Market edged higher in early trade, tracking positive leads from Asian markets and overnight rally on the Wall Street. At 9:20 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was up 83.46 points or 0.33% at 25,403.90. The Nifty 50 index was up 28.60 points or 0.37% at 7,729.50. The broad market depicted strength. There were almost four gainers against every loser on BSE. 1,022 shares rose and 259 shares fell. A total of 75 shares were unchanged. The BSE Mid-Cap index was currently up 0.48%. The BSE Small-Cap index was currently up 0.57%. Both these indices outperformed the Sensex.
In overseas stock markets, Asian stocks edged higher after overnight gains for US stocks. US stocks edged higher yesterday, 15 December 2015, led by gains in energy sector stocks as crude oil prices rose. Meanwhile, the US Federal Reserve is widely expected to raise the federal funds rate by 25 basis points after the conclusion of a two-day monetary policy meeting today, 16 December 2015. With markets having already priced in a 25 basis points rate hike this week, the focus has shifted to the likely pace and quantum of rate hikes once this first move is done.
Mahindra & Mahindra (M&M) was down 4.12% after media reports suggested that the Supreme Court yesterday, 15 December 2015, said it was considering banning new diesel luxury cars and sport utility vehicles (SUVs) from hitting Delhi roads, asserting it would not allow the rich to buy such vehicles that polluted the air and affected public health. Reports indicated that the proposed restriction, on an experimental basis, would be on diesel variants with an engine capacity of over 2000 cc. Existing diesel cars can continue to ply, reports added. The restriction could be in place for three-to-four months, an extension of the National Green Tribunal's recent order banning diesel car registrations in Delhi till 6 January 2016, and would apply to all of the National Capital Region. The bench will pass formal orders today, 16 December 2015, reports said.
The proposal, if made formal, would hurt luxury car-makers across the board as most of their best-sellers are diesel-driven. There would be no sale of popular vehicles such as Mahindra & Mahindra's Scorpio during the ban period, reports suggested.
Wipro was down 0.14%. The company provided a business update on its Chennai Operations. The recent heavy rainfall and resultant flooding impacted the regular business operations of Wipro's Chennai facilities during the first week of December. Business continuity plans were invoked for the work being done from the company's facilities to ensure there was no disruption in the business-critical operations of its customers. Wipro has multiple facilities in Chennai with over 22,000 employees. Wipro has been focused on ensuring the safety of its employees and their families and has rolled out multiple employee support initiatives to mitigate their hardship during this period. For the quarter ending 31 December 2015, the incident is expected to have a material impact on the revenues and will result in higher one-time cost incurred towards deployment of the company's business continuity plan. Both these factors will impact the firm's operating margins for the quarter. Revenue from Wipro's IT Services business is expected to be in the previously communicated range of $1,841 million to $ 1,878 million. However, the company said it expects revenue to be in the lower half of the guidance range. The announcement was made before trading hours today, 16 December 2015.
Infosys rose 0.89% after the company announced that Fubon Bank (Hong Kong) Limited, a wholly owned subsidiary of Fubon Financial Holding Co., has decided to adopt Infosys Finacle's newgeneration Finacle Core Banking solution. This transformation initiative will significantly improve the bank's operational efficiency, strengthen innovation capabilities and support rapid growth, Infosys said in a statement. The announcement was made after market hours yesterday, 15 December 2015. Finacle is the industry-leading universal banking solution from EdgeVerve Systems, a wholly owned subsidiary of Infosys.
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Bharat Heavy Electricals (Bhel) rose 1.20% after the company after market hours yesterday, 15 December 2015, announced that it has added one more coal-based power plant to the grid by successfully commissioning a 500 megawatts (MW) thermal generating unit in West Bengal. The 500 MW (unit 3) was commissioned at the upcoming Sagardighi thermal power extension project of West Bengal Power Development Corporation (WBPDCL), located at Murshidabad district of West Bengal. This is the first unit of phase II (2x500 MW) of the power plant and the second unit is also in advance stage of completion, Bhel said. The company said it has already commissioned 3,750 MW of power plants in the utility sector in the current financial year and is on track to achieve the target set by the government for the year.
L&T rose 0.55% after the company announced that Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB) has completed its second tranche investment of Rs 1000 crore into L&T's subsidiary L&T Infrastructure Development Projects (L&T IDPL) by subscribing to compulsorily convertible preference shares of L&T IDPL. The announcement was made after market hours yesterday, 15 December 2015. It may be recalled that L&T and CPPIB had in June 2014, entered into a definitive agreement whereby CPPIB through its Singapore-based wholly owned subsidiary, had committed to make an investment of Rs 2000 crore into L&T IDPL in two tranches. The first tranche investment of Rs 1000 crore was made in December 2014.
HDFC Bank rose 0.53% after the bank announced that it has issued and allotted on a private placement basis senior, unsecured, redeemable, long term, non-convertible bonds in the nature of debentures amounting to Rs 2975 crore. The announcement was made after market hours yesterday, 15 December 2015.
Meanwhile, India's merchandise exports declined sharply last month, as per data released by the government after trading hours yesterday, 15 December 2015. Merchandise exports fell 24.43% at $20.01 billion in November 2015 over November 2014. Imports fell 30.26% at $29.79 billion in November 2015 over November 2014. Oil imports fell 44.99% at $6.43 billion in November 2015 over November 2014. Non-oil imports fell 24.7% at $23.36 billion in November 2015 over November 2014. The trade deficit fell sharply to $9.78 billion in November 2015 from $16.23 billion in November 2014.
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