The key indices edged higher, gaining for the second straight day on firm Asian stocks. The BSE 30-share Sensex rose 75.07 points or 0.43%, up close to 60 points from the day's low and off close to 45 points from the day's high. A strong response to the initial public offer (IPO) of Infinite Computer Solutions which focuses on IT services for the telecom vertical, also underpinned sentiment. NTPC, India's largest utility by sales, rose after company said its follow-on public offer will open for bidding on 3 February 2010. Airline and capital goods stocks rose.
The Sensex had jumped 87.29 points or 0.50% at 17,509.80 on Wednesday, 13 January 2010.
Back to today's trade and index heavyweight Reliance Industries (RIL) galloped. FMCG stocks fell. India's largest private sector bank by operating income HDFC Bank recovered from lower level ahead of Q3 result on Friday 15 January 2010. PSU OMCs rose on reports state-run oil marketing companies may get cash instead of oil bonds as compensation from the government for selling fuel at below market prices. The market breadth was strong.
The market pared gains after an initial surge triggered by firm Asian stocks. The market was further off the day's high in mid-morning trade. The market regained strength in early afternoon trade as the latest data on headline inflation came in line with market expectations. However, the intraday recovery proved short-lived. The market once again pared gains in afternoon trade. It cut losses later. The market surged in mid-afternoon trade. The market cut losses after hitting a fresh intraday high.
The government has decided to set up a panel to look into financial reforms including rules on foreign portfolio investors, overseas borrowings and taxation of securities, the finance ministry said in a statement on Thursday
The initial public offer of Infinite Computer Solutions was subscribed 43.22 times. The issue ended on Wednesday, 13 January 2010. Foreign institutional investors put in bids for 11.63 crore shares as compared to 40.26 lakh shares reserved for the qualified institutional investors category as a whole. The strong response by foreign funds indicates that global liquidity remains ample.
On the macro front, the wholesale price index (WPI) rose 7.31% in December 2009 from a year earlier, sharply higher than previous month's annual rise of 4.78%, data released by the government today, 14 January 2010, showed. Food price index in WPI rose 19.17% in December 2009. Another data showed, the food price index was up 17.28% in the year to 2 January 2010. The fuel price index up 6.25% and the primary articles price index up 13.82% in the week to 2 January 2010
The government is taking a host of measures to tame inflation, Kaushik Basu, the chief economic adviser at the finance ministry said on Thursday.
In its October 2009 policy review, the Reserve Bank raised its WPI inflation projection for end-March 2010 to 6.5%, with an upside bias, from 5% earlier. The central bank is scheduled to review its policy on 29 January 2010, and signs of strengthening growth and a surge in headline inflation have the market factoring in tighter policy, including possible increases in interest rates.
Data early this week showed that industrial output grew at its fastest pace in two years in November 2009, rising 11.7%. The Indian economy is expected to grow by around 7.75% in the fiscal year to March 2010, but food price inflation is a major concern, Mukherjee said on Wednesday.
The head of the Asian Development Bank Haruhiko Kuroda warned it was too early for Asian countries to end stimulus policies started during the financial crisis and said he saw no big risk of price bubbles in China. Kuroda said on Thursday that policymakers still needed to restore demand and stabilise financial systems to support the economic recovery.
Closer home, the government may reportedly revert to pre-slowdown indirect tax rates in two phases beginning April 2010 as the government weighs likely harm to the ongoing economic recovery if a rollback is done at one go with the urgent need to move towards greater fiscal prudence. A suggestion to undertake a partial rollback figured in the first round of pre-Budget consultations between Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, finance minister Pranab Mukherjee and other policymakers recently. With the economy now on a firmer footing and industrial output growth strong, officials are looking to roll back the measures taken as part of the fiscal stimulus to shield the economy from the global recession. While those measures helped realise the primary goal, they pushed fiscal deficit to a 16-year high of 6.8% of the GDP.
The government has extended duty-free imports of white sugar by nine months to 31 December 2010 as it looks to cover a supply shortfall, but has adequate wheat and rice stocks, Farm Minister Sharad Pawar said on Wednesday.
Speaking after a cabinet panel reviewed food prices, Pawar said the federal government would allow millers outside Uttar Pradesh state to process raw sugar held up in ports after the Uttar Pradesh state government, under pressure from cane farmers, banned processing of the raws. The government is struggling to contain rising food prices, with food inflation hovering near 20% in December 2009. Duty-free imports of white sugar were earlier allowed up to 31 March 2010, while raw sugar shipments, without any import duty, are already allowed up to 31 December 2010. Pawar said states needed to take stern action against hoarding to help arrest rising food prices. He also said the country had more than adequate stocks of wheat and rice.
