MF retains India's economic growth target at 5.4 percent for 2015

MF retains India's economic growth target at 5.4 percent for 2015

Jul 25,2014   12:45 Hrs IST

Optimistic over the fundamentals of Indian economy, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has retained its growth forecast at 5.4 percent in 2015 and a stronger 6.4 percent growth next year. Among the BRICS nations, India is the only emerging economy to escape a cut in growth forecast in the IMF’s update of its World Economic Outlook. The IMF stated that growth has bottomed out in India and activity is projected to pick up gradually after the post-election recovery in business sentiment, offsetting the effect of an unfavourable monsoon on agricultural growth. After growing at around 9 percent during FY07-FY11, Indian economic growth slowed down to 6.7 percent during FY12 and below 5 percent during FY13 and FY14. On global front, IMF has stated that weaker growth in the US, China and several important emerging markets forced the Fund to downgrade global economy growth forecast to 3.4 percent from 3.7 projected earlier. It added that global growth could be weaker for longer, given the lack of robust momentum in advanced economies despite very low interest rates and the easing of other brakes to the recovery. The IMF expects China to grow at 7.4 percent this year, 0.2 percentage point lower than its previous forecast. Russian economy is expected to grow by only 0.2 percent this year, down from its previous forecast of 1.3 percent as escalating sanctions against Russia for its actions in Ukraine sparked capital flight out of the country, exacerbating a fall in investment levels. The fund also cut growth expectations for Brazil and Mexico by more than half a percentage point for the year as weaker US growth and timid investment weigh on growth. Meanwhile, the IMF suggested that the governments in both advanced and emerging-market economies must take structural reforms to close infrastructure gaps, strengthen productivity and lift potential growth rate.

Crude oil futures decline on MCX

Crude oil futures decline on MCX

Jul 25,2014   02:06 Hrs IST

Crude oil futures declined on MCX after Market research group Markit said that its preliminary US manufacturing purchasing managers’ index dipped to a seasonally adjusted 56.3 this month from a final reading of 57.3 in June raising doubts over the strength of the economy which reduced the demand prospects for the fuel. The contract for August delivery was trading Rs 6147.00, down by 0.18% or Rs 11.00 from its previous closing of Rs 6158.00. The open interest of the contract stood at 9759.00 lots. The contract for September delivery was trading at Rs 6109.00, down by 0.07% or Rs 4.00 from its previous closing of Rs 6113.00. The open interest of the contract stood at 1217.00 lots on MCX.

Maruti Suzuki trades higher on the bourses

Maruti Suzuki trades higher on the bourses

Jul 25,2014   02:41 Hrs IST

Maruti Suzuki India is currently trading at Rs 2510.85, up by 11.20 points or 0.45% from its previous closing of Rs 2499.65 on the BSE. The scrip opened at Rs 2512.70 and has touched a high and low of Rs 2536.85 and Rs 2498.00 respectively. So far 19914 shares were traded on the counter. The BSE group 'A' stock of face value Rs 5 has touched a 52 week high of Rs 2663.00 on 02-Jul-2014 and a 52 week low of Rs 1217.00 on 28-Aug-2013. Last one week high and low of the scrip stood at Rs 2572.00 and Rs 2480.00 respectively. The current market cap of the company is Rs 75991.26 crore. The promoters holding in the company stood at 56.21% while Institutions and Non-Institutions held 36.04% and 7.75% respectively. Maruti Suzuki India (MSIL) has trained over two million people under its safe driving initiative at its various driving training facilities in the country. The company had started its safe driving initiative with Institute of Driving Training and Research (IDTR) in partnership with Delhi Government in the year 2000. At present, the company manages six IDTRs including two in NCR and one each in Dehradun, Baroda, Rohtak and Bahadurgarh, in partnership with state governments. These institutes offer learner and refresher courses, including to commercial vehicle drivers. Maruti Suzuki also collaborates with its dealers who manage and operate nearly 320 Maruti Driving Schools (MDS) across the country. MDS are neighbourhood driving schools that are equipped with driving simulators and offer a mix of class-room and practical training by trained instructors (including women). Over half the people trained at MDS are women.

