Barring Indonesia (down 0.2%), most major Asian stock markets have opened the day on a firm note with stock markets in South Korea (up 0.6%) and Taiwan (up 1.2%) leading the gains. The Indian share markets have also opened the day on a positive note. Barring the healthcare index, all other sectoral indices are trading in the green with IT and oil & gas indices leading the gains.
The Sensex today is up by around 75 points (0.3%), while the NSE-Nifty is up by about 34 points (0.4%). Mid and small cap stocks are also trading in the green with the BSE Mid Cap and BSE Small Cap indices up by around 0.45% each. The rupee is currently trading at Rs 60.69 to the US dollar.
Private sector bank stocks have mainly opened the day on a firm note with Yes Bank and J&K Bank leading the gains. India's third largest private sector lender Axis Bank has proposed to raise Rs 60 bn from bonds for funding its business growth. In a filing with the BSE, the bank has said that the board has approved issuance of long term bonds or non-convertible debentures up to Rs 60 bn on a private placement basis. As per the provisions of Companies Act, 2013, the bank will seek the approval of its shareholders is proposed to be obtained by way of Postal Ballot. During the quarter ended June 2014, the company's interest income and net profit grew by 13.9% YoY and 18.3% YoY respectively.
Information technology stocks have opened the day on a firm note with NIIT Ltd and Moser Baer India Ltd leading the gains. India's third largest software services exporter Wipro is expecting to bag bigger deals for solutions based on digital technologies like social, mobility, analytics and cloud which go by the acronym SMAC. This could be an indication that companies are willing to spend more on such discretionary areas. From deals in the range of US$ 2.5-3.5 million (Rs 15-21 crore), the Bangalore-based IT company is seeing deals worth US$ 5-10 million (about Rs 30-60 crore) in the pipeline. It must be noted that the company's competitors such as Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), Infosys and Accenture have all built separate units to target digital business.
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