European shares advanced for a second straight session on Thursday, led higher by banks and miners, ahead of the European Central Bank's rate decision and more earnings results this week from US companies. The key benchmark indices in France, Germany and UK were up by between 0.27% to 0.32%.
Investors awaited a rate decision by the European Central Bank, which is set to start 2010 by flagging that interest rates will remain at a record low of 1% for some time, casting the bank's view on Greece's current debt troubles into the spotlight.
Asian stocks rose on Thursday, led by mining and finance companies, as a bigger-than-estimated increase in Australian jobs boosted confidence in the global economic recovery. The key benchmark indices in China, Indonesia, Japan, South Korea, Singapore and Taiwan rose by between 0.72% to 1.61%.But, Hong Kong's Hang Seng fell 0.15%.
Japanese wholesale prices fell 3.9% in the year to December, matching a median estimate from analysts, in a sign of persistent deflation due to weak domestic demand.
Trading in US index futures indicated Dow could fall 6 points at the opening bell on Thursday, 14 January 2010. Earlier in the day, US index futures were in green
US stocks closed higher on Wednesday. It was a fresh 15-month closing high for the Dow Jones Industrial Average which rose 53.51 points, or 0.50%, to 10,680.77. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index gained 9.46 points, or 0.83%, to 1,145.68. The Nasdaq Composite Index rose 25.59 points, or 1.12%, to 2,307.90.
In data released yesterday, the Federal Reserve said in its Beige Book regional business survey that the economy improved in 10 of the Fed's 12 districts last month, marking a broadening of the recovery. US economic activity remained at a low level as 2010 began but was improving modestly and beginning to broaden out to include wider swaths of the country, the Federal Reserve said on Wednesday. The US treasury department said the government racked up $ 91.85 billion budget deficit in December, a record for the month, marking a record 15th straight month of government red ink.
Two top Federal Reserve policy-makers said on Wednesday that the US central bank will need to be certain the economic recovery is firmly in place before tightening its monetary policy stance. New York Federal Reserve Bank President William Dudley and Chicago Federal Reserve Bank President Charles Evans said continued credit problems and a high rate of unemployment are constraints on the US economic recovery.
The Fed has slashed rates to near zero and pumped over $1 trillion into the financial system to prevent banking failures and pull the economy out of the worst recession in decades. It has pledged to keep rates ultra-low for a long time to nurture the recovery. Evans, who is not a voter on the Fed's policy-setting panel this year, also said policymakers would have to see convincing signs of healing in labor markets, where the jobless rate has been stuck at 10%, before tinkering with policy. Steps to withdraw the Fed's extraordinary support for the economy, including raising rates or withdrawing liquidity from the system, are unlikely "any time soon," Evans said.
The Fed's next policy meeting is on 26-27 January 2010, and it is not expected to make changes to rates or its promise to keep borrowing costs at rock-bottom levels for an extended period. The comments from Evans and Dudley, seen in the middle ground between the US central bank's anti-inflation hawks and pro-growth doves, suggest the central bank is in no rush to move toward raising interest rates.
Closer home, the BSE 30-share Sensex rose 75.07 points or 0.43% at 17,584.87. The barometer opened 15.91 points higher 17,525.71, which is also the day's low so far. At the day's high of 17,628.04, the Sensex rose 118.24 points in mid-afternoon trade.
The S&P CNX Nifty rose 25.95 points or 0.5% at 5259.90.
The BSE Mid-Cap index rose 0.86% and the BSE Small-Cap index rose 1.2%. Both the indices outperformed the Sensex.
Most sectoral indies on BSE rose. BSE Oil & Gas index (up 2.35%), BSE Consumer Durables index (up 1.65%), BSE Capital Goods index (up 0.76%), BSE Metal index (up 0.67%), BSE Power index (up 0.58%, BSE Healthcare index (up 0.56%), outperformed the Sensex. BSE Auto index (up 0.28%), BSE IT index (up 0.19%), banking sector index Bankex (down 0.07%), BSE Realty index (down 0.26%), and BSE FMCG index (down 0.5%), underperformex the Sensex.
The market breadth, indicating the overall health of the market was strong. On BSE, 1924 shares advanced compared with 979 that declined. A total of 67 shares remained unchanged.
Among the 30-member Sensex pack, 15 rose while rest fell.
BSE clocked a turnover of Rs 6184 crore, lower than Rs 6545.71 crore on Wednesday, 13 January 2010.
