Market may open almost flat

Trading of CNX Nifty futures on the Singapore stock exchange indicates a flat opening on domestic bourses. TCS, IndusInd Bank, Mindtree and Reliance Industrial Infrastructure among others will unveil January-March 2014 results today, 16 April 2014.

DLF with reference to the news report titled 'Sebi sniffs misuse of FII a/c by cos.' published in The Times of India on 15 April 2014 has requested Mr. Partha Sinha, Sr. Assistant Editor (Market), Times of India to publish a rejoinder as per the letter attached. In letter to the editor the company said "When you had contacted us last week regarding this, we had explicitly denied receiving any such query from Sebi. We wish to reiterate that at no stage have we ever indulged in the activities mentioned in your news item, or been the subject of any investigation in this regard or received any query from Sebi on this matter. The news reports also suggest that investigation predates to investments made about eight years ago. DLF has been listed for little under seven years, having done its IPO in July 2007. We hold TOI Group in high esteem and are anguished to note that you have published our name in the news item despite a specific denial having been issued by us to you in this regard. We once again reiterate that DLF follows the highest standards of corporate governance and has always acted strictly in compliance with all applicable laws, rules and regulations. We would request you to kindly publish this rejoinder to clarify the same to your esteemed readers at the earliest", it added.

Tata Steel said after market hours on Tuesday, 15 April 2014 in its revised press release that it completed the financial year ended 31 March 2014 (FY 2014) with an overall increase in production and sales volumes. The year registered its best performance in hot metal, crude steel, saleable steel production and total sales. Production of hot metal rose 8% to 2.65 million tonnes in Q4 March 2014 over Q4 March 2013. Production of hot metal rose 12% to 9.89 million tonnes in FY 2014 over FY 2013. Production of crude steel rose 8% to 2.47 million tonnes in Q4 March 2014 over Q4 March 2013. Production of crude steel rose 13% to 9.15 million tonnes in FY 2014 over FY 2013. Production of saleable steel rose 7% to 2.43 million tonnes in Q4 March 2014 over Q4 March 2013. Production of saleable steel rose 12% to 8.93 million tonnes in FY 2014 over FY 2013. Sales rose rose 6% to 2.27 million tonnes in Q4 March 2014 over Q4 March 2013. Sales rose 14% to 8.51 million tonnes in FY 2014 over FY 2013.

PSU OMCs will be in focus as the price of petrol was cut by 70 paise a litre, excluding local levies. This move, effective Wednesday, 16 April 2014, excludes local sales tax or VAT and the actual cut will be higher, varying from city to city.

Texmaco Rail & Engineering at the fag end of trading hours on Tuesday, 15 April 2014 said at its board of directors meeting held on 15 April 2014, the directors deliberated on and approved the formation of a Committee of Directors consisting of three independent directors and one executive director to explore and evaluate various organic and inorganic options available for expanding the product portfolio and businesses of the company, and ensuring the most efficient and cost effective operations of the company.

Upon completion of evaluation of the possible options, the Committee of Directors would submit its recommendations to the Board or to such other committee(s) of the Board, including the Audit Committee, as may be required under applicable laws, Texmaco Rail & Engineering said.

Punj Lloyd at the fag end of trading hours on Tuesday, 15 April 2014 said it has secured a contract worth Rs 3254 crore to design and construct infrastructure facilities of Zliten city (Libya). The project involves design and construction of the storm and sewer network, water network, telecommunication and power distribution network, natural gas networks, street lighting and road works including landscaping of parks and green areas. The said project covers approximately 2,400 hectares, almost the entire area of Zliten, Punj Lloyd said in a statement. The project implementation tenure is four years, the company said.

Titagarh Wagons after market hours on Tuesday, 15 April 2014 announced an open offer to the shareholders of Cimmco. The open offer is for the acquisition of 50.53 lakh equity shares of face value of Rs 10 each at an offer price of Rs 15.50 per share of Cimmco from its public shareholders, constituting 25.08% of the paid-up equity and voting share capital of Cimmco. The consideration for open offer will be Rs 7.83 crore assuming full acceptance of the open offer.

AstraZeneca Pharma India after market hours on Tuesday, 15 April 2014 said that its board of directors at a meeting held on 15 April 2014, deferred consideration of seeking approval of shareholders of the company through Postal Ballot for the delisting of equity shares of the company proposed by the promoters of the company, in the light of discussions with ICICI Securities, the Manager and Walker Chandoik & Co LLP, the Valuer and pending their response to the clarifications and explanations sought from them.

IL&FS Transportation Networks (ITNL) after market hours on Tuesday, 15 April 2014 said that the Committee of board of directors (COD) at its meeting held on 15 April 2014, approved the proposed rights issue schedule. The issue opens on Monday, 28 April 2014 and closes on Monday, 12 May 2014. The COD also approved the Letter of Offer for filing with the stock exchanges and the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi), ITNL said.

