Sensex, Nifty snap 4-day winning streak

The stock market in India ended in the negative terrain for the first time in the four trading session . However, notably today’s fall has come on low volumes. In fact, the current F&O series today witnessed the lowest total turnover . 

The IT, telecom, metals and the banking stocks were among the major laggards. On the other hand, realty, consumer durables, pharma and capital goods stocks were among the top gainers. While the Mid-Cap and the small-Cap index ended on a flat note. 

The telecom sector was under pressure as rising prices in the spectrum auctions would further reduce profit margins for the telecom companies. Idea Cellular has slumped over 8% to close at Rs. 126 and Bharti Airtel declined by 2.5% while MTNL ended flat.

Shares of RCom ended lower by 4% to close at Rs120 per share amid disappointing results. Commenting on the same, Amar Ambani, Head of Research at IIFL said, “Rcom results were below our expectation on both revenue and profitability counts and although company would benefit from pricing tailwind in the next few quarters, we still prefer Bharti at current valuation.”

Finally, the BSE Sensex closed at 20334 down 42 points while the NSE Nifty ended lower by 6053 down 10 points compared with the previous closing. 

Essar Oil reports 62% jump in Q3 net profit

Essar Oil has reported results for third quarter ended December 31, 2013.

The company has reported 62.50% rise in its net profit at Rs 52 crore for the quarter, as compared to Rs 32 crore for the same quarter in the previous year. Total income of the company increased by 5.39% at Rs 25355 crore for quarter under review as compared to Rs 24056 crore for the quarter ended December 31, 2012.

Essar Oil is a fully integrated oil & gas company of international scale with strong presence across the hydrocarbon value chain from exploration & production to refining and oil retail.

Apollo Hospitals Enterprise reports marginal rise in Q3 net profit

Apollo Hospitals Enterprise has reported results for third quarter ended December 31, 2013.

The company has reported 3.47% rise in its net profit at Rs 83.44 crore for the quarter as compared to Rs 80.64 crore for the same quarter in the previous year. Total income of the company increased by 15.43% at Rs 997.15 crore for quarter under review as compared to Rs 863.83 crore for the quarter ended December 31, 2012.

Apollo Hospitals, is the leading private sector healthcare provider in Asia and owns and manages a network of speciality hospitals and clinics, a chain of Pharmacy retail outlets across the country, and provides Consultancy Services for commissioning and managing the Speciality Hospitals.

CAD likely to decline to $45 billion in current fiscal: Finance Ministry

Finance Ministry expects that India’s current account deficit (CAD) will fall by almost 50% to around $45 billion in the current financial year, mainly on the back of declining gold imports and the narrowing trade deficit. India’s CAD widened to a record high of $88.2 billion or 4.8% of GDP in 2012-13, however during the first half of current fiscal, CAD has narrowed to $26.9 billion or 3.1% of GDP from 4.5% of GDP in the first half of 2012-13.

The ministry further stated that the country is witnessing significant improvement on trade deficit front on account of better performance of exports and contracting imports. During April-December’2013, value of exports increased by 5.94% to $230.34 billion as against $217.42 billion in the same period of previous year. India’s imports also declined by 6.55% to $340.38 billon during April-December’2013 as against $364.24 billion recorded in the same period of previous year. Further, Finance Ministry added that FII inflows remained quite robust during this fiscal and expressed confidence for accretion to foreign exchange reserves. As on January 31, 2014 India’s foreign exchange reserve stood at $291 billion. Besides, Foreign Institutional Investors investing Rs 56,560 crore in equities so far in the current fiscal. 

Referring to fiscal deficit front, Finance Ministry has asserted that country’s fiscal deficit is likely to be contained at 4.7% of GDP in 2013-14 because of better- than-expected response to the ongoing auction of telecom spectrum and other supportive measures taken by the government. So far the government has garnered around Rs 56,190 crore from the ongoing auction of 2G radiowaves and the figure is likely to go up further. In the first nine months of this fiscal, Indian fiscal deficit reached Rs 5,16,390 crore or 95.2 per cent of the Rs 5,42,499 crore fiscal target.

LIC increases stake in Indraprastha Gas to 7.2%

State-owned Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) has increased its stake in Indraprastha Gas (IGL) by over 2% to become the 3rd largest shareholder in the company. Last week, LIC bought 29.5 lakh equity shares of IGL from the open market to increase its shareholding in the company from 5.097% to 7.204%.

Indraprastha Gas, incorporated in 1998, is engaged in distribution of Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) and Piped Natural Gas (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.

DLF enters into a settlement with Delhi Development Authority

DLF has entered into a settlement with Delhi Development Authority (DDA) with respect to the agreement for allotment of land for setting up an International Convention and Exhibition Centre Project at Sector-24, Dwarka, New Delhi.

