Pre-market: TCS, HCL Tech in focus on robust Q4 earnings

Markets are likely to rebound on buying in TCS and HCL Tech post robust Q4 earnings

Markets are likely to rebound on Thursday on buying in TCS and HCL Tech post robust fourth quarter earnings. However, further gains may be capped as foreign institutional investors continue to remain sellers.

At 8:35AM, the SGX Nifty was up 14 points at 6,709.     

Asian stocks were trading flat with IT and telecom shares witnessing profit taking tracking weak earnings from global tech giants Google and IBM. The Nikkei was down 0.4%, Straits Times slipped 0.1%, Shanghai Composite was down 0.2% while Hong Kong was trading flat with positive bias.

Major US stock indices surged on Wednesday as the US Fed stance to continue with low interest rate regime. The Dow Jones ended up 0.1% at 16,425, the S&P 500 gained 1% to close at 1,862 and the tech-laden Nasdaq ended up 1.3% at 4,086.

Stocks in Focus

TCS posted a 48.2 per cent rise in net profit for the quarter ended March 31 (according to Indian generally-accepted accounting principles, or GAAP), in line with the Street’s expectations. Its consolidated revenue rose 31.2 per cent over the year-ago quarter to Rs 21,551 crore.

HCL Tech will also see buying demand after the reported strong earnings for the fourth quarter. Net profit stood at Rs 1,624 crore, Rupee revenue was at Rs 8,349 crore, Dollar revenue stood at $1,361 million.

Piramal Enterprises will be in focus on plans to acquire 20% in Shriram Capital for Rs 2,000 crore. Unlisted Shriram Capital is the holding company for as many as five businesses including Shriram Transport Finance Company.

Mindtree, a mid-sized information technology (IT) services company, saw revenue exceed $500 million (Rs 3,000 crore) in FY14, the 15th year of the company’s operations. The company was the fastest Indian IT services firm to record $100 million in revenue. During its initial years, it had targeted revenue of $1 billion by 2014.

The board of KPIT Systems will meet on April 28 to consider dividend, if any, for the year ended March 31, 2014.

Bajaj Auto may continue to remain under pressure after the Vishwa Kalyan Kamgar Sanghatana (VKKS), Bajaj Auto's independent trade union, has threatened to strike at the plant in Chakan (near here) from April 28. It said the company wasn't using its corporate social responsibility funds for workers.

IndusInd Bank may extend gains after the bank on Wednesday reported a 29 per cent growth in net profit to Rs 396.05 crore in the fourth quarter of FY14, on the back of robust growth in fee income as well as net interest margin (NIM).