Key benchmark indices moved into the positive terrain after opening lower after Atlanta Fed President Dennis Lockhart said on Thursday, 3 October 2013, that the shortage of "data would tend to make me somewhat more cautious" about reducing the pace of bond purchases. The US Federal Reserve is buying $85 billion in Treasury and mortgage debt each month, and has pledged to keep its benchmark interest rate near zero as long as the jobless rate remains above 6.5% and the inflation outlook doesn't exceed 2.5%. Fed's bond-buying program has been a source of liquidity for most Asian and emerging markets this year. The barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was up 83.39 points or 0.42%, up close to 115 points from the day's low. The market breadth, indicating the overall health of the market, was strong.
Shares of Tata Motors struck record high in early trade. Jet Airways (India) surged after the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs on Thursday gave its approval to the proposal of Etihad Airways for subscribing 24% of the post issue paid up equity share capital of Jet Airways (India). Shares of ONGC, Oil India, Videocon Industries and BPCL rose after the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs approved the proposal of the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas to authorize ONGC Videsh (OVL) and Oil India (OIL) to acquire 20% participating interest in Rovuma Area 1 Offshore Block in Mozambique (Area 1). Wipro rose after the company announced the changes in the top deck of the organisation.
In the foreign exchange market, the rupee edged lower against the dollar. The partially convertible rupee was hovering at 61.81, compared with its close of 61.735/745 on Thursday, 3 October 2013.
At 9:30 IST, the S&P BSE Sensex was up 83.39 points or 0.42% to 19,985.46. The index rose 85.42 points at the day's high of 19,987.49 in early trade. The index fell 33.24 points at the day's low of 19,868.83 in early trade.
The CNX Nifty was up 17.95 points or 0.3% to 5,927.65. The index hit a high of 5,928.65 in intraday trade. The index hit a low of 5,889.95 in intraday trade.
The market breadth, indicating the overall health of the market, was strong. On BSE, 466 shares rose and 273 shares fell. A total of 31 shares were unchanged.
Among the 30-share Sensex pack, 25 stocks rose and only five fell. Bajaj Auto (up 1.15%), TCS (up 1.93%) and Hero MotoCorp (up 1.17%), edged higher.
Tata Motors rose 2.97% to Rs 355.05 after hitting record high of Rs 357.40 in intraday trade. The company's British luxury car unit Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) on Wednesday, 2 October 2013, said it has appointed John Edwards into the role of Managing Director of the newly created Individual Products Division with immediate effect. The new division will be responsible for designing and creating a portfolio of brand extending products, ranging from high value halo vehicles to lifestyle merchandise products. In his new role, John will be responsible for the company's 'Engineered To Order' division, accessories, licensing & merchandise activities, vehicle operations and heritage vehicles across both brands, JLR said in statement.
Wipro rose 0.14% after the company after market hours on Thursday, 3 October 2013, announced the changes in the top deck of the organisation. The company announced the appointment of Senior Vice President Shaji Farooq as the global head of its Banking, Finance Services and Insurance (BFSI) strategic business unit. Shaji, who is currently leading the company's Advanced Technologies Service Line and Go-To-Market transformation initiatives, will take over from Senior Vice President Soumitro Ghosh, who will now head Wipro Infotech, the India and Middle East business.
With the growth momentum picking up in the US and European economies, the financial services industry presents significant opportunities. Shaji's long experience with the BFSI sector in the past stands him in good stead to shape Wipro's strategy for this vertical and help seize emerging opportunities. He will continue to be based in New York.
A Wipro veteran of 25 years, Soumitro Ghosh has played varied roles including his current position as the global head of BFSI. A founding member of the BFSI Strategic Business Unit, he has played a significant role in building this vertical and making it the largest BU of the company today. Soumitro will now power the India & Middle East businesses to maintain Wipro's leadership position in these markets. Soumitro will continue to operate from Bangalore.
G K Prasanna, will take charge as the Senior Vice President & Global Head for Global Infrastructure Services (GIS) in addition to his current role as SVP & Global Head for Product Engineering Solutions (PES). GKP, who has been with Wipro for more than 25 years, is an acknowledged authority on the IT Infrastructure Services business. He was the head of Wipro's Technology Infrastructure Services business between 2000 through 2009 and is credited with launching several innovative service delivery models.
Jeffrey (Jeff) Heenan Jalil, who has held several leadership roles including Head of Sales for Manufacturing in Europe, Chief Sales & Operations Head for Europe, and most recently, Vice President and Global Head for Telecom Equipment Vendor and Media Verticals will assume the position of Vice President & Global Head of Advanced Technologies.
Commenting on the organizational re-alignment, T K Kurien, CEO & Executive Director, Wipro said, "Our strategy of driving a significantly higher degree of customer engagement and hyper growth has been paying dividends. In order to sustain this momentum, our leadership team has spent considerable time reviewing market opportunities, and sharply defining the focus areas that would fuel our growth ambition. The exercise reaffirmed our conviction in our chosen strategy. We are committed to better aligning our internal organization with our clients' needs and to make investments in driving predictability and automation in our delivery."