Indian Bank declines on reporting 35% fall in Q1 net profit

Indian Bank declines on reporting 35% fall in Q1 net profit

Jul 25,2014   02:10 Hrs IST

Indian Bank is currently trading at Rs. 151.65, down by 9.20 points or 5.72% from its previous closing of Rs. 160.85 on the BSE. The scrip opened at Rs. 162.00 and has touched a high and low of Rs. 162.00 and Rs. 147.00 respectively. So far 139007 shares were traded on the counter. The BSE group 'A' stock of face value Rs. 10 has touched a 52 week high of Rs. 198.90 on 26-May-2014 and a 52 week low of Rs. 60.50 on 28-Aug-2013. Last one week high and low of the scrip stood at Rs. 164.00 and Rs. 147.00 respectively. The current market cap of the company is Rs. 7044.78 crore. The promoters holding in the company stood at 81.51% while Institutions and Non-Institutions held 13.37% and 5.12% respectively. Indian Bank’s net profit for the quarter declined by 34.73% at Rs 207.16 crore as compared to Rs 317.39 crore for the quarter ended June 30, 2013. Its total income has decreased marginally by 1.23% to Rs 4144.01 crore for the quarter under review from Rs 4195.48 crore for the corresponding quarter of the previous year. The bank’s gross NPA for the April-June quarter of the current fiscal stood at 4.01%, as compared to 3.41% in the same quarter of the previous year. Besides, bank’s Net NPA stood at 2.48% in Q1FY15.

Tiger Airways Seeks Alliances to Boost Overseas Revenue

Tiger Airways Holdings Ltd. (TGR), a low-cost carrier partly owned by Singapore Airlines Ltd. (SIA), said it’s seeking to forge alliances with other airlines to boost overseas revenue after losses widened.

The carrier plans to focus initially on filling its planes with passengers, and then on improving yields through partnerships to raise earnings, Chief Executive Officer Lee Lik Hsin told reporters in a conference call in Singapore yesterday.

“We want to try to increase the overseas revenue contribution to our revenue base,” said Lee, who became CEO in May. “We need to market ourselves more like a network carrier rather than a point-to-point carrier. In order to grow and grow profitably, we need to expand beyond that.”

Tiger Air has grounded planes, canceled aircraft orders and exited overseas joint ventures as part of a restructuring after posting three straight annual losses. The efforts are symptomatic of the challenges budget airlines face in Southeast Asia, where competition among half a dozen carriers has pushed fares down.

Tiger Air’s loss widened to S$65.2 million ($53 million) in the quarter ended June from S$32.8 million a year earlier because of costs incurred from closing its Indonesia venture and Australia operations.

Shares of Tiger Air fell as much as 5.6 percent, the biggest intraday decline since June 23, to 42 Singapore cents and traded at 43 cents as of 9:34 a.m. in the city. The stock has fallen 16 percent this year, compared with a 5.7 percent climb in Singapore’s benchmark Straits Times Index.

Independent Agency finalized to look into issue of continuity of blocks of gas reservoirs

In May, 2014, ONGC filed an extra-ordinary writ petition in Delhi high court against Union of India, DGH and RIL. The Minister of State (I/C) in the Ministry of Petroleum & Natural Gas Shri Dharmendra Pradhan informed the Rajya Sabha in a written reply today that ONGC, in July 2013 has stated that the wells drilled in blocks KG-DWN-98/3 by RIL in the vicinity / on boundary of ONGC’s nomination Godavari PML and NELP-I Block KG-DWN-98/2 may be draining gas from ONGC’s gas reservoirs. These ONGC’s blocks, viz-a-viz, PML (Godavari PML – Nomination Blocks) and KG-DWN-98/2 (NELP-I Block) are located in deep water, and contiguous to RIL operated block KG-DWN-98/3. Both ONGC and RIL have made hydrocarbon discoveries in their respective blocks. While RIL is producing gas from its block since 2009, ONGC is yet to start production from its block. ONGC wrote a letter to DGH in July 2013 that E&P data of KG-DWN-98/3 may be provided to ONGC for analyzing field continuity of the pools. Several meetings and dialogues between ONGC and RIL were held to resolve the dispute regarding continuity of reservoirs. DGH asked RIL to share its E&P data with ONGC which was provided by RIL to ONGC. Similarly, ONGC also shared its technical data with RIL. In May, 2014, ONGC filed an extra-ordinary writ petition in Delhi high court against Union of India, DGH and RIL with a request to appoint an independent agency to establish the continuity of reservoirs between KG-DWN-98/2 block operated by ONGC and KG-DWN-98/3 block operated by RIL and to estimate the volume of gas and also for working out gas balancing between the above reservoirs if found to have continuity. Subsequently, ONGC and RIL, under the supervision of DGH, has finalized an independent agency to establish if the reservoirs between KG-DWN-98/2 block operated by ONGC and KG-DWN-98/3 block operated by RIL have continuity. Letter of award has been issued to the independent third party on 03.07.2014.

