Market may open flat

Trading of S&P CNX Nifty futures on the Singapore stock exchange indicates a flat opening on the domestic bourses. Power Grid Corporation of India announces Q2 September 2012 results today, 31 October 2012. PSU OMCs may edge lower on reports that new Petroleum Minister Veerappa Moily is reviewing the cap on subsidized LPG cylinders ahead of assembly polls in Himachal Pradesh and Gujarat. In a bid to rein in its ballooning oil subsidy burden, the Centre last month fixed a cap on supply of subsidised LPG to six cylinders per household in a year. Moily on Monday, 29 October 2012, took charge as the new Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas following a major reshuffle of the cabinet announced by Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh on Sunday, 28 October 2012. Assembly polls in Himachal Pradesh are scheduled on Sunday, 4 November 2012. Assembly polls in Gujarat will take place in two phases on 13 and 17 December 2012 State-run Bank of India announced after market hours Tuesday, 30 October 2012, it has decided to reduce the interest rate for deposits of Rs 10 crore and above for maturity bucket of 31 days to 45 days to 7.5% from current 8% with effect from 29 October 2012. Pidilite Industries' consolidated net profit jumped 23.9% to Rs 95.66 crore on 15.2% growth in net sales to Rs 899.74 crore in Q2 September 2012 over Q2 September 2011. The result hit the market after trading hours on Tuesday, 30 October 2012. Glenmark Pharmaceuticals' consolidated net profit jumped 177% to Rs 156.75 crore on 18.93% growth in revenue to Rs 1255.19 crore in Q2 September 2012 over Q2 September 2011. The net profit for the quarter is not comparable due to out-licensing income received in Q2 September 2011 and also due to marked-to-market (MTM) losses recorded in Q2 September 2011, Glenmark Pharmaceuticals said. Excluding out-licensing income received in Q2 September 2011, Glenmark's consolidated revenue jumped 33.96% year-on-year in Q2 September 2012. The company announced the results after trading hours on Tuesday, 30 October 2012. Revenue from the generics business jumped 44.95% to Rs 578.39 crore in Q2 September 2012 over Q2 September 2011. Revenue of the specialty formulation business, excluding out-licensing revenue, surged 30.45% to Rs 669.74 crore in Q2 September 2012 over Q2 September 2011. Commenting on the second quarter results, Glenn Saldanha, Chairman and Managing Director, Glenmark Pharmaceuticals said: "We continue on our high growth trajectory with both the Generics and Specialty business registering good growth across geographies. The growth from markets, particularly, the US, India and Russia, have been particularly exceptional." IDBI Bank's net profit declined 6.27% to Rs 483.53 crore on 9.5% growth in total income to Rs 6880.01 crore in Q2 September 2012 over Q1 September 2012. The result hit the market after trading hours on Tuesday, 30 October 2012. Media stocks will be in focus after the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting after trading hours on Tuesday, 30 October 2012, said that the overall percentage of digitization in 4 metro cities viz. Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, and Kolkata has reached 89% as far as the Cable TV is concerned and with DTH the percentage goes upto 93%. The data shows that in Delhi the Cable TV digitization has touched 92% and with DTH the percentage of digitization has gone upto 95%. For Mumbai, the percentage of digitization is 100%. For Kolkata, Cable TV digitization alone has crossed 82% and along with DTH the percentage of digitization goes upto 85%. In Chennai, the Cable TV digitization has reached 62% and with DTH it goes upto 86%. The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting has sent teams comprising of Technical Experts to visit various Headends of National level Multi System Operators (MSOs) as well as independent MSOs in the four metro cities of Kolkata, Delhi, Mumbai and Chennai. The Technical teams will collect on site data regarding preparedness of MSOs for analogue switch over to DAS i.e., Digital Addressable System. The teams would also look at details of Subscriber Management System and Call Centre facility etc. The teams would also look at the system available with the MSOs to ensure that no analogue signals are fed in the Cable networks after the 31 October 2012 deadline, the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting said in a statement. A review of the daily installation of set