Shaji, Soumitro, G K Prasanna and Jeff will report into Chief Executive Officer and Executive Director, T.K. Kurien, Wipro. These appointments will be effective 1 January 2014.
After a sterling career of over 24 years with Wipro, Anand Sankaran, currently Senior Vice President for Global Infrastructure Services and Wipro Infotech, has decided to pursue a career outside of Wipro. Anand has played a significant role in growing these businesses and Wipro thanks Anand for his contribution and wishes him the very best in his future endeavors, Wipro said in a statement.
Shares of ONGC rose 0.19%. Oil India gained 0.23%. Videocon Industries gained 1.9%. BPCL rose 0.42%. The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs has approved the proposal of the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas to authorize ONGC Videsh (OVL) and Oil India (OIL) to acquire 20% Participating Interest (PI) in Rovuma Area 1 Offshore Block in Mozambique (Area 1). The transaction comprises acquisition of 100% of shares in Videocon Mozambique Rovuma 1, the company holding a 10% PI in Area 1, from Videocon Mauritius Energy, a subsidiary of Videocon Industries, jointly by OVL and OIL for $2.475 billion. Closing is expected before 31st December 2013. The transaction includes acquisition of another 10% PI in Area 1 from Anadarko Mozambique Area 1 Limitada, a subsidiary of Anadarko Petroleum Corporation solely by OVL for $2.64 billion, with closing in February, 2014.
Area 1 covers approximately 2.6 million acres in the deep-water Rovuma Basin and the acquisition would mark the entry of OVL and OIL into the largest gas discovery in offshore East Africa with estimated recoverable resources of 35 to 65 trillion cubic feet (tcf). Partners in Area 1 include Anadarko, operator of the project, BNT-T (National Oil Company of Mozambique), Mitsui (Japan), BPRL (Subsidiary of BPCL), Videocon and PTTEP (National Oil Company of Thailand). Area 1 has the potential to be one of the world's largest LNG producing hubs as discovered gas resources are to be monetized through the construction of a LNG hub in Mozambique. It is also ideally suited to supply LNG to India at a competitive price due to its location. Participation of OVL and OIL in the project will facilitate access of LNG to the growing Indian gas market. As the asset is near to India the shipping cost would be low compared to other LNG sources from the USA, Canada and Russia.
The resource accretion from this acquisition for 20% PI would be around 10 tcf which is about 20% of India's present proven gas reserves, and is consistent with the strategic objective of OVL and OIL of adding high quality international assets to their existing E&P portfolio.
Jet Airways (India) surged 5.79% after the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs on Thursday gave its approval to the proposal of Etihad Airways PJSC, United Arab Emirates for subscribing 2.72 crore equity shares of Rs 10 each of Jet Airways (India) amounting to 24% of the post issue paid up equity share capital for an amount not exceeding Rs 2057.66 crore. The Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) has recommended the proposal. The approval would result in foreign investment amounting to Rs 2057.66 crore in the country.
Markit Economics will unveil the result of a monthly survey on the performance of India's services sector for September 2013 today, 4 October 2013.
Asian stocks fell on Friday, 4 October 2013, as concern grew that the US political impasse could lead to the government defaulting on its debt, sparking a recession. Key benchmark indices in Hong Kong, Japan, South Korea and Indonesia fell 0.13% to 0.68%. Key benchmark indices in Taiwan and Singapore rose 0.01% to 0.08%. Markets in mainland China are closed till 7 October 2013 for National Day holidays.
US stocks dropped on Thursday as investors worried that a budget stalemate in Congress would become entangled with much more critical legislation to raise the federal borrowing limit. The standoff between congressional Democrats and Republicans to pass an emergency funding bill, which has led to a third day of a partial US government shutdown, continued with little sign of progress toward a solution.
The failure of US lawmakers to avert a government shutdown fueled concern they won't be able to agree on raising the nation's $16.7 trillion debt limit later this month. The Treasury Department warned that a federal default could lead to a recession as bad as the 2008 financial crisis or worse. "Not only might the economic consequences of default be profound, those consequences, including high interest rates, reduced investment, higher debt payments and slow economic growth could last for more than a generation," the Treasury said in its report. "In the event that a debt limit impasse were to lead to a default, it could have a catastrophic effect on not just financial markets but also on job creation, consumer spending and economic growth -- with many private-sector analysts believing that it would lead to events of the magnitude of late 2008 or worse, and the result then was a recession more severe than any seen since the Great Depression," the department said.
A report on Thursday showed fewer Americans than forecast filed applications for unemployment benefits last week. Jobless claims rose to 308,000 in the week ended Sept. 28, from a revised 307,000, the Labor Department said. US payrolls data won't be released as scheduled today because of the government shutdown. The department said that an alternative date for the September payrolls report and jobless rate hasn't been scheduled.
The Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) holds a two-day policy meeting on 29-30 October 2013. On 18 September 2013, the Fed surprised economists and investors with its decision to delay scaling back its stimulus amid concerns about the strength of the economic recovery.
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