NTPC, India's largest utility by sales, rose 0.59% after company said on Thursday its follow-on public offer of 41.22 crore shares, or 5% in the company, will open on 3 February 2010 and close on 5 February 2010. The government holds an 89.5 % stake in NTPC.
Among other power stocks, Reliance Power, Power Grid Corporation of India and CESC rose by between 1.3% to 2.05%.
Index heavyweight Reliance Industries (RIL) rose 2.99%, extending last two days' gains. RIL early this week raised $763 million through a block sale of 3.3 crore shares. RIL raised $763 million through a block sale of 3.3 crore shares on Monday
Reliance, which is bidding for bankrupt LyondellBasell Industries, had previously sold treasury shares to state-owned insurer Life Insurance Corp of India raising $577 million. As per reports last week, Reliance had sweetened its offer to buy a controlling stake that valued LyondellBasell at $13.5 billion.
PSU OMCs rose on reports state-run oil marketing companies may get cash instead of oil bonds as compensation from the government for selling fuel at below market prices. HPCL and Indian Oil Corporation rose by between 0.52% to 1.29%. But BPCL fell 0.71%.
Capital goods stocks rose on expectation of better Q3 December results. Among capital goods stocks, Bharat Heavy Electricals, ABB, Thermax, SKF India and Crompton Greaves, rose by between 0.05% to 4.36%.
India's largest engineering & construction firm by sales Larsen & Toubro fell 0.37%. The company said recently it has received contracts worth Rs 2,325 crore for commercial and residential construction in Maharashtra, Gujarat, West Bengal and Chandigarh
FMCG stocks fell on profit taking. ITC, Dabur India, Tata Tea and Hindustan Unilever fell by between 0.06% to 2.86%.
Shares of software outsourcers reversed early losses, gaining for the third straight day on encouraging third quarter result from IT bellwether Infosys early this week. India's third largest software services exporter Wipro rose 3.61% on reports the company is likely to launch a sponsored ADR issue worth $1 billion. Its ADR rose 1.15% on Wednesday.
IT bellwether Infosys rose 0.11%. Infosys' ADR rose 1.58% on Wednesday. Infosys raised its full-year revenue and profit outlook after strong Q3 results and on improving trend for outsourcing orders. The company's consolidated net profit as per Indian accounting standards rose 2.72% to Rs 1582 crore on 2.8% rise in consolidated revenue to Rs 5741 crore in Q3 December 2009 over Q2 September 2009. The company announced result on Tuesday.
Infosys has raised earnings and revenue guidance for the year ending March 2010 (FY 2010) both in rupee and dollar terms. Infosys has forecast a 1.8% to 2% growth in consolidated dollar revenue for FY 2010 compared from a drop it had projected at the time of announcing Q2 September 2009 results. Infosys said FY 2010 consolidated revenue in dollar terms could rise to $4.75 billion to $4.76 billion, from $4.6 billion to $4.62 billion forecast earlier. The consolidated earnings per American depository share for the full year is seen rising 0.4% to $2.26, the company said in a statement.
But, India's largest software services exporter TCS fell 0.77% ahead of its Q3 December 2009 result on Friday, 15 January 2010.
Auto stocks fell on profit taking. India's top truck maker by sales Tata Motors fell 0.34%. Tata Motors has raised prices of some truck and bus models in January 2010 by about 1%. The company expects commercial vehicle sales to remain strong in the next 12 months. The company's chairman Ratan Tata said on 5 January 2010 that the company may consider launching its ultra-cheap Nano car in the United States in three years, following possible sales in Europe by the end of 2011.
Tata Motors registered 105% growth in sales to 51,627 units in December 2009 over December 2008.
Bajaj Auto fell 0.48%. Net profit surged 189.20% to Rs 507.29 crore on 57.9% spurt in net sales to Rs 3165.84 crore in Q3 December 2009 over Q3 December 2008. The company announced the result on after market hours on Tuesday.
TVS Motors fell 0.84%. Sales rose 34% to 119,701 units in December 2009 over December 2008.
India's largest car maker by sales Maruti Suzuki fell 0.81%, extending Wednesday's losses. The company is considering raising prices of its vehicles in about two weeks time, Commercial Business Head S.N. Burman said on Wednesday.
Maruti Suzuki India reported 50.6% increase in total vehicle sales to 84,804 units in December 2009 over December 2008. Domestic sales rose 36.5% to 71,000 units, while exports surged 223.7% to 13,804 units.
India's largest motorcycle maker by sales Hero Honda Motors fell 1.22% extending Wednesday's losses. Hero Honda will comfortably exceed its fiscal 2009/10 sales target of 40 lakh units, its managing director Pawan Munjal said to media on 7 January 2010. Sales jumped 74% to 375,838 units in December 2009 over December 2008.
