Market seen opening slightly higher

Trading of S&P CNX Nifty futures on the Singapore stock exchange indicates that the Nifty could gain 9 points at the opening bell. The market may remain volatile this week as traders roll over positions in the futures & options (F&O) segment from the near month January 2013 series to February 2013 series. The January 2013 F&O contracts expire tomorrow, 31 January 2013. Asian stocks edged higher on Wednesday, 30 January 2013, ahead of a policy decision from the US Federal Reserve, while selected Japanese shares benefitted from smartphone exposure. Idea Cellular's consolidated net profit rose 13.72% to Rs 228.60 crore on 10.88% growth in gross revenue to Rs 5578.50 crore in Q3 December 2012 over Q3 December 2011. On a standalone basis, net profit rose 13.21% to Rs 191 crore on 10.8% growth in gross revenue to Rs 5613.50 crore in Q3 December 2012 over Q3 December 2011. The result was announced after market hours on Tuesday, 29 January 2013. In-spite of regulatory interventions impacting subscriber acquisition and the value added services business model, Idea reported a sequential quarterly revenue growth of 5% in Q3 December 2012. The quarterly revenue growth is primarily led by expansion of Voice Minutes of 5.2% to 132.2 billion minutes in Q3 December 2013 from 125.6 billion minutes in Q2 September 2012, indicating consumer demand for voice telephony remains robust, Idea Cellular said in a statement. The company clocked 2.9 million VLR subscriber additions in Q3 December 2012, against 0.6 million additions in Q2 September 2012, despite implementation of stricter verification norms. Contrary to expectation, the Average Realised Rate per Minute (ARPM) fell to 41.1 paisa in Q3 December 2013 from 41.3 paisa in Q2 September 2012. The challenge on ARPM is on account of fall in the Non-Voice Revenue contribution to 14.6%, driven down 1% over the last quarter, by TRAI's new VAS regulation, Idea said. The standalone EBITDA rose to Rs 1317.30 crore in Q3 December 2012 from Rs 1261.50 crore in the previous quarter. The EBITDA margin is marginally lower at 23.5% on account of higher inflationary burden in 'Network operating expense' led by full quarter impact of increased diesel price and larger outlay for 'Advertising & Business Promotion' expense. The cost of acquiring a customer also increased to meet the new guidelines on subscriber verification, largely offsetting the benefit of lower customer churn of 6.9% and reduced gross additions, Idea said. Adverse currency movement resulted in forex loss of Rs 13.30 crore in Q3 December 2012, against a forex gain of Rs 18 crore in Q2 September 2012, reflected in increased interest and finance cost (net), Idea said. The company had net debt of Rs 11680 crore as on 31 December 2012 with net debt to equity ratio at 0.83 and Net Debt to EBITDA (Annualised) ratio for the quarter at 2.22. The Net-Worth of Rs 14020 crore, together with an average (last four quarters) cash profit of Rs 1100 crore per quarter, provides a solid foundation to support the company's strategic intent, Idea Cellular said in a statement. The capex guidance for FY 2013 stands at Rs 3000, excluding spectrum payout. Idea Cellular said that the company's global scale of operations, serving around 114 million quality subscribers, generating over 1.44 billion minutes per day, provides the company a strong hedge to counter the emerging headwinds from the uncertain regulatory interventions and weak macroeconomic environment. Idea continues to invest long term value creators -- it launched 2,961 new sites (2G+3G), expanded optical fibre network to 71,600 km and strengthened network capacities in NLD, ILD, ISP, Data Services and Devices. Out of the existing 114 million subscriber base, the number of Idea customers adopting data services has grown to 21.75 million, now contributing 5.7% to total service revenue. The data volume grew by 14.8% to 9,575 TB in Q3 December 2012 (8,339 TB in Q2 September 2012), while revenue on sequential quarter basis grew by 10.8%. The active 3G subscriber base for the company now stands at 4.1 million. Idea is confident to overcome the current uncertain regulatory phase, emerge competitively stronger as the overcapacity comes to an inevitable decline, consolidate its position in the telecom voice market and aggressively expand in the ever evolving wireless broadband business, the company said in a statement. Glenmark Pharmaceuticals' consolidated net profit jumped 375.03% to Rs 212.91 crore on 33.96% growth in revenues to Rs 1381.25 crore in Q3 December 2012 over Q3 December 2011. During the quarter, the company received out-licensing revenue of Rs. 49.30 crore from Forest Laboratories. Excluding out-licensing income, Glenmark's revenue jumped 32.24% on year on year basis in Q3 December 2012. The result was announced after market hours on Tuesday, 29 January 2013 Commenting on the third quarter results, Glenn Saldanha, Chairman & MD, Glenmark Pharmaceuticals said: "We continue to maintain our high growth trajectory by recording a strong sales growth of over 30% for the third quarter. The US, India and Russia markets performed exceptionally well and continue to drive growth for the company. The option agreement with Forest Laboratories for the development of novel mPGES-1 inhibitors and the USFDA approval for Glenmark's in-licensed molecule Crofelemer has come as a big boost and renewed validation for our world-class Drug Discovery capabilities. While the option agreement with Forest Labs marks