Energy, realty stocks lead losses today

Thu, 13 Nov Closing

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After hovering around the dotted line for most part of the day, the Indian stock markets slipped into the red during the final hour of trade. The BSE-Sensex closed lower by about 68 points or 0.24%, while the NSE-Nifty ended lower by about 24 points or 0.3%. Stocks from oil and gas and realty spaces were amongst the key losers, while those from the information technology and pharmaceuticals spaces were amongst the top performers. Midcaps and smallcaps ended weak as well with the BSE Small Cap and BSE Mid Cap indices down by about 0.3% to 0.2% respectively.

Stock markets in other parts of Asia ended the day on a mixed note with Japan and Hong Kong ending higher by about 1.1% and 0.3% while China ended lower by about 0.4%. The rupee was trading at Rs 61.56 to the dollar at the time of writing.

Stocks of information technology companies ended the day on a firm note led by Hexaware Technologies and HCL Technologies. The stock of Infosys was in the news today on the back of the company supposedly being in the race for acquiring CIMPA, the engineering unit of Airbus. If this deal were to go through, it would essentially be the new CEO Vishal Sikka's first acquisition. As per the Economic Times, the engineering services space contributes to about 5% of the company's revenues; and as such, with this deal it could be looking to increase revenues from this vertical. It is believed that CIMPA had revenues of US$ 100 m in 2012 and employs about 940 people. The size of the deal making rounds is US$ 100- 136 m which is equivalent to about Rs 6.1 bn to about Rs 8.3 bn. Considering Infosys' strong balance sheet, funding such a deal will not be an issue at all. Nevertheless, we are yet to hear from the company officially on this development. The market did however cheer this move as the stock closed higher by over 2% today.

Aluminium stocks ended the day on a firm note today with Nalco and Hindalco closing higher by 3% and 0.2% respectively. Hindalco announced its results for the quarter ended September 2014 recently. The company's revenues were up by 36% YoY during the quarter. At the profit before tax level, the company reported a figure of Rs 11.2 bn, which is higher by 36% YoY. However, Hindalco's profits came in at a relatively small figure of Rs 790 m, a figure lower by 78% on a YoY basis. This is largely due to a Rs 4.3 bn provision made on account of additional levy on coal as well as diminution in value of investment in a subsidiary company. The stock of Hindalco, nevertheless ended the day on a flat note.