But, India's largest tractor marker by sales Mahindra & Mahindra (M&M) rose 1.39%. M&M marked its entry into the heavy commercial vehicle (HCV) segment with its unveiling of 25 and 31 tonne trucks with its US-based joint venture partner Navistar Inc.
Mahindra & Mahindra, reported 122% rise in its domestic sales to 22,754 units in December 2009 over December 2008. The company sold a total of 24,001 vehicles (domestic plus exports) in December 2009 as against 11,172 vehicles sold in December 2008.
Metal stocks rose after LMEX, a gauge of six metals traded on the London Metal Exchange rose 0.78% on Wednesday, 13 January 2010. Hindalco Zinc, and Sterlite Industries rose by between 0.1% to 1.45%.
Steel shares rose on strong Q4 result by South Korean steel major POSCO's. POSCO posted a quarterly operating profit of 1.6 trillion won, meeting its own and analysts' forecasts, up from 1.4 trillion won a year earlier. JSW Steel and Bhushan Steel rose by between 0.2% to 3.64%.
Tata Steel, the world's eighth-largest steelmaker rose 1.12%, extending gains for the second straight day. The company said on 5 January 2010 sales from its Indian operations rose 73% in December 2009 to 636,000 tonnes from a year earlier. The Indian operations account for about a quarter of the group's total annual global capacity of 30 million tonnes, which includes unit Corus, Europe's second-largest steelmaker
Cement stocks rose on expectations of good Q3 December 2009 result. Cement major ACC rose 0.57% after the company's managing director Sumit Banerjee told the media that he expects cement prices to rise over the next few months. He did not indicate how much prices could increase.
UltraTech Cement and Birla Corporation rose by between 0.3% to 0.98%,.
India's largest mobile services provider by sales Bharti Airtel was flat at Rs 318.90 after reports suggested the company's purchase of 70% in Bangladesh's Warid Telecom was unlikely to add value in the near term.
But India's second largest mobile services provider by sales Reliance Communications rose 4.07%.
India's largest drug maker by sales Ranbaxy Laboratories was flat. As per recent reports the firm has started discussions to buy a privately-held Bangalore-based vaccine company in deal valued around Rs 50 crore.
Among other healthcare stocks, Sun Pharmaceutical Industries, Cipla, Biocon, Dr Reddy's Laboratories rose by between 0.05% to 0.54%.
Banking stocks fell, extending losses for the third straight day on fears the central bank may tighten monetary policy. India's largest private sector bank by net profit ICICI Bank fell 0.51% even as its ADR rose 1.74% on Wednesday. India's largest bank by net profit and branch network State Bank of India fell 0.99%. Non-performing loans (NPAs) in the small and medium enterprise sector (SME) are on the rise, chairman O.P Bhatt said on Monday. The state-run bank paid advance tax of Rs 1795 crore versus Rs 1700 crore.
Bank loans jumped by around Rs 80,000 crore in the fortnight to 1 January 2010, provisional data released by the Reserve Bank of India showed on Wednesday.
India's largest private sector bank by operating income HDFC Bank fell 0.3% to Rs 1,685.50, ahead of Q3 result on Friday 15 January 2010. Nevertheless, the stock came off the day's low of Rs 1,670. Analysts expect 30% growth in HDFC Bank's net profit at a little over Rs 800 crore in Q3 December 2009 over Q3 December 2008. A strong growth in consumer loans, especially auto loans, is seen driving growth at the private sector bank. HDFC bank had reported net profit of Rs 621.74 crore in Q3 December 2008.
Rate sensitive realty stocks fell on profit taking, extending losses for the third straight day. India's largest realty player by market capitalization DLF fell 1.06%. On 16 December 2009, the company's board approved merger of its commercial realty arm DLF Assets (DAL) with itself, a move aimed at repaying some of DAL's debt.
Among other realty stocks, Ackruti City, Unitech and Indiabulls Real Estate fell by between 0.35% to 1.15%.
Airline stocks rose on reports air traffic saw a whopping 33% increase with 44.8 lakh people flying within India in December 2009 against 33.7 lakh in December 2008. SpiceJet (up 4.48%), Kingfisher Airlines (up 4.61%), Jet Airways (up 0.38%), soared.
Cals Refineries clocked the highest volume of 3.03 crore shares on BSE. HFCL (2.44 crore shares), Mahindra Satyam (1.23 crore shares), GTL Infrastructure (1.23 crore shares) and Sanraa Media (0.89 crore shares) were the other turnover toppers in that order.
