The market may open slightly lower tracking mostly down Asian stocks. Trading of CNX Nifty futures on the Singapore stock exchange indicates that the Nifty could fall 11 points at the opening bell. Most Asian stocks edged lower on Thursday as Chinese trade figures unexpectedly fell, tempering optimism after the Federal Reserve eased concern about when US rates will rise.
Infosys after market hours on Wednesday, 9 April 2014, announced that its Finacle core banking solution running on an Oracle SuperCluster engineered system has set new global benchmarks for the number of transactions processed across key banking functions. In a test that was audited and reviewed by the global audit firm, Ernst & Young, the solution supported over 1.9 billion bank accounts with near linear scalability - a number higher than the current population of China, the most populous country in the world.
The test also saw Finacle processing 726 million effective transactions in four hours, or over 50,000 average transactions per second, to manage workloads comprising of multiple online transactions and customer touch points as well as third-party systems. This represents six times the daily volume of transactions currently processed by the entire US banking system, based on industry estimates of transaction volumes. These results highlight Finacle's capabilities to help banks manage extremely large transaction volumes and cater to a dynamically growing customer base at lower costs, Infosys said.
Pipe manufacturer, MAN Industries (India) said it has built up order book of approximately Rs 1200 crore, which includes the recently received orders worth approximately Rs 700 crore from domestic and international customers for supply of large diameter pipes for oil and gas as well as water sector projects. In addition to the above confirmed order the company has outstanding bids over $1 billion at various stages of evaluation for several other oil, gas and water projects in India and abroad, the company said.
Supreme Petrochem said that its board will meet on 21 April 2014, to consider the buyback of equity shares of the company to such extent [not exceeding 10% of the networth (paid-up equity capital and free reserves) of the company] on such terms and conditions as the board may decide in accordance with Sebi (buy-back of Securities) Regulations, 1998, including any amendments, statutory modification(s) or re-enactments thereof.
Shilpa Medicare said that its board will meet on 11 April 2014 to consider the proposal for offer and issue of Equity Shares or Warrants or convertible instruments on preferential basis.
Ravalgaon Sugar Farm said that its board has accepted in-principle the introduction of Voluntary Retirement Scheme (VRS) for the workmen at the factory. The board further added that a proper agreement needs to be entered into between the representatives of the management and the workers' representatives to ensure that all requirements under the applicable laws are met. The board also advised that the financial closure of the VRS liability should be done before it accords final approval to the Voluntary Retirement Scheme.
GTL Infrastructure said that a meeting of the committee will be held on 10 April 2014, to consider allotment of equity shares consequent upon conversion notice received for conversion of foreign currency convertible bonds (FCCBs) at a conversion price of Rs 10 per share.
Ybrant Digital said that its board approved the consolidation of the business operations of some of its subsidiaries to its new subsidiary - Ybrant Digital Cayman (YDCL). The board also approved delegation of necessary powers to the board of YDCL.
Foseco India turns ex-dividend today, 10 April 2014, for a special dividend of Rs 12.50 per share and a final dividend of Rs 3 per share for the year ended December 2013.
Gulf Oil Corporation turns ex-dividend today, 10 April 2014, for a special dividend of Rs 0.30 per share and a final dividend of Rs 2.20 per share for the year ending March 2014.
State Bank of Mysore turns ex-dividend today, 10 April 2014, for interim dividend of Rs 3 per share for the year ending March 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 1 April 2014, as consumer-price inflation eased to a two-year low and as the rupee firmed up against the dollar.
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. The 36 days long voting process began on 7 April 2014 and will conclude on 12 May 2014. The results will be declared on 16 May 2014 after which India will get a new government. The term of the current Lok Sabha expires on June 1 and the new House has to be constituted by May 31.
Polling for 91 seats in the third phase of the Lok Sabha elections began today, 10 April 2014. Polling is being held in the sugarcane belts of western Uttar Pradesh, Delhi, the drought and hailstorm-hit Vidarbha region of Maharashtra, the Vindhya region of Madhya Pradesh, the plains of Jammu, the politically charged Kerala and the Maoist-affected belts of Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh.
Key benchmark indices surged on Wednesday, 9 April 2014 after the main opposition party -- the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) -- in its Lok Sabha polls manifesto released early this week promised more business-friendly policies if the party comes to power after elections. The S&P BSE Sensex garnered 358.89 points or 1.61% to settle at 22,702.34 on that day, a record closing high.
Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) bought shares worth a net Rs 1043.86 crore on Wednesday, 9 April 2014, as per provisional data from the stock exchanges.
Most Asian stocks edged lower on Thursday as Chinese trade figures unexpectedly fell, tempering optimism after the Federal Reserve eased concern about when US rates will rise. Key benchmark indices in Singapore, Indonesia, Taiwan and South Korea were down 0.16% to 2.75%. Key benchmark indices in China, Hong Kong and Japan rose 0.04% to 0.69%.
Chinese exports fell 6.6% in March, extending the steepest drop since 2009 in February and missing the estimate. China's imports plunged 11.3% last month down from growth of 10.1% in February and below the estimates. China's export data have been distorted by inflated numbers in early 2013, when some companies filed fake invoices to disguise capital inflows.
China will not take any forceful stimulus measures to counter short-term fluctuations in its economic growth, Premier Li Keqiang said on Thursday, stressing again that authorities have flexibility in achieving the 2014 growth target. Sustaining healthy growth in China's labour market is most important for the government, Li told an investment forum in China's southern island of Hainan. Whether China's annual economic growth comes in slightly above or below a targeted 7.5% is less important in comparison, he said.
Australia's unemployment rate unexpectedly dropped after the country added 18,000 jobs in March.
The Bank of Korea left its key rate unchanged at its first policy meeting under Lee Ju Yeol, as low inflation gives the new governor room to support growth in Asia's fourth-biggest economy. The central bank held the seven-day repurchase rate at 2.5% for an 11th straight month, it said in a statement in Seoul today.
US stocks rallied on Wednesday, with technology shares gaining the most in two months, as minutes from the Federal Reserve's last meeting eased concern about the timing of future interest-rate increases.
Several Fed policy makers said a rise in their median projection for the main interest rate exaggerated the likely speed of tightening, according to minutes of their March 18-19 meeting released on Wednesday. Federal Reserve officials fretted last month that investors would overreact to policymakers' fresh forecasts on interest rates that appeared to map out a more aggressive cycle of rate hikes than was actually anticipated.
The published rate forecasts of the current 16 Fed policymakers, known as the "dots" charts, suggested the federal funds rate would end 2016 at 2.25 percent, a half percentage point above Fed officials' projections in December. In minutes of the March 18-19 meeting published on Wednesday, several of the meeting's participants said the charts "overstated the shift in the projections," suggesting the Fed is not as eager to tighten policy as the dots had seemed to suggest. The minutes also showed that officials wanted to emphasize that the official policy statement, and not the dots charts, give a better indication of the likely path of rates.
After its March meeting, the Fed said in a statement that it would wait a "considerable time" following the end of its bond-buying program before finally raising interest rates.
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 monthly meeting of the Monetary Policy Committee of the Bank of England's (BoE) for monetary policy review is scheduled today, 10 April 2014.
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