Key benchmark indices cut losses after hitting fresh intraday low in morning trade. Weakness in Asian stocks impact sentiment on the domestic bourses adversely. The barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was down 62.82 points or 0.25%, up 57.10 points from the day's low and off 72.51 points from the day's high. The market breadth, indicating the overall health of the market, was negative.
IT stocks were in demand on good Q1 earnings from Tata Consultancy Services (TCS). Weakness in rupee against the dollar also boosted IT stocks. TCS surged after the company after trading hours on Thursday, 17 July 2014, reported good Q1 June 2014 result. Wipro gained after the company before market hours today, 18 July 2014 announced that it has entered into a strategic alliance with Alberta-based ATCO, one of Canada's premier corporations. Mindtree rose after declaring strong Q1 result after market hours on Thursday, 17 July 2014.
Asian stocks edged lower today, 18 July 2014 on rising geopolitical tension after news on Thursday, 17 July 2014 of a downed Malaysian airlines jet at the Ukraine-Russia border.
Foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) bought shares worth a net Rs 1912.42 crore on Thursday, 17 July 2014, as per provisional data from the stock exchanges.
At 10:20 IST, the S&P BSE Sensex was down 62.82 points or 0.25% to 25,498.34. The index rose 9.69 points at the day's high of 25,570.85 in early trade. The index fell 119.92 points at the day's low of 25,441.24 in morning trade, its lowest level since 16 July 2014.
The CNX Nifty was down 26.30 points or 0.34% to 7,614.15. The index hit a high of 7,634.60 in intraday trade. The index hit a low of 7,595.50 in intraday trade, its lowest level since 16 July 2014.
The market breadth, indicating the overall health of the market, was negative. On BSE, 1,124 shares declined and 843 shares rose. A total of 69 shares were unchanged.
The BSE Mid-Cap index fell 40.60 points or 0.44% to 9,251.09. The BSE Small-Cap index declined 39.58 points or 0.39% to 10,153.54. Both these indices underperformed the Sensex.
The total turnover on BSE amounted to Rs 712 crore by 10:15 IST compared to Rs 207 crore by 09:25 IST.
Among the 30-share Sensex pack, 22 stocks declined and rest of them gained.
Hindalco Industries (down 2.52%), Tata Power Company (down 2.35%) and Coal India (down 2.32%) edged lower from the Sensex pack.
IT stocks were in demand on good Q1 earnings from Tata Consultancy Services (TCS). Weakness in rupee against the dollar also boosted IT stocks. A weak rupee boosts revenue of IT firms in rupee terms as the sector derives a lion's share of revenue from exports.
Tech Mahindra (up 1.53%), Polaris Financial Technology (up 3.64%), Hexaware Technologies (up 2.96%), HCL Technologies (up 2.18%), MphasiS (up 1.7%) and Infosys (up 0.55%) gained.
TCS surged 3.65%. TCS after trading hours on Thursday, 17 July 2014, reported 3.9% growth in consolidated net profit to Rs 5568 crore on 2.6% growth in revenue to Rs 22111 crore in Q1 June 2014 over Q4 March 2014. The bottom line was boosted by an exceptional item viz. a write back of depreciation charge of Rs 489.75 crore (net) due to a change in deprecation policy. Operating profit dropped 6% to Rs 5935 crore in Q1 June 2014 over Q4 March 2014.
TCS said that the company added five new $50 million plus clients during the quarter. TCS Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director N Chandrasekaran said that the company has a strong demand pipeline in place. TCS Chief Financial Officer Rajesh Gopinathan said that the company's disciplined stance in operations helped it mitigate the impact of multiple headwinds like currency movements, accelerated depreciation norms and wage hikes during the quarter. He said that the company will continue to maintain operating margins in the desired band by operating efficiently.
In Q1 June 2014, TCS posted the highest incremental revenue of $191 million in the last 15 quarters driven by holistic growth across markets led by North America, the company said in a statement. Growth was seen across all industry segments led by Media & Information Services, Life Sciences, Retail and Telecom, with all non-BFS verticals growing in excess of five percent sequentially, TCS said.