Reliance Industries clocked the highest turnover of Rs 215.01 crore on BSE. Mahindra Satyam (Rs 146.14 crore), State Bank of India (Rs 136.26 crore), Infosys (Rs 114.21 crore) and ICICI Bank (Rs 95.22 crore) were the other turnover toppers in that order.
The Sensex had jumped 87.29 points or 0.50% at 17,509.80 on Wednesday, 13 January 2010.
Back to today's trade and index heavyweight Reliance Industries (RIL) galloped. FMCG stocks fell. India's largest private sector bank by operating income HDFC Bank recovered from lower level ahead of Q3 result on Friday 15 January 2010. PSU OMCs rose on reports state-run oil marketing companies may get cash instead of oil bonds as compensation from the government for selling fuel at below market prices. The market breadth was strong.
The market pared gains after an initial surge triggered by firm Asian stocks. The market was further off the day's high in mid-morning trade. The market regained strength in early afternoon trade as the latest data on headline inflation came in line with market expectations. However, the intraday recovery proved short-lived. The market once again pared gains in afternoon trade. It cut losses later. The market surged in mid-afternoon trade. The market cut losses after hitting a fresh intraday high.
The government has decided to set up a panel to look into financial reforms including rules on foreign portfolio investors, overseas borrowings and taxation of securities, the finance ministry said in a statement on Thursday
The initial public offer of Infinite Computer Solutions was subscribed 43.22 times. The issue ended on Wednesday, 13 January 2010. Foreign institutional investors put in bids for 11.63 crore shares as compared to 40.26 lakh shares reserved for the qualified institutional investors category as a whole. The strong response by foreign funds indicates that global liquidity remains ample.
On the macro front, the wholesale price index (WPI) rose 7.31% in December 2009 from a year earlier, sharply higher than previous month's annual rise of 4.78%, data released by the government today, 14 January 2010, showed. Food price index in WPI rose 19.17% in December 2009. Another data showed, the food price index was up 17.28% in the year to 2 January 2010. The fuel price index up 6.25% and the primary articles price index up 13.82% in the week to 2 January 2010
The government is taking a host of measures to tame inflation, Kaushik Basu, the chief economic adviser at the finance ministry said on Thursday.
In its October 2009 policy review, the Reserve Bank raised its WPI inflation projection for end-March 2010 to 6.5%, with an upside bias, from 5% earlier. The central bank is scheduled to review its policy on 29 January 2010, and signs of strengthening growth and a surge in headline inflation have the market factoring in tighter policy, including possible increases in interest rates.
Data early this week showed that industrial output grew at its fastest pace in two years in November 2009, rising 11.7%. The Indian economy is expected to grow by around 7.75% in the fiscal year to March 2010, but food price inflation is a major concern, Mukherjee said on Wednesday.
The head of the Asian Development Bank Haruhiko Kuroda warned it was too early for Asian countries to end stimulus policies started during the financial crisis and said he saw no big risk of price bubbles in China. Kuroda said on Thursday that policymakers still needed to restore demand and stabilise financial systems to support the economic recovery.
Closer home, the government may reportedly revert to pre-slowdown indirect tax rates in two phases beginning April 2010 as the government weighs likely harm to the ongoing economic recovery if a rollback is done at one go with the urgent need to move towards greater fiscal prudence. A suggestion to undertake a partial rollback figured in the first round of pre-Budget consultations between Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, finance minister Pranab Mukherjee and other policymakers recently. With the economy now on a firmer footing and industrial output growth strong, officials are looking to roll back the measures taken as part of the fiscal stimulus to shield the economy from the global recession. While those measures helped realise the primary goal, they pushed fiscal deficit to a 16-year high of 6.8% of the GDP.
The government has extended duty-free imports of white sugar by nine months to 31 December 2010 as it looks to cover a supply shortfall, but has adequate wheat and rice stocks, Farm Minister Sharad Pawar said on Wednesday.
Speaking after a cabinet panel reviewed food prices, Pawar said the federal government would allow millers outside Uttar Pradesh state to process raw sugar held up in ports after the Uttar Pradesh state government, under pressure from cane farmers, banned processing of the raws. The government is struggling to contain rising food prices, with food inflation hovering near 20% in December 2009. Duty-free imports of white sugar were earlier allowed up to 31 March 2010, while raw sugar shipments, without any import duty, are already allowed up to 31 December 2010. Pawar said states needed to take stern action against hoarding to help arrest rising food prices. He also said the country had more than adequate stocks of wheat and rice.
European shares advanced for a second straight session on Thursday, led higher by banks and miners, ahead of the European Central Bank's rate decision and more earnings results this week from US companies. The key benchmark indices in France, Germany and UK were up by between 0.27% to 0.32%.
