Markets may open sideways in line with global cues

Overnight the US stocks closed lower, deepening their losses as separate comments from the head of the European Central Bank and the region’s finance ministers lacked the heft or details deemed necessary to curtail the region’s debt crisis. Asian markets are seen trading on a marginally positive note, taking back a fraction of the previous session’s steep losses with auto makers’ notable gainers.

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, while Wipro and Infosys were down by 3.76 and 1.93 per cent, Patni was up by 0.43 per cent. In the telecom space, MTNL was down by 5.56 per cent and Tata Communications was up by 1.05 per cent. In the banking space, HDFC Bank was down by 1.82 per cent and ICICI Bank was down by 3.55 per cent. In the other space, Tata Motors was up by 1.38 per cent, Sterlite was down by 2.19 per cent and Dr Reddy’s Laboratories was down by 2.32 per cent.

According to a press release filed with the BSE, DQE has announced the sale of its TV broadcast rights for certain Asian territories, including India, of the popular animated 3D series ‘Chaplin And Co’ to Cartoon Network Asia. The amount of the deal has not yet been disclosed. The broadcasting rights relate to 104 episodes of six minutes each. The series will be broadcast across all of Cartoon Network’s Asia-Pacific markets in more than 26 countries from early 2012. ‘Chaplin And Co’ is a co-production between DQE and Method Animation of France, and was developed in consultation with the Chaplin family. In true Chaplin style, Chaplin and Co is a slapstick comedy without dialogue – reminiscent of his many famous films. The counter rose by 7.2 per cent today on the bourses.

Kingfisher Airlines will become part of OneWorld from February 2012, adding it to the premier global airline alliance. It will be the first carrier from the sub-continent to join any of the global airline groups – and the first of three airlines to join OneWorld in its biggest membership expansion drive for five years, with Air Berlin set to follow it shortly afterwards and Malaysia Airlines later in the year. Kingfisher Airlines received its green light to board OneWorld this week after successfully completing a thorough review of its readiness conducted by British Airways, which is sponsoring its entry into the alliance with the OneWorld central team. For Kingfisher Airlines, joining OneWorld will strengthen its competitive offering and its financial position, enabling it to offer customers an unrivalled alliance global network served by partners, including some of the best and biggest airlines in the world.

According to Business Standard, Dr Reddy’s Laboratories (DRL) has decided to shift its focus to the discovery of new drug segments, including dermatology and pain management, from cardiac diseases and diabetes due to high costs involved for the latter. The Hyderabad-based firm, with revenues of USD 1.7 billion in FY11, said that it was looking to improve its performance in India and Europe. The company said that it is looking at bio-similars as major area of growth for the firm from 2016 to 2020.

According to a press release filed with the BSE, Tata Consultancy Services plans to build a new software development unit in Maharashtra at an initial investment of Rs 600 crore, creating jobs for over 8,200 professionals. The campus will be located at Nagpur, Maharashtra in the Mihan Special Economic Zone (SEZ). The TCS Nagpur campus will be built in two phases, the first of which will contain 8,200 seats for IT services and BPO services. The second phase will be of similar scope. Once the project is completed, the campus will accommodate 16,000 associates. The shares of TCS were down by 2 per cent today.

According to a press release filed with the BSE, HCL Technologies (HCL), a leading global IT services provider, today announced that it has been selected by AstraZeneca, one of the world’s leading bio-pharmaceutical companies, as a strategic infrastructure outsourcing partner. HCL will be responsible for the provision, management and transformation of AstraZeneca’s global hosting and collaboration environment. As part of the five year engagement, HCL will be responsible for managing AstraZeneca’s entire data centre environment across over 60 locations globally, including hosting and migration of some of the existing large data centers into state-of-the-art facilities. In addition, HCL will manage AstraZeneca’s global collaboration environment, including email, messaging and collaboration Services for users worldwide. HCL will also deliver transformational projects, including server virtualisations, storage and back-up transformation and implementation of the hybrid cloud.
   
According to Business Standard, Orchid Chemicals and Pharmaceuticals Ltd (OCPL) has received sanction of USD 100 million (around Rs 532 crore) by way of external commercial borrowings (ECBs) from a consortium of Indian banks to redeem its outstanding foreign currency convertible bonds (FCCBs), which fall due in February 2012. The ECBs and the internal accruals would support the company to redeem the outstanding FCCBs of USD 117 million (Rs 622 crore) along with the yield-to-maturity which would fall due in February 2012. The total redemption value is USD 167 million (Rs 888 crore). With over 85 per cent of the company’s sales coming from exports billed in US dollars, it has a natural hedge against currency fluctuations. The depreciation of the rupee would support the company to utilise its internal accruals to fund the rest of the amount for redeeming the outstanding FCCBs.

According to a press statement filed with the BSE, the board of sponge iron manufacturer Monnet Ispat has decided to consider a proposal of its share buy-back subject to approval in its board meeting to be held on December 22, 2011. This news sent the stock spiralling upwards yesterday by 6 per cent. One may look into buying the scrip for some short-term gains, as the scrip is expected to rally in view of this development.