our seventh out-licensing deal in the innovation R&D space, the USFDA approval for Crofelemer has paved the way for Glenmark becoming the first Indian company to launch a New Chemical Entity (NCE) across multiple geographies". Container Corporation of India after market hours on Tuesday, 29 January 2013, reported 1.9% fall in net profit to Rs 236.58 crore on 3.5% growth in net sales to Rs 1082.78 crore in Q3 December 2012 over Q3 December 2011. The company's board of directors declared interim dividend of Rs 8 per share for the year ending 31 March 2013. Oracle Financial Services Software's consolidated net profit declined 11% to Rs 268 crore on 5% growth in revenue to Rs 853 crore in Q3 December 2012 over Q3 December 2011. During the quarter, eleven customers signed up for the company's products, OFSSL said. The company signed licenses fees of $13 million in the quarter. The result was announced after market hours on Tuesday, 29 January 2013. Commenting on the results, Chet Kamat, managing director and chief executive officer for Oracle Financial Services Software said: "Product revenues in the nine months grew 19% over the corresponding period last year driven by new strategic customer wins and increased penetration of our existing accounts. We signed $13 million in new license fees in the quarter posting an increase of 28% over the corresponding quarter and on a nine month basis, the license fees signed posted an increase of 31% over the same period last year. This performance is a demonstration of the breadth of our product capability and our ability to win customers across regions both direct and through our partner eco-system". Makarand Padalkar, chief financial officer for Oracle Financial Services Software said: "We delivered another strong quarter and nine month performance. While revenues for the nine month period ending December 2012 increased 14% as compared to the corresponding period last year, the operating income increased 15% over the same period. For the quarter ended December 2012, our services business posted an increase of 7% in the revenues and increase of 22% in the operating income over the same quarter year-over-year". Pidilite Industries after market hours on Tuesday, 29 January 2013 reported 51.3% growth in consolidated net profit to Rs 118.99 crore on 20.7% growth in net sales to Rs 927 crore in Q3 December 2012 over Q3 December 2011. Key benchmark indices edged lower in choppy trade on Tuesday, 29 January 2013, as a 25 basis points (bps) reduction in key policy rate by the Reserve Bank of India after a monetary policy review came in line with the market expectations. The BSE Sensex shed 112.45 points or 0.56% to 19,990.90, its lowest closing level since 24 January 2013. Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) bought shares worth a net Rs 899.83 crore on Tuesday, 29 January 2013, as per provisional data from the stock exchanges. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Tuesday, 29 January 2013, announced a 25 basis points reduction in its key policy rate viz. the repo rate to 7.75% from 8% after a monetary policy review. The central bank also announced a reduction of 25 basis points in the cash reserve ratio (CRR) to 4% from 4.25% effective the fortnight beginning 9 February 2013. As a result of the reduction in the CRR, around Rs 18000 crore of primary liquidity will be injected into the banking system, RBI said. Keeping in view the expected moderation in non-food manufactured products inflation, domestic supply-demand balances and global trends in commodity prices, the baseline WPI inflation projection for March 2013 has been revised downwards from 7.5% set out in the SQR Second Quarter Review (SQR) of Monetary Policy in October 2012 to 6.8%, RBI said. The central bank has also lowered the baseline projection of GDP growth for 2012-13 to 5.5% from 5.8% given in the SQR. With headline inflation likely to have peaked and non-food manufactured products inflation declining steadily over the last few months, there is an increasing likelihood of inflation remaining range-bound around current levels going into 2013-14, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) said. This provides space, albeit limited, for monetary policy to give greater emphasis to growth risks, the central bank said in its policy guidance. This policy guidance will, however, be conditioned by the evolving growth-inflation dynamic and the management of risks from twin deficits viz. the current account deficit and fiscal deficit, RBI said. The next mid-quarter review of Monetary Policy for 2012-13 will be announced on 19 March 2013. The focus on the stock market is currently on Q3 December 2012 results. Investors and analysts will closely watch the management commentary that would accompany the result which could cause revision in their future earnings forecast of the company for the current year and or next year. ICICI Bank, Lupin, Grasim Industries and Punjab National Bank unveil Q3 results tomorrow, 31 January 2013. Siemens unveils its Q1 December 2012 results on the same day. IDFC, Bharat Heavy Electricals and Bharti Airtel announce Q3 results on Friday, 1 February 2013. Bank of Baroda unveils Q3 results on 4 February 2012. Cipla unveils Q3 results on 6 February 2013. ACC and Ambuja Cement announce Q4 December 2012 results on 7 February 2012. Mahindra & Mahindra, Sun Pharmaceuticals Industries and Hindalco Industries unveil Q3 results on 8 February 2013. ONGC and Tata Power Company unveil Q3 results on 11 February 