Key benchmark indices edged higher in early trade. At 9:16 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex was up 132.20 points or 0.52% at 25,401.84. The Nifty 50 index was currently up 39.95 points or 0.52% at 7,753.
In overseas stock markets, Asian stocks witnessed mixed trend. Stock markets in China, Hong Kong and Taiwan were closed due to holiday. US stocks registered modest gains on Friday, 1 April 2016, shaking off pressure from low oil prices, after encouraging data on domestic employment and manufacturing.
Closer home, the market breadth indicating the overall health of the market was strong. On BSE, 658 shares rose and 143 shares declined. A total of 44 shares were unchanged. The BSE Mid-Cap index was currently up 0.33%. The BSE Small-Cap index was currently up 0.48%. Both these indices underperformed the Sensex.
Telecom stocks edged higher. Bharti Airtel (up 1.33%), Idea Cellular (up 1.4%) and Reliance Communications (up 0.89%) rose.
Tata Steel rose 0.69% at Rs 319.90. The company announced on Saturday, 2 April 2016 that the sharp fall in international steel prices and the challenging conditions facing the global steel industry triggered a review of Tata Steel's credit rating by Fitch. The company's long-term foreign currency issuer default rating (IDR) has been downgraded by 1 notch.
HCL Technologies rose 0.49% at Rs 824.75 after the company announced on Saturday, 2 April 2016, an agreement to acquire (through demerger) all of the business of Geometric, except for the 58% stake that Geometric owns in the joint venture-3DPLM Software Solutions, with Dassault Systemes. Shares of Geometric were up 15.31% at Rs 226. In consideration of this acquisition, HCL will issue 10 equity shares of Rs 2 each to Geometric shareholders for every 43 equity shares of Geometric of Rs 2 each held by them. In total, HCL will issue 1.56 crore equity shares of Rs 2 each. The transaction is expected to be accretive on cash earnings per share, HCL said. Geometric is one of India's leading PLM consulting, mechanical engineering and manufacturing engineering services providers. The acquisition strengthens HCL's presence significantly in the PLM consulting as well as mechanical and manufacturing engineering space. It also significantly strengthens HCL's automotive and industrial practices.
The acquisition would take place through a scheme of arrangement which would be subject to the approval of the High Courts at Mumbai and Delhi in addition to the approval of the regulatory authorities, HCL Tech said.
Kotak Mahindra Bank was up 0.38% at Rs 682 after the bank announced lending rates based on marginal cost of funds effective from Friday, 1 April 2016. Kotak Mahindra Bank's Marginal Cost of Funds based Lending Rate (MCLR) for overnight loans will be 8.9%, for one month will be 9% and for three months will be 9.25%. The MCLR on 6-month loans will be 9.4% and for one-year loans the rate would be 9.6%, the bank said. The MCLR on two-year loans will be 9.65% and for three-year loans the rate would be 9.65%, the bank said. The announcement was made after market hours on Friday, 1 April 2016.
Tata Motors rose 1.66% at Rs 385.85 after the company announced that its total commercial and passenger vehicles sales rose 1.1% to 53,057 units in March 2016 over March 2015. Domestic sales of Tata commercial and passenger vehicles declined 1% to 46,701 units in March 2016 over March 2015. Exports rose 17% to 6,356 units in March 2016 over March 2015. The company announced the monthly sales volumes data after market hours on Friday, 1 April 2016.
Coal India rose 0.12% at Rs 288.15. Coal India and its subsidiaries on provisional basis achieved 101% of targeted production at 59.19 million tonnes in March 2016. Coal India and its subsidiaries on provisional basis achieved 94% of targeted offtake at 49.12 million tonnes in March 2016. The announcement was made after market hours on Friday, 1 April 2016.
ITC fell 2.26% at Rs 328.40 after the company announecd on Saturday, 2 April 2016 that it has been compelled to shut its cigarette factories with effect from 1 April 2016 until clarity emerges in the current uncertain state of the rules on health warning. In 2009, the Central Government introduced pictorial health warning on cigarette packages. The implementation of any change in the health warnings on the cigarette packages is an elaborate process for the manufacturers, entailing months of preparation involving substantial cost and effort, ITC said. Since the matter of new health warning was under the Parliamentary Committee's consideration, and the Government had itself held out that it would await the Committee's report, the industry was led to believe that the Government would re-notify new health warnings after considering the Committee's recommendations, the company said. Further, the question of the legality of the new warnings has been and continues to be pending before the Court, it added. In this situation, the company, as any prudent person would, did not commit to wasting substantial resources in creating the large number of cylinders and other tools necessary for a change-over of the warnings. As a result, the company is at present not in readiness to print the health warnings as now once again notified, ITC said.
The finance ministry after trading hours on Friday, 1 April 2016, announced that as per initial estimates, the fiscal deficit for 2015-16 is expected to be within the target of 3.9% of GDP. It further said that the government remains committed to the path of fiscal consolidation. The government's Plan Expenditure for 2015-16 is expected to be around Rs 4.70 lakh crore, which will be higher than the budget estimate and also higher than the actual plan expenditure in 2014-15.
On the macro front, Markit Economics will unveil the outcome of a monthly survey on India's manufacturing sector for March 2016 at 10:30 IST today, 4 April 2016. The Nikkei India Manufacturing PMI stood at 51.1 in February 2016, unchanged from January's reading.
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