Markets continue firm trades; financials gain

However, index heavyweights RIL, HUL, ONGC and L&T remain under pressure in noon deals

Markets continue to edge higher in the noon deals amid volatility on account of short covering in beaten down financial stocks after the rupee strengthened against the US dollar. At 1400 hrs, the Sensex was up 130 points at 18,795 and the Nifty gained 44 points to trade at 5,563.

In broader markets, both the midcap and smallcap indices advanced over 1% each and outperformed the BSE benchmark index which gained 0.7%.

Meanwhile, the Indian rupee firmed against the US dollar. The local currency was up 21 paise at 61.09 against the dollar in noon trade on selling of the US currency by banks and exporters amidst volatile equity market.

In international markets, strong trade data from China eased concerns about the global economic outlook on Thursday, supporting European and Asian shares.

The better tone ended three days of steady falls in MSCI's world equity index caused by expectations the Federal Reserve could soon start to wind down its stimulus program, which has driven this year's rally in stocks.

MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was up 0.8% after the Chinese data, recovering more than half of Wednesday's losses, while Europe's shares edged up about 0.1% in early dealing.

In contrast, Tokyo's Nikkei shed 1.6%, extending Wednesday's 4% drop.

Back home, all the sectoral indices were in the green, except Oil & Gas and Health Care index which shed 0.4% each.

Among the ones leading gains were Realty, Metal,Power, Teck and Auto indices up 1-2.5%. Consumer Durables, Capital Goods, Bankex and FMCG indices too added 0.4-0.7%

The movers among the Sensex-30 were Hindalco which gained 5% followed by Cipla, Maruti Suzuki, Bharti Airtel, Tata Steel, HDFC, Mahindra & Mahindra, Sterlite, HDFC Bank, Coal India and Jindal Steel which added between 2-4%.

The only ones in the red were Wipro, SBI, Dr Reddys Lab, Sun Pharma and Tata Motors which shed 1-2%.

Reliance Industries, HUL, ONGC and L&T were the other notable losers, which slipped 0.1-0.7%.

The market breadth was very positive. 1,238 stocks advanced while 840 stocks declined on the BSE.

ICICI Bank launches 20 Gramin branches across Rajasthan

ICICI Bank, India's largest private sector bank, has launched 20 new Gramin branches across Rajasthan as part of its financial inclusion plan that aims at providing banking services in unbanked villages. All these branches have been opened in small villages, which were so far devoid of any banking facility.

The Thikaria Gramin branch is one of the 20 branches the Bank inaugurated in Rajasthan. The other Gramin branch in the same Dausa district is at Nadari. Other branches opened in the state are at Pritampuri and Basri Khurd villages in Sikar district; at Hudeel and Lalas villages in Nagaur district; at 22ML, 9ML, Ghamurwali and Sanwatsar villages in Ganga Nagar district; at Bhawad, Danwara, Poonasar and Jakhan villages in Jodhpur district; at Otwala and Alasan villages in Jalore district; at Bhinyad and Kanasar villages in Barmer district and at Gudli and Sangwa villages in Udaipur district.

With these launches, ICICI Bank has opened over 140 rural branches in Rajasthan, which is one-fourth of the total number of rural branches across the country. The addition of these new branches has increased the network of ICICI Bank in Rajasthan to more than 400 branches.

ICICI Bank is India's largest private sector bank and the second largest bank in the country, with consolidated total assets of $122 billion at December 31, 2012. The Bank’s presence currently spans 19 countries, including India.

Cadbury to invest over Rs 1,000 crore in Andhra Pradesh plant

Cadbury India will set up its biggest manufacturing facility in the Asia-Pacific region in Andhra Pradesh's Sri City business hub with an initial investment of over Rs 1,000 crore. The announcement by the unit of Nasdaq-listed snacking company Mondelez International is a rare piece of good news in the midst of gloomy economic data and complaints by foreign investors about the business environment in India.

The manufacturer of Cadbury Dairy Milk, Bournvita and Oreo biscuits plans to add three more phases involving a total investment of at least Rs 2,000 core by 2020. The first phase is expected to start by mid-2015. At present, Cadbury India has its manufacturing facilities in Himachal Pradesh, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh and Andhra Pradesh.

