After opening firm, the Indian indices are trading flat in the morning session. The buying interest is highest software stocks. The selling pressure is highest in metal stocks.
The BSE Sensex is trading down 20 points and the NSE Nifty is trading down 6 points. The BSE Mid Cap index is trading up 0.1% and the BSE Small Cap index is trading up 0.2%. The rupee is trading at 60.71 to the US dollar.
Most software stocks are trading higher today. HCL Tech and Wipro are among the stocks leading the gainers. India's fourth largest software firm, HCL Tech, has tied up with a UK government firm, Student Loan Company (SLC), to develop its lending and payment services. HCL Tech will execute this project with two partners, Deloitte and Misys. As per this deal, HCL Tech will execute the Systems Integration (SI) part of the contract, whereby it will replace the core IT infrastructure of SLC. Deloitte will be the implementation partner while Misys will provide the core banking suite. The financial details of the contract were not disclosed by the company. HCL Tech is trading up 1.2% today.
PSU stocks are trading mixed today. While Engineers India is leading the gainers; Steel Authority of India Ltd. (SAIL) is leading the losses. In a bid to boost its disinvestment program at the end of the financial year, the government of India, is about to launch an Exchange Traded Fund (ETF), comprising of stocks of public sector enterprises. The ETF will be called CPSE and will trade on the bourses like any other share. It will have a corpus of Rs 30 bn and will be used to sell stakes in PSUs. Initially, 10 PSUs will be part of CPSE. The companies are: GAIL, REC, Oil India, Container Corporation of India, Power Finance Corporation, Engineers India, Bharat Electronics, ONGC, IOC and BHEL. The government has filed the Draft Red Herring Prospectus (DRHP) with SEBI for the launch of the ETF.
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