Sensex volatile ahead of expiry

A rally in global markets pushed the benchmarkSensex higher in the opening trade, but volatility snipped the upward trend. The 30-share BSE Sensexwas trading at 16,327, up 42 points. The 50-share NSE Nifty rose 13 points to 4,901.

The F&O series expires today and experts feel that it may happen in the range of 4800-4900. Among largecaps Tata Motors, IDFC, Reliance Communications, HUL, DLF, Maruti, Tata Steel, Dr Reddy's Labs and Sun Pharma were witnessing buying interest in early trade.

However, HDFC, HDFC Bank, ITC, L&T, Reliance Industries and Hero Motocorp (goes ex-dividend today at Rs 35 a share) were down.

The CNX Midcap rose 22 points to 7,288. About 534 shares advanced as against 320 shares declined on National Stock Exchange.

Buy Infosys; target of Rs 2730: PINC Research

PINC Research is bullish on Infosys and has recommended buy rating on the stock with a target price of Rs 2730 in its August 22, 2011 research report.

“Infosys, the management has indicated that there is no revision in the guidance (18-20%YoY revenue growth) as of now, due to S&P downgrade of US debt rating. There are some delays in decisions related to the discretionary projects and ramp ups got affected but no project has been cancelled. As of now, no pricing negotiations have been done; in fact there has been increase in revenue productivity and the management does not expect pricing to decline in the short term due to global uncertainty. Clients are uncertain in a short term and not going for long term projects. No pricing negotiations and no project cancellations. Over the last two years Infosys has won large deals and currently working on ~30 transformational projects.”

“The campus offers given in last year to be inducted in FY12 is as per plan. The hiring of laterals will be as per the demand environment. Also, the utilisation is very low so lateral hiring might be lower if the demand slows down. The current utilisation (excl trainees) is 74.9% and the management is comfortable to keep it in the range of 78-82%. The strategic direction is to move towards a balanced share (33% each) of revenue from i) Consulting & SI business, ii) Business IT services and iii) Products, platforms and solutions. The current contribution is 30%, 61% and 8.5% respectively for above three segments. Maintain ‘BUY’ recommendation on Infosys with a target price of Rs 2,730 based on 17.5x FY13E earnings,” says PINC Research report.

L&T Construction bags Rs 1,340 crore new orders

L&T Construction today said it has secured new orders worth Rs 1,340 crore in building and factories segment during Q2 FY12 for the construction of commercial and residential buildings, including add-on orders from ongoing projects.            

The company has secured new orders aggregating to Rs 975 crore for building a mixed use commercial development and construction of the main civil works for an IT campus from reputed customers, it said in a statement here.   

It has also received an order worth Rs 203 crore for the construction of a residential tower from a leading developer. Besides, it has secured add-on orders worth Rs 162 crore from various clients for ongoing contracts.

These orders further enhance the order-book of the company, which has already secured major design and build contracts in airports, IT parks, commercial and residential space, it said.

Sensex slips

Indian equity benchmarks continued to trade lower with Sensex losing over 100 points on the back of profit booking, though showed some recovery from day's low. Auto, technology, capital goods, cement and banking stocks were putting pressure on the market.

The 30-share BSE Sensex was trading at 16,358, down 140 points and the 50-share NSE Nifty fell 38 points to 4,911.

However, the uptrend in ONGC, Hindalco, HUL, Sterlite, SAIL, Reliance Communications, DLF, Power Grid, Ranbaxy and Reliance Infrastructure has limited the downside.

About 1466 shares advanced while 1229 shares declined on BSE.

Most active shares were SBI, Lovable Lingerie, Tata Steel, Tata Motors, Coal India, Axis Bank and ICICI Bank.

Gold futures slip from record levels on weak global trend

Amid profit-booking at record levels by speculators and a weak trend overseas, gold futures slipped by 0.53% from their record level to Rs 27,450 per 10 grams today.

At the Multi Commodity Exchange, gold for delivery in October fell by Rs 147, or 0.53%, to Rs 27,450 per 10 grams, with a business turnover of 1,665 lots. It had galloped to a record high of Rs 28,284 per 10 grams in yesterday's volatile session.

Gold for delivery in December also lost Rs 146, or 0.52%, to Rs 27,710 per 10 grams, with a trade turnover of 72 lots.

Analysts said profit-booking by speculators at record high levels and a weak trend overseas, where the precious metal slipped from its record level of USD 1,913.50 an ounce, mainly led to the fall in gold prices in futures trade.

Also, a weak trend in precious metals in the domestic spot market at prevailing record levels also weighed on gold prices in futures trade here, they said.

Globally, gold fell sharply by USD 68 to USD 1,830.10 an ounce in New York last night.