Investors awaited a rate decision by the European Central Bank, which is set to start 2010 by flagging that interest rates will remain at a record low of 1% for some time, casting the bank's view on Greece's current debt troubles into the spotlight.
Asian stocks rose on Thursday, led by mining and finance companies, as a bigger-than-estimated increase in Australian jobs boosted confidence in the global economic recovery. The key benchmark indices in China, Indonesia, Japan, South Korea, Singapore and Taiwan rose by between 0.72% to 1.61%.But, Hong Kong's Hang Seng fell 0.15%.
Japanese wholesale prices fell 3.9% in the year to December, matching a median estimate from analysts, in a sign of persistent deflation due to weak domestic demand.
Trading in US index futures indicated Dow could fall 6 points at the opening bell on Thursday, 14 January 2010. Earlier in the day, US index futures were in green
US stocks closed higher on Wednesday. It was a fresh 15-month closing high for the Dow Jones Industrial Average which rose 53.51 points, or 0.50%, to 10,680.77. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index gained 9.46 points, or 0.83%, to 1,145.68. The Nasdaq Composite Index rose 25.59 points, or 1.12%, to 2,307.90.
In data released yesterday, the Federal Reserve said in its Beige Book regional business survey that the economy improved in 10 of the Fed's 12 districts last month, marking a broadening of the recovery. US economic activity remained at a low level as 2010 began but was improving modestly and beginning to broaden out to include wider swaths of the country, the Federal Reserve said on Wednesday. The US treasury department said the government racked up $ 91.85 billion budget deficit in December, a record for the month, marking a record 15th straight month of government red ink.
Two top Federal Reserve policy-makers said on Wednesday that the US central bank will need to be certain the economic recovery is firmly in place before tightening its monetary policy stance. New York Federal Reserve Bank President William Dudley and Chicago Federal Reserve Bank President Charles Evans said continued credit problems and a high rate of unemployment are constraints on the US economic recovery.
The Fed has slashed rates to near zero and pumped over $1 trillion into the financial system to prevent banking failures and pull the economy out of the worst recession in decades. It has pledged to keep rates ultra-low for a long time to nurture the recovery. Evans, who is not a voter on the Fed's policy-setting panel this year, also said policymakers would have to see convincing signs of healing in labor markets, where the jobless rate has been stuck at 10%, before tinkering with policy. Steps to withdraw the Fed's extraordinary support for the economy, including raising rates or withdrawing liquidity from the system, are unlikely "any time soon," Evans said.
The Fed's next policy meeting is on 26-27 January 2010, and it is not expected to make changes to rates or its promise to keep borrowing costs at rock-bottom levels for an extended period. The comments from Evans and Dudley, seen in the middle ground between the US central bank's anti-inflation hawks and pro-growth doves, suggest the central bank is in no rush to move toward raising interest rates.
Closer home, the BSE 30-share Sensex rose 75.07 points or 0.43% at 17,584.87. The barometer opened 15.91 points higher 17,525.71, which is also the day's low so far. At the day's high of 17,628.04, the Sensex rose 118.24 points in mid-afternoon trade.
The S&P CNX Nifty rose 25.95 points or 0.5% at 5259.90.
The BSE Mid-Cap index rose 0.86% and the BSE Small-Cap index rose 1.2%. Both the indices outperformed the Sensex.
Most sectoral indies on BSE rose. BSE Oil & Gas index (up 2.35%), BSE Consumer Durables index (up 1.65%), BSE Capital Goods index (up 0.76%), BSE Metal index (up 0.67%), BSE Power index (up 0.58%, BSE Healthcare index (up 0.56%), outperformed the Sensex. BSE Auto index (up 0.28%), BSE IT index (up 0.19%), banking sector index Bankex (down 0.07%), BSE Realty index (down 0.26%), and BSE FMCG index (down 0.5%), underperformex the Sensex.
The market breadth, indicating the overall health of the market was strong. On BSE, 1924 shares advanced compared with 979 that declined. A total of 67 shares remained unchanged.
Among the 30-member Sensex pack, 15 rose while rest fell.
BSE clocked a turnover of Rs 6184 crore, lower than Rs 6545.71 crore on Wednesday, 13 January 2010.
NTPC, India's largest utility by sales, rose 0.59% after company said on Thursday its follow-on public offer of 41.22 crore shares, or 5% in the company, will open on 3 February 2010 and close on 5 February 2010. The government holds an 89.5 % stake in NTPC.
Among other power stocks, Reliance Power, Power Grid Corporation of India and CESC rose by between 1.3% to 2.05%.
