The market may extend recent strong rally on firm Asian stocks. Trading of CNX Nifty futures on the Singapore stock exchange indicates that the Nifty could gain 5.50 points at the opening bell. Asian stocks rose for a seventh day in the longest rally this year on Thursday, as China's government announced stimulus policies.
Axis Bank announced after market hours on Wednesday, 2 April 2014 that the board of directors of the bank on 2 April 2014 has passed a resolution approving the allotment of Senior Notes aggregating to $ 30.6 million under the MTN Programme through its Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC) branch.
Bharti Airtel and IBM in a joint statement issued after market hours on Wednesday, 2 April 2014 said they have signed a new agreement to manage Airtel's infrastructure and application services in India over the next five years.
This agreement builds on the 10 year relationship between the two organizations which has driven the co-creation of industry leading telco solutions and customercentric services.
The agreement is based on Airtel's new IT vision that defines the next generation of services for its ever-growing customer base and to offer best in class services to its customers through solutions leveraging cutting edge technology. As part of the new vision, Airtel is also building inhouse capabilities and a strong partner eco-system, and has selected IBM to manage the IT infrastructure and applications for its operations in India.
The new model offers Airtel greater flexibility to scale services and adapt in real-time to changing market dynamics and offer a differentiated customer experience leveraging IBM's industry solutions and global experience.
Gopal Vittal, MD & CEO, Bharti Airtel (India & South Asia) said, "As we embark on the next phase of Airtel's growth journey, I am confident that the agreement with IBM will help us offer innovative and cutting edge products and services to our customers, enabling us achieve our vision of being the most loved brand."
Vanitha Narayanan, Managing Director, IBM India, said, "In the last decade, Bharti's customer base has increased from a few million to over 285 million. Airtel partnered with IBM to drive this growth, by using technology to respond with intuitive offers for customers, managing service delivery, and improving organizational efficiency. This pioneering partnership will continue to bring innovation to Airtel's customers, which is the foundation for long term strategy."
Harmeen Mehta, Chief Information Officer, Airtel said, "Our "Next Generation Sourcing model" is all about creating a smarter IT - from the data center to the end-user's experience with a view to ultimately offer new and innovative solutions to our customers. IBM's global expertise to manage large infrastructure operations and application management, coupled with the new IT capabilities we are developing in-house is the latest milestone in our strategy to build a worldclass IT services platform as we enter into a new phase in our growth journey in both data and voice."
Airtel and IBM also have partnerships for IT infrastructure and services across Airtel's international operations spanning 19 countries including Africa, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh
Wipro announced after market hours on Wednesday, 2 April 2014 that Pratik Kumar, CEO of Wipro Infrastructure Engineering (WIN), who has been handling additional responsibility of providing leadership to the HR function as Executive Vice President - HR for Wipro will now move full-time into WIN as its CEO. Saurabh Govil, Sr. Vice President will head Human Resources for Wipro. These changes are effective 1 April 2014.
IDBI Bank announced after market hours on Wednesday, 2 April 2014 that that the bank has divested its entire equity holding of 39.9 lakh shares (18.95%) in Stock Holding Corporation of India (SHCIL) to IFCI.
Bank stocks will be in focus after the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Wednesday, 2 April 2014, clarified that as indicated in its circular dated 23 August 2013 the option for spreading the Mark to Market (MTM) losses over the three quarters has ended on 31 March 2014 and no further extension has been allowed. The RBI further said that as indicated in that circular, banks are permitted to exceed the limit of 25% of total investments under the Held to Maturity (HTM) category provided the excess comprises only SLR securities and the total SLR securities held in the HTM category is not more than 24.5% of their Net Demand Time Liabilities (NDTL) as on last Friday of the second preceding fortnight. The position will be reviewed based on evolving situation, the RBI said.
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has decided on Thursday to grant "in-principle" approval to two applicants viz., IDFC and Bandhan Financial Services Private, to set up banks under the Guidelines on Licensing of New Banks in the Private Sector issued on 22 February 2013 (Guidelines). These two applicants were also recommended as suitable for grant of "in-principle" approval by the High Level Advisory Committee (HLAC) set up by the RBI. The HLAC had also recommended that in the case of Department of Posts which has applied for licence, it would be desirable for the RBI to consider the application separately in consultation with the Government of India. The RBI has accepted the recommendation of the HLAC.
The "in-principle" approval granted will be valid for a period of 18 months during which the applicants have to comply with the requirements under the Guidelines and fulfil the other conditions as may be stipulated by the RBI. On being satisfied that the applicants have complied with the requisite conditions laid down by the RBI as part of in-principle approval, they would be considered for grant of a licence for commencement of banking business under Section 22(1) of the Banking Regulation Act, 1949. Until a regular licence is issued, the applicants would be barred from doing banking business.
