India : Nifty hits 8550, Sensex firm; Wipro tanks 5%, Reliance up 1%

MUMBAI : After a slow opening, the market has quickly picked pace on Wednesday. The Sensex is up 86.99 points or 0.3 percent at 27874.61 and the Nifty is up 22.60 points or 0.3 at 8551.15. About 507 shares have advanced, 233 shares declined, and 35 shares are unchanged.

Reliance, GAIL, M&M, Coal India and Cipla are top gainers in the Sensex while Wipro is down 5 percent. Other losers in the Sensex are ICICI Bank, Infosys, ONGC and Axis Bank.

The Indian rupee opened lower by 5 paise at 67.15 per dollar versus previous close of 67.10. The dollar at four-month high against a basket of major currencies after data showed US housing starts rose more than expected in June, underpinning a theme of strength in the US economy.

NS Venkatesh, ED of Lakshmi Vilas Bank said, “The rupee closed at 67.11/dollar levels supported by custodial banks supplying dollars in the markets. Though gains were limited by dollar demand from importers.”

Department of Telecom has started issuing demand notices to six telecom firms including Bharti Airtel, Reliance Communication and Vodafone, who the CAG had alleged to have under-reported revenues to the tune of Rs 46,000 crore between 2006 and 2010.

The demand notices that have been sent out pertain to Delhi telecom circle, sources said, adding that this will be followed up by similar notices for other circles over the next fortnight.

The notices have given out for one circle for one year for each operator, sources added.

The six service providers who came under the spotlight following CAG report included Bharti Airtel, Vodafone, Aircel, Reliance Communications, Tata Tele and Idea.

Shares of 63 Moons Technologies (formerly known as Financial Technologies India (FTIL)) tumbled 18 percent intraday Wednesday as Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of Mumbai police attached assets of the company in connection with the Rs 5,600 crore National Spot Exchange (NSEL) scam. Its founder Jignesh Shah was arrested a week ago in a money laundering case.

The EOW of Mumbai police attached assets of FTIL, under the Maharashtra Protection of Interest of Depositors Act (MPID) Act. All the offices of FTIL will be taken over by EOW. Over and above physical real estate assets, they have also attached liquid assets as well as bank accounts of FTIL worth about Rs 2200 crore.

Jignesh Shah-led Financial Technologies (India) (FTIL) was incorporated as company in April 1988.

Advanced Enzyme Technologies initial public offering (IPO) has opened for subscription on July 20. Price band has been fixed at Rs 880-Rs 896 per equity share to raise over Rs 411 crore through its issue. The IPO comprises fresh issue of equity shares worth Rs 50 crore and an offer for sale (OFS) for up to 4,034,470 scrips by promoter group shareholders, along with Kotak Employees Investment Trust, Kotak India Venture Fund I and Kotak India Venture (Offshore) Fund. It has already garnered around Rs 123 crore from as many as 15 anchor investors. Little over 13.71 lakh shares were allotted to the anchor investors at Rs 896 apiece, the upper end of the price band for the Rs 411 crore IPO.
Among global peers, Asia markets opened mostly lower on Wednesday, following a mixed finish in the US as investors digested second-quarter earnings. In Japan, the benchmark Nikkei 225 was down 0.85 percent, after finishing the Tuesday session at a six-week high. Across the Korean Strait, the Kospi was off by 0.54 percent.

Australia’s ASX 200 traded flat at 5,452.80, with the materials sub-index lagging, down 1.48 percent. Miners remain in focus on the broader index as they release production reports.

The S&P 500 pulled back from record highs on Tuesday, while the Dow industrials edged up for an eighth straight day of gains, as investors digested mixed earnings reports amid lowered expectations for global economic growth.

In other asset classes, the dollar is at four-month high against a basket of major currencies after data showed US housing starts rose more than expected in June, underpinning a theme of strength in the US economy. Crude prices fall overnight as a rallying dollar and a global fuel glut offset forecasts for lower US crude stockpiles.
Gold continues to trade flat around USD 1330 an ounce.