Nifty near 1-year high, Sensex up 100 pts; rupee at 2-week high
11:55 am CLSA on Midcap IT:
Indian midcap IT firms have generally seen growth slowdown along with steady margin erosion over the last 3-4 years, CLSA says.
Analysis of the December 2016 results indicates they continue to under-grow global digital pure-plays sharply and have significant variance in performance. Persistent, Hexaware and L&T IT lead on growth while eClerx, Mphasis and KPIT lag, it feels.
Per unit productivity and EBIT have been better at L&T IT and L&T TS, whereas it has improved the most at Persistent. Most IT midcaps now trade 1SD below 2Y averages but the discount to larger peers has halved.
11:34 am Buzzing: Share price of Asian Oilfield Services touched 52-week high of Rs 181, rising 10 percent intraday as it subsidiary company received a contract worth USD 95 million.
“The company’s wholly owned subsidiary Asian Oilfield & Energy Services DMCC, Dubai has signed a contract for providing operations and maintenance services (O&M) for an offshore production unit operating at EBOK field offshore Nigeria,” as per company release.
“The total value of contract is about USD 95 million for a total period of 5 years,” it added.
11:20 am IMF on Indian economy: The Indian economy is growing strongly and remains a bright spot in the global landscape despite temporary setback due to demonetisation, a senior IMF official has said.
In its annual country report on India, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) yesterday said growth is expected at 6.6 percent in this fiscal year and at 7.2 percent in the following year.
“The Indian economy is growing strongly and remains a bright spot in the global landscape,” the IMF mission chief for India, Paul Cashin said.
Cashin said the halving of global oil prices that began in late 2014 boosted economic activity in India, further improved the external current account and fiscal positions, and helped lower inflation.
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11:00 am Market Check
Benchmark indices remained higher amid volatility and are heading for fifth consecutive week of gains, aided by technology and telecom stocks. However, profit booking in Reliance Industries, ICICI Bank and Axis Bank limited gains.
The 30-share BSE Sensex was up 96.51 points at 28961.22 and the 50-share NSE Nifty rose 31.45 points to 8958.35. The broader markets also gained momentum, with the BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices rising 0.4 percent each.
The market breadth was also positive as about 1224 shares advanced against 1041 declining shares on the BSE.
The rupee is trading at two-week high, up 0.2 percent at 66.83 against the US dollar. The dollar drifted as impact from the Federal Reserve’s policy meeting minutes and supportive comments from a top US official faded.
Bharti Airtel retained its top position in buying list among Sensex stocks, up nearly 5 percent after acquiring Telenor India. Idea Cellular shares rallied 6 percent after a media report indicated that the stake in proposed merged entity is likely to be bought by Japanese fund SoftBank.
