Key benchmark indices surged in early trade tracking mostly higher Asian stocks. The barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex was up 163.50 points or 0.73%, up about 130 points from the day's low and off close to 30 points from the day's high. The market breadth, indicating the overall health of the market, was strong.
Bharti Airtel rose on strong Q4 results. Kotak Mahindra Bank gained ahead its Q4 results today, 30 April 2014.
The market sentiment was also boosted by data showing that foreign funds remained net buyers of Indian stocks on Tuesday, 29 April 2014. Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) bought shares worth a net Rs 287.98 crore on Tuesday, 29 April 2014, as per provisional data from the stock exchanges.
The stock market remains closed tomorrow, 1 May 2014, on account of May Day.
At 9:30 IST, the S&P BSE Sensex was up 163.50 points or 0.73% to 22,629.69. The index rose 191.08 points at the day's high of 22,657.27 in early trade. The index gained 32.19 points at the day's low of 22,499.10 in early trade.
The CNX Nifty was up 52.70 points or 0.78% to 6,767.95. The index hit a high of 6,773.85 in intraday trade. The index hit a low of 6,723.65 in intraday trade.
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The BSE Mid-Cap index rose 39.94 points or 0.54% to 7,446.06. The BSE Small-Cap index rose 45.48 points or 0.6% to 7,661.14. Both these indices underperformed the Sensex.
The market breadth, indicating the overall health of the market, was strong. On BSE, 740 shares gained and 257 shares fell. A total of 37 shares were unchanged.
Among the 30-share Sensex pack, 16 stocks gained and rest of them fell. Tata Motors (up 1.96%), ONGC (up 1.5%) and Reliance Industries (up 1.35%) edged higher from the Sensex pack.
Kotak Mahindra Bank gained 0.52% ahead its Q4 results today, 30 April 2014.
Tata Steel dropped 0.39%. The company's new Coke Oven Battery 11 was commissioned on Tuesday, 29 April 2014 by Mr Cyrus P. Mistry, Tata Group Chairman at Jamshedpur. The company made announcement after market hours on Tuesday, 29 April 2014. With the commissioning of the Coke Oven Battery 11, the company will be self-sufficient in coke requirement for stable operation of Jamshedpur Steel works. Built at a production capacity of 0.7 million tonnes per annum, the Coke Oven Battery 11 operates with 88 ovens with stamp charge technology and is the largest coke oven complex at the Jamshedpur works. The state-of-the-art facility meets all environmental norms and consists of various features to take care of the plant and human safety.
Bharti Airtel rose 1.67% on strong Q4 results. The company's consolidated net profit jumped 89.1% to Rs 962 crore on 13.5% growth in total revenue to Rs 22219 crore in Q4 March 2014 over Q4 March 2013.
Bharti Airtel's consolidated net profit rose 21.8% to Rs 2773 crore on 11.5% growth in total revenue to Rs 85746 crore in the year ended 31 March 2014 (FY 2014) over the year ended 31 March 2013 (FY 2013). The company announced the results after market hours on Tuesday, 29 April 2014. The results are as per International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS).
The consolidated revenues for Q4 March 2014 at Rs 22219 crore grew by 13.5% over the corresponding quarter last year. Consolidated Mobile data revenues at Rs 1900 crore grew by 93.4% year-on-year (Y-o-Y), accounting for more than one-third of the growth. India revenues registered a growth of 11.6% Y-o-Y. Mobile voice realisation in India improved to 37.07p per minute (up 2.08p Y-o-Y). Mobile Data revenue at Rs 1,325 crore registered a growth of 89.2% Y-o-Y while Telemedia, DTH and Airtel Business registered double digit revenue growth. International revenues grew by 17.2% Y-o-Y in INR terms with Africa growing by 16.4% and South Asia by 30.0%.