top box (STBs) shows that the rate of installation has touched an all time high. On 29 October 2012, about 88,000 set top boxes were installed out of which more than 61000 boxes were installed in Delhi alone, the ministry said. Digitization would usher in a regime of addressability and transparency, bringing a host of exciting benefits to the consumers, the ministry said. Digitization of the Cable TV Network would open up several opportunities for the consumers to get access to Movies and Games on Demand as well as internet, the statement added. Mahindra Satyam's consolidated net profit rose 16.7% to Rs 278 crore on 22.9% growth in revenue to Rs 1938 crore in Q2 September 2012 over Q2 September 2011. Earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) jumped 72.7% to Rs 417 crore in Q2 September 2012 over Q2 September 2011. EBITDA margins rose sharply to 21.5% from 15.3% in Q1 September 2011. The company's cash and cash equivalent stood at Rs 3062 crore as on 30 September 2012. Commenting on the second quarter results, Vineet Nayyar, Chairman, Mahindra Satyam, said, "Our strong focus on growth and operational efficiencies continue. Our strengths in certain key verticals and competencies combined with increasing client confidence helped us deliver on both revenue growth and operating margins." Speaking on the occasion, CP Gurnani, CEO, Mahindra Satyam, said, "With investments in new infrastructure, focus on strengthening industry partnerships and a lower than industry attrition, Mahindra Satyam is firing on all engines towards its next three year transformation journey. Our focus on traditional domains continues and greater investments are being made into NMACS as a step towards our future readiness." Key benchmark indices slumped on Tuesday, 30 October 2012, to reach their lowest closing level in more than 5-1/2 weeks as the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) kept its key policy rate viz. the repo rate unchanged at 8% after Second Quarter Review of Monetary Policy 2012-13 citing high inflation, even as the central bank further cut its GDP growth forecast for 2012-13. The BSE Sensex lost 204.97 points or 1.1% to settle at 18,430.85 on that day, its lowest closing level since 20 September 2012. Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) sold shares worth a net Rs 191.53 crore on Tuesday, 30 October 2012, as per provisional data from the stock exchanges. Asian stocks were mixed on Wednesday, 31 October 2012. Key benchmark indices in Hong Kong, Japan, and South Korea rose by between 0.45% to 0.96%. Key benchmark indices in Singapore, Taiwan and Indonesia shed by between 0.05% to 0.27%. China's Shanghai Composite was flat. South Korea's industrial production increased for the first time in four months, boosted by stronger sales of cars and electronics. South Korean output rose 0.8% last month from August, the statistics office said. Bank of Japan on Tuesday announced that it would expand its asset-buying program by 11 trillion yen to a total of 91 trillion yen. The Bank of Japan also introduced a new lending facility to stimulate bank loans and issued an unprecedented joint statement with the Finance Ministry, highlighting its commitment to fighting deflation. The S&P/Case-Shiller index of property values in 20 US cities rose 2 percent from August 2011, the biggest year-to-year gain since July 2010, the group said in New York on Tuesday, 30 October 2012. Prices rose 1.2 percent the prior month, it said. More information about the US labor picture will come from ADP's October report on private-sector jobs and from the government's tally of weekly jobless claims, each due tomorrow, 1 November 2012. The influential US non-farms payroll data for October 2012 is due for release on Friday, 2 November 2012. Market expectation are for increase of more than 100,000 nonfarm payrolls in October 2012, and an uptick in the unemployment rate to 7.9% from 7.8%. Election for a new president in the United States, the world's biggest economy, is scheduled on 6 November 2012. Investors are worried about US fiscal cliff. The "cliff" refers to the year-end deadline for the expiration of hundreds of billions of dollars worth of tax cuts and the triggering of $109 billion in across-the-board spending cuts. The non-partisan Congressional Budget Office has said the scenario could throw the country into recession. Congress created the hazardous deadline of 31 December 2012 in August 2011 when it agreed to a deficit deal as a way out of a deadlock