Markets may open on a positive note

Overnight the US stocks witnessed a very volatile trading session with Wall Street on standby ahead of what is viewed as a crucial European Union summit at the end of the week. The Asian shares are also trading on a positive note in the early hours, with optimism returning ahead of this week’s crucial European meetings after a report that more rescue funds may be available to help the region.

The Indian companies’ ADRs traded in the American markets have closed on a mixed note, indicating a choppy day ahead for them in the Indian markets. In the IT space, Wipro was up by 0.29 per cent, Patni was up by 0.58 and Infosys was down by over 0.94 per cent. In the telecom space, MTNL was up by 1.85 per cent and Tata Communications was down by 1.03 per cent. In the banking space, HDFC Bank was down by 0.24 per cent and ICICI Bank was down by 0.3 per cent. In the other space, Tata Motors was down by 1.72 per cent, Sterlite was up by 0.12 per cent and Dr Reddy’s Laboratories was down by 0.59 per cent.

In conclusion, for today we expect the markets to remain volatile. We advise our readers to stay cautious and stick to cheaply available large-cap bets as they are more likely to see some positive movements.

Stocks In Action

State-owned Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC) has given a ‘no objection’ certificate to British oil firm Cairn Energy’s sale of a majority stake in its Indian unit to Vedanta Resources, paving the way for a conclusion of the USD 8.71 billion deal over the next few days.

Drug firm Ranbaxy Laboratories’ wholly-owned subsidiary, Ranbaxy Pharmaceuticals Inc, has launched a generic version of Caduet, used for treating cardio-vascular diseases in the US market. Caduet, presently marketed by Pfizer, is a fixed-dose combination of Atorvastatin-Amlodipine Besylate which also contains a crystalline form of Atorvastatin. According to IMS-MAT September 2011, Caduet generated total annual sales of USD 339 million in the US.

According to media reports, private sector housing finance company Dewan Housing Finance Corporation (DHFL) is hopeful of posting a 25-30 per cent growth in its home loan disbursements in the current fiscal despite a sticky real estate market. The company’s loans grew by 28.06 per cent to Rs 2,138.6 crore in the September quarter, up from Rs 1,670 crore in the year-ago period.

JSW Steel has reported an 18 per cent increase in crude steel production for November 2011 at 6 lakh tonne as against 5.07 lakh tonnes of crude steel in November 2010, on the back of better capacity utilisation at its Vijaynagar plant.The capacity utilisation improved gradually to 68 per cent at its Vijaynagar works in November from the average utilisation of 63 per cent in October 2011, primarily due to an increased receipt of iron ore supply from e-auctions, the company said in a BSE press release.

According to a BSE filing, HT Media Ltd (HTML) has entered into an agreement for an equal joint venture with US-based Apollo Global Inc to roll out programs and services in the education space. The venture between HTML and Apollo Global, a subsidiary of Apollo Group, Inc. (USA), is intended to address the urgent need in the country for quality educational services and the ‘education‐employment mismatch’ to help India’s business community better train and empower employees for a 21st century global workplace.