2013. Coal India and BPCL unveil Q3 results on 13 February 2013. Tata Motors and Dr. Reddy's Laboratories unveil Q3 results on 14 February 2013. Ranbaxy Laboratories unveils Q4 December 2012 results on 26 February 2012. Finance minister P. Chidambaram on 22 January 2013 said that the government is on pace to hit its $5 billion target for sales of stakes in state-owned companies before the fiscal year ends in March. The disinvestment will continue next year at the same pace or faster, he said. Mr. Chidambaram said that the government must act to close its gaping current account deficit, a legacy of huge import bills for oil and gold and one reason behind the rupee's poor performance over the past year. The finance minister said India's economy is on the right track and he dismissed any suggestion that the sovereign debt rating could be downgraded. Mr. Chidambaram said the government is committed to lowering the fiscal deficit by 0.6% a year for the next five years. The finance ministry in October 2012 announced a five-year plan to cut fiscal deficit. The deficit target is 5.3% of gross domestic product for the current fiscal year through March, 4.8% in the next fiscal year, and 3% by the end of the year through March 2017. The government's move to raise diesel prices is positive, but it must keep up the momentum of economic reforms for there to be a material impact on its fiscal position, Moody's Investors Services said on 19 January 2013. The diesel price hike is another signal that the government is willing to take some long-delayed, politically difficult decisions, said Atsi Sheth, Moody's sovereign analyst for India. While the diesel price hike will have a fairly small impact on the actual budget deficit, the fiscal position would improve if fuel subsidies continue to be reduced over time, Ms. Sheth said. She also said Moody's maintains its sovereign rating at Baa3 for India, with a stable outlook. The Ministry of Finance on 14 January 2013 said that the government has decided to defer the implementation of the General Anti Avoidance Rules or GAAR by two years until 1 April 2016 and that it has accepted major recommendations of the Parthasarathi Shome Committee on GAAR with some modifications. The provisions of GAAR will apply to only those foreign institutional investors (FIIs) who seek to take advantage of the double taxation avoidance treaties India has with different countries. The rules won't apply to the non-resident individual investors who put money with the FIIs. Any investments made before 30 August 2010 won't be examined under GAAR. Finance Minister Mr. Chidambaram said that the GAAR provisions strike a balance between the government's need for revenue generation and investors' interests. Chidambaram early this month said attracting foreign funds to India has become an economic imperative. Commerce, Industry and Textiles Minister Mr. Anand Sharma on 9 January 2013 said that the Joint Working Group on Indo-Mauritius Double Taxation Avoidance Convention (DTAC), which is scheduled to meet in February 2013, would be able to take the deliberations forward. The government on 17 January 2013 allowed PSU OMCs to increase diesel prices by a small margin from time to time, a decision aimed at reducing the government's oil subsidy burden and fiscal deficit and improving the government's finances. Oil Minister Veerappa Moily said after a meeting of the Union Cabinet that there was an earlier proposal to deregulate diesel prices, and in pursuance of that, oil companies have been authorised to make price corrections from time to time. Finance Minister P. Chidambaram on 17 January 2013 said the government will factor in the reduction in subsidies and its impact on the deficit once the retailers say how much they intend to increase prices by. The government on 17 January 2013 also said it has increased the limit of subsidized cooking-gas cylinders to nine per year a family from six now. Mr. Moily said that the raising of the cap will cost the government about an additional Rs 10000 crore a year. Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) chief Mayawati slammed the UPA government for its decision to deregulate diesel prices and said that it would affect prices and hit common man badly. She, however, ruled out the possibility of withdrawing BSP's support to the government, saying she did not want to destabilise it as the general election is not too far. BSP provides outside support to the Congress led UPA government which has already been reduced to a minority government after Trinamool Congress withdrew support to the government in September last year. Asian stocks edged higher on Wednesday, 30 January 2013, ahead of a policy decision from the US Federal Reserve, while selected Japanese shares benefitted from smartphone exposure. Key benchmark indices in Taiwan, Indonesia, Japan, South Korea, Hong Kong and Singapore rose by 0.21% to 1.03%. China's Shanghai Composite shed 0.18%. US stocks edged higher on Tuesday, 29 January 2013, with pharmaceutical giant Pfizer Inc.'s better-than-expected earnings helping lift the Dow Jones Industrial Average to its highest finish since October 2007. US monetary policy will be front and center for investors, with the Federal Reserve due to wrap up a two-day policy meeting later in the global day today, 30 January 2013. Investors are on alert for any signals as to the duration of the Fed's bond-buying program. The influential US nonfarms payroll data for January 2013 is due for release on Friday, 1 February 2013.