Indian shares are seen opening higher on Tuesday, extending the previous session's rally, as concerns over policy paralysis give way to reform hopes. Allaying investor worries about the domestic economy, Finance Minister P. Chidambaram yesterday ordered a review of tax provisions that have a retrospective effect and vowed to take measures to bring down interest rates, spur investment and ease the burden on consumers. Global cues remain supportive, thanks to investor optimism for European action on the debt crisis.
In corporate news, technology solutions provider Financial Technologies reported a 94 percent jump in its April-June quarter standalone net profit and declared an interim dividend of 100 percent on the face value of Rs. 2 a share.
Property developer DLF posted an 18 percent fall in first-quarter net profit, primarily due to high financing costs.
Tata Chemicals said it has resumed production of di-ammonium phosphate (DAP) at its Haldia plant in West Bengal. Production was suspended for the last three months due to disruption in supplies of phosphoric acid.
Cognizant Technology Solutions Corp met its full-year revenue forecast to become the second largest software services provider in India with revenue of $1.79 billion for the April-June quarter.
Whirlpool of India, a subsidiary of the U.S.-based Whirlpool Corp, reported its best ever quarterly results, with first-quarter profit rising 26 percent to Rs.64.6 crore.
Britannia Industries reported a modest 4 percent rise in quarterly net profit and said it would focus on revenue management, cost management, and innovation to improve its operational performance across all categories.
Drug maker Wockhardt reported a 95 percent jump in first-quarter net profit and said it intends to exit the CDR cell within the next few months.
Indian shares rose sharply on Monday, extending last week's 2 percent rally, as solid U.S. jobs data as well as modest growth in the U.S. service sector in July eased global growth worries.
A stronger rupee on the back of some improvement in investor risk appetite and finance minister P Chidambaram's comments that the government will unveil policies in next few days to boost investments and savings in insurance and mutual fund sectors also kept investors in a good mood. The benchmark BSE Sensex rose by 215 points or 1.25 percent to 17,413, while the broader Nifty index gained 67 points or 1.28 percent to 5,283.
Provisional data released by BSE shows that foreign institutional investors continued to remain net buyers in Indian equities and bought shares worth Rs. 555.73 crore yesterday, while domestic financial institutions sold shares to the extent of Rs.4.23 crore.
Asian Markets
Asian markets are trading mostly higher as investors continue to bet on ECB action to lower the region's borrowing costs. Investors await the outcome of Reserve Bank of Australia's policy meeting and a raft of Chinese data due this week on retail sales, inflation and industrial output for near-term directional cues.
The Bank of Japan, meanwhile, is likely to refrain from expanding monetary easing at a policy meeting that starts tomorrow. The euro steadied after hitting a one-month high in the previous session, while commodities are mixed.
U.S. And European Markets
U.S. stocks rose to their highest level in three months overnight, with better-than-expected corporate earnings and some positive news out of Europe underpinning sentiment. The strong upward move seen early in the session came in the wake of news that Greece and its international creditors have agreed on the need to strengthen policy efforts and meet the country's bailout conditions. Paring early gains, the Dow and the S&P 500 ended the session up about 0.2 percent each, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq advanced 0.7 percent.
European stocks also rebounded from early weakness to end mostly higher on Monday after the government in Athens reached an agreement with international lenders on the outline of another multi-billion austerity package. The Gerrman DAX and France's CAC 40 rose about 0.8 percent each, while the U.K.'s FTSE 100 gained 0.4 percent.
by RTT Staff Writer
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