Sugar stocks will be in focus as sugar prices have reportedly increased by almost 24% in last 20 days with a jump in prices by 8% in the last two days. A mix of factors including reduced selling pressure on mills as the crushing season is closer to its end, increased buying by stockists, availability of soft loan from the banks, talk of El Nino, increase in international prices due to lower production expected from Brazil are being held responsible for the current rally in sugar prices
Markit Economics will unveil the result of a monthly survey on the performance of India's services sector for March 2014 today, 3 April 2014. HSBC Services Business Activity Index rose from 48.3 in January 2014 to 48.8 in February 2014.
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) next undertakes monetary policy review on 3 June 2014. The RBI left its main lending rate viz. the repo rate unchanged at 8% after a monetary policy review on Tuesday, 1 April 2014.
The next major trigger for the stock market is Q4 March 2014 and year ended 31 March 2014 (FY 2014) corporate earnings. Investors and analysts will closely watch the management commentary that would accompany the results to see if there is any revision in their future earnings forecast of the company for the year ending 31 March 2015 (FY 2015) and/or for the year ending 31 March 2016 (FY 2016). Indian companies will start reporting their Q4 and full year results from mid-April 2014. The result season will conclude in end-May 2014.
A major near term trigger for the stock market is the outcome of the upcoming Lok Sabha elections. Lok Sabha elections will be held between 7 April 2014 and 12 May 2014 in nine phases. The counting of votes will take place on 16 May 2014. The term of the current Lok Sabha expires on June 1 and the new House has to be constituted by May 31. Along with the Lok Sabha election, Andhra Pradesh (AP), including the regions comprising Telangana, Odisha and Sikkim will go to polls to elect new assemblies. AP, Odisha and Sikkim assemblies come to end on June 2, June 7 and May 7 respectively.
Indian stocks extended their recent strong gains on Wednesday, 2 April 2014, as gains in European and Asian stocks boosted sentiment on the domestic bourses. The S&P BSE Sensex garnered 105.05 points or 0.47% to settle at 22,551.49 on that day, a record closing high for the barometer index.
FIIs bought shares worth a net Rs 594.67 crore on Wednesday, 2 April 2014, as per provisional data from the stock exchanges.
Asian stocks rose for a seventh day in the longest rally this year on Thursday, as China's government announced stimulus policies. Key benchmark indices in Hong Kong, Indonesia, South Korea, China, Japan and Singapore were up 0.03% to 0.87%. Taiwan's Taiwan Weighted fell 0.18%.
China's government announced measures to support growth yesterday, including increased railway spending and tax relief, before data showing a gauge of service industries declined in March.
Growth in China's services sector slowed slightly in March, data showed on Thursday, but it is still a bright spot after a string of recent weakening indicators that reinforced fears of an economic slowdown. The official services Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) released by the National Bureau of Statistics dipped to 54.5 from February's 55.0, but remained well above the 50 level that is the dividing line between expansion and contraction.
US stocks rose a fourth day on Wednesday with the Standard & Poor's 500 Index extending a record, as data showing companies added to payrolls last month fueled optimism on growth in the economy.
Data on Wednesday showed February factory goods orders rose 1.6%, topping an estimated advance of 1.2%. A separate report indicated companies in the US boosted payrolls by 191,000 in March, according to figures from the ADP Research Institute in Roseland, New Jersey.
The influential US non-farms payroll data for March 2014 will be released tomorrow, 4 April 2014.
The Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) next undertakes monetary policy review at a two-day meeting on 29-30 April 2014. The Federal Reserve on 19 March 2014 said after the conclusion of a monetary policy review that it will trim its monthly bond purchases by $10 billion to $55 billion. The Federal Reserve will end its bond-buying program before the end of the year with an interest-rate increase likely to follow in "around six months," Chair Janet Yellen said on 19 March 2014. Quarterly Fed forecasts on 19 March 2014 showed more officials predicting that the benchmark interest rate, now close to zero, will rise to at least 1% by the end of 2015 and 2.25% a year later.
In Europe, a policy meeting of the Governing Council of the European Central Bank (ECB) will be held today, 3 April 2014, in Frankfurt to decide euro zone interest rates. The ECB is projected to keep interest rates at a record low today. ECB President Mario Draghi has consistently reassured listeners that the euro zone isn't heading for deflation, but that the central bank stands ready to act if needed.
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