India : Sensex reclaims 28000, TCS falls 1pct post Q1 nos

The market has opened on a earnings heavy day. The Sensex is up 5.85 points at 27947.96, and the Nifty is up 0.45 points at 8565.45. About 309 shares have advanced, 84 shares declined, and 26 shares are unchanged.

ITC, M&M, Hero Moto, Adani Ports and Cipla are top gainers while NTPC, HDFC, Tata Motors and Axis Bank are losers. TCS lost 2 percent post its Q1 earnings.

The Indian rupee opened marginally higher at 66.88 per dollar on Friday versus previous close of 66.91. The pound maintained gains after the Bank Of England unexpectedly held interest rates.

Bhaskar Panda of HDFC Bank said, “In the last few trading sessions, the USD-INR pair has moved down keeping with the trend in Asia.”

Shares of Titan Company rose 5 percent intraday as it is going to acquire 61 percent stake in Carat Lane Trading.

The company has signed a share purchase agreement to acquire 61 percent in Carat Lane Trading for a cash consideration of Rs 357.24 crore. The said acquisition is expected to be completed within 14 business days subject to completion of pre-closing conditions. The company is going to acquire 1,91,42,545 equity shares representing approximately 62 percent of Carat Lane share capital.

IT major Infosys’ first quarter (April-June) profit is likely to fall 4.2 percent sequentially to Rs 3,447 crore due to weak operational performance while revenue growth may be continued, similar to same quarter last year. Earnings will be announced on July 15. Revenue in Q1 is expected to grow 3.25 percent to Rs 17,089 crore and dollar revenue may increase 4.1 percent to USD 2,547 million compared with preceding quarter, according to average of estimates of analysts polled by CNBC-TV18. Overall, it is expected to be a good quarter for the company. Dollar revenue growth is likely to be supported by currency tailwinds of 50-60 basis points, hence constant currency growth may be around 3.5 percent for the quarter.

Asian shares rose to eight-month highs on Friday, on track for solid weekly gains, as record highs on Wall Street offset the impact on sentiment of an attack in France that lifted the safe-haven yen.

An attacker killed at least 73 people and injured scores when he drove a truck at high speed into a crowd watching Bastille Day fireworks in the French Riviera city of Nice late on Thursday.

US equities closed at new record levels after the Bank of England hinted at looser monetary policy next month and as earnings season kicked into full gear. The Dow Jones industrial average closed at an all-time high for the third consecutive day, ending the day up 134.2 points, with Goldman Sachs, IBM and Apple contributing the most gains. Earlier, the blue-chips index rose more than 160 points.

The S&P 500 had its fourth consecutive record close, ending half a percent higher, led by financials. The Nasdaq composite had its sixth positive day of gains in seven, closing half a percent higher as Apple shares gained more than 2 percent.

The pound maintained gains after the Bank of England unexpectedly held interest rates. Crude prices declined on weak US demand, Brent crude is below USD 46 per barrel. Gold prices slipped to two-week low.