India : Sensex falls over 100 pts; YES Bank dives 6%, TCS gains 1%

YES Bank is down 5 percent while BHEL and Hero MotoCorp are laggards in the Sensex. Among gainers are Bajaj Auto, ONGC, Cipla, M&M and TCS.

The Indian rupee fell in early trade Friday for the second consecutive session on recovery in US dollar. The currency has opened at 66.57 per dollar, down 16 paise compared with previous day’s closing value of 66.41 a dollar. Emerging markets have reacted positively and spot USD-INR was thus able to break below Rs 66.80/USD.

Meanwhile, the US dollar rose against the yen, spurred by a jump in oil prices that put upward pressure on US. Inflation expectations and pushed traders to increase their outlook on a rate hike from the Federal Reserve. The euro rose to a two-week high after the European Central Bank downplayed the need for more economic stimulus.

Indian state-owned oil and natural gas company Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited (HPCL) is looking to strengthen its retail and refining infrastructure as it believes that business expansion will help the company improve its margins by USD 2-3 billion.In an interview with CNBC-TV18, MK Surana, CMD of HPCL said that it will bring in better operational efficiency to improve its gross refining margins (GRMs) going ahead and will maintain GRMs if there is an upward stability in crude.On the capex front he said that the company has earmarked Rs 20,900 crore for its Visakhapatnam refinery expansion and plans to add another 500 outlets this year.

The Index of Industrial Production (IIP) for July is expected at around 1.37 percent compared to 2.1 percent for the earlier month as per a CNBC-TV18 poll. Core sector, which is 38 percent of IIP slowed in the month of July to 3.2 percent versus 5.2 percent in June. Core sector saw a slowdown in coal, fertilizer, steel, cement, electricity. Meanwhile, the Consumer Price Index (CPI) for August, 2016 is expected to come in at 5.3 percent versus 6.07 percent reported in the earlier month. It is estimated to come in range of 5 to 5.3 percent.

ICICI Prudential Life Insurance Company initial public offer (IPO) will open for subscription on September 19 and close on September 21. The first IPO by an insurer in India and biggest in nearly six years has fixed its price band of the issue at Rs 300-334 per share. The insurance company from ICICI stable is aiming to raise Rs 5000 crore through an initial public offering.

The insurer is a joint venture between banking major ICICI Bank and UK’s Prudential Corporation Holdings. ICICI Bank has around 68 percent stake in the company, while Prudential holds 26 percent. The public offer comprises up to 18,13,41,058 equity shares of ICICI Prudential Life Insurance Company, representing about 12.65 per cent of its equity share capital for cash, through an offer for sale by ICICI Bank, as per the draft papers.