Market may open flat to slightly higher

Trading of S&P CNX Nifty futures on the Singapore stock exchange indicates a gain of 7 points at the opening bell. State Bank of India, Cipla, Reliance Power, Indian Oil Corporation, Coal India, Sun Pharmaceuticals Industries and Steel Authority of India (Sail) unveil Q3 results today, 13 February 2012.

Reliance Industries (RIL) after market hours on Friday, 10 February 2012 said that one of the crude trains at Jamnagar complex has been shut down on 10 February 2012 for undertaking planned maintenance and inspection activities. This opportunity is being taken for replacement of catalyst and implementation of productivity improvement measures in some of the secondary processing units. The shutdown is expected to be completed in the first week of March, 2012. Rest of the Jamnagar complex continues to operate as normal, RIL said.



Meanwhile, RIL and France's Dassault Aviation have reportedly signed a pact for partnering in the defence and homeland security sector in India. India is the world's largest arms importer with plans to spend $100 billion on weapons over the next decade, a report indicated.

On a consolidated basis, DLF reported 44.5% fall in net profit to Rs 258.35 crore on 18% fall in net sales to Rs 2034.37 crore in Q3 December 2011 over Q3 December 2010. The result was announced after market hours on Friday, 10 February 2012.

DLF said it has progressed well with its non-core divestment program with two major transactions viz. sale of Noida IT park and Pune special economic zone (SEZ) completed during the quarter. However, the company's core operations continued to face some headwinds in Q3 December 2011 due to both domestic and global macro-economic conditions. DLF said that with macro environment continuing to remain unfavorable with high interest rates, commodity and labour cost inflation, the company's strategy shall require patience and caution to execute. Given these uncertainties, the company expects longer than anticipated time for its initiatives to take fruition, DLF said.

DLF said that while the company continues to remain fully committed and focused to its strategy of launching plotted land developments, premium housing, and divestment of non-core assets and reduction of debt, it believes that due to the current macro environment, it may take a few more quarters for the company to regain full momentum.

On a consolidated basis, Tata Power Company reported 40.6% fall in net profit to Rs 262.67 crore on 50.6% growth in net sales to Rs 6645.87 crore in Q3 December 2011 over Q3 December 2010. The result was announced after market hours on Friday, 10 February 2012.

Commenting on the company's performance, Anil Sardana, Managing Director, Tata Power, said: "Our strong financial and operational performance for the quarter is driven by all our business divisions. All Tata Power operations and subsidiaries have done well this quarter as compared to the corresponding period last year. Our key projects under implementation are progressing well. We have successfully synchronized India's first 800 MW sized super critical Unit 1 of our 4,000 MW Mundra Ultra Mega Power (UMPP) Project; commissioned Unit 1 of 1,050 MW Maithon Power Project and also synchronized our 25 MW solar plant at Mithapur, one of the largest in the country. Our growth opportunities continue to be on course. We are also looking forward to a sustainable solution for Mundra UMPP."

On a consolidated basis, Reliance Communications (RCom) reported 61.3% fall in net profit to Rs 186 crore on 1.8% fall in net sales to Rs 4737 crore in Q3 December 2011 over Q3 December 2010. The result was announced after market hours on Friday, 10 February 2012.

RCom said its Q3 EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortization) margin at 31.9% was amongst the highest in the industry. RCom generated operational cash flow (EBITDA) of Rs 1611 crore in Q3 December 2011. Post payment of 3G auction fees and with peak capex behind, this is the first full year of positive free cash flow (FCF) for the company and this trend will continue in the succeeding year, RCom said.

RCom said it has tied up refinancing for maturity value of its outstanding foreign currency convertible bonds (FCCBs) of $1.182 billion. The refinancing is being funded by ICBC, CDB, and EXIM and other banks. RCom said it will benefit from extended loan maturity of 7 years and attractive interest cost of about 5%. The loan proceeds will be used for refinancing the entire redemption amount of FCCBs which are due for redemption on 1 March 2012, RCom said.

Key benchmark indices edged lower on Friday, 10 February 2012, as data showing a sharp slowdown in industrial production growth in December 2011 and weakness in European shares hit sentiment adversely. The BSE Sensex shed 82.08 points or 0.46% to settle at 17,748.69, its lowest closing level since 8 February 2012.

Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) bought shares worth a net Rs 196.12 crore on Friday, 10 February 2012, as per provisional data from the stock exchanges. FIIs have bought shares worth a net Rs 8088.79 crore in first eight trading sessions this month, as per provisional data from the stock exchanges. The inflow early this month comes on the top of heavy purchases last month. FIIs bought shares worth a net Rs 10357.70 crore in January 2012, as per data from Securities & Exchange Board of India (Sebi).