DHFL Q1 net profit up 22%

Profit before tax rose 40 % to Rs 222.46 crore for the quarter ended June 30, 2014

DHFL, India’s second largest private sector housing finance Company, today announced its results for the first quarter ended June 30, 2014. Performance Details for the first quarter ended June 30, 2014 as compared to the corresponding period of the previous year: Net profit increased 22 % to Rs 147.15 crore for the quarter ended June 30, 2014 as against  Rs 120.30 crore in the corresponding quarter of the previous year. Profit before tax rose 40 % to Rs 222.46 crore for the quarter ended June 30, 2014 as against Rs 159.03 crore in the corresponding quarter of the previous year. Loan book outstanding grew 22 % to Rs 42,789.70 crore during the first quarter ended June 30, 2014 as against Rs 35,127.30 crore in the corresponding quarter of the previous year. Loan disbursements and sanctions were  Rs 4,349.08 crore and 5,912.97 crore, respectively for the first quarter ended June 30, 2014. Total Income was up 29 % to Rs 1,426.65 crore during the first quarter ended June 30, 2014 as against  Rs 1,107.37 crore in the corresponding quarter previous year. Gross NPA stood at 0.79 % and Net NPA was NIL Net Interest Margin stood at 2.78 %

Europe Stocks Rise on Economy as Metals Advance on China

European stocks rose on stronger manufacturing while the ruble weakened for the first time in three days on the threat of more sanctions. Hong Kong stocks, the yuan and industrial metals gained on China factory orders.

The Stoxx Europe 600 Index climbed 0.4 percent by 10:06 a.m. in London. Futures on the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index advanced 0.2 percent. The ruble weakened 0.4 percent. The Hang Seng Index rose 0.7 percent to the highest close since April 2011, while the yuan increased 0.1 percent and copper rallied 1.3 percent. Gold declined 0.6 percent. New Zealand’s dollar tumbled the most in 10 months as the nation’s central bank said the currency’s strength is unjustified. German bonds declined.

Reports showed euro-area manufacturing and services grew this month while Chinese factory activity rose to an 18-month high in July. U.S. new home sales probably fell in June after rising the most in 22 years in May, economists said before data from the Commerce Department today. General Motors Corp., Amazon.com Inc. and Starbucks Corp. are due to report earnings.

“The better data out of China and Europe has added more to the pro-risk mood,” said Alvin T. Tan, the director of foreign exchange strategies at Societe Generale SA in London. “The U.S. earnings season by and large has come out better than expected so that’s why the stock market keeps pushing to new highs.”

The Stoxx 600 advanced after adding 1.5 percent in the past two days, ending at a one-week high. The gauge closed 2 percent away from its six-year high on June 10.

Nokia Q2 profit up 20 per cent to $285 million

Telecommunications and wireless equipment maker Nokia Corp. says second-quarter profit rose 20 per cent to 213 million euros ($285 million) on the back of improved profitability of its key networks unit.

Net sales in the April to June period fell to 2.9 billion euros from 3.2 billion euros in the same period last year. Net profit was 177 million euros a year earlier.

CEO Rajeev Suri said Thursday the result shows the strength of the company today'' as the Finnish firm restructures after selling its mobile phone unit to Microsoft.

He gave an upbeat outlook for the core networks unit which accounts for around 90 per cent of Nokia's revenue. Suri said the unit's full-year 2014 operating margin was expected to be near the long-term target of 5-10 per cent.

Idea Cellular allots 5.18cr equity shares to Axiata Investments

Idea Cellular Ltd has informed BSE that the Securities Allotment Committee of the Board of Directors of the Company has, at its meeting held on July 24, 2014, issued and allotted 51,838,540 Equity Shares of face value of Rs. 10/- each to Axiata Investments 2 (India) Limited at an issue price of Rs. 144.68 per Equity Share, including a premium of Rs. 134.68 per Equity Share, aggregating approximately to Rs. 750 crore, on a preferential basis, under the SEBI Regulations and Section 42 of the Companies Act, 2013 and the rules made thereunder.The Shareholders of the Company had approved the allotment vide special resolution passed at the Extra-ordinary General Meeting held on July 10, 2014.Further the Company has informed that, post the said allotment, the paid-up equity share capital of the Company stands increased to Rs. 35,958,984,180 comprising of 3,595,898,418 equity shares of Rs. 10/- each, fully paid-up.