Accordingly, the Company has received a refund of Rs 675.81 crore from DDA as full and final settlement, after forfeiture of the earnest money in terms of the settlement agreement. With this settlement, all claims of both the parties inter-se relating to the above land shall stand settled.

DLF is one of India’s largest real estate companies that has over 60 years of track record of sustained growth, customer satisfaction, and innovation. The company has 314 msf of planned projects with 52 msf of projects under construction.

HCC bags contracts worth Rs 725 crore in various business segments

Hindustan Construction Company (HCC), India’s leading infrastructure company, has been awarded contracts worth Rs 725 crore in various business segments. The company has bagged first order for construction of 2.9 km long four lane bridge between Daudnagar and Nasriganj including approach roads over river Sone in the district of Aurangabad and Rohtas in the state of Bihar. The contract is awarded by Bihar Rajya Pul Nirman Nigam and is worth Rs 433 crore.

The company has also secured orders aggregating Rs 293 crore from Water, Nuclear and Industrial sectors which include construction of Bhama Askhed Water Supply Scheme, Package-IV for Pune Municipal Corporation; construction of buildings for Fast Reactor Fuel Cycle facility (FRFCF) at Kalpakkam being built for Indira Gandhi Centre for Atomic Research and structural steel fabrication works for a leading petrochemical company in India and civil works for a captive power plant for a leading aluminium manufacturer in the country.

HCC is a leader in engineering and construction space. The company has established a vast presence and gained recognition in the sectors of Hydro Power, Water Solutions, Transportation and Nuclear Power.

Godrej Industries reports 64% fall in Q3 consolidated net profit

Godrej Industries has reported results for third quarter ended December 31, 2013.

The company has reported a net loss of Rs 8.54 crore for the quarter as compared to net profit of Rs 131.37 crore for the same quarter in the previous year. However, total income of the company  increased by 6.48% at Rs 368.55 crore for quarter under review as compared to Rs 346.11 crore for the quarter ended December 31, 2012

On the consolidated basis, the group has reported 63.64% fall in its net profit at Rs 65.23 crore for the quarter ended December 31, 2013 as compared to Rs 179.44 crore for the same quarter in the previous year. However, total income of the group increased by 18% at Rs 2033.17 crore for quarter under review as compared to Rs 1722.98 crore for the quarter ended December 31, 2012.

Maruti Suzuki to build stockyards in Bengal, Gujarat: Report

Maruti Suzuki India, country’s largest car maker is reportedly planning to build two massive vehicle stockyards, one each in Gujarat and West Bengal. These new stockyards will help the company to reduce delivery period from seven days to one day in Gujarat and West Bengal. Earlier, the company used to transport cars from Gurgoan against orders, which would take at least six to seven days for delivery to the customers.

Currently, the company has two stockyards in India. Of which one is located near Bangalore, which caters to the southern market, and the other in Nagpur, which takes care of the western market. The company is also planning to build its own car crash testing site in Rohtak, Haryana, along with its R&D centre there.

Maruti Suzuki has reported 11.06% fall in its production to 109,342 units in January 2014 as compared to 122,936 units in same month last year. Of total, the company has manufactured a 44,411 vehicles under mini segment (including Alto, A Star, Wagon R), down by 22.21%, as against 57,095 vehicles manufactured in corresponding month previous year.

Thomas Cook, Sterling Holiday ink Rs 870 crore merger deal

Thomas Cook (TCIL), India’s leading integrated travel and travel related services company and Chennai-headquartered vacation ownership company Sterling Holiday Resorts (India) have inked Rs 870-crore merger deal. The merger deal will be completed through a multi-stage process. Under the merger terms, for every 100 shares that Thomas Cook holds in Sterling, shareholders of latter will receive 120 shares of former.

The deal has been structured in a manner that Sterling will get Rs 187 crore by way of preferential allotment of 23 per cent stake to TCIL. The company will then buy shares from other shareholders, including Bay Capital and ace investors Rakesh Jhunjhunwala, Radhakrishna Damani, for Rs 176 crore. Since this will trigger an open offer, Rs 230 crore has been earmarked by TCIL for this purpose. Thus, Thomas Cook will make an open offer for buying up to 26% in Sterling for Rs 230 crore. Further, Thomas Cook also has the option to buy an additional 7.22% stake for Rs 63 crore. This transaction is expected to close by the Q4 of 2014, and the open offer price will be announced later. Post-merger, Sterling will be de-listed from the stock exchanges.

Thomas Cook is the largest integrated travel and travel related financial services company in the country offering a broad spectrum of services that include Foreign Exchange, Corporate Travel, MICE, Leisure Travel, Insurance, Visa & Passport services and E-Business.