Indian stock markets indices continued to trade flat over the last two hours of trade. IT and metal stocks witnessed maximum selling pressure while Oil and gas and Realty stocks witnessed maximum buying interest.
The BSE-Sensex is up by 6 points, while the NSE-Nifty is down 8 points. BSE Mid cap index and the BSE Small cap index are down by 0.56% and 0.43% respectively. The rupee is trading at 50.67 to the US dollar.
Barring Infoedge, Software stocks have mainly been trading in the red led by Tech Mahindra and HCL Infosys. Tata Consultancy Services Ltd (TCS) has announced the third quarter results of financial year 2011-2012 (3QFY12). The company has reported a 13.5% quarter-on-quarter (QoQ) growth in its sales on account of depreciation in rupee and over 3% growth in volumes. The operating margins for the quarter expanded by 2.1% QoQ to 29.2% due to lower cost of sales. On account of better operating margins and lower effective tax rate, bottomline was up 18.4% QoQ. The company has proposed an interim dividend of Rs 3 per share. For the first nine months, the total interim dividend stands at Rs 9 per share.
All the aviation stocks have gained over 6% with the biggest gainer Jet Airways trading up by 8%. As per a leading financial daily, the Government has reached a consensus on permitting foreign airlines to invest upto 49% in domestic airlines and a cabinet note is expected to be moved soon to that effect. Presently, foreign companies cannot invest in Indian airlines either directly or indirectly. The opening of FDI is likely to provide relief to the aviation sector which is reeling under debt pile-up and is cash-strapped.
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