RBI rate hike disappoints mkts

Fri, 20 Sep 11:30 am

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After a weak opening, the Indian stock markets continued to shed yesterday's massive gains. Dr Raghuram Rajan, in his maiden monetary policy today, hiked the repo rate by 0.25% to 7.5%. This further disappointed markets. Except IT, all the sectoral indices are trading in the red.

The BSE-Sensex is down 489 points while the NSE-Nifty is trading down 141 points. The BSE Mid Cap and BSE Small Cap indices are trading down by 1.6% and 0.9% respectively. The Rupee is trading at 62.3 to the US Dollar.

All the retail stocks are trading negative today. Provogue Ltd and Future Retail are leading the losers. According to a leading business daily, Titan is ready to explore the option of using direct import license for the procurement of gold. The company is likely to start importing before 2014. This decision comes in the wake of restrictions put up by RBI for import of gold which includes abolishment of 'gold on lease' model and mandate for importers (bullion banks) to set aside one fifth of their gold for exports. Titan so far has never used its import license which allows the company to procure gold with a limit of 10 tonnes. Also, C K Venkataraman, chief executive of the jewellery division, told the business daily that Titan has initiated cost benefit analysis for expanding into international jewellery markets. The company may also explore the option of selling to exporters. The CEO also hinted towards lower sales growth in the jewellery division for the 2QFY14 and said it may not be anywhere close to the stupendous growth of 50% of last quarter. Titan is trading down by 1.2% today.

Most of the IT stocks are trading higher today. Wipro and HCL Tech are among the top gainers. India's second largest IT firm Infosys has launched a new and advanced version of its award winning banking software Finacle. The software, named Finacle 11E, will simplify and enhance technology operations for end user banks. The structure of the new software differs from the previous versions in that it offers more components and standards and is more user-friendly.The Finacle software is considered to be leader in the core banking space. It helps banks transform their processes, products and customer experiences as well as helping them innovate. It's currently used by 168 banks across 81 countries, catering to 359 million consumers. It is among the primary revenue drivers for Infosys in the Banking Financial Services and Insurance (BFSI) vertical. BFSI contributes 33% of revenues for Infosys and grew 2% QoQ in 1QFY14. Infosys is trading flat today.