Cautious opening seen; HUL, TCS in focus

Markets are likely to open lower after IT giant TCS Q2 results missed the street expectations following the IT bell weather Infosys indicating tough times in the back half of the financial year for Indian IT companies. Meanwhile, key corporate earnings to be posted by the FMCG major HUL will be keenly awaited by the participants.

To add to the woes of the investors, Asian peers are showing weakness tracking losses on the Wall Street as the drop in crude prices along with the consumer price data from China which has kept the investors on their toes. 

Moreover, a notable macro data wholesale price index (WPI) for September will be released today.

STOCKS TO WATCH

TCS  reported a 5.8% rise in revenue at Rs 27,165 crore for the quarter ended September 2015. It was Rs 25,668 crore in the previous quarter ended June 2015.

FMCG major HUL is due to post its Q2 results today.

Taro Pharmaceuticals, the US subsidiary of Sun Pharmaceuticals acquired Canada's Zalicus Pharmaceuticals, a company engaged in the development of a pain management drug candidate coded Z944. 

Bank of Baroda is likely to remain in focus after  six people got arrested in the case involving alleged laundering of black money to the tune of Rs. 6000 crore at a branch of Bank of Baroda 

DB Realty will form a joint venture with Radius group to develop a housing project in Mumbai with an estimated sales revenue of Rs 3,500 crore. 

Maruti Suzuki announced the introduction of pre-launch bookings for its premium compact car Baleno, which is expected to be rolled-out by the end of this month. 

Pharma major Pfizer informed that its Managing Director Aijaz Tobaccowalla has resigned from the post.

SBI received in-principle approval from RBI to form a subsidiary to manage the real estate assets of the country’s largest lender. In the long run, banks may monetise these assets.

Private sector lender DCB (formerly Development Credit Bank)'s net profit fell 10 per cent in the July-September quarter on account of high provisioning and a steeper tax outgo.

The Coffee day Enterprises IPO would open on October 14 and close on October 16, wherein it would sell shares to the public while a portion would be reserved for employees.

GLOBAL STOCKS

‘Asian shares lost ground following losses on the Wall Street owing to heavy sell-off in oil as investors remained unnerved ahead of the consumer price data from China later today. Nikkei, Hang Seng and Shaghai Composite are down between 0.5-2% On the Wall Street, The Dow Jones industrial average .DJI fell 0.3%, the S&P 500 .SPX lost 0.68% and the Nasdaq Composite.IXIC droppe 0.9%