Market may open higher

Trading of Nifty 50 index futures on the Singapore stock exchange indicates that the Nifty could gain 24 points at the opening bell.

In overseas stock markets, Asian stocks witnessed mixed trend. Stock markets in China, Hong Kong and Taiwan were closed due to holiday. US stocks registered modest gains on Friday, 1 April 2016, shaking off pressure from low oil prices, after encouraging data on domestic employment and manufacturing.

Closer home, foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) bought shares worth a net Rs 214.01 crore on Friday, 1 April 2016, as per provisional data released by the stock exchanges. Domestic institutional investors (DIIs) sold shares worth a net Rs 519.91 crore on Friday, 1 April 2016, as per provisional data.

Among corporate news, Tata Steel announced on Saturday, 2 April 2016 that the sharp fall in international steel prices and the challenging conditions facing the global steel industry triggered a review of Tata Steel's credit rating by Fitch. The company's long-term foreign currency issuer default rating (IDR) has been downgraded by 1 notch.

HCL Technologies announced on Saturday, 2 April 2016, an agreement to acquire (through demerger) all of the business of Geometric, except for the 58% stake that Geometric owns in the joint venture-3DPLM Software Solutions, with Dassault Systemes. In consideration of this acquisition, HCL will issue 10 equity shares of Rs 2 each to Geometric shareholders for every 43 equity shares of Geometric of Rs 2 each held by them. In total, HCL will issue 1.56 crore equity shares of Rs 2 each. The transaction is expected to be accretive on cash earnings per share, HCL said. Geometric is one of India's leading PLM consulting, mechanical engineering and manufacturing engineering services providers. The acquisition strengthens HCL's presence significantly in the PLM consulting as well as mechanical and manufacturing engineering space. It also significantly strengthens HCL's automotive and industrial practices.

The acquisition would take place through a scheme of arrangement which would be subject to the approval of the High Courts at Mumbai and Delhi in addition to the approval of the regulatory authorities.

Kotak Mahindra Bank announced lending rates based on marginal cost of funds effective from Friday, 1 April 2016. Kotak Mahindra Bank's Marginal Cost of Funds based Lending Rate (MCLR) for overnight loans will be 8.9%, for one month will be 9% and for three months will be 9.25%. The MCLR on 6-month loans will be 9.4% and for one-year loans the rate would be 9.6%, the bank said. The MCLR on two-year loans will be 9.65% and for three-year loans the rate would be 9.65%, the bank said. The announcement was made after market hours on Friday, 1 April 2016.

The finance ministry after trading hours on Friday, 1 April 2016, announced that as per initial estimates, the fiscal deficit for 2015-16 is expected to be within the target of 3.9% of GDP. It further said that the government remains committed to the path of fiscal consolidation. The government's Plan Expenditure for 2015-16 is expected to be around Rs 4.70 lakh crore, which will be higher than the budget estimate and also higher than the actual plan expenditure in 2014-15.

On the macro front, Markit Economics will unveil the outcome of a monthly survey on India's manufacturing sector for March 2016 today, 4 April 2016. The Nikkei India Manufacturing PMI stood at 51.1 in February 2016, unchanged from January's reading.

Losses for IT, telecom stocks and index heavyweight Reliance Industries (RIL) outweighed gains for stocks of public sector banks and index heavyweights ITC and HDFC, with the two key benchmark indices registered small losses on Friday, 1 April 2016. The Sensex fell 72.22 points or 0.28% to settle at 25,269.64, its lowest closing level since 29 March 2016.

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