Index heavyweight Reliance Industries (RIL) rose 2.99%, extending last two days' gains. RIL early this week raised $763 million through a block sale of 3.3 crore shares. RIL raised $763 million through a block sale of 3.3 crore shares on Monday
Reliance, which is bidding for bankrupt LyondellBasell Industries, had previously sold treasury shares to state-owned insurer Life Insurance Corp of India raising $577 million. As per reports last week, Reliance had sweetened its offer to buy a controlling stake that valued LyondellBasell at $13.5 billion.
PSU OMCs rose on reports state-run oil marketing companies may get cash instead of oil bonds as compensation from the government for selling fuel at below market prices. HPCL and Indian Oil Corporation rose by between 0.52% to 1.29%. But BPCL fell 0.71%.
Capital goods stocks rose on expectation of better Q3 December results. Among capital goods stocks, Bharat Heavy Electricals, ABB, Thermax, SKF India and Crompton Greaves, rose by between 0.05% to 4.36%.
India's largest engineering & construction firm by sales Larsen & Toubro fell 0.37%. The company said recently it has received contracts worth Rs 2,325 crore for commercial and residential construction in Maharashtra, Gujarat, West Bengal and Chandigarh
FMCG stocks fell on profit taking. ITC, Dabur India, Tata Tea and Hindustan Unilever fell by between 0.06% to 2.86%.
Shares of software outsourcers reversed early losses, gaining for the third straight day on encouraging third quarter result from IT bellwether Infosys early this week. India's third largest software services exporter Wipro rose 3.61% on reports the company is likely to launch a sponsored ADR issue worth $1 billion. Its ADR rose 1.15% on Wednesday.
IT bellwether Infosys rose 0.11%. Infosys' ADR rose 1.58% on Wednesday. Infosys raised its full-year revenue and profit outlook after strong Q3 results and on improving trend for outsourcing orders. The company's consolidated net profit as per Indian accounting standards rose 2.72% to Rs 1582 crore on 2.8% rise in consolidated revenue to Rs 5741 crore in Q3 December 2009 over Q2 September 2009. The company announced result on Tuesday.
Infosys has raised earnings and revenue guidance for the year ending March 2010 (FY 2010) both in rupee and dollar terms. Infosys has forecast a 1.8% to 2% growth in consolidated dollar revenue for FY 2010 compared from a drop it had projected at the time of announcing Q2 September 2009 results. Infosys said FY 2010 consolidated revenue in dollar terms could rise to $4.75 billion to $4.76 billion, from $4.6 billion to $4.62 billion forecast earlier. The consolidated earnings per American depository share for the full year is seen rising 0.4% to $2.26, the company said in a statement.
But, India's largest software services exporter TCS fell 0.77% ahead of its Q3 December 2009 result on Friday, 15 January 2010.
Auto stocks fell on profit taking. India's top truck maker by sales Tata Motors fell 0.34%. Tata Motors has raised prices of some truck and bus models in January 2010 by about 1%. The company expects commercial vehicle sales to remain strong in the next 12 months. The company's chairman Ratan Tata said on 5 January 2010 that the company may consider launching its ultra-cheap Nano car in the United States in three years, following possible sales in Europe by the end of 2011.
Tata Motors registered 105% growth in sales to 51,627 units in December 2009 over December 2008.
Bajaj Auto fell 0.48%. Net profit surged 189.20% to Rs 507.29 crore on 57.9% spurt in net sales to Rs 3165.84 crore in Q3 December 2009 over Q3 December 2008. The company announced the result on after market hours on Tuesday.
TVS Motors fell 0.84%. Sales rose 34% to 119,701 units in December 2009 over December 2008.
India's largest car maker by sales Maruti Suzuki fell 0.81%, extending Wednesday's losses. The company is considering raising prices of its vehicles in about two weeks time, Commercial Business Head S.N. Burman said on Wednesday.
Maruti Suzuki India reported 50.6% increase in total vehicle sales to 84,804 units in December 2009 over December 2008. Domestic sales rose 36.5% to 71,000 units, while exports surged 223.7% to 13,804 units.
India's largest motorcycle maker by sales Hero Honda Motors fell 1.22% extending Wednesday's losses. Hero Honda will comfortably exceed its fiscal 2009/10 sales target of 40 lakh units, its managing director Pawan Munjal said to media on 7 January 2010. Sales jumped 74% to 375,838 units in December 2009 over December 2008.
But, India's largest tractor marker by sales Mahindra & Mahindra (M&M) rose 1.39%. M&M marked its entry into the heavy commercial vehicle (HCV) segment with its unveiling of 25 and 31 tonne trucks with its US-based joint venture partner Navistar Inc.
