Trading of CNX Nifty futures on the Singapore stock exchange indicates that the Nifty could fall 6 points at the opening bell. The stock markets remained close on Friday, 29 August 2014, on account of Ganesh Chaturthi.
Among corporate news, Mahindra & Mahindra (M&M) after market hours on Thursday, 28 August 2014 said it would make an additional investment at its Chakan plant in Maharashtra. As part of its expansion plans, the company will invest additional Rs 4000 crore over a 7-year period taking the total investment in Chakan to Rs 8000 crore.
Speaking on the occasion, Dr. Pawan Goenka, Executive Director, M&M said, We are delighted to announce the next phase of our expansion plans at Chakan and would like to thank the Govt. of Maharashtra for their continuous and unstinted support. I am sure that with this expansion, Mahindra will continue to play an integral part in the development of not only the region of Chakan but the state of Maharashtra, as well as the Indian auto industry in times to come.
A total of Rs 4000 crore will be utilized towards infrastructure development, product development and capacity expansion for vehicles to be rolled out from the Chakan plant. The Government of Maharashtra has conferred the status of 'Ultra Mega Project' to this proposed expansion. In addition there will be further investment by suppliers to cater M&M's increased requirement, the company said in a statement.
Bharti Airtel announced before market hours that, consequent upon approval from the Communication Authority (CA) of Kenya, Airtel Networks Kenya (Airtel Kenya); a wholly owned subsidiary of Bharti Airtel International Netherlands BV has signed a definitive agreement with Essar Telecommunications Kenya, which operates under the brand name 'yuMobile', to acquire its over 2.7 million subscribers. This transaction is subject to approval from Competition Authority of Kenya (CAK) and is likely to be concluded by fourth quarter of 2014.
Metal and power generation stocks will be in focus as the next Supreme Court hearing on coal blocks case is scheduled today, 1 September 2014. The Supreme Court on 25 August 2014 deemed all coal block allocations made since 1993 as illegal. The allocations had no objective criteria and no fair and transparent procedure was followed, the court had said.
Shares of automobile companies will be in focus as auto companies start unveiling sales volume data for August 2014 from today, 1 September 2014.
ONGC after market hours on Thursday, 28 August 2014 said that it will be investing Rs 5219 crore towards Daman Development project to enhance production of natural gas and condensate in its Tapti Daman Block in Arabian sea. The investment decision has been approved by the ONGC board in its 260th meeting on 28 August 2014. The project is located about 90-100 km from Daman coast and includes additional development of C-24 field and monetization of B-12 marginal fields (B-12-11, B-12-13 and B-12-15), ONGC said in a statement.
ONGC said that the production is expected by July 2016 with peak production rate of 8.35 MMSCMD of gas and 9,286 barrels of condensate per day. The cumulative production till 2034-35 is pegged at 27.67 billion cubic meters (BCM) of gas and 5.01 million cubic meters (MMm3) of condensate, ONGC said. The gas and condensate will be evacuated to Hazira through Tapti Process facilities of Tapti-JV.
ONGC said that the project envisages installation of seven well head platforms, one riser platform with associated pipelines and drilling of 28 wells. The project is scheduled for completion by pre-monsoon 2019, ONGC said in a statement.
Coming close on the heels of the Mumbai High South Redevelopment project (Phase-3) approved in the last board meeting earlier this month for Rs 5813 crore, this approval flags the oil major's aggressive investment posture to ramp up production from the Western Offshore.
PSU OMCs will be in focus as petrol prices were reduced by Rs 1.82/litre (including state levies) at Delhi, with corresponding decrease in other States from 31 August 2014. The current levels of international oil prices and Rupee-dollar exchange rate warrant a decrease in selling price of petrol in the domestic market, Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) said.
In case of LPG, international prices have witnessed a downtrend trend during the previous month. As a consequence, from 1 September 2014, selling price of Domestic Non-Subsidised LPG cylinder shall reduce by Rs 19 for a 14.2 kg cylinder and that of LPG Commercial cylinder by Rs 32.50 for a 19 kg cylinder (including VAT) at Delhi with corresponding decrease in other states.