Cadbury India has signed an agreement with Sri City to take on lease 134 acres for the facility in the business city with special economic zones, domestic tariff zones and free trade and warehousing zones on the AP border, located close to Chennai. The business city now houses over 90 industrial units from 25 countries.

"We are excited over attracting such large investment from Cadbury India at a time when the entire country is suffering from unfavourable economic conditions and Andhra Pradesh is reeling because of a political crisis," Sri City managing director Ravindra Sannareddy.

Cadbury India said that the multi-category food campus it is setting up at Sri City will have the largest chocolate manufacturing plant in the country.The facility is expected to create close to 1,600 direct jobs in total.

"This investment will build on our success in India till date and ensure long-term business sustainability," Mondelez's president for India and South Asia, Anand Kripalu, was quoted as saying. Among the FMCG companies which have their facilities at Sri City are PepsiCo, Kellogg's and Colgate Palmolive.

Lanco Infra Q1 net loss at Rs 578 cr

Lanco Infratech Ltd has posted a huge loss of Rs 578 crore for the first quarter ended June 30, 2013 against a loss of Rs 441 crore in the corresponding period last year.

Gross revenue during the first quarter was down 28 per cent at Rs 2,914 crore against Rs 4,030 crore in the same quarter last year.

The company’s performance was impacted due to lower power generation in its gas-based and coal power plants, hurdles in project execution, higher interest outgo and foreign exchange loss of Rs 220 crore.

The company has gross debt of Rs 35,394 crore. It has also piled up receivables of Rs 3,285 crore from state electricity boards.

Shakti Pumps India gains on bagging contract worth Rs 2.83 crore for solar project

Shakti Pumps India is currently trading at Rs. 40.85, up by 1.30 points or 3.29% from its previous closing of Rs. 39.55 on the BSE.

The scrip opened at Rs. 40.40 and has touched a high and low of Rs. 41.40 and Rs. 40.40 respectively. So far 4,323 shares were traded on the counter.

The BSE group 'B' stock of face value Rs. 10 has touched a 52 week high of Rs. 73.00 on 07-Dec-2012 and a 52 week low of Rs. 37.15 on 17-Aug-2012.

Last one week high and low of the scrip stood at Rs. 43.90 and Rs. 38.70 respectively. The current market cap of the company is Rs. 62.00 crore.

The promoters holding in the company stood at 44.86% while Institutions and Non-Institutions held 10.48% and 44.66% respectively.

Shakti Pumps India has received a rate contract with Rajasthan Electronics & Instruments, a ‘Mini Ratna’ PSU for 900 pumps with order value Rs 2.83 crore for the solar project.

Shakti Pumps was incorporated to manufacture submersible pumps and electric control panels. The company is engaged in the business of manufacturing of submersible pumps along with submersible motors and associated controls panels under the name ‘Shakti’.

LPG distributors want govt to apply brakes on cash transfers

LPG gas distributors want the government to apply brakes on its direct benefit transfer for liquefied petroleum gas (LPG). These distributors have expressed concers that there might be errors and problems in meeting the stiff timelines as center wants to rush with cash transfers before the general elections in 2014.

Limited human resources, said distributors are a major hinderance to meet short notices given by the government.  LPG distributors are struggling to collect documents to link Aadhar card and bank acccount numbers in time.

The scheme is aimed at curbing black-marketeering and leakages in subsidy. The distributors want the government to pay them for guiding customers and updating their data base in short notices. 

Bond markets await RBI dividend payout

Bond markets await the announcement of the RBI's annual dividend payout to the government, which is estimated around 330-350 billion rupees.

Investors had initially worried the dividend payout would have eased liquidity, raising concerns that the central bank would have to resort to new measures to drain cash such as with a sale of government bills.
However, those worries have eased. Instead, traders say liquidity conditions could tighten again despite the dividend payout on speculation that the government has breached its short-term borrowing limit of 300 billion rupees from the RBI.

Should the government have breached the limit, it would constrain its spending, removing a source of liquidity from markets.
The benchmark 10-year bond yield 3 basis points higher at 8.17 pct.

Sensex up 55 points; Metal, realty stocks major gainers

The Sensex and the Nifty were trading up by about 0.3 per cent in the afternoon session on Thursday as marketmen remained cautious despite firm Asian cues.

