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Here are a few stocks that are likely to be in focus today:
Hit by a rise in employee cost and contractual expenses, state-owned Coal India (CIL) reported a 4.4 per cent drop in consolidated net profit to Rs 4,239 crore for the quarter ended March, compared with Rs 4,434 crore a year before.
After seven quarters of loss, SpiceJet swung to net profit of Rs 22.5 crore in the fourth quarter of FY15. This was aided by higher other income and net gain from an insurance claim.
India’s second largest information technology (IT) services provider, Infosys, has abandoned plans to develop its second centre in Thiruvanthapuram’s Technocity. Senior executives said lack of infrastructure at the project site was why.
Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) has been rated as the best company in India on various financial and operational parameters by Dun & Bradstreet.
Vijay Mallya, chairman of the UB group, has said the accounts of United Spirits (USL), under investigation by multiple government agencies, were cleared by the company’s board, its shareholders, auditors and government bodies.
Aurobindo Pharma has posted a 19.5 per cent drop in net profit to Rs 404 crore for the fourth quarter of 2014-15, as against a net profit of Rs 502 crore a year ago.
Hit by a decline in sales, tractor maker Escorts has reported a 60 per cent decline in profit for the quarter ended March.
State-owned iron ore miner NMDC is planning to step up its iron ore production by adding another five to eight million tonne in the current financial year in the hope of better price realisations.
Crompton Greaves posted a net loss of Rs 199 crore in the fourth quarter of FY15 against Rs 63-crore profit a year ago.
Utility vehicles maker, Mahindra and Mahindra (M&M), is planning to launch nine vehicles, including refreshes and all-new models, in both the personal and commercial segments during this financial year, according to Ashish Malik, vice-president (marketing, automotive division).
State-owned ONGC reported 19.5 per cent drop in net profit to Rs 3,935 crore for the quarter ended March 31, 2015, mainly due to higher operating cost and write-off on dry wells drilled.
Cipla, Berger Paints, Blue Star, IOC, IRB Infra, M & M, NTPC, SAIL, RCom and Oil India are likely to announce their Q4 numbers during the day.
MARKET COMMENTARY
The benchmark indices are likely to make a flat opening with negative bias this morning, tracking the mixed cues from the global front.
On the macro-economic front, the Central statistics office (CSO) will release the gross domestic product (GDP) data for the January-March quarter and full year 2014-15 on Friday..
The markets had a sluggish closing yesterday on the last day of May derivatives series due to selling pressure in financials and pharma shares.
The total of unsquared positions in Nifty futures touched a two-year low during Thursday’s May series expiry session, indicating lower participation by foreign investors in derivatives markets
GLOBAL MARKETS
Chinese share markets extended a bruising selloff on Friday after the previous day's plunge, while the dollar took a breather from a sharp run up this week.
The slide in China forced Asian markets off earlier gains, with the MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan flat. It shed more than 1% on Thursday. South Korean share gained 0.4% and Australian stocks rose 1.2%. Japan's Nikkei was flat.
In choppy trade, the Shanghai Composite Index was down 3.9% after diving nearly 7% on Thursday, when investors dumped stocks after more brokers tightened margin trading requirements and the central bank drained money to reduce flush liquidity in the financial system.
