A range bound movement was witnessed as key benchmark indices retained positive zone in early afternoon trade in a range bound trade. The market breadth indicating the overall health of the market turned negative from positive. The barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was currently trading below the psychological 29,000 level, having alternately moved above and below that mark earlier during the trading session. The Sensex had fallen below the psychological 29,000 level after yesterday's slide. The Sensex was currently up 91.21 points or 0.32% at 28,974.32. Brent crude oil futures edged lower, adding to big losses registered in the previous session triggered by a weekly oil inventory report showing increase in oil inventories in the United States.
Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor Raghuram Rajan said in an interview to a newspaper published today, 5 February 2015, that the RBI still has a way to go in fighting inflation and it is important that the central bank has the credibility to bring down inflation if it picks up.
Shares of companies engaged in oil exploration & production (E&P) declined as crude oil prices declined sharply yesterday, 4 February 2015. Telecom stocks declined.
Foreign portfolio investors sold shares worth a net Rs 83.80 crore yesterday, 4 February 2015, as per provisional data.
In the overseas markets, Asian stock markets edged lower after the European Central Bank (ECB) yesterday, 4 February 2015, abruptly pulled back its soft treatment of Greek debt and cancelled its acceptance of the country's bonds in return for funding. Most US stocks dropped yesterday, 4 February 2015, after the ECB pulled back its soft treatment of Greek debt and cancelled its acceptance of the country's bonds in return for funding.
In the foreign exchange market, the rupee edged lower against the dollar.
Brent crude oil futures edged lower, adding to big losses registered in the previous session triggered by a weekly oil inventory report showing increase in oil inventories in the United States. Decline in global crude oil prices augurs well for India. Deregulation of diesel price announced by the Indian government in October 2014 and a sharp decline in global crude oil prices over the past few months will help reduce the government's fuel subsidy burden and help contain its fiscal deficit. The steep slide in global crude oil prices will also help India in containing its current account deficit and fuel price inflation. India imports 80% of its crude oil requirement. However, a weakness in rupee against the dollar will restrict the benefit of falling global crude oil prices to that extent. A weak rupee raises the cost of imports.
At 12:15 IST, the S&P BSE Sensex was up 91.21 points or 0.32% at 28,974.32. The index jumped 171.15 points at the day's high of 29,054.26 in morning trade. The index fell 58.23 points at the day's low of 28,824.88 in early trade.
The CNX Nifty was up 30.65 points or 0.35% at 8,754.35. The index hit a high of 8,768.30 in intraday trade. The index hit a low of 8,705.05 in intraday trade.
The BSE Mid-Cap index was up 12.74 points or 0.12% at 10,754.12. The BSE Small-Cap index was down 6.39 points or 0.06% at 11,426.01. Both these indices underperformed the Sensex.
The market breadth indicating the overall health of the market turned negative from positive in early afternoon trade. On BSE, 1,251 shares declined and 1,217 shares advanced. A total of 97 shares were unchanged.
Shares of companies engaged in oil exploration & production (E&P) declined as crude oil prices declined sharply yesterday, 4 February 2015. ONGC (down 2.88%), Oil India (down 1.4%), and Cairn India (down 2.4%) declined. Reliance Industries (up 0.14%) edged higher. Lower crude oil prices will result in lower realization from crude sales for oil exploration firms.
Telecom stocks declined. Mahanagar Telephone Nigam (down 2.97%), Reliance Communications (down 2.31%), Tata Teleservices (Maharashtra) (down 1.32%) edged lower. Idea Cellular (up 0.75%) edged higher.
Bharti Airtel fell 0.71% at Rs 365.25. The stock hit a high of Rs 372 and a low of Rs 362.15 so far during the day. Bharti Airtel's consolidated net profit surged 135.41% to Rs 1436.50 crore on 5.77% growth in total income to Rs 23228.10 crore in Q3 December 2014 over Q3 December 2013. The result was announced after market hours yesterday, 4 February 2015.
Consolidated EBITDA rose 9.6% to Rs 7786 crore in Q3 December 2014 over Q3 December 2013. EBITDA margin expanded to 33.5% in Q3 December 2014, from 32.4% in Q3 December 2013.
Consolidated mobile data revenue rose 61.9% to Rs 2872 crore in Q3 December 2014 over Q3 December 2013, uplifted by higher data usage. Mobile data revenues now contribute more than 85% of the incremental revenues of the company, Bharti Airtel said.
Bharti Airtel's overall customer base rose 8.9% to 31.29 crore across 20 countries in Q3 December 2014 over Q3 December 2013.
