 "Sensex opens in red; ICICI Bank gains ahead of results")
The Indian markets opened in red a day after the BSE Sensex touched 21000 after almost three years.
The BSE Sensex opened at 20680, down 46 pts, or 0.21 percent; while the Nifty opened at 6144, down 20 points, or 0.32 percent.
L&T shares are down 1.7 percent to 949 rupees; stocks of India’s biggest construction and engineering group have gained nearly 9 percent this week.
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The Indian rupee flat in early trade against the dollar. It opened at 61.50 per dollar against 61.47 Thursday.
The euro is steady against the dollar this morning after disappointing euro zone data pulled it away from a two-year high struck earlier in the session. The dollar is a little weak near nine-month lows on rising expectations the Federal Reserve will delay reducing its bond-buying program until into next year.
Asia islower on the back of a stronger currency and tepid economic data, core consumer price index (CPI) climbed 0.7 percent in September (Y-o-Y); in line with expectations.China’s short-term money market rates continued to spook investors after spiking to their highest level since June.
The US markets recovered the previous day’s losses to close higher with the Dow closing above 15,500 and the S&P 500 regaining its footing above 1,750 aiding sentiment was a handful of upbeat earnings and encouraging economic data from china. Both are on track for their third-straight winning week.
Meanwhile, ministry officials have said that Finance minister P Chidambaram may sweep as much as $15 billion in subsidy costs into next year’s accounts to ensure he hits fiscal targets ahead of national elections as heis finding it harder and harder to meet the government’s budget promises.
Stocks in news:
Banking stocks are struggling in early morning trade; the BSE bankex is marginally in the red with all components except ICICI Bank in the negative territory.ICICI shares are up 1.5 percent; India’s largest private lender comes out with its Sept quarter earnings today.
Infosys is up 0. 46 percent. On Thursday, in a form 6K filing, Infosys has said that, effective November 1, 2013, 12 senior members have been added to the executive council. As executive council members, new inductees will be entitled to an allowance of USD 150,000 per annum pro rata.
Jet Airways is up 1.15 percent. Jetexpects to conclude a $334 million stake sale to Abu Dhabi’s Etihad by the year-end, the Indian airline said, one day after posting a record quarterly loss.Jet, which has lost money in the past six years, is awaiting approvals from the Competition Commission of India (CCI) for the deal and is on course to complete the transaction during this quarter, Chief Financial Officer Ravishankar Gopalakrishnan said.