Consolidated earnings before interest taxes depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) at Rs 7,307 crore grew by 20.6% Y-o-Y, with margin expanding by 1.9% to 32.9%. The resultant consolidated EBIT of Rs 3,362 crore represents a Y-o-Y growth of 48.8%, with EBIT margin improving by 3.6%. Forex and derivative losses for the quarter came in at Rs 152 crore, compared to Rs 203 crore in the corresponding period last year. Improved operational efficiency resulted in consolidated Net Income growing by 89.1% Y-o-Y to Rs 962 crore.
On a consolidated basis, net profit rose 21.84% to Rs 2772.70 crore on 11.59% increase in total income to Rs 85863.50 crore in the year ended March 2014 over the year ended March 2013.
Annual consolidated revenues at Rs 85,746 crore grew by 11.5% over the previous year, mainly driven by mobile data (+96.3%), DTH (+27.5%), Airtel Business (+19.1%) and South Asia (+41.2%). Full year consolidated EBITDA at Rs 27,777 crore reflects an EBITDA margin of 32.4%, an improvement of 2.2% over the previous year. EBIT at Rs 12,127 crore increased by 43.6%, with margin improving by 3.2%. The company's consolidated net debt as on 31 March 2014 was $10,074 million (previous year: $ 10,729 million) with an improvement in the Net Debt to EBITDA ratio (LTM) to 2.20 times (previous year: 2.51).
In a statement, Mr. Gopal Vittal, MD and CEO, India & South Asia, said: "The year has ended on a satisfying note, both in operational and financial terms. I would like to place on record the outstanding quality of work put in by our employees, who have been instrumental in this achievement. Network and spectrum investments, a refreshed IT strategy, innovative service platforms and an energised organisation will enable sustained growth in India and South Asia."
In a statement, Mr. Christian de Faria, MD and CEO, Africa, said: "The quarter was impacted by the seasonal downturn in parts of Africa and regulatory interventions in Nigeria. In the last year, we successfully integrated the acquired business in Uganda, and are confident that we will repeat the success in Congo B. Our teams remain focussed on accelerating growth through improving the quality of network, growing the data business and expanding Airtel money base."
Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) gained 0.04%. The company announced it has been appointed as the only Certification Services and Test Provider for Cloud Data Management Interface (CDMI) conformance testing by the Storage Networking Industry Association (SNIA). The SNIA launched the CDMI Conformance Test Program (CTP) for cloud vendors to provide interoperability standards for end users. Cloud storage companies will now be able to utilize TCS' innovative CDMI Conformance Assurance Solution to ensure that their cloud storage products meet SNIA standards with greater efficiency, which leads to faster time-to-market, increased market share and less cost.
The ever-growing demand for cloud storage solutions, coupled with the rapidly evolving number of products on the market, necessitates industry standardization. The CDMI standard is applicable to all types of cloud - private, public and hybrid, allowing IT departments and end users the freedom to operate between multiple clouds with an industry approved standard for data storage, migration and security. SNIA's CDMI specification addresses this need, but demonstrating conformance with this specification is a key challenge for cloud storage companies. When done in-house, conformance requires rigorous testing by skilled staff, which in turn escalates product development costs and delays launches.
TCS' CDMI Conformance Assurance Solution tests cloud storage products for adherence to SNIA CDMI standards and reports issues that need to be fixed. With SNIA appointing TCS as the only Certification Services and Test Provider and offering support throughout the testing process, TCS' solution empowers companies to deliver superior quality CDMI conformant products faster to the market.
TCS' Chief Technology Officer, K Ananth Krishnan said: TCS has deep experience in the enterprise cloud space, with a strong set of in-house and co-innovation driven offerings. Our strategic cloud platforms in India and across the globe cater to a broad range of customer needs, while the TCS CDMI Conformance Assurance solution helps cloud storage customers across industries and different types of cloud architecture. We have the capability to deliver the certification and test services as per SNIA standards and are happy to be their trusted partner in their CTP program.