Mahindra & Mahindra, reported 122% rise in its domestic sales to 22,754 units in December 2009 over December 2008. The company sold a total of 24,001 vehicles (domestic plus exports) in December 2009 as against 11,172 vehicles sold in December 2008.
Metal stocks rose after LMEX, a gauge of six metals traded on the London Metal Exchange rose 0.78% on Wednesday, 13 January 2010. Hindalco Zinc, and Sterlite Industries rose by between 0.1% to 1.45%.
Steel shares rose on strong Q4 result by South Korean steel major POSCO's. POSCO posted a quarterly operating profit of 1.6 trillion won, meeting its own and analysts' forecasts, up from 1.4 trillion won a year earlier. JSW Steel and Bhushan Steel rose by between 0.2% to 3.64%.
Tata Steel, the world's eighth-largest steelmaker rose 1.12%, extending gains for the second straight day. The company said on 5 January 2010 sales from its Indian operations rose 73% in December 2009 to 636,000 tonnes from a year earlier. The Indian operations account for about a quarter of the group's total annual global capacity of 30 million tonnes, which includes unit Corus, Europe's second-largest steelmaker
Cement stocks rose on expectations of good Q3 December 2009 result. Cement major ACC rose 0.57% after the company's managing director Sumit Banerjee told the media that he expects cement prices to rise over the next few months. He did not indicate how much prices could increase.
UltraTech Cement and Birla Corporation rose by between 0.3% to 0.98%,.
India's largest mobile services provider by sales Bharti Airtel was flat at Rs 318.90 after reports suggested the company's purchase of 70% in Bangladesh's Warid Telecom was unlikely to add value in the near term.
But India's second largest mobile services provider by sales Reliance Communications rose 4.07%.
India's largest drug maker by sales Ranbaxy Laboratories was flat. As per recent reports the firm has started discussions to buy a privately-held Bangalore-based vaccine company in deal valued around Rs 50 crore.
Among other healthcare stocks, Sun Pharmaceutical Industries, Cipla, Biocon, Dr Reddy's Laboratories rose by between 0.05% to 0.54%.
Banking stocks fell, extending losses for the third straight day on fears the central bank may tighten monetary policy. India's largest private sector bank by net profit ICICI Bank fell 0.51% even as its ADR rose 1.74% on Wednesday. India's largest bank by net profit and branch network State Bank of India fell 0.99%. Non-performing loans (NPAs) in the small and medium enterprise sector (SME) are on the rise, chairman O.P Bhatt said on Monday. The state-run bank paid advance tax of Rs 1795 crore versus Rs 1700 crore.
Bank loans jumped by around Rs 80,000 crore in the fortnight to 1 January 2010, provisional data released by the Reserve Bank of India showed on Wednesday.
India's largest private sector bank by operating income HDFC Bank fell 0.3% to Rs 1,685.50, ahead of Q3 result on Friday 15 January 2010. Nevertheless, the stock came off the day's low of Rs 1,670. Analysts expect 30% growth in HDFC Bank's net profit at a little over Rs 800 crore in Q3 December 2009 over Q3 December 2008. A strong growth in consumer loans, especially auto loans, is seen driving growth at the private sector bank. HDFC bank had reported net profit of Rs 621.74 crore in Q3 December 2008.
Rate sensitive realty stocks fell on profit taking, extending losses for the third straight day. India's largest realty player by market capitalization DLF fell 1.06%. On 16 December 2009, the company's board approved merger of its commercial realty arm DLF Assets (DAL) with itself, a move aimed at repaying some of DAL's debt.
Among other realty stocks, Ackruti City, Unitech and Indiabulls Real Estate fell by between 0.35% to 1.15%.
Airline stocks rose on reports air traffic saw a whopping 33% increase with 44.8 lakh people flying within India in December 2009 against 33.7 lakh in December 2008. SpiceJet (up 4.48%), Kingfisher Airlines (up 4.61%), Jet Airways (up 0.38%), soared.
Cals Refineries clocked the highest volume of 3.03 crore shares on BSE. HFCL (2.44 crore shares), Mahindra Satyam (1.23 crore shares), GTL Infrastructure (1.23 crore shares) and Sanraa Media (0.89 crore shares) were the other turnover toppers in that order.
Reliance Industries clocked the highest turnover of Rs 215.01 crore on BSE. Mahindra Satyam (Rs 146.14 crore), State Bank of India (Rs 136.26 crore), Infosys (Rs 114.21 crore) and ICICI Bank (Rs 95.22 crore) were the other turnover toppers in that order.