Wipro gained 2.79%. Wipro before market hours today, 18 July 2014 announced that it has entered into a strategic alliance with Alberta-based ATCO, one of Canada's premier corporations. As part of this alliance, Wipro will provide total outsourcing solutions to ATCO in Canada and Australia. Wipro and ATCO have signed a series of Master Services Agreements under which Wipro will provide the complete suite of IT services to ATCO. The arrangement is projected to result in revenues of over CAD 120 million ($112 million) to Wipro annually, for the next ten years, up to December 2024.
Wipro's IT services delivery model will be further strengthened in North America and Australia by ATCO I-Tek, a subsidiary of ATCO with a presence in both these geographies, which will now become a part of Wipro for an all-cash consideration of CAD 210 million ($195 million). ATCO I-Tek has been providing IT Services to ATCO for the past 15 years, the company said in a statement.
Mindtree rose 1.62% after net profit surged 31.5% to Rs 129.40 crore on 2.4% growth in revenue to Rs 843.50 crore in Q1 June 2014 over Q4 March 2014. The Q1 result was announced after market hours on Thursday, 17 July 2014.
Commenting on the company's Q1 performance, Krishnakumar Natarajan, CEO & MD, Mindtree said, "Our expertise-led strategy continues to deliver stellar results for our clients and for MindTree. We are seeing good traction with clients through multi-year, multi-million dollar deals. Apart from strong demand across the traditional service lines, we are now getting picked up as the lead partner for digital by many Fortune 100 customers".
The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) on Thursday, 17 July 2014 put out draft regulations for infrastructure investment trusts that were announced in Union Budget 2014-15 on 10 July 2014 to provide easier financing options to developers of public works. Such trusts will be able to invest in infrastructure projects only directly or through special purpose vehicles (SPVs), the market regulator said. For public-private partnership (PPP) projects, investments can be routed only be through an SPV, Sebi said.
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Thursday, 17 July 2014 issued draft guidelines for those seeking a license to set up a payments bank or a small bank. The minimum paid up capital required for both categories of bank licenses would be Rs 100 crore of which the promoter would have to contribute at least 40% initially, the RBI said. Payments banks can accept deposits and remittances of funds but cannot provide loans. Small banks can lend, but have more limited areas of operations than a full-fledged commercial lender. Both, payments banks and small banks are niche or differentiated banks with the common objective of furthering financial inclusion, the RBI said.
The entities eligible to set up a payments bank include existing non-bank Pre-paid Instrument Issuers (PPIs), Non-Banking Finance Companies (NBFCs), corporate BCs, mobile telephone companies, super-market chains, companies, real sector cooperatives, and public sector entities. The entities eligible to set up a small bank include resident individuals with ten years of experience in banking and finance, companies and societies, NBFCs, Micro Finance Institutions and Local Area Banks, the RBI said.
Volatility struck bourses in early trade as the key benchmark indices slipped in negative zone after reversing an initial decline triggered by negative Asian stocks. Key benchmark indices cut losses after hitting fresh intraday low in morning trade.
In the foreign exchange market, the rupee edged lower against the dollar in choppy trade. The partially convertible rupee was hovering at 60.3650, compared with its close of 60.18 on Thursday, 17 July 2014.
Asian stocks edged lower today, 18 July 2014 on rising geopolitical tension after news on Thursday, 17 July 2014 of a downed Malaysian airlines jet at the Ukraine-Russia border. Key benchmark indices in Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore, Japan, Indonesia and South Korea fell by 0.22% to 1.17%. China's Shanghai Composite rose 0.4%.
Trading in US index futures indicated that the Dow could fall 33 points at the opening bell on Friday, 18 July 2014. US markets dropped on Thursday, 17 July 2014 on the news that a Malaysian Airlines passenger jet had crashed near the Ukraine-Russia border.
Powered by Capital Market - Live News
