IT stocks edge higher as rupee weakens

Weakness in rupee on Friday put IT stocks back on trader's radars with heavyweights TCS, Infosys and Wipro edging 0.2-0.6% higher on the bourses.

Key benchmark indices extended their after a weak start on Friday dragged by L&T, Reliance Industries and  ICICI Bank.

At 1040hrs, the 30-share BSE Sensex is down 129 points at 22,381 levels and the NSE Nifty was down 32 points at 6,704 levels.

Broader markets outperformed the benchmark indices at this hour with BSE mid-cap and small-cap indices trading 0.3-0.6% higher as compared to Sensex's 0.6% slump.

Shares of heavyweight engineering and construction firm - L&T were trading 1.6% lower at Rs 1,269.60 on the BSE. L&T is likely to trim its Rs 1.7-lakh crore order book by about 10% when it announces earnings for the year ended March 2014 (FY2014) as lack of approvals, aggressive bidding and other problems have frozen project execution by its customers, mainly in the roads, minerals and metals sectors, said reports earlier.

Weakness in rupee on Friday put IT stocks back on trader's radars with heavyweight TCS, Infosys and Wipro edging 0.2-0.6% higher on the bourses.

The rupee is trading at 60.30 per dollar, weaker than its previous close of 60.1650/1750, tracking weakness in local shares and importer dollar demand

(Updated at 1030hrs)
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After a negative start market extended losses in early deals tracking weak global cues. The 30-share BSE Sensex is down almost 110 at 22,407 levels while Nifty was down 32 points at 6,704 levels.

Among heavyweights, ICICI Bank, ONGC, GAIL, BHEL, Coal India are down 1-3% in morning deals.

In sectors, oil & gas, Capital Goods and bankex  are down 0.7-1% at this hour. Consumer durables, realty and IT are up 0.6-1%.

Following stocks, the partially convertible rupee slipped in morning deals. It is trading at 60.35-a-dollar, it previously closed at 60.18/dollar.

Broader markets outperformed the benchmark indices at this hour with BSE mid-cap and small-cap indices trading 0.2-0.3% higher as compared to Sensex's 0.4% slump.

Market breath remains positive with 922 shares in green as against a decline seen in 684 stocks.

However, heavy foreign buying has continued to underpin share gains. Foreign investors bought a net Rs 1116.50 crore worth of shares on Thursday, as per proviional data from SEBI.

Among stocks that are making the headlines at his hour, Dish TV edged 1.3% higher at Rs 51.20 after Telecom Disputes and Settlement Appellate Tribunal (TDSAT) has deferred a case -- regarding the payment of licence fees on basis of  gross revenue -- to May 6.

GM Breweries was locked at 10% lower circuit at Rs 148.20 at 9:18 IST on BSE after the company said its board has recommended a bonus issue of shares in the ratio of 1:4 i.e. one share of Rs 10 each for every four shares of Rs 10 each. The announcement was made after market hours on Thursday, 3 April 2014.

Adani Power stock is up 1.7% at Rs 52.85, a subsidiary of Adani Enterprises, a global integrated infrastructure player, announced the commissioning of the fourth unit of 660 megawatts (MW) at its power plant at Tiroda in Maharashtra, thus emerging as the largest private power producer in India with an overall installed capacity of 8,620 MW


Global cues

Investors will look towards global cues in absence of any local triggers. US jobs report for March is due to be released late Friday. The report will gauge whether the economic weakness of January and February was due to bad weather and the recovery is still on track

Early trades in Asian markets point towards a subdued session on Friday as investors counted down the hours to the US jobs report.

In Europe, the ECB stayed out in its monetary policy review as was widely expected, but President Mario Draghi was at pains to emphasise the central bank's willingness to act if inflation stayed low.

Crucially, Draghi declared the policy making council was "unanimous" on using unconventional easing if needed. That marked a major change as some countries, notably Germany, have long opposed steps such as quantitative easing

Australia's share market dipped 0.1%, while MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan barely budged.