Indian shares edge higher; defensives surge

Aban Offshore

27/06/2014 11:42

* BSE index gains 0.15 pct; NSE ends 0.21 pct higher 
    * Century Textile rallies after investor Damani buys stake 
    * Aban likely to launch up to $150 mln share sale on Friday 
- sources 
    * Ranbaxy gets FDA approval for Novartis's Diovan generic 
 
    By Abhishek Vishnoi 
    MUMBAI, June 27 (Reuters) - Indian shares rose on Friday as 
defensive stocks such as Sun Pharmaceutical Industries  SUN.NS  
and Ranbaxy Laboratories  RANB.NS  jumped on the U.S. 
regulator's approval for a key drug while IT stocks gained after 
rival Accenture Plc  ACN.N  reported robust quarterly revenue 
growth. 
     Broader gains were however capped as Asian shares were 
mostly in the red on Friday, weighed down by a weak performance 
on Wall Street and doubts about the strength of the U.S. 
economy, which pushed bonds higher.  MKTS/GLOB  
    Also, overseas investors sold Indian shares worth 6.01 
billion rupees ($100.67 million) on Thursday, marking their 
biggest single day of sales since March 10, provisional exchange 
data showed. 
    Traders said markets may remain range-bound in the near term 
amid the backdrop of government deferring a key gas price hike 
decision while a lagging monsoon and the newly-elected 
government's maiden budget on July 10 also added to uncertainty. 
    "Volatility will be higher as we move closer to the federal 
budget day. We may see investors reallocating portfolio ahead of 
the budget and fresh buying could emerge in infrastructure, 
power and capital goods stocks," said Suresh Parmar, head of 
institutional equities at KJMC Capital Markets.  
    The benchmark BSE index  .BSESN  rose 0.15 percent, or 37.25 
points, to end at 25,099.92, notching up a weekly fall of 0.02 
percent.  
    The broader NSE index  .NSEI  rose 0.21 percent, or 15.60 
points, to end at 7,508.80, closing above the psychologically 
important 7,500 level and marking a decline of 0.03 percent for 
the week.  
    Both indexes posted a third consecutive weekly fall. 
    India's infrastructure output data for May, due on Monday, 
and manufacturing PMI on Tuesday would also be watched, traders 
said. 
    Ranbaxy Laboratories rose 5.2 percent after the company 
received approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to 
launch a cheaper copy of Novartis AG's  NOVN.VX  blood pressure 
pill Diovan, bolstering its outlook.  ID:nL2N0P8041  
    Sun Pharmaceutical Industries, which is in the process of 
acquiring Ranbaxy for $3.2 billion, also ended 4.1 percent 
higher. 
    Software companies gained as a better-than-expected rise in 
quarterly revenue by Accenture Plc  ACN.N  sparked hopes of a 
robust demand environment, dealers said.  ID:nL4N0P81A9  
    While bellwether Infosys Ltd  INFY.NS  gained 1.3 percent, 
others big names such as Tata Consultancy Services Ltd  TCS.NS , 
Wipro  WIPR.NS , HCL Technologies  HCLT.NS  and Tech Mahindra 
 TEML.NS  gained 2-4 percent. 
    Among defensives, India's largest cigarette manufacturer ITC 
Ltd  ITC.NS  rose 1.1 percent. 
    Century Textile and Industries Ltd  CNTY.NS  rose 2.4 
percent after Derive Investments, a company owned by high net 
worth individual Radhakishan Damani, bought a stake in the 
company in a block deal on Thursday.  ID:nL4N0P81FZ  
    However, among decliners, Aban Offshore Ltd  ABAN.NS  ended 
1.5 percent lower ahead of a likely share sale to raise as much 
as $150 million on Friday.  ID:nI8N0ND04Q  
    Gail (India) Ltd  GAIL.NS  ended 0.7 percent lower after 14 
people were killed and 20 injured on Friday in a blast and fire 
at a gas pipeline in Andhra Pradesh, again raising safety 
concerns over the country's energy projects.  ID:nL4N0P81XA  
     
   For additional stocks on the move double click  MEYE          
      
   FACTORS TO WATCH                                              
* Dollar falls for second week, Kiwi charges higher       FRX/   
* Oil steadies around $113 as Iraq supply worries ease     O/R   
* Asian shares slip, global bond yields down         MKTS/GLOB   
* Foreign institutional investor flows         INFII   INFII01   
* For closing rates of Indian ADRs                       INADR   
                        
   ASIA-PACIFIC STOCK MARKETS:                                   
Pan-Asia........ STXNEWS/AS  Japan....... .T   S.Korea...  .KS   
S.E. Asia....... .SO         Hong Kong... .HK  Taiwan.... .TWX   
Australia/NZ.... .AX         India....... .BO  China.....  .SS   
                         
   OTHER MARKETS:                                                
Wall Street .... .N          Gold ....... GOL/ Currency.. FRX/   
Eurostocks..... .EU          Oil ........ O/R  JP bonds... JP/   
ADR Report ..... ADR/        LME metals. MET/L US bonds..  US/   
Stocks News US.. STXNEWS/US  Stocks News Europe     STXNEWS/EU   
                        
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U.S. earnings diary RESF/US      European diary        WEU/QTY   
Indian diary        IN/DIARY     Wall Street Week Ahead   .N/O   
Eurostocks Week Ahead  .EU/O                                     
                          
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 (Additional reporting by Indulal PM; Editing by Sunil Nair) 
 ((abhishek.vishnoi@thomsonreuters.com)(+91 22 61807225)(Reuters 
Messaging: abhishek.vishnoi.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net)) 
 
Keywords: MARKETS INDIA SHARES/CLOSE