Market trims gains

Stocks trimmed gains in morning trade after an initial upmove. At 10:22 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was up 52.18 points or 0.14% at 36,548.55. The Nifty 50 index was up 19.20 points or 0.17% at 11,029.40. Shares of index heavyweight and cigarette major ITC surged.

Trading for the week began on an upbeat note as stocks edged higher in early trade boosted by the Narendra Modi government winning the no-confidence motion in the Lok Sabha on Friday, 20 July 2018.

The S&P BSE Mid-Cap index was up 0.3%. The S&P BSE Small-Cap index was up 0.19%. Both these indices outperformed the Sensex.

The market breadth, indicating the overall health of the market, was positive. On the BSE, 1141 shares rose and 832 shares fell. A total of 92 shares were unchanged.

Asian Paints (up 2.73%), NTPC (up 2.7%), Bharti Airtel (up 2.16%), ICICI Bank (up 1.02%) and IndusInd Bank (up 1.01%) edged higher from the Sensex pack.

Index heavyweight and cigarette major ITC jumped 4.32% to Rs 285.25.

Wipro slumped 3.66%. On a consolidated basis, Wipro's net profit rose 16.27% to Rs 2093.80 crore on 1.52% increase in net sales to Rs 13977.70 crore in Q1 June 2018 over Q4 March 2018. The result was announced after market hours on Friday, 20 July 2018.

IT services segment revenue rose 2.2% to Rs 13700 crore in Q1 June 2018 over Q4 March 2018. Wipro expects revenue from its IT services business to be in the range of $2,009 million to $2,049 million. This translates to a sequential growth of 0.3% to 2.3%, excluding the impact of the divestment of its hosted data center services business which concluded in the quarter ended 30 June 2018.

Abidali Z. Neemuchwala, CEO and Member of the Board said that the company has seen pickup in spending in the developed markets, particularly in North America and BFSI. Wipro's investments in Digital continue to help it build differentiation in key industry segments, which is resulting in a consistent improvement in its client metrics. The company has had a good quarter of order bookings and the firm is moving in the right direction.

Jatin Dalal, Chief Financial Officer said that the company successfully concluded the sale of its hosted data center business in the quarter. The company continues to improve its operating metrics and generated strong operating cash flows at 136% of its net Income during the quarter.

On the political front, the Narendra Modi government won the no-confidence motion in the Lok Sabha on Friday, 20 July 2018 following a 12-hour debate in the Lower House. In a 451-member House that voted, 126 members voted in favour of the motion, 325 votes went against it. The no-confidence motion was brought by the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) and supported by several Opposition parties including the Congress.

Overseas, Asian stocks were mixed after the Bank of Japan offered to buy bonds at the first fixed-rate operation since February, in a sign the central bank was trying to rein yields. US stocks closed mostly lower on Friday, 20 July 2018 after President Donald Trump's latest verbal salvos fanned investor concern that a global trade war is escalating.

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