Indian stocks may remain volatile this week as traders roll over positions in the futures & options segment from the near month May 2015 series to June 2015 series. The near month May 2015 F&O contracts expire on Thursday, 28 May 2015.
Foreign portfolio investors bought shares worth a net Rs 211.42 crore on Friday, 22 May 2015, as per provisional data. Domestic institutional investors (DIIs) bought shares worth a net Rs 237.62 crore on Friday, 22 May 2015, as per provisional data released by the stock exchanges.
In the overseas market, Asian stock markets were higher today, 25 May 2015. US stock markets closed lower on Friday, 22 May 2015, failing to hold highs touched during the session, as investors eyed inflation data and Fed Chair Yellen's speech ahead of the long weekend.
Among corporate news, ITC's net profit rose 3.65% to Rs 2361.18 crore on 1.66% increase in total income to Rs 9663.15 crore in Q4 March 2015 over Q4 March 2014. The result was announced after trading hours on Friday, 22 May 2015.
ITC said that Q4 March 2015 performance was impacted by steep increase in excise duty and VAT on cigarettes and weak demand environment. Muted growth in net revenue was primarily due to lack of trading opportunities in agricommodities and continuing pressure on cigarette volumes. Excluding expenditure on CSR / social investment programmes, comparable profit before tax and net profit grew by 6.4% and 7.8% respectively in Q4 March 2015 over Q4 March 2014. Financials for Q4 March 2015 include Rs 58 crore towards costs associated with rationalisation of safety matches manufacturing operations.
The company delivered another year of steady performance in the backdrop of continuing sluggishness in the macro-economic environment, exacerbated by a steep increase in taxes/duties on cigarettes which led to unprecedented pressure on legal cigarette industry sales volumes, ITC said. The company also had to contend with start-up costs relating to the launch of new products and categories in the non-cigarette FMCG segment, input cost pressures in the paperboards, paper and packaging businesses and a weak pricing environment in the hotels business, it added.
Bharat Petroleum Corporation (BPCL) said that the company has entered into a term loan agreement with State Bank of India to set-up a rupee loan facility. The facility will be used to finance capital expenditure on the company's ongoing and new projects. Under the facility, BPCL can avail a loan of up to Rs 4000 crore which can be drawn over a period of three years. The loan carries a floating rate of interest linked to base rate and has a door to door maturity of ten years. The announcement was made after market hours on Friday, 22 May 2015.
Steel Authority of India (Sail) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with ArcelorMittal to set up an automotive steel manufacturing facility under a Joint Venture (JV) arrangement in India. The announcement was made after market hours on Friday, 22 May 2015. The MoU is the first step of a process to establish a JV between the two companies. The proposed JV will construct a state-of-the-art cold rolling mill and other downstream finishing facilities in India that will offer technologically advanced steel products to India's rapidly growing automotive sector.
Index heavyweights HDFC, L&T and Reliance Industries (RIL) led modest gains for key benchmark indices on Friday, 22 May 2015. The S&P BSE Sensex rose 148.15 points or 0.53% to settle at 27,957.50, its highest closing level since 17 April 2015.
Asian stock markets were higher today, 25 May 2015. Key indices in Japan, China, Singapore and Taiwan were up 0.05% to 2.09%. In Indonesia, the IDX Composite was off 0.52%. Stock markets in Hong Kong and South Korea were shut for a holiday.
US stock markets closed lower on Friday, 22 May 2015, failing to hold highs touched during the session, as investors eyed inflation data and Fed Chair Yellen's speech ahead of the long weekend.
US Labor Department said on Friday, 22 May 2015 that US' consumer price index (CPI) gained 0.1% in April 2015 after increasing 0.2% in March.
Federal Reserve Chairwoman Janet Yellen said on Friday, 22 May 2015 that the central bank is on track to raise interest rates this year but will likely proceed cautiously because the job market hasn't fully healed, inflation is low and growth has again disappointed.
In Europe, risks regarding a potential Greek exit from the euro zone remained in the backdrop after the country's interior minister, Nikos Voutsis, threatened to default on loan repayments due to the International Monetary Fund.
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