At 12.15 p.m., the 30-share BSE index Sensex was up 54.61 points (0.29 per cent) at 18,719.53 and the 50-share NSE index Nifty was up 24.55 points (0.44 per cent) at 5,543.65.

Among BSE sectoral indices, metal and realty stocks rallied and were up 2.52 per cent and 2.41 per cent, respectively, followed by atuo 1.21 per cent and capital goods 0.75 per cent.

On the other hand, healthcare index was the worst-hit and was down 1.54 per cent, followed by oil & gas 0.58 per cent and IT 0.09 per cent.

Among 30-share Sensex, Hindalco, Sterlite, Tata Steel, HDFC and Jindal Steel were the top five gainers, while the top five losers were Sun Pharma, Wipro, Cipla, Dr Reddy's and ONGC.

The Nifty opened at 5,510, down nine points while the Sensex opened at 18,687, up 22 points.

The market will remain volatile but the Nifty is unlikely to breach 5,480 on the downside, said technical analyst Gurudatta Dhanokar.

Asian stocks were up, driven by healthcare companies, after the Bank of Japan maintained its stimulus policy and Chinese exports grew more than forecast.

Nikkei shed 232.72 points or 1.68 per cent to 13,592.20, Hang Seng rose 106.18 points or 0.49 per cent to 21,695 and S&P/ASX 200 climbed 46.60 points or 0.93 per cent to 5,057.90.

The Wall Street had ended lower on Wednesday as uncertainty over when the as uncertainty over when the Federal Reserve will begin to wind down its stimulus kept buyers at bay.

If the data show US jobless claims have increased, then it could delay the US’ plans of scaling back its $85-billion-a-month bond-buying programme to prop up the economy.

Ranbaxy trades jubilantly on inking ‘letter of offer’ agreement with KHTP

Ranbaxy Laboratories is currently trading at Rs. 318.00, up by 36.10 points or 12.81% from its previous closing of Rs. 281.90 on the BSE.

The scrip opened at Rs. 280.85 and has touched a high and low of Rs. 320.40 and Rs. 279.00 respectively. So far 849624 shares were traded on the counter.

The BSE group 'A' stock of face value Rs. 5 has touched a 52 week high of Rs. 578.30 on 04-Sep-2012 and a 52 week low of Rs. 253.95 on 02-Aug-2013.

Last one week high and low of the scrip stood at Rs. 320.40 and Rs. 253.95 respectively. The current market cap of the company is Rs. 13451.29 crore.

The promoters holding in the company stood at 63.51% while Institutions and Non-Institutions held 20.74% and 13.69% respectively.

Ranbaxy Malaysia Sdn Bhd (RMSB) is a joint venture company of Ranbaxy Laboratories and has been allocated the site for setting up its Greenfield manufacturing facility in Malaysia. The company signed a 'letter of offer' agreement with Kulim Hi Tech Park (KHTP), a wholly owned state agency and industrial park that houses various other leading industries. KHTP is located at Kulim in the state of Kedah, Malaysia.

The Ranbaxy Greenfield facility will be built on an area of around 15 acres with an investment of around US$ 35 million providing employment to over 200 people. This will be Ranbaxy's second manufacturing plant in Malaysia. Last year in September, the Government of Malaysia gave an approval to RMSB for setting up a Greenfield manufacturing facility in Malaysia as an Entry Point Project (EPP).

The RMSB new facility would manufacture dosage forms including tablets and capsules primarily in the Cardiovascular, Anti Diabetic, Anti-infective and Gastrointestinal segments. Ranbaxy's total output in Malaysia will be increased from 1 Billion doses /annum to 3 Billion doses /annum when the new facility is fully operational. In the 2012 Malaysian budget, the Government of Malaysia liberalized investments into the healthcare sector and encouraged foreign companies.

Fortis Health approves allotment of FCCBs worth USD 30mn

With reference to the earlier announcement dated July 23, 2013 and July 27, 2013, Fortis Healthcare Ltd has now informed BSE that the Issue Committee of the Board of Directors on August 07, 2013 has approved the allotment of the FCCBs amounting up to US$ 30,000,000 to investors in accordance with the terms of the offering of the FCCBs and applicable laws and regulations.