Key indices may open lower taking cues from weakness in Asian stocks. Trading of CNX Nifty futures on the Singapore stock exchange indicates that the Nifty could fall 34 points at the opening bell.
In overseas markets, most Asian stocks declined after hawkish comments from Federal Reserve Chairwoman Janet Yellen reinforced the case for an interest rate hike later this month. US stocks fell yesterday, 2 December 2015, as Federal Reserve Chairwoman Janet Yellen signalled a readiness to hike interest rates and US data indicated a solid labour market. Yellen said she was looking forward to a US rate hike that will be seen as a testament to the economy's recovery from recession, although she did not indicate if she still expected a hike would be warranted at the Fed's last policy meeting of the year on 15-16 December 2015.
Investors in emerging markets, including India are worried that once the Fed starts raising interest rates, it will drain liquidity from global emerging markets and redirect it to developed economies. The Fed has held its benchmark short-term interest rate near zero since December 2008. The ultra-loose monetary policy in the US has encouraged heavy investment in higher-yielding emerging markets.
Closer home, foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) bought shares worth a net Rs 60.61 crore yesterday, 2 December 2015, as per provisional data released by the stock exchanges. Domestic institutional investors (DIIs) sold shares worth a net Rs 78.31 crore yesterday, 2 December 2015, as per provisional data.
The Nikkei India Service PMI data for the month of November 2015 is due today, 3 December 2015. India's Nikkei India Service PMI rose to 52.6 in October 2015 from 51.5 in September 2015, showed the survey data from Markit Economics.
Among corporate news, Wipro announced after market hours yesterday, 2 December 2015, that it has signed an agreement with Landesbank Baden-Wuerttemberg (LBBW) to acquire cellent AG for 73.5 million Euros. cellent AG is a leading IT consulting and software services company and has been offering holistic innovative IT solutions and services to its customers in the DACH region of Germany, Austria and Switzerland for the past 14 years. cellent AG serves the DACH market region with a team of more than 800 consultants, who will now become part of Wipro. The closing of acquisition is expected in quarter ended March 2016.
The DACH market is a strategic growth and investment region for Wipro. This acquisition will provide Wipro with significant scale and prime customer relationships, especially in the Manufacturing and Automotive domains, which are key industry sectors in the DACH region. The acquisition is subject to customary closing conditions and regulatory approvals and is expected to be closed in the quarter ended 31 March 2016.
More From This Section
Aditya Birla Nuvo (ABNL) yesterday, 2 December 2015 announced that Sun Life Financial (Sun Life) will increase its stake in the life insurance joint venture, Birla Sun Life Insurance (BSLI) from 26% to 49% at an investment of Rs 1664 crore, subject to the requisite approvals. The announcement was made after market hours yesterday, 2 December 2015.
ABNL has entered into an agreement with the Canadian insurance major Sun Life to sell approximately 43.70 crore equity shares constituting 23% of the issued and paid up equity share capital of BSLI. On completion of the transaction, Sun Life's stake in BSLI will increase from current 26% to 49% while ABNL will continue to hold the controlling stake at 51%. The 23% stake sale will fetch ABNL Rs 1664 crore, valuing BSLI at Rs 7235 crore.
The transaction is expected to close by the end of FY2015-16, subject to the customary closing conditions and the requisite statutory and regulatory approvals in India and Canada, ABNL said.
Meanwhile, losses for banking sector stocks and index heavyweights HDFC, Infosys and L&T outweighed gains for pharma stocks and index heavyweight Reliance Industries (RIL) resulting in small losses for key benchmark indices yesterday, 2 December 2015. The Sensex lost 51.56 points or 0.2% to settle at 26,117.85, its lowest closing level since 26 November 2015.
Powered by Capital Market - Live News