Sensex, Nifty open flat with positive bias; Infosys gains

9:56 am FII View:Neelkanth Mishra of Credit Suisse says cut to FY18 EPS were moderate, except in telecom, PSU banks, cement and discretionaries.

But FY18 expectations continue to be elevated as clarity emerges on the lasting implications of demonetisation and the timing and impact of the GST, he expects further cuts.

Mishra expects these in banking, cement, consumer discretionaries, and staples. He continues to believe that when the pace of cuts starts to outpace the roll-forward pace that the market starts to worry – this point may also be reached.

9:40 am Macquarie on TCS: While retaining its neutral call on the stock with a target price at Rs 2,408, Macquarie says investors could press for increase in payout ratio and expects FY18 EPS to rise over 1 percent but that may partly offset by lower other income.

According to Macquarie, clarity on client budgets is a key catalyst for the stock. It expects CY17 to be dominated by return of capital to shareholders and visa reform in US. Its pecking order in large cap IT players is HCL Technologies, Infosys, TCS, Tech Mahindra and Wipro.

9:28 am Buzzing: Shares of Siemens gained nearly 2 percent intraday as it has won an order worth Rs 287 crore.

The company with Siemens Rail Automation S.A.U Spain have jointly won an order worth Rs 287 crore, out of which Siemens’ share is Rs 146 crore.

“The company is going to supply state-of-the-art signalling technology for the first two metro lines of the Nagpur Metro i.e. the North-South and the East-West Corridors,” as per company release.

“The project comprises the deployment and installation of the Siemens communications-based train control (CBTC) solution Trainguard MT for 38.2 kilometers of double track with 36 stations and two depots, as well as onboard equipment for 23 three-cars trains,” it added.

Also read – Bull’s Eye: Buy Wockhardt, HCC, Jet, Siemens, PNB, REC, JSPL

9:15 am Market Check

Equity benchmarks opened flat with a positive bias on Tuesday, with the Nifty inching towards 8900 level, led by technology, healthcare and metals stocks.

The 30-share BSE Sensex was up 34.26 points at 28695.84 and the 50-share NSE Nifty rose 13.05 points to 8892.25.

Infosys gained 1 percent on hopes of share buyback. Reliance Industries, Axis Bank, ONGC and Sun Pharma were other gainers while HDFC Bank fell 0.6 percent on profit booking.

Bharti Airtel, ITC, Maruti, Cipla and GAIL were other losers.

Ambuja Cements fell 2 percent after fourth quarter earnings. Profit grew by 59.9 percent on low base in year-ago period.

Markets in Asia traded mostly higher, as traders searched for direction following a public holiday in the US on Monday.

In Japan, the Nikkei 225 added 0.65 percent, while across the Korean Strait, the Kospi was up 1.06 percent.