Gopal Vittal, MD and CEO, India & South Asia, said that the company has remained focused on driving topline through stepped up customer acquisitions with continued focus on churn, ensuring pricing stability, and path-breaking innovations in mobile data.
Christian de Faria, MD and CEO, Africa, said that the company has maintained its focus on growing customer base and topline in a cost-efficient manner. Significant depreciation in most African currencies especially the Nigerian Naira has however depressed the reported results in dollar terms, Christian de Faria said.
Power Grid Corporation of India (PGCIL) fell 0.48% at Rs 145.40. The stock hit a high of Rs 146.10 and a low of Rs 144.70 so far during the day. PGCIL during market hours today, 5 February 2015, in a clarification with regard to news items titled "PowerGrid wins in ministry's U-turn" and "Powergrid to get 8 new projects" said that as per the present guidelines notified by Government of India (GoI), all the interstate transmission projects are to be implemented with tariff based competitive route with few exemptions like transmission projects involving complex technology of 1,200 kv HVDC, works required to cater to urgent situation or required in compressed time schedule etc. As such, when transmission projects are required on urgent basis and implementation involves technical challenges, the decisions are taken for the transmission projects on nomination basis to Power Grid, the Central Transmission Utility, which has been mandated by EA 2003, Section 38-(2)-(c) to ensure development of an efficient, coordinated and economical system of inter-state transmission lines for smooth flow of electricity from generating stations to the load centres so that it is completed in shortest possible time, PGCIL said.
Accordingly, the Ministry of Power, GoI has assigned eight transmission schemes to PGCIL, the CTU under compressed time schedule through regulated tariff mechanism, PGCIL said.
In the foreign exchange market, the rupee edged lower against the dollar. The partially convertible rupee was hovering at 61.875, compared with its close of 61.7525 during the previous trading session.
Brent crude oil futures edged lower, adding to big losses registered in the previous session triggered by a weekly oil inventory report showing increase in oil inventories in the United States. Brent for March settlement was off 75 cents at $53.41 a barrel. The contract had slumped $3.75 a barrel or 6.47% to settle at $54.16 a barrel during the previous trading session.
Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor Raghuram Rajan said in an interview to a newspaper published today, 5 February 2015, that the RBI still has a way to go in fighting inflation and it is important that the central bank has the credibility to bring down inflation if it picks up. India has to ensure that if there are supply shocks in future, they don't increase inflationary expectations, Rajan said. Rajan also stressed on the need for the country to accelerate growth, saying India should not settle for anything less than double-digit growth in the medium term. The RBI left its benchmark lending rate viz. the repo rate unchanged at 7.75% after a monetary policy review early this week, as the central bank awaits further evidence to gauge whether the disinflationary process is continuing. Earlier, the RBI had surprised financial markets by announcing a cut in the repo rate by 25 basis points in an unscheduled monetary policy review on 15 January 2015, citing easing of inflationary pressures in the economy.
Asian stock markets edged lower today, 5 February 2015, after the European Central Bank (ECB) yesterday, 4 February 2015, abruptly pulled back its soft treatment of Greek debt and cancelled its acceptance of the country's bonds in return for funding. Key indices in Japan, Taiwan, Singapore, South Korea, and Indonesia were off 0.02% to 0.98%. In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng index was up 0.12%.
In China, the Shanghai Composite was up 0.68%. The People's Bank of China (PBOC) yesterday, 4 February 2015, cut its reserve-requirement ratio for banks by 0.5 percentage points, in a bid to boost lending to businesses and bolster the economy. The central bank said the ratio for most banks will fall to 19.5% after the cut takes effect.
Trading in US index futures indicated that the Dow may slide 36 points at opening bell today, 5 February 2015. Most US stocks dropped yesterday, 4 February 2015, after the ECB pulled back its soft treatment of Greek debt and cancelled its acceptance of the country's bonds in return for funding.
In Europe, the the European Central Bank (ECB) yesterday, 4 February 2015, announced that it will no longer accept Greek government bonds from banks seeking funds, raising costs and volatility for Greece's lenders at a time of growing deposit outflows. It is currently not possible to assume a successful conclusion of Greece's current bailout, the ECB said, just hours after its president, Mario Draghi, met with Greece's new finance minister, Yanis Varoufakis. The announcement marked the first time since 2012when Athens was locked in another round of acrimonious negotiations with its creditorsthat the central bank has suspended its waiver for Greece's junk-rated bonds. Mr. Varoufakis and newly elected Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras have been touring European capitals, promoting a plan to overhaul the country's sagging economy that relies less on budget cuts and seeks easier terms on repaying debts.
Powered by Capital Market - Live News
