Banks drive markets lower

Wed, 6 Nov Closing

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The Indian equity markets continued to trade lower post the noon-trading session and closed the day on a weak note. The stocks from the banking and Financial sector faced the maximum selling pressures today. While Mid-cap stocks also took a beating and were down by 0.17%, the small cap stocks closed the day on a positive note and were up by 0.8%. The BSE-Sensex closed lower by 80 points and the NSE-Nifty was seen down by 38 points.

With respect to global markets, the Asian indices have closed on a mixed note while most of the European indices have opened in green today. The rupee was trading at Rs 62.26 to the dollar at the time of writing.

Except few such as HCL Tech, HCL Infosys and Mphasis Ltd, most of the software stocks closed the day on a positive note today. Stocks such as Moser-Baer India and Tech Mahindra were the leading gainers today.

According to a leading financial daily, as per the technology giant, Cognizant, the Infosys's visa settlement issues is not expected to impact the IT offshoring model. The Indian technology giant Infosys Ltd had paid $ 34 m fine to US authorities to settle allegations of visa misuse and fraud. The issue pertains to the alleged misuse of business visas (B1 visas) by Infosys in the years 2010-11, post which lot of noise was made with respect to the prospects of the Indian IT offshoring model getting hampered. However, it is expected that these visa settlement issues will not affect the immigration reform bill either. That the US still requires the skilled talent from India to stay ahead of the curve as the domestic talent stands insufficient corroborates the same.

Cognizant, the US –headquartered company but with huge presence in India, stands ahead in terms of revenues than the technology giant Infosys. The revenue base for Cognizant stood at $ 7.4 bn as at the end of December 2012 while for Infosys it stood at $ 6.8 bn as at the end of March 2013. Infosys' share was up by 1.3%.

Engineering stocks ended the day today on a mixed note with Finolex Cables and Emami Ltd closing on a positive note. Whereas stocks such as AIA Engineering and Voltas ended the day on a weak note.

Power equipment manufacturer BHEL announced its results for the quarter ended September 2013. The company's revenues and profits declined by 15% YoY and 64% YoY respectively. The company's operating margins dropped to 4.6% from 18% in 2QFY13, with the operating profits declining by 78% YoY. The key reason behind the same was the operating performance of the 'industry' segment which reported PBIT margin of negative 0.2% as compared to 21.3% margin last year. Share of revenues from this business stood at 19% of total, which is similar to that of last year. As for the 'power' segment, revenues declined by 15% YoY while margins came in at 14.5% as compared to 19.8% in 2QFY13. Had it not been for the 281% YoY increase in other income, the profit decline would have been sharper. During 1HFY14, revenues and profits declined by 19% YoY and 58% YoY respectively. The stock closed down by 2%.