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. The barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was down 26.81 points or 0.1%, off 36.50 points from the day's high and up 28.41 points from the day's low. The market breadth, indicating the overall health of the market, was negative.
Tata Consultancy Services (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.
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 9:25 IST, the S&P BSE Sensex was down 26.81 points or 0.1% to 25,534.35. The index rose 9.69 points at the day's high of 25,570.85 in early trade. The index fell 55.22 points at the day's low of 25,505.94 in early trade.
The CNX Nifty was down 7.95 points or 0.1% to 7,632.50. The index hit a high of 7,634.60 in intraday trade. The index hit a low of 7,616.80 in intraday trade.
The market breadth, indicating the overall health of the market, was negative. On BSE, 722 shares declined and 554 shares rose. A total of 41 shares were unchanged.
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The BSE Mid-Cap index fell 43.22 points or 0.47% to 9,248.47. The BSE Small-Cap index declined 27.53 points or 0.27% to 10,165.59. Both these indices underperformed the Sensex.
The total turnover on BSE amounted to Rs 207 crore by 09:25 IST.
Among the 30-share Sensex pack, 23 stocks declined and rest of them gained.
Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) surged 3.82%. 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 2.22%. 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.
Axis Bank shed 0.76%. Axis Bank after market hours on Thursday, 17 July 2014, said it has fixed 30 July 2014 as the record date for 5 for 1 stock split.
Cipla rose 0.87%. Cipla after market hours on Thursday, 17 July 2014 said that its wholly owned subsidiary -- Meditab Specialities (MSPL) -- has raised its stake in Mabpharm to 100% after acquiring additional 75% stake. Mabpharm is inter alia engaged in development of monoclonal anitbodies for treatment of cancer and auto-immune diseases. Cipla did not disclose the consideration paid for acquisition of the additional 75% stake.
JSW Steel fell 0.59%. JSW Steel clarified after market hours on Thursday, 17 July 2014 that the company has received no communication from the West Bengal government about cancellation of power purchase agreement by the state government of JSW Steel's Rs 35000 crore steel and power project in Bengal. The media report had stated that the government cancelled power purchase agreement of JSW's Bengal project and threatened to take back 4300 acres allocated to the company for the project. The news report is of a speculative nature, the company added. The company will keep the exchanges informed if there are any material developments in this regard. The company added it is committed to the Bengal project and have spent over Rs 600 crore.
Unfortunately, iron ore which is the critical input for steel making is not made available to steel companies which are set up after liberalisation for value addition within India. Instead, India granted mining concessions to merchant miners encouraging export of iron ore and import of steel. Compounding the problem, iron ore bearing states are now restraining the movement of iron ore to other states threatening the survival of steel companies in non-iron ore bearing states. In these circumstances, JSW Steel requested West Bengal government to facilitate long term sustainable supply of iron ore to take up active implementation of Bengal Steel project. West Bengal government is seized of the matter and JSW Steel is working along with the West Bengal Government to resolve this issue. The company is confident that the company along with West Bengal Government will find solution to this problem to enable it to take up the project implementation expeditiously.
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.
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 0.19% to 1.09%. China's Shanghai Composite rose 0.4%.
US markets dropped on Thursday, 17 July 2014 on the news that a Malaysian Airlines passenger jet had crashed near the Ukraine-Russia border.
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