Further, in case of diesel, since prices in international market have shown a downtrend, from 1 September 2014, selling price of diesel sold to bulk consumers (Bulk HSD) shall reduce by Rs 1.32/litre at Delhi (including VAT) with corresponding decrease in other states.
For retail diesel, an increase of Rs. 0.50/Iitre (excluding VAT) is being effected in retail diesel prices, wfrom 31 August 2014, resulting in increase of Rs. 0.57/litre in RSP at Delhi (including VAT) with corresponding increase in other states, IOC said.
Piramal Enterprises after market hours on Thursday, 28 August 2014 in a clarification with regard to a news item titled "Piramal to exit drug discovery business" said that the company has only decided to scale back its investments in NCE R&D activity in Mumbai. Piramal Enterprises said that New Chemical Entity Research (NCE R&D) is only a part of the company s R&D activity, which also encompasses research in Radiopharmaceuticals, Anesthesia and Pharma Solutions, which have a relatively higher likelihood of success, as against the NCE R&D where the pipeline of projects are at early stages. The company continues to focus on the other components of its R&D activity and the funds are proposed to be reallocated to these activities and other businesses of the company. Further, as part of this expenditure curtailment and reallocation of funds initiative, employees connected with NCE R&D are being offered a voluntary early separation scheme in a fair and transparent manner, which is still in process, Piramal Enterprises said.
On macro front, HSBC Manufacturing PMI for August 2014 is due today 1 September 2014. The Manufacturing PMI had increased to 53 in July 2014, from 51.50 in June 2014.
The Gross Domestic Product (GDP) grew to two-and-half years high of 5.7% in Q1 June 2014 of the fiscal year ending 31 March 2015 (FY2015) over corresponding quarter last year. GDP growth has shown sharp improvement from 4.6% in the previous quarter and 4.7% in the corresponding quarter last year. The Central Statistical Office (CSO) released quarterly estimates of India's GDP on Friday, 29 August 2014, when markets were close on account of holiday.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi started his five-day trip to Japan on Saturday, 30 August 2014, on his first major foreign visit since a landslide election win in May, aimed at capitalising on a personal affinity with Abe to bolster security and business ties in the face of an assertive China.
Key benchmark indices edged higher on Thursday, 28 August 2014, ahead of gross domestic product (GDP) data that is widely expected to show a recovery in economic growth in the first quarter of the current fiscal year. The Sensex garnered 77.96 points or 0.29% to settle at 26,638.11 on that day, a record closing high for the index.
Foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) sold shares worth a net Rs 710.63 crore on Thursday, 28 August 2014, as per provisional data from the stock exchanges.
Asian shares edged higher today, 1 September 2014, with investors wary of a deepening crisis in Ukraine and a downbeat China manufacturing survey ahead of this week's European Central Bank meeting. Key benchmark indices in Indonesia, Hong Kong, China, Japan and Taiwan rose 0.21% to 0.85%. Key benchmark indices in Singapore and South Korea fell 0.07% to 0.36%.
Growth in China's large factory sector slipped to a three-month low in August as foreign and domestic demand cooled, a private survey showed on Monday, raising concerns that the economy is faltering after a bounce. The final HSBC/Markit Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) retreated to 50.2 in August, roughly in line with a preliminary reading of 50.3 and only a shade above the 50-point mark that demarcates an expansion in activity from a contraction.
China's official manufacturing PMI for August, reported today, 1 September 2014, was 51.1, compared with July's 51.7.
US stocks climbed on Friday, 29 August 2014, ahead of a three-day weekend for Monday's US Labor Day holiday.
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko warned a "full-scale war" was imminent if Russian troops continued to advance in support of pro-Moscow rebels, while US and European leaders threatened Moscow with further sanctions.
Powered by Capital Market - Live News
