the pre-market session.

9:05 a.m.: CLSA has maintained its buy call on Maruti Suzuki for target price of Rs 4,450 per share. CLSA expects an action packed year ahead and says that multiple catalysts are in place to drive strong earnings growth. CLSA adds that passenger vehicle growth will gradually improve and its margins should expand going ahead.

9:00 a.m.: Rupee opens lower at 63.44/dollar against Friday's close of 63.39.

8:30 a.m.: Industrial output, as measured by index of industrial production (IIP), grew 2.7 per cent in May. This was lower than the downwardly revised 3.36 per cent growth recorded in April.

Economists polled by NDTV had forecast May industrial output to rise 4 per cent.

8:20 a.m.: Below are the stocks which will be in focus today:

Vedanta, Cairn India: Tom Albanese chief executive officer of Vedanta Resources said that he is confident of a merger between Cairn India and Vedanta by March 2016. He said that the company is in regular touch with the shareholders of both the companies and the response so far has been very encouraging.

Meanwhile, Anil Agarwal, chairman of Vedanta at its AGM said that its merger with Cairn India will strengthen cash flows for the companies and will reduce earnings volatility and funding costs.

IndusInd Bank: IndusInd Bank will come out with results later in the day. Analysts expect the private sector lender to post net interest income of Rs 975 crore and net profit of Rs 665 crore.

Mahindra & Mahindra: Mahindra & Mahindra has sought for shareholders nod for raising upto Rs 5,000 crore.

Eicher Motors: Royal Enfield plans to ramp up capacity to 52,000 units a month by December 2015.

Asian Paints: Asian Paints operations at Sriperumbudur plant have returned to normalcy.

DLF:  DLF plans to hike rates in Gurgaon project despite low demand.

Sintex Industries: Sintex Industries first quarter earnings came in-line with analysts' estimates. Net profit jumped 12 per cent to Rs 69 crore compared to Rs 61.6 crore on income of Rs 1,471.2 crore.

Unichem Labs: Posted flat first quarter earnings. Net profit slipped 4.6 per cent to Rs 28.8 crore on income of Rs Rs 309.1 crore compared to Rs 291 crore during the same period last year.

Lanco Infra: The company may soon commence port project work in Australia.

Muthoot Finance: Muthoot Fincorp promoters plan to to expand real estate business.

Supreme Industries: RBI has said that the FII investment has reached trigger limits in the company.

8:15 a.m.: The foreign institutional investors (FIIs) sold Indian shares worth Rs 465 crore on Friday while the domestic institutional investors purchased shares worth Rs 590 crore.

8:10 a.m.: Euro zone leaders argued late into the night with near-bankrupt Greece at an emergency summit, demanding that Athens enact key reforms this week to restore trust before they will open talks on a financial rescue to keep it in the European currency area.

8:00 a.m.: The Asian markets were trading on a positive note. Japan's Nikkei was up 1.2 per cent, KOSPI jumped 0.76 per cent and Taiwan Weighted advanced 0.9 per cent. While, Hang Seng was down 0.35 per cent.

7:45 a.m.: The Indian markets are likely to open on a flat note tracking subdued trading of Nifty on the Singapore Stock Exchange. The Nifty traded on the Singapore Stock Exchange known as the SGX NIfty was down 0.06 per cent at 8,365