Benchmarks cheer Infosys results; Nifty 6050 mark

Benchmarks after hitting an intraday low, edged higher in late morning trade after the information technology (IT) major revised its FY14 revenue guidance to 9-10% from 6-10% in dollar terms. Meanwhile, Infosys, on the consolidated basis, registered a growth of 1.60% in net profit at Rs 2407 crore as compared to Rs 2369 crore in the same quarter previous year. Total income of the company rose 27.56% to Rs 13475 crore for quarter under review as against Rs 10564 crore in corresponding quarter previous year. Sentiment got some support as the rupee edges up to 61.23/24 versus its close of 61.39/40 on Thursday, tracking gains in regional currencies and the domestic share market.

On the global front, Asian markets too were trading in fine fettle with Japanese Nikkei surging around one and a half percent as yen slide against the dollar. Some support also came in after the index measuring corporate service prices in Japan was up 0.3 percent at 102.7 in September, compared to the previous month. Back home, traders were buying, IT, TECk and Realty while selling was seen in Metal, Consumer Durables and FMCG on the BSE. The market breadth on BSE remains positive with advances to declines in the ratio of 1131: 565. BSE Sensex and NSE Nifty were comfortably trading near their psychological 20,000 and 6,050 levels respectively. 

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 20491.97, up by 219.06 points or 1.08% after trading in a range of 20559.69 and 20368.06. There were 19 stocks advancing against 11 declines on the index. The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.70% and Small cap index gained 0.76%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were, IT up by 3.55%, TECk up by 2.97%, Realty up by 2.51%, Capital Goods up by 1.47% and Bankex up by 1.45%, while Metal down by 0.41%,Consumer Durables down by 0.30%, FMCG down by 0.29% and Power down by 0.08% were the top losers on the sectoral index.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Infosys up by 5.13%, Wipro up by 2.94%, ICICI Bank up by 2.78%, TCS up by 2.23%, and L&T up by 2.09%. On the flip side, SSLT was down by 1.26%, Hindalco  was down by1.15%, Tata Power  was down by 0.77%, Sun Pharma down by 0.54%  and ITC was down by 0.53% were the top losers on the Sensex

Meanwhile, Amid rising concerns over the prevailing economic slowdown, industry body Ficci has cut Indian economic growth forecast to 5 percent for the current fiscal from 6 percent projected earlier. Indicating tough times ahead for Indian economy, Ficci’s survey indicated that rupee depreciation coupled with rising inflation could adversely affect the economy’s growth in the current fiscal. 

The survey expects that the domestic currency will hover in the range of 62-65 per US dollar in the near future on account of declining foreign capital inflows. On inflation front, Ficci’s survey noted that inflation risks have resurfaced and country’s headline inflation rate expected to be around 6 per cent by March 2014 as rupee volatility continues to put pressure on prices. On the external front, the survey indicated that current account deficit (CAD) is likely to witness an improvement in the second half of the fiscal and CAD to GDP ratio is expected at 4.5 percent for Q3 FY14 and at 4 percent for the year 2013-14. Further, Ficci said that in order to control widening CAD, there is a need to look at both export and import side of the trade equation and government should provide new and stable financial products like Inflation Indexed Bonds (IIBs), Gold Accumulation Plan (GAP), Gold ETFs for the households to shift their savings away from gold. Indian CAD widened to record high of 4.9 percent of GDP in Q1FY14 owing to the high gold imports and crude oil prices.

Referring to economic growth recovery, Ficci’s survey said that although some positive developments like strong agricultural production on the back of good monsoons, improvement in exports and clearances to infrastructure projects make the case for economic recovery a little stronger, but it will take more time to witness firm signs of turnaround. With regard to performance of the industrial sector, survey further revealed that Indian Industrial Production (IIP) to grow by 1.7 percent in current fiscal, which is half the 3.5 percent growth that was projected in the previous round of the survey held in July 2013. Presently, Indian economy is struggling with slowdown and its growth has slowed down to four year low at 4.4 percent in April-June quarter, 2013.  

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 6,083.60 up by 62.65 points or 1.04% after trading in a range of 6,107.60 and 6,046.40. There were 35 stocks advancing against 15 declines on the index.

The top gainers of the Nifty were Infosys up by 5.10%, Ranbaxy up by 4.65%, HCL Tech up by 3.78%, Wipro up by 2.96% and DLF up by 2.94%. On the flip side, SSLT down by 1.58%, Hindalco down by 1.45%, Grasim down by 0.80% , ITC down by 0.65%, and NTPC down by 0.61% were the major losers on the index.

All Asian markets were trading in green ; Shanghai Composite rose 19.39 points or 0.88% to 2,210.32, Hang Seng soared 287.76 points or 1.25% to 23,239.06, Jakarta Composite gained 28.83 points or 0.64% to 4,515.50, KLSE Composite strengthened 10.10 points or 0.57% to 1,786.02, Nikkei 225 surged 211.34 points or 1.49% to 14,406.05, Straits Times increased 17.77 points or 0.56% to 3,187.68, Seoul Composite added 23.55 points or 1.18% to 2,024.95 and Taiwan Weighted was up by 35.18 points or 0.42% to 8,379.91.