"TCS' capability to provide certification and testing services per SNIA standards for CDMI conformance testing demonstrates our commitment to provide the technology edge to our customers. We are delighted to be associated with SNIA in this initiative," said Nagaraj Ijari, Global Head, High Tech Business Unit, TCS.
"TCS, through its strong customer focus and innovative solutions, is a leader in Storage Services and is committed to storage standards that benefit the end users," adds Reena Dayal, Global Head for Technology and Domain Solutions and Innovation, High Tech Business Unit, TCS. "TCS' CDMI Conformance Assurance Solution offers complete advisory and testing support for Cloud Storage products' conformance to CDMI specifications, reducing test cycle time and the ability to quickly detect and fix defects to ultimately achieve improved product quality."
"SNIA continues to develop and promote industry standards to help interoperable use of storage technologies," said David Dale, SNIA's Chairman of the Board. "When it comes to cloud storage, we are seeing vendors increasingly adopt the SNIA CDMI standard because end users want to control the destiny of their data and ensure hassle-free data access, data protection and data migration from one cloud service to another. SNIA is delighted to form a partnership with TCS as the exclusive Certification Services and Test Provider for the SNIA CDMI CTP program. We believe that TCS' CDMI Conformance Assurance solution will bring value to the entire program."
Cipla gained 0.21%. With reference to the news item appearing in the business daily on 29 April 2014 titled, "Cipla faces fresh Rs. 105-cr penalty for overcharging," Cipla clarified that it has received demand notice of Rs 81 crores in respect of Ciplox eye drops. The company has been complying with the Government prices and therefore the demand notice is erroneous. The company clarified that no fresh demand notice has been received for Cipro injections.
The company has also received a demand notice of Rs 32 crore for the product Alerid D. This demand was raised by the Government despite the fact that this product was not manufactured at all by the Company during the period in question.
The company has challenged various price notifications including that of Ciplox eye drops and Alerid D tablets and the Supreme Court of India has already issued an interim order that no coercive steps can be taken against the Company to recover the money. The Company has also received legal advice that entire amounts demanded by the Government are not tenable and sustainable.
Jaiprakash Associates rose 0.87%. With reference to the earlier letter dated 7 December 2013 informing about the approval of the Scheme of Arrangement between Jaypee Cement Corporation Limited (JCCL) and UltraTech Cement Limited (UCL) and their respective Shareholders & Creditors, Jaiprakash Associates announced that High Court of Judicature at Allahabad has sanctioned the Scheme filed by JCCL on 17 April 2014, which was uploaded on the site on 28 April 2014. The Scheme filed by the Transferee Company, namely UCL, before High Court of Judicature at Bombay had already been sanctioned on 4 April 2014. Jaiprakash Associates made the announcement after market hours on Tuesday, 29 April 2014.
In the foreign exchange market, the rupee edged higher against the dollar. The partially convertible rupee was hovering at 60.36, compared with its close of 60.42 on Tuesday, 29 April 2014.
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.
Asian stocks rose on Wednesday as investors weighed corporate earnings before the Bank of Japan and Federal Reserve report on monetary policy. Key benchmark indices in China, Japan, Singapore, and Indonesia rose 0.03% to 0.68%. Key benchmark indices in South Korea, Taiwan and Hong Kong were off 0.05% to 1.17%.
Data today showed Japan's industrial output grew less than forecast in March, while factory output growth in South Korea missed estimates.
US stocks rose on Tuesday as Internet stocks rallied for the first time in five days and results from Merck & Co. to Sprint Corp. topped estimates before a Federal Reserve decision on monetary policy.
A report showed home prices in 20 US cities rose at a slower pace in the year ended February as the residential real-estate market cooled. The S&P/Case-Shiller index of property values increased 12.9% from February 2013, the smallest 12-month gain since August, after rising 13.2% in the year ended in January, a report from the group showed in New York.
The Conference Board's index of US consumer confidence decreased to 82.3 in April from 83.9 a month earlier, the New York-based private research group said.
A two-day meet of the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) on monetary policy review concludes today, 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.
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