It may be recalled that ITNL had on 4 March 2014 said that the COD finalized the rights issue of 5.24 crore shares at a rights issue price of Rs 100 per share at a rights entitlement ratio of 27:100 i.e. 27 shares to be issued on rights basis for every 100 shares held as on record date. The company had fixed 14 March 2014, as the record date for the purpose of rights issue of equity shares.

DCB Bank's board of directors at its meeting held on Tuesday, 15 April 2014, decided to raise an amount not exceeding Rs 300 crore, including issue of shares under QIP, subject to securing appropriate regulatory and other approvals, as applicable.

Sanofi India turns ex-dividend today, 16 April 2014, for final dividend of Rs 35 per share for the year ended 31 December 2013..

Syrolution ABS (India) turns ex-dividend today, 16 April 2014, for dividend of Rs 4 per share for the year ended 31 December 2013.

The rate on inflation based all India general consumer price index (CPI) combined for urban and rural India accelerated to 8.31% (provisional) in March 2014, from 8.03% (final) in February 2014 led by increase in food prices, data released by the government after trading hours on Tuesday, 15 April 2014, showed. Core CPI inflation which excludes food and fuel prices eased to 7.82% in March 2014, from 7.84% in February 2014.

CPI inflation eased to 9.5% for the year ended 31 March 2014 (FY 2014), from 10.2% for the year ended 31 March 2013 (FY 2013).

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) next undertakes monetary policy review on 3 June 2014. The RBI left its main lending rate viz. the repo rate unchanged at 8% after a monetary policy review on 1 April 2014, as consumer-price inflation eased to a two-year low and as the rupee firmed up against the dollar.

A major near term trigger for the stock market is the outcome of the upcoming Lok Sabha elections. The 36 days long voting process began on 7 April 2014 and will conclude on 12 May 2014. The results will be declared on 16 May 2014 after which India will get a new government. The term of the current Lok Sabha expires on 1 June and the new House has to be constituted by 31 May.

Increase in global crude oil prices and weak domestic macroeconomic data weighed on Indian stocks on the first trading session of the week on Tuesday, 15 April 2014. The S&P BSE Sensex lost 144.03 points or 0.64% to settle at 22,484.93 on that day, its lowest closing level since 7 April 2014.

Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) sold shares worth a net Rs 21.63 crore on Tuesday, 15 April 2014, as per provisional data from the stock exchanges.

Asian stocks gained on Wednesday, as China reported data on economic growth for the January-to-March period which was better than estimated. Key benchmark indices in South Korea, Hong Kong, Japan, Singapore, Indonesia and Taiwan were up 0.05% to 2.11%.

China's Shanghai Composite fell 0.14%. China's expansion slowed to the weakest pace in six quarters, testing leaders' commitment to keep reining in a credit boom and pollution as risks mount of missing a 7.5% annual growth target. However the growth was slightly higher than market expectations. Gross domestic product rose 7.4% in the January-to-March period from a year earlier, the National Bureau of Statistics said today in Beijing.

US stocks rose a second day on Tuesday, after equities posted the worst week since 2012, as earnings from Coca-Cola Co. and Johnson & Johnson overwhelmed concerns that tensions in Ukraine are worsening.

Economic data showed manufacturing in the New York region grew at a slower pace in April while the cost of living in the US rose more than projected in March as food and rents became more expensive. Confidence among US homebuilders rose less than forecast in April, as sales and prospective buyer traffic stagnated, showing the residential real estate market struggled to improve after a harsh winter. An S&P index of homebuilders fell 0.6%.

The US Federal Reserve is considering further steps to force big banks to hold more capital, and sees a case for other stability-enhancing measures for more shadowy areas of Wall Street as well, Fed Chair Janet Yellen said on Tuesday.

The Fed has been pushing banks to strengthen their balance sheets since the 2007-2009 financial crisis, and last week joined other regulators in requiring the eight largest S. banks to increase their capital levels by some $68 billion in total.

She cited a 2010 study by the Basel Committee, an international standard-setting body, that suggested tighter standards would provide economic benefits.

The United States is in the process of implementing new international capital and liquidity standards known as Basel III, which will be phased in between 2015 and early 2019. The rules are meant to help banks weather short-term funding crises.

Yellen said the U.S. central bank's staff was "actively considering" whether even more needed to be done to address risks in the so-called short-term wholesale funding market, which is a significant source of funding for firms.

The Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) next undertakes monetary policy review at a two-day meeting on 29-30 April 2014. The Federal Reserve on 19 March 2014 decided after the conclusion of a monetary policy review to trim its monthly bond purchases by $10 billion to $55 billion.

Meanwhile, Ukraine unleashed an offensive to dislodge militants from towns in its eastern Donetsk region as the authorities in Kiev said elements of Russian special forces were identified among the anti-government forces. Russia's prime minister said the country risks civil war.

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