Tata Motors, Reliance Infrastructure, Jaiprakash Associates, Videocon Industries, Essar Oil and Shipping Corporation of India unveil Q3 results tomorrow, 14 February 2012. Ranbaxy Laboratories and ABB unveil Q4 December 2011 results on 23 February 2012.

On the macro front, the government unveils monthly inflation data for January 2012 tomorrow, 14 February 2012. Headline inflation is seen falling further in January 2012. Inflation based on the wholesale price index is seen rising 6.7% in January 2012, as per the median estimate of a poll of economists carried out by Capital Market. Inflation based on the wholesale price index cooled off to two-year low of 7.47% in December 2011, from to 9.11% in November 2011. The Reserve Bank of India's mid-quarter review of Monetary Policy 2011-12 is scheduled on 15 March 2012.

Industrial production rose a slower-than-expected 1.8% in December 2011, government data showed on Friday, 10 February 2011. The growth in December 2011 was sharply lower than 5.9% growth in November 2011. Manufacturing output, which constitutes about 76% of industrial production, rose 1.8% from a year earlier, the statistics office said.

India's January exports rose 10.1% to $25.4 billion while imports rose 20.3% to $40.1 billion, leaving a trade deficit of $14.7 billion, Trade Secretary Rahul Khullar said on Thursday, 9 February 2012. India's exports reached $242.8 billion between April and January, Khullar said, citing provisional data.

The Indian economy is estimated to grow 6.9% in the current fiscal year through March 2012 (FY 2012), sharply slower than the 8.4% expansion reported last year, according to a government forecast released on Tuesday, 7 February 2012. The new expectation is due to weaker growth in manufacturing and farm output, data from the ministry of statistics and implementation showed. The government expects manufacturing output to grow 3.9% this fiscal year compared with a 7.6% increase a year earlier. Farm output is expected to rise 2.5%, compared with 7% last year. In December 2011, the government had cut its growth projection for FY 2012 to between 7.25% and 7.75% from an initial forecast of 9%.

Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee will present the annual budget for 2012/13 on 16 March 2012, while the railways budget will be presented on 14 March 2012. The budget session of parliament will start on 12 March 2012, Pawan Kumar Bansal, minister of parliament affairs, said recently. The government will present on March 15 the Economic Survey for 2011/12, a document on the state of economy prepared by the economic division in the ministry of finance. The annual budget is usually presented on the last working day of February. However, the budget has been delayed this time due to the ongoing assembly polls. Polling for assembly elections in five states concludes in early March 2012.

Asia markets were trading firm on Monday, 13 February 2012, as the Greek Parliament passed austerity measures required to secure fresh aid funds and avert an impending default. Key benchmark indices in Singapore, Hong Kong, China, Indonesia, Japan, Taiwan and South Korea were up by between 0.06% to 0.51%.

Japan's economy shrank a bigger-than-expected 0.6% in October-December, hurt by slowing global growth, Thai floods and a strong yen, casting doubt about expectations that growth will resume this quarter as Europe's debt crisis clouds the outlook.

China's trade shrank in January from a year earlier, with factory shutdowns for Lunar New Year holidays exacerbating a slowdown in external demand that has set Beijing on a pro-growth policy course to support the domestic sector. Customs data on Friday showed imports sank 15.3 percent in January versus January 2011 -- the lowest since August 2009 -- while exports fell 0.5 percent over the same period, the worst showing since November 2009. It left China with a trade surplus of $27.3 billion in January, its biggest in six months and confounding expectations of a further narrowing.

Rating agency Standard & Poor's (S&P) downgraded 34 of 37 Italian banks on Friday, 10 February 2012, citing a reduced ability to roll over their wholesale debt and expected weak profitability. The move follows S&P's downgrade of Italy's sovereign rating last month to BBB+, part of a mass downgrade of nine euro zone countries. S&P said weak profitability and increased cost of capital could lead Italian banks to write down a large part of the goodwill they booked during a wave of industry consolidation over the past decade.

US stocks edged lower on Friday, 10 February 2012, on tumult over the Greek bailout, disappointing readings on the US economy and a downgrade of nearly three dozen Italian banks. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 89.23 points, or 0.69%, at 12801.23. The Standard & Poor's 500-stock index lost 9.31 points, or 0.69%, to 1342.64, and the Nasdaq Composite index lost 23.35 points, or 0.8%, to 2903.88.