Weak end to the week

Fri, 24 Jul Closing

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The Indian equity markets traded below the dotted line throughout the day today. The pressure increased towards the end as the markets moved deeper into the red during the final hour of trade. The BSE Sensex today closed lower by 245 points, while the NSE-Nifty closed lower by 65 points. The BSE Midcap and the BSE Smallcap indices were not spared either, losing 0.6% each. Losses were largely seen in capital goods, realty and metal stocks.

With regards to international markets, Asian markets finished broadly lower today with shares in China being the weakest. The Shanghai Composite is down 1.29% while Hong Kong's Hang Seng is off 1.06% and Japan's Nikkei 225 is lower by 0.67%. On the other hand, European stocks surged in early trade. The rupee dropped 20 paise to trade at 63.78 against the US$ in late afternoon trade.

According to a leading financial daily, Yes Bank, India's 5th largest private sector bank, has entered into a strategic partnership with TAISYS Technologies aimed at redefining delivery of financial services to all Indian citizens. The solution 'Yes Payments' will enable any user owning any type of mobile phone with any telco, to make mobile payments from anywhere, anytime without internet connectivity, in a completely secure manner. The two partners will work together on a platform to issue ultra-thin mobile payments wafer SIM - worldwide patented technology from TAISYS. This collaboration allows mobile phone users to enjoy secured fund transfer, wallet transfer, merchant payment, VAS payments across the entire segment of mobile devices including feature phones.

Stocks from the information technology space ended the trading day with moderate losses led by HCL Technologies and Mphasis. Shares of Tech Mahindra surged and ended the day on a positive note (up by 2.15%) after it was reported that the company has chosen its partners for Intelligent Electric Vehicle Charging Systems (IEVCS) project along with Ontario based local distribution company, Niagara-on-the-lake Hydro. Partners for this project include San Diego Gas & Electric (SDG&E), SAP Canada and Nissan Canada. This project is sponsored by the Ministry of Energy and funded in part through the Ontario Grid Fund Initiative. Reportedly, the company will focus on the development of an integrated hardware-software solution that allows utilities to gather data on both EV charging patterns and local transformer performance. Enrolling 10-15 EV users in Niagara-on-the-lake, this project will help utilities plan for future EV impacts on the distribution system, and through an In-Home Display, will help consumers manage energy to be completed by the end of September 2016.