Banking stocks keep markets subdued

Mon, 6 Jan 11:30 am

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After opening weak, the Indian Indices are trading below the dotted line in the morning session amid outperformance among small cap stocks. The selling pressure is the highest in banking and software stocks.

The BSE Sensex is trading down 40 points and the NSE-Nifty is trading down 15 points. The BSE Mid Cap index is trading up 0.2% and the BSE Small Cap index is trading up 1%. The rupee is trading at 62.33 to the US dollar.

Software stocks are trading lower today. Tech Mahindra and HCL Technologies are among the stocks leading the losses. Software products firm Persistent systems, has announced an investment in an imaging and diagnostics technology firm, DxNow. Persistent has made the investment via its venture capital fund, Persistent Venture Fund. DxNow is a privately held company in the US specializing in next generation IT technologies like social media, mobility, analytics and cloud computing (SMAC). DxNow uses mobility and cloud computing to help ensure timely, accurate and effective monitoring and diagnosis of patients suffering from a wide range of diseases. Its solutions are also expected to reduce costs of and complications during treatment. The financial details of the investment were not disclosed by the company. The life sciences vertical is the smallest but fastest growing vertical for persistent systems. It contributed 13.2% of revenues in 2QFY14 and recorded a growth of 56.6% on a quarter-on-quarter (QoQ) basis. Persistent is trading up 1% today.

Food stocks are trading mixed today. While Nestle and VST Industries are leading the gainers; Britannia and Agro tech Foods are trading in the red. Continuing its diversification strategy, ITC is looking to expand its lifestyle and retail business. Its lifestyle division which is known for brands like Wills Lifestyle and John Players is in the process of looking for a full service digital agency. The selected agency will be required to handle the complete digital marketing and social media portfolios of both brands. The company is also planning to launch the e-commerce platforms for both brands. A selection process is currently underway at the company's headquarters, in Manesar to finalize the agency. According to the company, the lifestyle brands have now reached a stage where they need to be aggressively marketed. This will depend heavily on digital content as well as the proposed e-commerce platform. Both brands have so far been marketed through newspapers and magazines but now ITC is looking at digital media to increase their visibility. ITC is trading up by 0.3% today.