Moneycontrol Bureau9:55 am Result poll: Telecom operator Bharti Airtel's third quarter earnings are expected to hit by sharp pricing pressure led by Reliance Jio’s free offer and negative impact of demonetisation.
Profit is likely to fall 28 percent sequentially to Rs 1,055 crore and revenue may slip 2.3 percent to Rs 24,077 crore in Q3, according to average of estimates of analysts polled by CNBC-TV18.
Operating profit during the quarter is seen falling 6.4 percent to Rs 8,857 crore and margin may shrink 160 basis points to 36.8 percent compared with previous quarter. Its India business may decline 2.6 percent quarter-on-quarter to Rs 14,348 crore with operating profit declining 10.8 percent at Rs 5,572 crore and margin contraction of 360 basis points at 38.8 percent in Q3.
9:45 am Investment: The capital put in by alternative investment funds (AIFs) has risen to Rs 28,486 crore at the end of October-December quarter of the current fiscal, a surge of 14 percent from the preceding three months.
The AIF investment has more than doubled from Rs 14,031 crore at the end of December last year.
AIFs are a class of pooled-in vehicles for investing in real estate, private equity and hedge funds and 268 such funds are registered with the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) since 2012. The investment made by AIFs stood at Rs 24,862 crore at the end of September quarter, Rs 20,667 crore as of the June quarter and Rs 18,237 crore at the end of March quarter, according to latest data available with Sebi.
9:30 am FII view: Surendra Goyal of Citi says in the run-up to the Union Budget, MSCI India is up 3 percent in 2017 so far, with expectations of a tax-payer friendly Budget to boost consumer sentiment post demonetisation.
Any change in long-term capital gains tax exemptions for equities needs to be watched out for, he feels.
Beyond the Budget, GST will remain a key investor focus for 2017, he says. Goyal forecasts 15/18 percent earnings growth for Sensex/Nifty in FY18 and remains constructive with Sensex target of 30,000.
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The market has opened flat with the Nifty above 8400. The 50-share is up 23.65 points or 0.3 percent at 8415.15 while the Sensex is up 73.91 points or 0.3 percent at 27191.25.
GAIL, Adani Ports, HDFC Bank, L&T and SBI are top gainers while Bharti, HUL, Infosys, Asian Painrs and Wipro are losers in the Sensex.
HCL Technologies is down 2 percent after it posted Q3 results. While retaining FY17 constant currency dollar revenue growth guidance at 12-14 percent, HCL Technologies said its third quarter profit grew by 2.3 percent sequentially to Rs 2,062 crore.
Rupee revenue during the quarter increased 2.6 percent quarter-on-quarter to Rs 11,814 crore and dollar revenue rose 1.3 percent to USD 1,745 million. The IT services provider expects its full year dollar revenue guidance at 10-12 percent while maintaining EBIT margin guidance of 19.5-20.5 percent.The Indian rupee has opened higher by 12 paise at 68.08 per dollar on Tuesday against previous day's closing of 68.20 per dollar.Bhaskar Panda of HDFC Bank feels the rupee is likely to remain rangebound within the range of Rs 68-68.30 against the US dollar.
The dollar slumped to a seven-week low against a currency basket, weighed by concerns about the early days of Donald Trump's administration.Asian markets were mixed in early trade, taking cues from a weak handover from Wall Street as US President Donald Trump formally withdrew the nation from the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade deal. The Nikkei was down three tenth of a percent in early trade, extending the previous session's declines of more than 1 percent, while the Korean markets were trading flat with a negative bias. In the US, equities saw a fall, but closed off its session lows, as investors looked for more details regarding Trump's policies, which are largely seen as protectionist. Banking stocks were among the worst performers, with the sector losing more than 1.2 percent. The Dow Jones closed over 25 points lower, with Boeing and Mcdonald's contributing the most losses.
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