Trading for the week is likely to begin on upbeat note on positive Asian stocks. Trading of CNX Nifty futures on the Singapore stock exchange indicates that the Nifty could surge 57 points at the opening bell. Asian stocks edged higher today, 11 May 2015 as investors cheered China's latest cut to interest rates to bolster its flagging economy and as US markets rallied on Friday, 8 May 2015 after a robust headline reading for US employment.
Foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) sold shares worth a net Rs 437.56 crore during the previous trading session on Friday, 8 May 2015, as per provisional data released by the stock exchanges. Domestic institutional investors (DIIs) sold shares worth a net Rs 1114.38 crore during the previous trading session on Friday, 8 May 2015, as per provisional data.
Procter & Gamble Hygiene and Health Care's net profit rose 7.59% to Rs 86.89 crore on 10.91% growth in total income to Rs 572.94 crore in Q3 March 2015 over Q3 March 2014. The result was announced on Saturday, 9 May 2015.
GlaxoSmithkline Consumer Healthcare's (GSK Consumer Healthcare) net profit rose 14.6% to Rs 196.78 crore on 9.17% growth in total income to Rs 1275.02 crore in the quarter ended 31 March 2015 over the quarter ended 31 March 2014. The result was announced on Saturday, 9 May 2015.
As in the previous accounting period, the company's financial year comprised the period of fifteen months from 1 January 2013 to 31 March 2014, whereas the results of the year ended 31 March 2015 represents twelve months results for the current year and are therefore not comparable, GSK Consumer Healthcare said.
Among key corporate earnings, Adani Power, Bank of Baroda and Havells India are scheduled to announce their quarter ended 31 March 2015 earnings today, 11 May 2015.
On the macro front, the government will unveil data on inflation based on the consumer price index (CPI) for April 2015 tomorrow, 12 May 2015. The all-India general CPI inflation slowed down to three months low of to 5.2% in March 2015 from 5.4% in February 2015. On the same day, the Index of Industrial Production (IIP) data for March 2015 will also be released. IIP increased 5% in February 2015 compared with the revised growth of 2.8% in January 2015.
Meanwhile, proceedings in parliament are being keenly watched. The Lok Sabha on 6 May 2015, passed the Constitution Amendment Bill in respect of goods and services tax (GST). A constitutional amendment bill needs to be approved by a two-thirds majority in both houses of Parliament and ratified by half the state legislative assemblies before coming into effect. While the Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance found it easy to pass the GST bill in the Lok Sabha where it is in a majority, the real test will come in the Rajya Sabha where the ruling alliance is in a minority, with 62 members in a 245-member house. The bill is expected to be introduced in the Rajya Sabha later during the budget session which ends on 13 May 2015.
Before voting on the GST bill began, the opposition Congress party walked out of the lower house after the government turned down its demand to send the bill to a standing committee.
GST, touted as the single biggest indirect taxation reforms since independence, will simplify and harmonise the indirect tax regime in the country. Central taxes like Central Excise Duty, Additional Excise Duties, Service Tax, Additional Customs Duty (CVD) and Special Additional Duty of Customs (SAD), etc. will be subsumed in GST. At the state level, taxes like VAT/Sales Tax, Central Sales Tax, Entertainment Tax, Octroi and Entry Tax, Purchase Tax and Luxury Tax, etc. would be subsumed in GST.
Meanwhile, it remains to be seen if the government is able to pass the Land Acquisition Bill during the ongoing Budget session. The amended Land Acquisition Bill seeks to scrap the consent clause for acquiring land for five sectors industrial corridors, public private partnership projects, rural infrastructure, affordable housing and defence. The bill also exempts projects in these five areas from social impact assessments and allows the purchase of irrigated multi-cropped land and other types of agricultural land.
Auto stocks, private sector banks and index heavyweights led rally as key benchmark indices surged on the last trading session of the week on Friday, 8 May 2015. The S&P BSE Sensex rose 506.28 points or 1.9% to settle at 27,105.39, its highest closing level since 5 May 2015.
Asian stocks edged higher today, 11 May 2015 as investors cheered China's latest cut to interest rates to bolster its flagging economy and as US markets rallied on Friday, 8 May 2015 after a robust headline reading for US employment. Key benchmark indices in China, Singapore, Hong Kong, Japan, Indonesia and South Korea rose by 0.4% to 1.27%. Taiwan's Taiwan Weighted index shed 0.18%.
China cut interest rates for the third time in six months on Sunday, 10 May 2015 to stimulate growth. The People's Bank of China cut its benchmark, one-year lending rate by 25 basis points to 5.1% effective from today, 11 May 2015 and its benchmark deposit rate by the same amount to 2.25%.
US stocks surged on Friday, 8 May 2015 after a robust headline reading for US employment.
In economic data, the US Labor Department data showed on Friday, 8 May 2015 nonfarm payrolls increased 223,000 in April 2015, while the unemployment rate dropped to a near seven-year low of 5.4%.
Meanwhile, the newly re-elected British Prime Minister David Cameron on Sunday, 10 May 2015 reportedly ruled out giving Scotland another independence referendum despite gains by Scottish nationalists in a UK-wide election.
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